Originally Posted by 767:
Because mile tracks put on such great racing, you guys should just go build a track to solve this problem! I'm sure fans will flock to your venue week after week 
Has anyone done the math on this thing? $92,000 purse. At $25 per ticket, takes 3,680 people just to break even. Lets be honest that number is going to be hard to pull off. Hats off on the guys picking up strong sponsors in this tough economy. I am very impressed by this purse. As others have said, there were 25 cars in the spring. I predict there will be 37 cars for this event. For this kind of money, you will see new chassis built. Look how impressive the 19 team was at the last race. For what it is worth, I don't care 1 bit if the race is on dirt or pavement as long as they are racing!
Let me see if I have this straight. I'll do a little MORE math:
For the sake of argument, let us say the track owner is in this event for that amount - $92K. Let us also say the ticket price will remain firm - $25.
The owner will more than likely attempt to find sponsorship of this race from somewhere. For example, Federated Auto Parts. Say they throw in enough sponsor $$$ to make it the Federated Auto Parts 100. This cuts down the track owner's amount thrown into the purse. Federated puts up signs, gives away can coolers, etc., and goes the advertisement way, maybe gets a cut of the t-shirt money for their name/logo is on the shirt, which is how I assume business advertising works - for the most part.
3680 people were required at $92K to break even. If you cut that required number of fans to 3000, you are bringing the track owner's portion of the purse down to $75K. So to make the math work, Federated Auto Parts will have to pony up $17K. That's a lot. Good luck with THAT.
Now maybe you can get Hoosier Tire or VP Fuel to throw in a few thou and chop Federated's overhead for this race down a bit. What are Hoosier and VP getting in return? Maybe a few more smaller sponsors can kick in? Any way it is sliced up, we are still targeting $17K to cover the fans count of only 3000 - down 680 from 3680.
The math IS staggering, I must say, 767.
But if you can get all of the fans to spend $5 at the concession stands, our target fan base is now down to 2500 to break even (with the $17K from the sponsors).
My head is starting to hurt thinking about this. Thanks for bringing these figures to the forefront of this topic. The numbers are definitely sobering.
Chiming in live from the West Coast of Michigan.... Mike
