The Laborious Tale of how COTA came to fruition.

[gloomyDAY]

Wild Ride: The Sordid Saga Of How Formula One Racing Came To Texas - Forbes (http://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/2012/10/19/wild-ride/)

Conspiracy theory: I think Hellmund and Ecclestone played these guys for a higher sanctioning fee of $25M instead of the originally mentioned $23M. Damn, Bernie is a fookin' player! I wonder what kind of arm-twisting he's doing to The Jersey Boys and Co.

[Mark in Oshawa]

Bernie is a master of making money, by making sure no one around him is making it...

[Tazio]

Good read Glue' :up: (pretty much a capsulation of 1+ years of financial posturing from all concerned parties) I don't see Bernie as being the one who caused the major tribulations of this project as much as the adversarial nature of the interaction between the investors. The bureaucratic roadblocks are always to be expected when you are spending taxpayer's money.
That's probably the nicest comment I've ever made about Bernie :D

[Tazio]

Glue' this is the point I was getting at:



Conspiracy theory: I think Hellmund and Ecclestone played these guys for a higher sanctioning fee Bernie always makes out on these deals, but the part of the article that leads me to believe that Helmund didn't make out so well is the following:

The vision guy got iced out.

Rather than get bogged down in a court fight, Epstein and McCombs finally settled with Hellmund in mid-June–for considerably less than the $18 million proposed payout, according to sources familiar with the deal. Asked about Hellmund’s payout, Epstein says, “I’m willing to be patient for success, and not everybody is willing to be patient. ”
I think what he is implying is that Hellmond, considering the "Blue Sky" associated with the venture settled cheap, a relative term that is yet to be determined.
Not that I don't think Hellmund got a decent chunk, he was supposed to be in with McComb and Epstein for 20% of "Accelerator Holdings". Time will tell!! ;)

[Don Capps]

So, what is doing to happen when F1 ditches the race in a few years?

[Tazio]

^^ If you believe the propaganda in the folowing article Epstein and McComb believe this facility is a real moneymaker.

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Austin will not be able to breathe easy for long after November’s inaugural Formula One race. Three other racing events in the months to follow could have almost as many fans come to town.

Officials have estimated the F1 event will draw 300,000 people to the Southeast Travis County site over the three-day period. Now, new records detail estimated attendance for V8 Supercars , MotoGP and Grand-Am races taking place February through May.

Mass Gathering Permit applications filed by the Circuit of The Americas in the past week for those races include transportation and public safety plans nearly identical to the massive undertaking now in the works for F1. Travis County officials said they will not approve the applications, until CoTA provides specific plans for each event.

Circuit Chairman Bobby Epstein told a crowd at Sunday's grand opening that those events could help bring as many as one million people the area annually.
•The Grand-Am auto event will take place Feb. 28 through March 3. Promoters estimate a maximum attendance of 300,000 during those four days.
•The MotoGP motorcycle event will take place April 19 - 21. Promoters estimate a maximum attendance of 225,000 during those four days.
•The V8 Supercars auto event will take place May 17 - 19. Promoters estimate a maximum attendance of 300,000 during those three days. (read on) CoTA to draw more than 1M fans by May | KXAN.com (http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/local/austin/cota-to-draw-more-than-1m-fans-by-may)
I don't know where they came up with the number of 300,000 visitors. It's my understanding that the facility will only hold 120,000 this year. I suspect they will expand capacity for future events, but these estimates do sound a little optimistic to me. :confused:

[Ranger]

^^ If you believe the propaganda in the folowing article Epstein and McComb believe this facility is a real moneymaker.
I don't know where they came up with the number of 300,000 visitors. It's my understanding that the facility will only hold 120,000 this year. I suspect they will expand capacity for future events, but these estimates do sound a little optimistic to me. :confused:

I think they meant the total number of people through the gates over the weekend.

[Tazio]

You are definately right, they are going to count me three times :) Not that their is any way of knowing, but I wonder how many Austinites that don't give a toss about F1 will get "The hell out of Dodge" just to avoid the clusterfu#k