Sean O'Gorman
07-10-03, 07:22 PM
A co-worker of mine brought this article to my attention this morning, so I'm posting it here. It is by one of the sports reporters for our local FOX affiliate, and it was published in the Medina County Gazette, which I'd never even heard of before today. His e-mail address is listed at the bottom, so I suggest you all let him know what you think.
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Grand Prix needs miracle to be back
If the Cleveland Grand Prix returns next year, it will be a miracle ranking just below the biblical raising of Lazarus. The Vatican will have to be involved and why not? The race has been dominated by foreigners for over a decade.
The 22nd running of the race was a good effort under the lights Saturday night, but it was a promotional fiasco.
In the first place, there is no promoter. IMG, the sports marketing giant headquartered in downtown Cleveland, quietly turned the race back to CART, the corporation that puts on this open-wheel racing series.
It is the third time IMG has abandoned a race. Previously it promoted races in Detroit and Dallas. Having failed to make them profitable, IMG walked away and both are out of business.
Cleveland's corporate community also has abandoned the race. Twenty years ago Budweiser paid $950,000 for naming rights. It was known far and wide as the Budweiser 500. All that remains of that relationship are faded T-shirts.
When Budweiser dropped out, other title sponsors signed up for brief periods of time at decreasing prices until this year when there was no title sponsor at all.
The Chalet Village had more vacancies than tenants this year. Since the turn of the century corporate sponsorships of chalets plummeted by 80 percent. A head counter at one entrance to the Chalet Village said that 5,000 passed through his entrance on race day last year.
This year only 900 came by. In previous years the chalet complex was like a small city. Harlan Diamond of Executive Caterers provided a royal banquet for corporate guests in palatial white tents. This year it resembled a boy scout overnight camp out.
Harlan Diamond was replaced by a hot dog roast. Nevertheless, hoping to resuscitate the race here, CART turned it into a night race at considerable cost. Figures are not readily available, but the light bill had to be approaching a million dollars.
But nobody checked the NASCAR schedule.
The race was not on live television anywhere — not on network TV and not even on Speed Channel — because it would have been ratings suicide to compete against NASCAR's Firecracker 400 from Daytona live on NBC.
The Cleveland Grand Prix was played on tape Sunday afternoon.
The announced attendace of 58,000 was a gross canard. Previous promoters confided that the race never drew that many people on its best day.
I'll estimate, based on crowds at high school games, that 30,000 people actually turned out for the race under the lights. The bleachers were smaller than in past years. The sections on the far ends were about the size of the home bleachers at Lutheran West High School.
Casual fans usually try it once or twice, but frankly, what woman wants to sit in a porta-potty where the temperature rises to 120 degrees?
What guy wants to use one? It is a tough night out.
Open wheel racing generally is in trouble in this country. The drivers are strangers. Here in Cleveland only three of 19 drivers were Americans.
There were as many Brazilians as Americans. There were as many Mexicans. It's tough to get interested in a guy you never heard of before. There were seven rookies in Saturday night's race.
Name one.
The series is so un-American, that when the race actually got on the air Sunday, the two announcers were former English race drivers.
This may sound flippant and crass, but a little danger might heighten the drama. Runner-up Paul Tracy said that after the race his hands hurt from gripping the steering wheel.
In the meantime, they're bouncing off walls in NASCAR and the only accent you hear in the pits is a southern twang.
Coughlin may be reached at sports@ohio.net.
-------------------------------------------------
Grand Prix needs miracle to be back
If the Cleveland Grand Prix returns next year, it will be a miracle ranking just below the biblical raising of Lazarus. The Vatican will have to be involved and why not? The race has been dominated by foreigners for over a decade.
The 22nd running of the race was a good effort under the lights Saturday night, but it was a promotional fiasco.
In the first place, there is no promoter. IMG, the sports marketing giant headquartered in downtown Cleveland, quietly turned the race back to CART, the corporation that puts on this open-wheel racing series.
It is the third time IMG has abandoned a race. Previously it promoted races in Detroit and Dallas. Having failed to make them profitable, IMG walked away and both are out of business.
Cleveland's corporate community also has abandoned the race. Twenty years ago Budweiser paid $950,000 for naming rights. It was known far and wide as the Budweiser 500. All that remains of that relationship are faded T-shirts.
When Budweiser dropped out, other title sponsors signed up for brief periods of time at decreasing prices until this year when there was no title sponsor at all.
The Chalet Village had more vacancies than tenants this year. Since the turn of the century corporate sponsorships of chalets plummeted by 80 percent. A head counter at one entrance to the Chalet Village said that 5,000 passed through his entrance on race day last year.
This year only 900 came by. In previous years the chalet complex was like a small city. Harlan Diamond of Executive Caterers provided a royal banquet for corporate guests in palatial white tents. This year it resembled a boy scout overnight camp out.
Harlan Diamond was replaced by a hot dog roast. Nevertheless, hoping to resuscitate the race here, CART turned it into a night race at considerable cost. Figures are not readily available, but the light bill had to be approaching a million dollars.
But nobody checked the NASCAR schedule.
The race was not on live television anywhere — not on network TV and not even on Speed Channel — because it would have been ratings suicide to compete against NASCAR's Firecracker 400 from Daytona live on NBC.
The Cleveland Grand Prix was played on tape Sunday afternoon.
The announced attendace of 58,000 was a gross canard. Previous promoters confided that the race never drew that many people on its best day.
I'll estimate, based on crowds at high school games, that 30,000 people actually turned out for the race under the lights. The bleachers were smaller than in past years. The sections on the far ends were about the size of the home bleachers at Lutheran West High School.
Casual fans usually try it once or twice, but frankly, what woman wants to sit in a porta-potty where the temperature rises to 120 degrees?
What guy wants to use one? It is a tough night out.
Open wheel racing generally is in trouble in this country. The drivers are strangers. Here in Cleveland only three of 19 drivers were Americans.
There were as many Brazilians as Americans. There were as many Mexicans. It's tough to get interested in a guy you never heard of before. There were seven rookies in Saturday night's race.
Name one.
The series is so un-American, that when the race actually got on the air Sunday, the two announcers were former English race drivers.
This may sound flippant and crass, but a little danger might heighten the drama. Runner-up Paul Tracy said that after the race his hands hurt from gripping the steering wheel.
In the meantime, they're bouncing off walls in NASCAR and the only accent you hear in the pits is a southern twang.
Coughlin may be reached at sports@ohio.net.