F1 vs. Nascar vs. Superbowl

I am having fun talking cars at work these days.

I own a mortgage company and call on any number of builders and realtors. Lately I've been able to talk to groups of them about the impact F1 will have on the area and how Texas is being promoted worldwide in the news.

There's been a lot of talk in the news about the Superbowl since Dallas is hosting one pretty soon and it seems that most cities lose money to host one which got me to wondering if anyone knows any figures about how much money Nascar/F1/Superbowl is worth?

On a Nascar/F1/Superbowl weekend what is the impact in a given area? Which one produces more money? How about long term effects?

If I work it right I can talk cars for weeks to come and have even more fun.

i'd guess that in the USA, NASCAR probably has the biggest positive economic impact on a race weekend just due to the sheer numbers of people that are involved. and a lot of the tracks have 2 races a year, which means 2X the immediate economic impact. the bigger tracks hold something like 250,000 people- hell, even the smallest track, Bristol, holds 160,000 people. even with the lower turnouts of the last couple of years, they still pull in a LOT of people, and those people spend a LOT of money while they are there. how many people does the biggest football stadium hold? 90,000 or something like that? how many people pay to see an F1 race?

I'm guessing in America Nascar does make more than F1, but then again we don't really have an F1 race here now. I never heard how F1 compared to the 500 when it was at Indy. Since the Indy is an institution I'd say F1 came out on the short end of the stick but by how much?

My only experience with the Superbowl is all the talk about how much it costs, not how much it makes. The Superbowl is a tough sell to most cities. It does take tax dollars to support it.

The downunder F1 race in Melbourne is a huge money maker, but in diverse ways.....tourism, food, hotels, promotions, parties, spectators, support classes, however I suspect the local government loses on it, but the general revenue more than makes up for this loss

I would say Indy USGP easily won out just in 5 star hotel bookings.

Indianapolis 500 probably wins on money made only because they make a whole month ordeal out of it.

maroon92 wrote: I would say Indy USGP easily won out just in 5 star hotel bookings. Indianapolis 500 probably wins on money made only because they make a whole month ordeal out of it.

actually, i think the Indy 'ordeal' is only like 2 weeks now.

I don't know if there's any "go-to" source that provides income vs investment numbers.

Keep in mind that a large number of F1 races are state-sponsored and the intent is to bring international prestige, not (necessarily) money to the track. Costs to build a track and run a race are bankrolled through governments.

All tracks hosting a GP have to pay a sanctioning fee which is generally in the 30-40 milliom(USD) price range. Broadcast rights are the exclusive possession of F1 and the FIA - nothing goes to the track. Costs can be reduced if the event has a title-sponsor.

Indy (allegedly) paid a much lower fee because the little troll, the FIA and the sponsors/manufacturers wanted to race in the US. The Speedway (like some others) only made/make money on ticket sales and concessions.

Yes, there is the benefit of tourist-based revenue, but only the state of Indiama or the city of Indianopolis might have the necessary financial numbers. They would have the statistics (relative to sales tax income) derived around the time races have been held.. Hospitality, food and retail suppliers would be the biggest beneficiaries, but they won't survive on stand-alone events.

I live in the Atlanta area and experienced the euphoria and hype of hosting the Olympics. Fifteen years later there are monuments to extravagant plans, huge budgets and stupid/dishonest politicians allied with naive/crooked entrepeneurs - those monuments are showcased by empty lots, crime-ridden venues or fenced-off, cobweb ridden and unused buildings.

Hosting the USGP might be great fun, but don't put too much into the idea of making a lot money at the local level - my.02$...........

I'm no expert here, but I do remember reading in the Indy Star one year that the USf1 race there made more money for the local economy then NASCAR by huge amounts. It seems the F1 crowd spends more while they are there. I think Indy fell between the two with F1 taking the local economy crown. The speedway makes more money on NASCAR so take you pick.

The first year we went to the GP at Indy we flew into the airport more or less next door to the speedway. You had to have a landing time window appointment of 15 minutes, if you missed it you were out of luck and had to land elsewhere traffic was so stiff. Once we landed we looked like the Beverly Hillbillies even though we had a very nice turbo prop. Gulf Streams and Lears were everywhere. We where only one of a few prop planes even on the property. If you fly in there for a Nascar race it's a totally different story.

racerdave600 wrote: If you fly in there for a Nascar race it's a totally different story.

Most of those guys drive their twin prop in on top of a converted school bus.

John Brown wrote:

racerdave600 wrote: If you fly in there for a Nascar race it's a totally different story.

Most of those guys drive their twin prop in on top of a converted school bus.

you say that as if it's bad thing.

if i remember correctly. here in nh i think the 2 cup weekend are worth somewere around 2-3 million each. i live about 15 min from the track in loudon and that number wouldnt shock me in the least.

In reply to carguy123:

Contact Bruton Smith. NASCAR, NHRA, AMA,GRAND-AM,...promoter and multiple track owner..

When the Superbowl came to Detroit, the city estimated it brought in $300 million. Other people estimated that the city was counting money several times, and that the actual amount that came in was only about $30-90 million. Ex: a guy from Pittsburgh came here and spent $100 at 5 different restaurants ($500 total), those 5 restaurants spent $80 each of that money at their suppliers ($400 total), those suppliers then in turn paid half to their employees ($200 total), who then spent half at local merchants($100 total), so that $500 actually had a $1200 economic impact ($500+400+200+100). The question is, how far along do you follow the money? If one of the restaurants in Detroit spends $50 for fish for the quarterback's dinner from an east coast fisherman, and that east coast fisherman then buys a new Ford, does that $50 count as having left Detroit, or does it count as coming back to Detroit?

And then there are studies that show that large sporting events actually crowd out a lot of business that would have happened anyways, and cities actually lose business when the Superbowl is in town compared with other years.

Superbowl Economics

I think doing a direct comparison is just too difficult, but I'll take a wild guess. I'm going to guess that the Superbowl brings in the most money. My reasoning is that the Superbowl ends up being a weeklong party with tickets getting priced well beyond face value, events running all week, huge parties thrown by celebrities, temporary stores and clubs opening up around the venue (at least in Detroit), etc. All of the hotels get filled up so much that people end up renting out their houses for several thousand for a week, or people stay in a hotel a couple hours away and drive in for the event. Nascar and F1 races just can't compare to that.

Bob

A lot of us have talked about this today and one thing stood out. We are situated close to TMS and the only impact we notice when there is a Nascar race is a little more traffic near the track. The restaurants aren't crowded, shops aren't crowded, but we don't know about hotels, make that motels for the Nascar crowd.

In other words any impact Nascar has on the region is very slight or very specialized. I can't imagine F1 being so benign an impact.

When we have the Superbowl the traffic will kill you. Where the stadium is located it is impossible to have a quick drive to it when there isn't a game on, I'd be scared to go there when there was an event. Now by Superbowl time hopefully there will be some more completed feeder roads.

I would be willing to bet that overall F1 has the biggest worldwide monetary impact. basically superbowl and nascar are US focused

I had heard that f1 show brought Multiple millions of revenue to montreal on the F1 weekend and the place is frieken mobbed you cant get a nice hotel unless you book like 9 months in advance