by WorkingOnIt » Thu Jul 07, 2011 6:19 pm
Last week also saw political/legal victories for the promoters.
When the F1 contract was first announced, it was reported that an important factor was state of Texas support in the form of a $25M per year disbursement from a state major events fund (ie. Bernie could count on being paid). The fund is supposed to be self sustaining - paid for out of increased tax revenue produced by the event. For various reasons, some sincere, some due to political grandstanding, the state involvement has been controversial.
The grandstanding reached an extreme when a state legislator managed to to link impending teacher layoffs with the F1 payment. Ridiculously unrelated events, but that didn't stop national outlets like Bloomberg and Business Week from running with the story.
Texas Taxpayers Finance Formula One Auto Races as Schools Dismiss Teachers
The last two hurdles to receiving the state payment were a requirement of city endorsement and a lawsuit filed to block the state disbursement. The first was completed last week and the second dealt a serious setback.
Austin City Council votes 5-2 to endorse Formula One race
Judge denies F1 opponents' bid to halt state subsidy
The plaintiffs could decide to continue pursuing the lawsuit, but the restraining order that was denied was crucial to their strategy.
The promoters had previously agreed to eliminate any financial risk to Austin due to its endorsement, but sweetened the deal shortly before the city council vote with some "landmark" environmental guarantees:
City: F1 agrees to landmark environmental deal
One effect of promoting the "Strongest Environmental Sustainability Standards for Any Event in Austin History" and "the greenest motor sports facility in the world" is additional pressure to move the date to a cooler time of year - away from state Ozone Action Days.
http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/blog/big-picture/2011/06/austin-formula-one-is-a-go-but-will.html
"
per the agreement U.S. Grand Prix President Steve Sexton told council members that his team will do what they can to move the race to a cooler day."
Last week also saw political/legal victories for the promoters.
When the F1 contract was first announced, it was reported that an important factor was state of Texas support in the form of a $25M per year disbursement from a state major events fund (ie. Bernie could count on being paid). The fund is supposed to be self sustaining - paid for out of increased tax revenue produced by the event. For various reasons, some sincere, some due to political grandstanding, the state involvement has been controversial.
The grandstanding reached an extreme when a state legislator managed to to link impending teacher layoffs with the F1 payment. Ridiculously unrelated events, but that didn't stop national outlets like Bloomberg and Business Week from running with the story.[url=http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-11/texas-taxpayers-finance-formula-one-auto-races-as-schools-dismiss-teachers.html]Texas Taxpayers Finance Formula One Auto Races as Schools Dismiss Teachers[/url]
The last two hurdles to receiving the state payment were a requirement of city endorsement and a lawsuit filed to block the state disbursement. The first was completed last week and the second dealt a serious setback.
[url=http://www.statesman.com/news/local/austin-city-council-votes-5-2-to-endorse-1571390.html]Austin City Council votes 5-2 to endorse Formula One race[/url]
[url=http://www.statesman.com/news/local/judge-denies-f1-opponents-bid-to-halt-state-1576022.html]Judge denies F1 opponents' bid to halt state subsidy[/url]
The plaintiffs could decide to continue pursuing the lawsuit, but the restraining order that was denied was crucial to their strategy.
The promoters had previously agreed to eliminate any financial risk to Austin due to its endorsement, but sweetened the deal shortly before the city council vote with some "landmark" environmental guarantees:
[url=http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/cityhall/entries/2011/06/28/city_f1_agrees_to_landmark_env.html]City: F1 agrees to landmark environmental deal[/url]
One effect of promoting the "Strongest Environmental Sustainability Standards for Any Event in Austin History" and "the greenest motor sports facility in the world" is additional pressure to move the date to a cooler time of year - away from state Ozone Action Days.
[url=http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/blog/big-picture/2011/06/austin-formula-one-is-a-go-but-will.html]http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/blog/big-picture/2011/06/austin-formula-one-is-a-go-but-will.html[/url]
"[i] per the agreement U.S. Grand Prix President Steve Sexton told council members that his team will do what they can to move the race to a cooler day.[/i]"