OKC Grand Prix

[OKCisOK4me]

Oh well, crappy fireworks next year...

[OKCMallen]

Too bad. This was an amazingly cheap amount for the advertising and pr OKC could get out of this investment.

It will just make other businessmen think twice before trying to do aggressive things to better our community. I doubt they will risk their money and reputation on our city's behalf. Opportunities don't always come along. Next time this goes to one of our competing cities. Maybe Tulsa will get it and when it is big time there we can go see it and we can go back to our complaining.

Guess we aren't quite as "big league" as some think.

I wanted it to happen too, but make no mistake- if OKC has to put up $7MM, the businesmen aren't the only people risking.

[LordGerald]

Too bad. This was an amazingly cheap amount for the advertising and pr OKC could get out of this investment.

It will just make other businessmen think twice before trying to do aggressive things to better our community. I doubt they will risk their money and reputation on our city's behalf. Opportunities don't always come along. Next time this goes to one of our competing cities. Maybe Tulsa will get it and when it is big time there we can go see it and we can go back to our complaining.

Guess we aren't quite as "big league" as some think.

What advertising and PR are you referring to? I've never seen the American Gran Prix series ever covered on Sports Center or any other national sports news show. I don't believe that the series has a TV contract. It's not even on Versus.

[jn1780]

What advertising and PR are you referring to? I've never seen the American Gran Prix series ever covered on Sports Center or any other national sports news show. I don't believe that the series has a TV contract. It's not even on Versus.

American Le Mans is on the Speed channel, but only diehard racing fans watch this channel.

[dcsooner]

Great Decision!

[okclee]

^^ I agree, something wasn't right about "Okc Grand Prix" all along. Glad to see our council got this one right.

[bornhere]

Kudos to the council for doing the responsible thing here.

But I think the main reason the vote went this way is because the support among the city's moneyed elite was not as strong as Lund and Ward would have liked to believe.

[bluedogok]

What advertising and PR are you referring to? I've never seen the American Gran Prix series ever covered on Sports Center or any other national sports news show. I don't believe that the series has a TV contract. It's not even on Versus.

American Le Mans is on the Speed channel, but only diehard racing fans watch this channel.

The IRL is on Versus, I always forget about that because Versus is not a (traditional) racing channel, the only IRL race on a major network (ABC) is the Indy 500. The only reason why they show anything on SportsCenter is because of the Indy contract that ABC has, they used to get more coverage when the IRL ran full time on ABC and barely gave Nascar a notice until they picked up the TV rights to it. ESPN is very self-serving in that way.

The ALMS also has had races on CBS (a couple of weeks ago) and NBC in the past. Speed shows about 10 hours of the 12 Hours of Sebring season opener and about 19 hours on television of the 24 Hours of LeMans with the remaining time shown on Speedtv.com, they have the rest of the sprint format races in their entirety. The ALMS has become a manufacturers series, more of them are in that form of racing with direct involvement than any other. The Audi and Peugeot turbodiesels have dominated the LMP class for quite a few years. Porsche is starting to run a hybrid in the series and the non-hybrid version makes up the bulk of the GTC class. The ALMS is where new automotive technologies will come from since F1 is going down the road of Nascar and the IRL in becoming a spec or template car series.

The only race series with a "major network" contract (Fox/ESPN) is Nascar. The other sports car series (Grand-Am) which is run by Nascar people is on Speed (owned by Fox) as well. I actually prefer the Speed coverage of most races because it is full coverage instead of the chopped up coverage that happens when the races are on a "major network".

We were planning on coming up there for the race, an additional trip on top of our Christmas and OU-Texas Tech (my wife is a Tech alum) game trips.

[Laramie]

Watching the Fair Park Grand Stands' dismantling and today's vote on the Grand Prix it makes you wonder where does Oklahoma City stand on racing?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a racing fan; however, when states that sandwich Oklahoma (Kansas/Missouri - Texas) are building racetrack cathedrals, we couldn't even be content with a street race.

Race fans will continue to spend their money in other neighboring states while we let the economic impact dollars strengthen those states and their economies.

When we finally decide to act, it will be too costly to pursue.

Maybe one of the native american tribes would be willing to pursue some kind of racing facility or grand prix race in Shawnee, Norman or Okarche.


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__________________
"Oklahoma City looks oh so pretty as I get my kicks on Route 66." --Nat King Cole.

[Laramie]

The Whole country is in a recession and OKC is faring very well compared to Most large cities!Sales tax collections are up in OKC and jobs are on the increase!Try telling Bricktown club,bar,hotel owners that this would not be a good idea!While The city of OKC might not get paid back within 4-5 years, millions of Dollars would be pumped into OKC by nearly 100 Thousand spectators wich inturn increases Tax revenue!Think Long term BIG PICTURE!

