Austin wants to change the date in 2013
Austin does not want/cannot host both a F1 race and a college football game on the same weekend in 2013. Another change to be anticipated for the 2013 schedule?
Even though the first event in Austin was an undeniable success, F1 is not yet the king sport in the United States. Austin would therefore like to change the date of the 2013 edition as it conflicts with NASCAR and American football.
As this year, the weekend planned for November 17, 2013, corresponds to the last race of the Nascar season, which will take place in Florida. This year, the race in Miami had started halfway through the one held on the Texan circuit, which did not overly disrupt the television audiences in the United States.
Nevertheless, the main problem for the 2013 edition is that the local college football team must also host Oklahoma State on the Saturday night of that same weekend. To put things into context, college sports attract considerable crowds at every event. The Longhorns often play in front of more than 100,000 people, which is 20,000 more than the maximum capacity of the Stade de France…
For comparison, the inaugural event at the Circuit of the Americas managed to gather 117,000 spectators. In this context, hotel capacities, car rentals, restaurants, and other hospitality services could be completely overwhelmed by the combination of two events of this magnitude on the same weekend.
That’s why Bobby Epstein, its president, told the Statesman: « The Circuit of the Americas has expressed its strong preference for a different date for the 2013 race. We understand that it is very difficult to set up a global calendar and it is beyond our control. We are confident that Formula One has taken our concerns into account and is working tirelessly to find a collective solution. But ultimately, our race date for 2013 might remain the same. »
As F1 is not used to making compromises to favor other sports, local leaders may have to find a solution on the other side, namely the regional university sports federation. This may be complicated since the two teams do not have other common available slots. The last solution would be to simply change the match time. If it took place at 2:30 PM, visitors could afford to come see the game without having to stay overnight. However, the economic impact would be significantly less for the city’s tourist infrastructure, which is not the best way to make F1 popular in the United States…
With the participation of www.Racingbusiness.fr
