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#1 DrkLts

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Posted 31 January 2008 - 08:38 AM

TMS, Fort Worth experience bumpy ride
By MIKE LEEStar-Telegram Staff Writer


FORT WORTH -- The dispute over mineral rights at Texas Motor Speedway is only the latest scrape between the track's owners and city officials.

Documents and e-mails from the past year show speedway officials have complained about Fort Worth's promotion of racing events, freeway access and police overtime. Speedway President Eddie Gossage and other speedway officials have mentioned moving races out of the speedway three times in the past year, including one flat-out declaration during a public hearing.

Gossage said Wednesday that those hints aren't what they appear.

"Let me just be clear: We're proud to be in Fort Worth," he said. "I expect to be here personally in another 20 years."

Fort Worth officials had complaints about TMS, largely their belief that the speedway could do more to promote the city. Councilman Sal Espino wrote to Gossage in April to gripe that TV commentators had said the speedway is in Dallas.

Mayor Mike Moncrief, in Phoenix with the city's Super Bowl delegation, did not respond to several requests for comment this week. Espino, who oversees the nonprofit corporation that owns the speedway, struck a conciliatory note Wednesday.

"We are continuing to dialogue with Texas Motor Speedway in hopes of reaching a mutually beneficial agreement," he said.

Gossage said he has only considered moving races out of the speedway once. That was when the Texas Department of Transportation came out with plans to widen Texas 114 that would have funneled all the speedway's traffic through a one-lane off-ramp.

"It would have put us out of business," he said.

In early October, though, the owner of the speedway's parent company threatened to move races out of Lowe's Motor Speedway outside Charlotte, N.C. Gossage e-mailed Moncrief and Espino stories from the Charlotte Observer about the dispute. Speedway Motorsports President Bruton Smith eventually settled his differences with North Carolina officials and the races stayed put.

Gossage said in an interview Wednesday that he was only trying to keep the city leaders informed and to stress the importance of residential growth around the track.

At the end of October, Gossage sent a series of e-mails asking whether the city and the Convention and Visitors Bureau are doing enough to promote the upcoming races.

"NASCAR has made it clear to me -- and told both the mayor and Councilman Espino -- that it expects the city to do everything it plans for the Super Bowl every time a NASCAR race comes to town if we want it to continue to come here," he said. "We've got to act now and know that NASCAR is keeping a scorecard on us."

Gossage said Wednesday that he was conveying what officials at NASCAR told him.

"That's not us talking about moving races," he said. "The races are awarded on an annual basis ... what I'm trying to do is push the city, the CVB, the chamber to do things like they're doing for the Super Bowl."

Until the fall, the issues were being discussed cordially. Gossage offered race tickets and helicopter tours to council members to show the traffic problems. But a Star-Telegram report about the dispute over the gas drilling rights from the speedway property added to the bad feelings.

"It's race weekend and the lead story in the FWST is a negative story generated from Fort Worth City Hall, " Gossage wrote Nov. 2, the day the report appeared. "We deserve an explanation and an apology."

That dispute remains unresolved. Smith's company, Speedway Motorsports Inc., built the speedway in the mid-1990s and turned it over to a city-controlled corporation, the Fort Worth Sports Authority. Smith's company has the option to buy the speedway back after 20 years. But for the time being, the 1,450 acres is owned by the city, which has been leasing the mineral rights to city property.

It's not clear how much money is at stake. Estimates by the speedway put the total at $14 million to $17 million, in part because some previous owners kept mineral rights.

Just four days after the report appeared, attorney Jim Schell was removed from the Sports Authority board after Moncrief received a complaint from fellow board member Donna Parker that Schell had disclosed the negotiations in "the public media."

Former City Councilman Jim Lane, who was president of the Sports Authority, said he believes Schell was removed because he advocated the city try to retain the mineral-rights money.

On Wednesday, Schell said that Gossage and the speedway should not be able to get both a property-tax exemption and mineral rights.

Having the Sports Authority own the land saves the speedway millions of dollars annually in property taxes.

"If they want to own the land, fine, then own it and get the mineral rights. But you would not have the tax benefits," he said. "It needs to be decided, no matter who's right or wrong. Sitting in limbo is, in my judgment, the worst thing from the city's standpoint."

The speedway's position was made clear Nov. 2, when Smith told reporters, "We're not going to share our gas."

Gossage said the city does own the land and mineral rights. But he said Speedway Motorsports leases both the land and the mineral rights.

Lane said Gossage and Smith have used aggressive tactics since the speedway began construction.

"They threatened to pull out at the beginning, close the project down and not go forward," he said.

