Here's the latest from the SAEN, from yesterday also: Combs failed the public on Formula One Combs failed the public on Formula One - San Antonio Express-News
It is money well spent for the State of Texas. All this hoopla is the result of politico's trying to slam the other side, in my opinion.
Like NFL,NBA,NHL,MLB,NASCAR,IRL,GOLF,TENNIS you name it don't all get public subsidies in some form for infrastructure police,fire,roads,direct pocket money...... GTS Bruce
Were I runningfor public office I would bring up the Ecclestone bribery invistigation etc... in Bavaria and UK... that would really make a splash.. even if he is "innocent" he did pay a huge fine... and TX is paying this guy big $$$.... would be interesting.
The issue in the article is not whether the fund is a good idea. I think it's a good idea. That's why I helped rally support for COTA to gain access to it. I also thought they were gonna do it right. It appears they didn't. I want the fund to be administered openly, honestly, and by the book. If the articles are correct, COTA has been getting money they aren't even eligible for. A lot of money.
2 years in a row we've got rooms in Round Rock for normal rates ($70-100 a night). Nice hotel and right off the 130 toll for 90 mph straight access to track.
It's not the $ that bothers me. I want a room downtown and I can't get one. For any price. And I'm talking about next year. Not this one. It's ridiculous.
I don't understand staying in downtown, unless you don't have someone to drive you back to Round Rock. We go to downtown every evening, but it is 6x more expensive and 10x more traffic.
Given the incredible F1 party they organized by reserving several streets downtown I have to say I don't want to stay anywhere else anymore. Downtown Austin is where the action is. All night long. It was absolutely phenomenal and only Montreal comes close, but not quite. Austin rocks. Their hotel policy less so.
we still enjoy every bit of downtown. Montreal does have a good street party. Indy downtown was fun with the high end car show, but not a party party.
If Austin goes away it shouldn't be because Mexico killed it. Even COTA said in one report that only 15% of their attendees come from outside the U.S. including all countries (as opposed to the ridiculous 40K from Mexico that we hear people say often).
That's just pretty much a normal weekend night downtown here, just with a slight racing twist, but I get wanting to go to it and stay nearby. They've reduced it in scope for this year though. Halloween festivities downtown will vastly overshadow Fan Fest. Re: the hotels, you'd think they would have learned about that after underselling so badly the first 2 years and getting sued over it.
4 out of every 11 people there was a Mexican national? No way. It didn't even look like 4 out of 11 were even Hispanic. If COTA believed there were 40K Mexican nationals there on race day, or even half that many, they'd be shouting it from the mountain tops. That kind of number would help them with METF funding, yet even their own spokesperson said 15% were from outside the U.S. F1 economic tally could take months to add up | www.statesman.com Regardless, the pool is plenty big enough to draw much bigger crowds than they've drawn, without a single fan coming from Mexico. If the Austin race goes away, COTA will only have themselves to blame.
