What's new
By:
USCHO Fan Forum

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

  • The USCHO Fan Forum has migrated to a new plaform, xenForo. Most of the function of the forum should work in familiar ways. Please note that you can switch between light and dark modes by clicking on the gear icon in the upper right of the main menu bar. We are hoping that this new platform will prove to be faster and more reliable. Please feel free to explore its features.

Open Wheel Racing 2021, anyone there to watch?

Jimjamesak said:
They want American money, they just don't want Americans involved (like drivers, manufacturers, principals etc.).
Click to expand...

Is that it? Or is it a combination of F1 not understanding the American market and the kind of marginal sport impresarios who get involved and inevitably turn out to be cranks and con men? Greed combined with ineptitude?
 
Kepler said:
Is that it? Or is it a combination of F1 not understanding the American market and the kind of marginal sport impresarios who get involved and inevitably turn out to be cranks and con men? Greed combined with ineptitude?
Click to expand...
Well, it’s not the like the previous races had stupid people involved (Caesars in Vegas, Shelby in Dallas, Indy). No, the main problem with the Eccelstone era stuff was Bernie really wanted that New York City race and everything else in America was a means to that end.
 
Kepler said:
Is that it? Or is it a combination of F1 not understanding the American market and the kind of marginal sport impresarios who get involved and inevitably turn out to be cranks and con men? Greed combined with ineptitude?
Click to expand...

Also add one thing- as a country, there are far more F1 fans here than all other countries. The big problem is that we are not all together. But when the race was at Indy- the crowds were by far the largest of the F1 season, even though it was just about 1/3 of what Indy can hold. More than enough Americans understand F1 to make it worth while.

As Jim says- it's about tapping into the American economy money, not the fans. Which is exactly why there are races in Miami and Las Vegas and not Indy or even thinking of the other great road courses in the country. Vegas and Miami are like Singapore in that way- odd street tracks but close to the big money. New York would have been an interesting mix of massive money and huge crowds that can easily get there.

edit- I think there was one more hope for American tracks that will never fly- getting government money. Most countries put a lot of taxpayer money into the race- how else would some of these... well... questionable economy countries get a race. Heck, Canada does not have the potential for money as a US race, but they have had a race for a very long time.
 
Last edited:
Jimjamesak said:
Well, it’s not the like the previous races had stupid people involved (Caesars in Vegas, Shelby in Dallas, Indy). No, the main problem with the Eccelstone era stuff was Bernie really wanted that New York City race and everything else in America was a means to that end.
Click to expand...

To be fair, it would be the coolest thing we could do, unless you want to suspend a track over the Grand Canyon.
 
MichVandal said:
edit- I think there was one more hope for American tracks that will never fly- getting government money. Most countries put a lot of taxpayer money into the race- how else would some of these... well... questionable economy countries get a race. Heck, Canada does not have the potential for money as a US race, but they have had a race for a very long time.
Click to expand...

COTA gets $25 million dollars every year from the Texas Tourism fund.

Montreal gets a lot of money from the city and province. Especially after F1 skipped Montreal for a year. Suddenly, the governments realized what was at stake, and ponied up.
 
Russell Jaslow said:
COTA gets $25 million dollars every year from the Texas Tourism fund.
Click to expand...

Didn't know that. And given the politics of the state, it's also pretty funny- given the conservative slant (supposedly) for spending.

But how much of that goes toward the F1 race? They do a lot of events at COTA.
 
MichVandal said:
Didn't know that. And given the politics of the state, it's also pretty funny- given the conservative slant (supposedly) for spending.

But how much of that goes toward the F1 race? They do a lot of events at COTA.
Click to expand...

I would think that the F1 race is by and large the most profitable event on their calendar. Although the NASCAR weekend has a slightly larger attendance, more money is spent overall on F1 weekend I'd have to imagine.
 
Kepler said:
To be fair, it would be the coolest thing we could do, unless you want to suspend a track over the Grand Canyon.
Click to expand...

I doubt enough people in the area would even want a race. It would be fun to go and see it, but the people who have to live there would have a massive headache for quite a while when the track has to be set up and put away.
 
