Money On Track

What is racing worth?

John Newman

• JohnNewman

We are told that the big sporting jamborees that are organised by promotion companies and often supported by government and local authorities have a positive effect on national and local economies. But like so many other complexities in the world it's hard to know if this is true, especially when it comes to the billion dollar projects such as the Olympics, the football World Cup, and car Formula One rounds.

In our sport it's Moto GP and World Superbikes that appear to be the big earners for the promoters. The TV rights figures alone will appear with lots of noughts on the end of the total, no matter what currency it's calculated in.
It undoubtedly costs a bundle to stage a Moto GP round with circuit maintenance and safety, policing, staff and administration costs, and that's before the money borne by the teams is added on.
The French motorcycle weekly, Moto Journal, recently had a stab at calculating the financial gains to a circuit's local economy, by looking at what is generated by fans attending the French Moto GP round at Le Mans (it's from May 15th - 17th this year).
€2,500,000 – spent by the local organiser
€400,000 – spent by local service companies
€1,500,000 – on local hotel accommodation (6,000 guests)
€600,000 – food over the three days
€240,000 – local miscellaneous (fuel, road tolls etc)
€3,000,000 – spent locally by some 40,000 campers
€1,360,000 – spent locally by 34,000 other spectators

Almost €10,000,000 generated by the race in these broad categories. There will be other spends such as public transport and taxis, so all in all a 'nice little earner' as they say. No surprise then that Spain likes to host four rounds.
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