Lane noted that Speedway Motorsports' lease requires it to stage a certain number of events each year.

"It's a great money-maker for Fort Worth, and it's been an obvious success for them," Lane said. "They need to sit down and discuss the oil and gas revenue in public."

Full S-T Article

#2 DrkLts

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Posted 31 January 2008 - 08:53 AM

What's up with Fort Worth and sports? I forgot what happened to the Flyers, but we lost the Brahmas because the city didnt want to deal with them. Ok, whatever. Thing is, this Nascar thing is a big time money maker for this city and we can't ever see eye-to-eye with TMS!

The article mentioned (I didnt copy the complaints timeline) we have more support for Arlington and it's super bowl...

"June 6: Shortly after Arlington is announced as host of the 2011 Super Bowl, Gossage e-mails Moncrief saying that the Fort Worth Convention and Visitors Bureau left the speedway out of its promotional materials: "We're looking for the FWCVB to step up and support us -- your hometown venue that brings TWO super bowls a year to Fort Worth -- in the same manner as the FWCVB supports the Super Bowl in another city, Arlington." --FW Star-Telegram

Hey, we keep cheering for our lil' bro Arlington, and they'll relocate to that city just like the Cowboys!!! lol rolleyes.gif

Also, the article mentions the track is city owned? So why can't the city just rename it Fort Worth Motor Speedway??? At least during whats left of the 20yrs that we have as the city owns it.

Man oh man, if this wasn't COWTOWN, would we still have rodeo events??? lmao! rotflmao.gif

#3 Dcurtis

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Posted 31 January 2008 - 09:00 AM

Fort Worth has a history of shooting itself in the foot. FW should have insisted TMS be FWTMS. Face it, you can talk about museums all you want to, but most americans couldn't name a museum if you paid them. Fort Worth also has no major sports franchises, so you would think a major sports facility like the speedway would have been the major chance for a city that so many people have never heard of to get some serious name recognition. So we get TEXAS Motor Speedway. Then Fort Worth has the audacity to cry when everyone thinks the speedway is in Dallas!!! Most people think FW is in Dallas!! So the city only has itself to blame for that. How many races go on at the speedway anyway? I'm not a race fan, but it seems like you don't hear about much going on there. I'ld rather have a sports team and an arena.

#4 JBB

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Posted 31 January 2008 - 10:10 AM

As far as events that count, it's a 3 weekend a year facility. 1 IRL weekend and 2 for NASCAR. And they're not going to move any events from this track. That is transparent posturing at its finest. TMS is probably the most financially successful track outside of Indianapolis and Daytona. They went to court to get a second Nextel Cup race. They're not going to give it up over an ego showdown.

#5 JKC

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Posted 04 February 2008 - 02:01 PM

i don't really think it is useful to try to compare the races to a superbowl. One because there's no comparison and two because it is reasonable to be sure that the races are being properly supported. I do have a question as to whether that support should be in the form of initial incentives to get them here and started vs. ongoing operational marketing support. But I suspect a good independent study of impact might be a good starting point.

Based on the stats that were given last night, the Superbowl in Glendale had more economic impact here than a race here just due to avocado sales!

#6 cjyoung

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Posted 04 February 2008 - 02:49 PM

QUOTE (Dcurtis @ Jan 31 2008, 09:00 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Fort Worth has a history of shooting itself in the foot. FW should have insisted TMS be FWTMS.


Si! The thought crosses my mind everytime I pass TMS.


#7 dustin

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Posted 04 February 2008 - 07:36 PM

i really dont think that there is a comparison to Super Bowls and TMS races. I mean, when over 90 million watched the SuperBowl and around 30 million watched the Daytona 500, that is a pretty big visibility difference. That also doesnt even take into consideration that the Daytona 500 is significantly more popular than the Dickies 500 or the Samsung 500. The live attendance for the two is a different story, but the impressions from the telecast is probably just as valuable. Beyond that, the media coverage is also massively different. When was the last time every major media outlet spent a week covering every little detail of any NASCAR race.

TMS is definitely a major economic engine in FW, but the city and CVB give lots of attention to TMS. Everyone could always use a little more attention, but to downplay the significance of the Super Bowl doesnt really hold a lot of water.

#8 safly

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Posted 04 February 2008 - 10:09 PM

It's basically SUPER BOWL or BUST!
COWTOWN! Get your TIP ON!
www.iheartfw.com

#9 JKC

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Posted 07 February 2008 - 04:39 PM

QUOTE (safly @ Feb 5 2008, 12:09 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
It's basically SUPER BOWL or BUST!


Exactly!





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