Alex Palou .3 behind Lando Norris in the same car this past weekend in free practice. Good performance given his limited time in an F1 car.

Interestingly, O’Ward and Herta are considered to be even faster than Palou. I suspect any of the 3 would be podium potential talents in F1 if they were given a chance on a decent team.
 
MichVandal said:
I doubt enough people in the area would even want a race. It would be fun to go and see it, but the people who have to live there would have a massive headache for quite a while when the track has to be set up and put away.
Click to expand...

NYC is so big you could probably do it without anybody even noticing.
 
Russell Jaslow said:
COTA gets $25 million dollars every year from the Texas Tourism fund.

Montreal gets a lot of money from the city and province. Especially after F1 skipped Montreal for a year. Suddenly, the governments realized what was at stake, and ponied up.
Click to expand...
I don't think there's a race on the calendar that doesn't receive money from some government entity. Another Bernie contribution thanks to raising the sanctioning fees so high.
 
solovsfett said:
Alex Palou .3 behind Lando Norris in the same car this past weekend in free practice. Good performance given his limited time in an F1 car.

Interestingly, O’Ward and Herta are considered to be even faster than Palou. I suspect any of the 3 would be podium potential talents in F1 if they were given a chance on a decent team.
Click to expand...

They may be, but their choices for teams to drive for mean they can't get the points, unlike Palou- who has the points. At least Ward drives for an F1 team. Herta needs to part with Andretti to get a shot at enough points- go with Penske or Ganassi. Mind you, Palou got his SL points to go F1 in just his second season, thanks to Ganassi recruiting him.
 
MichVandal said:
They may be, but their choices for teams to drive for mean they can't get the points, unlike Palou- who has the points. At least Ward drives for an F1 team. Herta needs to part with Andretti to get a shot at enough points- go with Penske or Ganassi. Mind you, Palou got his SL points to go F1 in just his second season, thanks to Ganassi recruiting him.
Click to expand...

Yep. It’s puzzling that Herta signed an extension with Andretti. It would seem he could write his ticket to Penske, Ganassi or AMSP with one phone call…

I think he’s a generational type talent like Greg Moore. I sure hope he gets his chance to chase a WDC.
 
MichVandal said:
Didn't know that. And given the politics of the state, it's also pretty funny- given the conservative slant (supposedly) for spending.

But how much of that goes toward the F1 race? They do a lot of events at COTA.
Click to expand...

It goes towards paying the sanctioning fee (and I almost think it gets paid directly to F1), and only gets paid after the F1 race is run. (BTW, that was all setup when Rick Perry was governor.)

All those other races at COTA are track rental deals, except for NASCAR and MotoGP.
 
RaceBoarder said:
I would think that the F1 race is by and large the most profitable event on their calendar. Although the NASCAR weekend has a slightly larger attendance, more money is spent overall on F1 weekend I'd have to imagine.
Click to expand...

NASCAR doesn't even come close to F1 at COTA.

According to the Austin Statesman, NASCAR's Sunday attendance was 50-55,000.

F1 easily has well over 100,000 for Sunday, especially when you considering the weekend attendance was supposedly 440,000. The math alone means Sunday was well into the six figures.

Interestingly, the article says SMI is renting COTA for the NASCAR weekend. So COTA isn't even promoting the event. It's SMI.

Thus, COTA only has two events they pay to put on -- MotoGP and F1.

As for F1, let's do a quick back of the envelope figuring. Weekend GA tickets cost $380. Grandstand tickets cost way more than that, anywhere from $600 to easily $1,500. That's not even counting the VIP areas.

So, let's say for quick grins and giggles, the average ticket price was $500. Probably way lower than reality, even when you consider not all tickets sold were weekend tickets. Multiply that by 440,000, and you get $220 million just in ticket revenue. And that's before you count parking, concession sales, and sponsorship.

Sure, there are a lot of costs putting an F1 event on. But still...
 
Last edited:
I always forget about the MotoGP event in Austin. Kind of sad how far MotoGP has fallen, especially since they’ve had an American World Champion this century (RIP Nicky Hayden).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top