Portland race confirmed until 2007

[Muzza]

Fellows,


I just heard from a source within OWRS that an agreement was reached between that entity and the administration of the Portland International Raceway ensuring a Champ Car race in the track until 2007 (three-year contract). An official announcement will be made tomorrow.

The contract contains clauses that effective prevent IRL of running a race in that track - at least not before 2008.

The same person said that there are no plans for an additional event in Canada and that Calgary has never been discussed. OWRS focus is to be able keep its hold on the races in Toronto, Vancouver and Montréal. It is believed that the IRL is going to make a bid on Montréal. Mosport is being kept as an alternative (personally I don't think Mosport, in its present shape, is safe enough for Champ Cars).


Muzza

[Brian W Keske]

Originally posted by Muzza
Fellows,


I just heard from a source within OWRS that an agreement was reached between that entity and the administration of the Portland International Raceway ensuring a Champ Car race in the track until 2007 (three-year contract). An official announcement will be made tomorrow.

The contract contains clauses that effective prevent IRL of running a race in that track - at least not before 2008.

PIR does have an opt-out clause if the race does not hit a target revenue amount. Sorry for the spelling of the link, that should be Oregonian



Origonian

[macdaddy]

That's a good read, Brian. Very interesting stuff.

In order to make any kind of a profit in 2005, much less the projected $1.5M, Francesconi was right when he said, "It will require all of us, working very hard, to do it." But it's obvious that the City wants CC, and CC wants the event, so I'm confident that nobody will opt out of the contract unless something very drastic happens.

It's great to see the city of Portland rallying behind ChampCar like this. And it's great to see Tres Hombres making things happen!

The fact that ChampCar is paying fees to PIR, that makes it a track-rental, no? The fees nearly quadrouple from 05-06, from 30K to 110K.

Muzza...
Perhaps talks with/about Calgary have broken off, but I hope you're wrong on this one! I was looking forward to a fourth Canadian race!
From an article by Dean McNulty of the Toronto Sun, posted by Molsonboy on July 8:

Paul Gentilozzi:
"We are looking at every avenue that will help our series grow. It's certainly possible that a fourth Canadian race could be held in Western Canada."

"We enjoy a unique relationship with many of our sponsors in that they can use our races as launch pads for their own business ventures and the Canadian marketplace is a fertile one of these kinds of deals."

"For us, cities like Calgary, Winnipeg and Edmonton are not just Canadian cities but North American cities that represent valuable markets for our racing series."

"We want to look at cities that, No. 1, welcome us and, No. 2, that we can do business with."

[Uesque]

If they follow the Denver model for promotion, everyone should be fine on revenue.

[Snrub]

If Pat goes to the IRL for next year, I think it would bolster their bid for Montreal. It's interesting that the IRL how obvious the IRL is willing to be.

[Cowboy]

Originally posted by Snrub
It's interesting that the IRL how obvious the IRL is willing to be.

Uuumm, What ?

[Snrub]

Me fail english? That's unpossible!

[The Snout]

If it can't hit target revenue, we don't want the race anyway. Harsh but how it is.