 EDMONTON — The 2008 Rexall Edmonton Indy was a hit with fans and race car drivers, but it was a financial wreck.
The July 26 race, which marked the Edmonton debut of the Indy Racing League, lost a whopping $5.3 million according to an event summary released Wednesday by Edmonton Northlands, the event operator.
The report said the City of Edmonton has committed to “financially backstop the Rexall Edmonton Indy for three years and offset any losses from the race (or share in any profits).”
Northlands general manager Ken Knowles said the 2009 budget is being finalized and he would not comment on its bottom line. However, a racing source said there is no chance the race will make a profit this year, but it is highly unlikely the race will come close to losing what it did in 2008.
“Obviously, we hope to make a significant improvement in that,” said Northlands president Jerry Bouma.
“We were really behind the eight-ball last year. First of all, the event changed from Champ Car to the IRL. It was a bigger, more expensive event.”
After running races in Edmonton for three years, Champ Car merged with the IRL in early 2008, but the Edmonton race wasn’t officially an IRL event until May 25. That’s the day a three-year deal between Northlands and the IRL was signed at the Indianapolis 500.
Northlands was therefore at a serious disadvantage in terms of selling tickets and gathering corporate sponsorship. The time constraint would explain, at least in part, the $3 million revenue shortfall detailed in the event summary. It also listed a further $1 million in added expenditures relating to increased television broadcast fees and costs. The original budget called for a $1.3 million operating deficit.
“I like to think of it as an investment of $5.3 million,” said Knowles. “The exposure that the city got and the race got, how do you quantify that?”
In an economic-impact study commissioned by Northlands, it was determined that the race had an impact of more than $80 million in Alberta and the Edmonton area.
“The real issue here is this is an event that can take Edmonton to the next level,” said Bouma. “It’s going to take time and investment to build it, but this has real stature to it. We’ve had one year at it. Let’s let it grow.”(edmontonjournal) |
