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Originally Posted by Hill Country
We're missing some important information. The hardest part of this project should have been securing $300 million to build the track during during a recession. That seems to have been accomplished relatively easilly, so stopping this during construction makes no sense. Unless Bernie and his lapdog Tavo are content to just have the New York area race as the only American race.
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This article has perhaps the most specific info:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/for...=feeds-newsxml
There were two hurdles -- the money to build the track was just one. But that's not terribly hard to grasp for investors -- you spend the money, you build a track, then you own that asset.
The real difficulty is the F1 sanctioning fee, a $25-$35 million payout in advance for an event. After the event, you don't have a building or anything, it's just gone. You have to be able to make your money through that one event, and a profit, and that's practically impossible. That's why pretty much all sanctioning fees for F1 are paid by governments. No private investor would put down that kind of money in advance for just an event, one that they wouldn't even really "own".
With the Texas Comptroller now denying the advance of public $$$, I just don't see how F1 can happen. Contract or not. But I hope they can finish the track and get the other series or NASCAR to come. I'd hate for it to be another Intel shell. I mean, it's a Herman Tilke designed track that has some awesome features. Finish it and let the races work themselves out over time.
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