It's really sad, when people start talking about fixing every nic and cranny before you do anything to strengthen revenue steams.

I agree, the economic impact of expanding sales tax dollars and the advertising of increasing our city's reputation would far outweight our initial $7 million dollar investment. Just maybe an action of expanded our footprint will help to lure some big company into relocating or expanding into our city.

We have got to become more diverse in sports and offer at least a cafeteria sampling of what our city is about!

[Watson410]

What a joke!! There goes a HUGE opportunity for the city. Oh well, Let's just stay a small city. I mean honestly, who wants worldwide coverage in lil' ole OKC??... Why would we want 100,000 spectators downtown bringing in roughly $40+ million in 3 days??.. not OKC money, money from all over the country. Who really wants that redneck race here anyways?!?! Why do we need people from outside the state coming to OKC that would never consider coming here otherwise. Great decision Council!! Continue the renaissance, continue to think small!!

[Watson410]

It would be interesting if Tulsa gets mentioned as a possible replacement.

I hope Tulsa does get it.... That away I can drive up there for the weekend and spend my money there.

[okcboy]

Sad day for OKC. Hopefully Trent and Brad won't give up.

[dankrutka]

These types of events are risk/reward investments. I believe that the rewards (lots of money pumped into local economy, increased and diverse image for city, possible long term success of event and full repayment...) far outweighed the risks (worst case loss of a few million). OKC made a major mistake not taking a risk and investing in itself.

[soonerguru]

Congrats to our city council! I think they are right on with this vote. I had a deep, bad gut feeling about this Brad Lund-inspired snowjob. The fact that the guy is throwing in the towel tells you everything you need to know: he was a go if the city fronted all the money, but because we won't, he's out. What a jerk. I wish taxpayers would finance my grand fantasies, too. Why can't Brad find other investors, or invest his own money? I realize 7 mill isn't chump change, but it's not much more than small businesspeople spend to build a McDonald's. I wish I could come up with a business plan requiring taxpayers to front all of my upfront risk! Thank God we're not dumb enough to be seduced by this cheap rope-a-dope.

[Steve]

Guys, just wait for tomorrow's paper... some incredible developments ahead. This story has only just begun.

[dmoor82]

^^ Plan B Steve?

[Steve]

Oh, far more interesting than Plan B... this is the kind of intrigue I love... I see lots of stories ahead...

[dmoor82]

Congrats to our city council! I think they are right on with this vote. I had a deep, bad gut feeling about this Brad Lund-inspired snowjob. The fact that the guy is throwing in the towel tells you everything you need to know: he was a go if the city fronted all the money, but because we won't, he's out. What a jerk. I wish taxpayers would finance my grand fantasies, too. Why can't Brad find other investors, or invest his own money? I realize 7 mill isn't chump change, but it's not much more than small businesspeople spend to build a McDonald's. I wish I could come up with a business plan requiring taxpayers to front all of my upfront risk! Thank God we're not dumb enough to be seduced by this cheap rope-a-dope.

^^ Can your fantasies produce 70-100 Thousand spectators?I'm sure The Bricktown Merchants arent dumb!MILLIONS of Dollars of outside money flooded into Bricktown yeah that sounds Dumb!No investor or Company never got anywhere without taking risk's!I respect your opinion but I have to disagree!

[dmoor82]

Oh, far more interesting than Plan B... this is the kind of intrigue I love... I see lots of stories ahead...

^^Crap I'll be in Ardmore tommorow!good thing I have my trusty Blackberry,I'll be looking for The story!

[Taxed But Not Represented]

Oh no Steve, not rumors of political corruption?

[soonerguru]

Guys, just wait for tomorrow's paper... some incredible developments ahead. This story has only just begun.

Tease.


Seriously, it's getting old.

[Steve]

No, no, I'm not teasing. Believe me, this story and where it's going has me absolutely giddy. To be honest, I could care less as to whether OKC gets racing or not. I'm just a mercenary on this one - there's blood in the water ...

[Bunty]

Guys, just wait for tomorrow's paper... some incredible developments ahead. This story has only just begun.

Are Costco and Nordstrom's finally coming?

[Steve]

Um, that's an odd twist in this thread. Tell ya what Bunty - you got me. We've got a scoop about how a combined Nordstoms-Costco store is coming to Oklahoma City. It's going to open up in the old AMC flea market building at NW 10 and Penn.