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On the radio today, I heard that Bernie wanted $175M over 5 years.
While Montreal offered $110M plus a percentage of revenue.
On the radio today, I heard that Bernie wanted $175M over 5 years.
While Montreal offered $110M plus a percentage of revenue.
$35m a race seems to be the going rate. I think he wanted that from China, too. But still, if the revenue from that weekend is the reported $100m, that's still a large gain. They should take it, if that's the case.
Le coeur a ses raisons que la raison ne connaît point. 
On the radio today, I heard that Bernie wanted $175M over 5 years.
While Montreal offered $110M plus a percentage of revenue.
$35m a race seems to be the going rate. I think he wanted that from China, too. But still, if the revenue from that weekend is the reported $100m, that's still a large gain. They should take it, if that's the case.
I read somewhere a while ago that the Canadian GP is the biggest single sports event for Québec grossing an additional $70m for the City of Montréal - I always thought that figure included incidentals such as hotel nights, restaurant income, etc.
On the radio today, I heard that Bernie wanted $175M over 5 years.
While Montreal offered $110M plus a percentage of revenue.
$35m a race seems to be the going rate. I think he wanted that from China, too. But still, if the revenue from that weekend is the reported $100m, that's still a large gain. They should take it, if that's the case.
I read somewhere a while ago that the Canadian GP is the biggest single sports event for Québec grossing an additional $70m for the City of Montréal - I always thought that figure included incidentals such as hotel nights, restaurant income, etc.
That's still making 100% on top of getting their investment back. Given the current financial climate, I'd take that - it would help a lot of people in Montréal along, I'm sure.
Le coeur a ses raisons que la raison ne connaît point. On the radio today, I heard that Bernie wanted $175M over 5 years.
While Montreal offered $110M plus a percentage of revenue.
$35m a race seems to be the going rate. I think he wanted that from China, too. But still, if the revenue from that weekend is the reported $100m, that's still a large gain. They should take it, if that's the case.
With the end of Formula One's Canadian Grand Prix, Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is looking for a second tenant to accompany the NASCAR Nationwide Series on their yearly schedule.
Could the IndyCar Series fit the bill? Randy Phillips of the Montreal Gazette says that the IRL's open to discussing a possible trip to the Canadian city in 2010. American open-wheel racing has been absent from CGV since the old Champ Car World Series completed a five-year run at the facility in 2006.
Adding Montreal to the schedule is an intriguing possibility, and it's one that may have some steam behind it if league and track officials can commence talks -- especially because of the past history between the two sides.
IRL-to-Montreal rumors intensified a couple of years back and according to IRL spokesman John Griffin's account in the Gazette, a handshake agreement was even made between the league and CGV promoter Normand Legault.
But the race never happened. Griffin told the Gazette:
"We were negotiating during the summer of '06 for a race in '07 and actually moved around a few other dates anticipating success with the Montreal agreement. We were pretty far along in an agreement, but after switching dates of other venues in anticipation of Montreal, all of a sudden, it never went beyond where we were at that point."
I gotta say that when it comes to natural-terrain road courses, Montreal seems like a fine choice at first glance. At the very least, it'd be a nice consolation prize for losing Surfer's Paradise. However, the track itself may be needing some renovation first after parts of it disintegrated during F1's last hurrah at CGV in 2008.
I also wonder why the league is waiting on a phone call from Legault and his people instead of going after them. This seems arrogant for a series that really ought to get out into the public, bust their butts, and promote themselves. Lord knows ISC isn't gonna do it -- they should have taken the bull by the horns as soon as word got out that Bernie Ecclestone was pulling the plug.
We'll keep an eye on this one...
MONTREAL — The head of Formula One racing has a retort for a city so infuriated with him that a leading newspaper carried an editorial cartoon Wednesday that depicts him being tortured.
Bernie Ecclestone says he isn't greedy.
The F1 czar told a Montreal radio station that he loves the city, that he hopes its popular annual race will return there and that his cash demands have been fair.
He scoffed when an interviewer for CJAD asked whether his demand - reportedly $175 million over five years, plus advertising and attendance revenues - was unreasonable.
Ecclestone said many other places around the world pay far more to host the race. He said the offer to Montreal was actually a steal, compared with what others pay.
Mayor Gerald Tremblay had called it unreasonable.
"Unreasonable compared to what?" Ecclestone replied in his radio interview.
"We do business worldwide and nobody else thinks we're unreasonable. We've got a queue of people that want races. So we can't be unreasonable."
Financial troubles are in fact plaguing F1 elsewhere.
France's current circuit has been dropped from the schedule because of poor attendance, Australia's event is reporting record losses, and China is reportedly reconsidering the event in Shanghai.
The Montreal race was dropped from the 2009 schedule when federal, provincial and municipal officials balked at Ecclestone's cash demands.
The race generated an estimated $100 million for the city as the downtown core was so full of festivities that some streets became giant block parties for days.
The annual influx of international partygoers into Montreal's hotels, restaurants and watering holes also offered a splashy morale boost to a city that had lost its baseball team and status as Canada's business capital.
But in recent years Montrealers became accustomed to seemingly annual crisis talks where Ecclestone threatened to cancel the race over financial differences with local organizers.
Despite the overwhelming popularity of the event, few locals have expressed any desire for the government to meet Ecclestone's cash demands.
An editorial cartoon in Wednesday's Montreal La Presse summed up local anger toward Ecclestone.
It ran under the headline: "What event would best replace the Montreal Grand Prix?" Its conclusion was medieval torture.
The cartoon showed a man in a black hood standing above Ecclestone and stretching out his limbs over a rack, with a mob of locals cheering in the background.
While Montrealers might not feel much affection for him, Ecclestone says he adores their city.
He said he wants the race back. In fact, he said he told Canadian officials they could replace any race on the schedule if they met his financial demands.
"Everyone in Formula One loves Montreal," Ecclestone told CJAD.
"I said (to organizers) you can come to my office, pull any contract out of that drawer for all the overseas races, take any one of them, cross out the name and put your name, and that's what we'll do.
"Because what was offered them was less than we get anywhere else in the world."
He refused to discuss specifics of his offer - and said he didn't appeciate details of contract negotiations being leaked into the public domain.
Canadian officials said he guaranteed the race for five years in exchange for $175 million and 100 per cent of the revenues linked to corporate boxes and advertising on the circuit.
They offered him $110 million over five years plus a cut of the annual profits - but Ecclestone refused.
Canadian racing officials had been in a previous dispute with Ecclestone over whether they had fulfilled the obligations of their existing contract.
The F1 boss argued he was owed $24 million by the race's previous promoters, and would have forgiven the outstanding sum had he reached a new deal with Canadian organizers.
The Canadians came away from last-minute negotiations expressing frustration. But when asked to describe the tone of their talks Ecclestone replied with glowing terms: "Good. Nice. Beautiful."
And as for the future of the race: "Of course we would (want it back) - we didn't want to lose it."
What a douchebag.Bernie is sitting on a Golden Goose, he'll push it as far as he can.
Hope he doesn't end up destroying it with greed, the racing is still exciting, but for how much longer?
Is it important for the fans for F1 cars to race on tracks with a long racing history? Or will we all watch regardless...
Something tells me we'll bitch and moan over change but keep coming back for more.
We're addicted!
- By darwin daliYeah, not very active here, unfortunately. Is it […]
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