US GP in Austin Discussion and Speculation...

Am I correct in thinking that Bernie has explicitly said no more deals with private investors for building tracks (i.e. has to be backed by a gov't) I recall reading something to that effect several months ago

 

Who's to judge? US GP in Austin Discussion and Speculation... That's what's great about this thread.

 

Dallas city politics are far kookyer than Austin city politics. But I'm not sure what Dallas city politics had to do with the Cowboys stadium. City of Dallas refused to "play ball" and so the Cowboys moved from one suburb, Irving, to another, Arlington, whose VOTERS agreed to foot substantial construction costs.

 

If you read back on the thread, we're not talking about the stadium. We're talking about the cities that applied to the METF for the super bowl. With regards to site selection, I stand corrected. Arlington was the site selected. Gracias!

 

I dont't know. When I look at a project that is rumored to cost upwards of $400M to build and is supposedly fully funded by their own statement of not needing/wanting additional investors. Why would they even care about the $25M?

To put it more on my scale, If I am spending $40 on dinner and there is a dispute over a $2.50 valet fee - sure I would like it comped but really...

Sure it would be nice to see the government behind the project in some way but is it a showstopper if they do not get it? I think not.

I really want this to happen and am hoping for them to pull it off.

 

http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/local/council-reviews-f1-economic-impact

Bold emphasis is mine...

Big surprise... the economic study shows it is a wash...

 

Another article on the Economic Impact Study...

http://www.statesman.com/news/local/study-projects-large-economic-windfall-from-f1-race-1551584.html

 

Short Blog Piece...

http://sportsblogs.star-telegram.com/mac-engel/2011/06/austin-needs-to-check-with-indy-before-dealing-with-f1-bernie-ecclestone.html

Perhaps a tad one sided... But why should Austin / COTA believe things will be different for them...

 

F1TopFan, do you know something we don't know?

http://www.theaustinbulldog.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=143:state-comptroller-sued-over-formula-one&catid=3:main-articles&Itemid=1

Taxpayers Sue to Stop State Comptroller
From Paying Tax Funds to Formula One Promoters

 

And an article...

http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/2011/06/22/texas-comptroller-sued-over-f1-deal.html

Shouldn't really be an issue though... this project is fully funded right...

The vote tomorrow should be interesting... My intuition tells me it's going to be postponed...

 

Interesting Autoweek piece as well...

http://www.autoweek.com/article/20110622/F1/110629956

 

No need for intuition common sense says it will.......

This doesn't bode well at all though.

Fully funded and important in the accounting projections are two very different things indeed.

This doesn't go through, the cost of holding the race for 10 years just goes up $250MM......don't see it happening

 

Ben, do you really believe they have the $250M-400M to build the facility in pocket?

I really found the autoweek article insightful... link above. Interesting that the major hotels were full this weekend with no major activities happening...

Tough to claim hotel occupancy as increased revenue when the hotels are already full... that's the problem with all these projections...

 

I want to believe....

One brand new hotel being booked downtown is probably not the best metric to judge the occupancy of the whole city.

Especially when there was someone in town performing at the Austin City Limits set (its attached to the hotel, and saw a tour bus outside yesterday)

 

True. But...

According to the article:

While various estimates of available hotels in the area yield different results depending on who you talk to, the Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau states that there are 5,500 hotel rooms in downtown Austin and an additional 20,500 rooms inside the city limits.

Even if you assume they were all empty,.. you would have to put 6 people in each room to house the 120,000 people... obviously that's not happening. And obviously they weren't all empty...

My point stands... that's the problem with these projections... what do you count as "new" money...

 

Here's a link to the lawsuit:

http://alt.coxnewsweb.com/shared-blogs/austin/racing/upload/2011/06/local_lawsuit_filed_against_st/KMBT35020110622150901.pdf

Haven't read it yet, will later tonite.

Browsed through a little bit, and it is alleging that there wasn't a 'competitive process' Seems like a rather ambigious term in itself. Oh well, it's not designed to win, its designed to delay.......A teacher is named as a plantiff in it....

Your right, it is a very hard thing to measure, but the process of getting the money involves establishing a base of what would be expected on a normal weekened in June, or whatever it is, and then figuring out the impact. If this is an impossible task, then why enact legislation to attempt it?

Can I sue the State for giving money to Jerry Jones? Because the Super Bowl was going to come there anyways??

 

AutoWeek writes about the lawsuit...

http://www.autoweek.com/article/20110622/F1/110629944

But worse...

http://www.autoweek.com/article/20110622/FREE/110629946

Holy Crap...

 

How do you reconsile the need to have the METF funds offered as an integral part of the site selection process, but can't apply for them before a year within the event date.

Doesn't make sense.

 

Has anyone read the Mark Sutton article posted on ESPN F1? He lavishes praise on the circuit and says they are making great progress working 12 hours a day.

 

Agreed, its a poorly written law. But the conditions are there in black and white:
5 a-1 An event (Formula 1 race) is only eligible for funding after considering, through a highly competitive selection process, one or more sites not located in this state.

and 5 b : If the site selection organization selects a site for an event pursuant to an application by a local organizing committee, municipality, or county, the comptroller shall (begin making the estimate)

5 a-1 requires a competitive selection process, and 5 b gives a further restriction: IF a site selection organization selects a site pursuant to (meaning AFTER or AS A RESULT OF) an application. The site was selected back in may of 2010. They have not submitted an application yet (thats what the council is voting to do tomorrow). So the site was selected before application, not "pursuant to" an application. Who would give an incentive to an event that would already decided to be here? That's what the law protects against, yet that is what is happening. Not good.

 

I had absolutely no idea this suit was going to be filed. I merely suggested that such a suit could be filed and now that it has been I can't say I'm all that surprised. We have so much voter activism out here with "Prop this" and "Prop that" it seemed to me that it was only a matter of time before someone started reading the law and asking the right questions instead of getting all revved up. So now I pose my original question: "Show me the money". I do not believe they have whatever it takes to build this and as you get closer to a March deadline for an inspection, do you think that lenders will keep writing checks in the face of a default?

Time will tell.

 

i like the autoweek op ed.

race promoters should pay more.

 

Mandel's comment about Indianapolis is food for thought. IMS already had the infrastructure, only needed to add a road course. And yet, Bernie's demands were too much. So how is Austin going to do it without sticking it to the citizens of the City and the County?

And the number of hotel rooms, where will all the projected attendees actually stay? The majority of people attending the Indy 500, and the NASCAR race at Indy, drive in from surrounding states. Its about two hours to Cincy/Dayton, Chicago is about 5 hours. Race day is race day, so not so many people come the day before as not much is happening. Qualifying is on an entirely different weekend.

So where will those that are driving to the USGP Austin come from? Dallas/Houston/SanAn? Big part of F1 for me is qualifying, I do not think I would drive back and forth 2-3 hours on Saturday and Sunday. So if all these people will not be able to stay in Austin, where do the revenue projections come from?

If Austin does happen, it will go the route of Phoenix and Vegas. Give it three years, and finally a ton of law suits.

 

Anyone watching the live feed from the Austin CC Mtg?

http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/channel6/

Sounds like a postponement...

 

Post-poned to 6/29. Vote was 6:1 to postpone.