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Posted Jun 26, 2014, 2:22 AM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 762
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Looks like motorsport isn't the only kind of racing COTA has been running off...6th annual Tour of Austin cancelled due to COTA jackassery. Shocking.
http://texasbikeracing.com/tour-austin-cancelled/
Quote:
by Nicole Ortega
The 6th year of The Tour of Austin (TOA) has been recently and reluctantly cancelled. With plans to make this year grander by adding more vendors and having two days at Circuit of the Americas (COTA), things sounded promising during the beginning stages of organization. Having last year’s TOA pan out as a huge success, COTA was excited to host it once again. Although TOA has always struggled to attain sponsors, Andrew and Holly Willis were ready take this project on once again. They drew up an agreement and sent it out to COTA in May of 2013, where it went over well. Holly and Andrew were hopeful TOA had finally found a home after years of bouncing from venue to venue and losing money for the first three years.
They started having meetings to discuss details with COTA, but the holidays came around and progression started to slow down. An agreement had not been finalized just yet, and everyone was still trying to figure out who would take the reins on certain tasks (i.e. who would book the bands, which person would bring the craft beer in, etc.). Would it be COTA or Holland Racing that would take those responsibilities?
Both parties knew they still had a lot of kinks to iron out, and they agreed to meet back up after the holiday madness. Unfortunately for the cycling community, COTA went through a change in management in early spring of 2014. “This is where things started to go wrong,” Andrew Willis informed me. The fast turnover of employees was a pattern he noticed early on in his relationship with COTA. It seemed every time he’d make a visit, he would have to catch a new associate up to speed. “I had a lot of the same meetings over and over again.”
After a productive meeting, COTA told Andrew they would get with the new president and contact him in a couple of days. A month went by and Andrew decided to call back after not hearing anything. They returned his call a week-and-a-half later with an offer for one day at the track, which was a complete departure from what they have been working on for the last six months. They pretty much offered Holland Racing the same deal as 2013, which included a large cash rental fee and percentage of the net profit.
Not having the sponsorship they hoped for, the Willises found this offer disappointing and financially stressful. It didn’t have any language about live music, craft-beer vendors, or a multiple-day event, and unlike the previous year, there was no percentage of revenue, but a much higher one-day flat rental. They said to themselves, “We can’t do this.”
“It was a complete departure from our model. Normally we won’t put on an event unless we can cover our fixed costs upfront with sponsorship,” said Willis.
The year before, Holly and Andrew were in over $50,000 before the Tour of Austin even opened for registration, confident they would make it back, and they did. “It was a complete departure from our model. Normally we won’t put on an event unless we can cover our fixed costs upfront with sponsorship. The entry fee model just doesn’t work, but for COTA we decided to take that risk in an effort to get our foot in the door with them,” said Andrew Willis. This new agreement left them feeling unconfident and uncertain. Coming to an agreement so late in the year left no time to develop sufficient sponsorship to cover costs and would leave Andrew and Holly’s funds exposed once again. Would people once again pay $75 to race or would there be a “been there, done that” mentality?
Andrew wrote back with a counter offer, reminding COTA about the music, the beer vendors, and the second day. They notified him that they were extremely busy with the X-Games and it would take a while for a response.
Andrew was confident he could at least lock down COTA for one day and decided to pursue a third venue since he already had The Driveway. He reached out to Belterra, and the same property manager he had worked with previously told him that they would love to have the race back.
Things were looking to be back on track for The Tour of Austin: one day each at The Driveway, COTA, and Belterra. The meetings with Belterra were going great, but the Willises still hadn’t heard back from COTA. After May of 2014 came, phones calls and emails were made in hopes of contacting and finalizing the deal with COTA.
Another roadblock came up when Andrew reached out to Hayes County. Since the last Belterra race, the county had changed the way they do road closures, requiring more documentation since the county had grown. While working to meet these requirements, both Belterra and the Willises realized they were running out of time for the Tour of Austin.
After the X-Games came and went, Andrew reached out to COTA yet again and got no reply. He couldn’t get them to answer his phone calls or his emails. With things out of his reach or control, Andrew discussed other options with Holly and other pillars of the cycling community. Suggestions were tossed around, but it boiled down to not having sufficient time even after months and months of work. They wanted to ensure that the event would work for the residents, be safe for the riders, and be something they could be proud of when they put their name on it. The cards did not fall that way.
For several years, Andrew had bent over backwards to make sure the Tour of Austin and a slew of other events happened no matter the cost. But he realized they couldn’t lose money any longer. The long weekends. The stress. Relying on relatives to watch their kids for days on end to help make a bike race happen. It was all for not if, in the end it didn’t benefit the family. In the first five years with Holland Racing, Andrew had gained 50 pounds, sacrificed quality time with his family, and after Georgetown Grand in 2012, the physical and mental stress gave way to signs of some heart problems. “I must put being a good father and husband first and also think about my health before trying to be a super promoter,” Andrew admitted.
The future of The Tour of Austin is uncertain at this point in Andrew and Holly’s eyes. They, of course, would love nothing more than for the event to go on, but a mutual and reasonable agreement with an ideal venue is crucial. Despite the rigmarole with COTA, Andrew would love to work with them in the future; after all, it is an amazing complex.
Being a promoter can often be a thankless position, but we here at TexasBikeRacing.com would like to express gratitude to this power couple. Andrew and Holly have devoted so much time into cultivating the cycling scene in Austin and in Texas, and we appreciate you. Cheers and keep your heads up!
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