Quote:
Originally Posted by chillibowl
one would hope that they have a plan in place to borrow the money in case the state backs out. if their numbers are to be believed (even half believed) then they should have no problem securing the additional funds and in the end may be able to secure a better deal from BE (something comparable to Montreal's sanction fees) because they are on their own and F1 needs a race in the USA.
|
No chance of getting a better deal from Bernie now. That ship has sailed.
The way that Montreal got a better deal ($15M/year vs. Austin's $25-30M/year) was to call Bernie's bluff when he tried to triple their rights fee after the 2008 race. Montreal told Bernie they could live without F1 and so they lost the race in 2009.
A year later, under pressure from the teams and the falling popularity of races in nontraditional locations, Bernie realized that F1 needed Montreal more than Montreal needed F1 and so he had to give Montreal the same deal ($15M/year) that it had offered during the negotiations in 2008. I think it's the only time in Bernie's life that he lost a negotiation.
Now that the track is under construction and the investors have sunk a lot of money into it, Bernie has them in his pocket. Presumably, he also has a contract stating that his rights fee will be $25-30M. The exact number is not sure because it's not clear if Bernie gets just the $25M from the state or the $25M plus the $4M from the city or the promoter.