2009 Canadian GP

[Canada Phil]

An interesting article on the negotiations to save the Canadian GP for 2009.
What a greedy little man.
MONTREAL, Nov 16 (Canadian News Wire) - Gérald Tremblay, Mayor ofMontréal, Raymond Bachand, The Minister of Economic Development, Innovationand Export Trade, Minister of Tourism and Minister responsible for theMontréal region, and the Honourable Christian Paradis, Minister of PublicWorks and Government Services Canada and responsible for the greaterMontreal, have given an update on their efforts with the Formula OneAdministration Limited and its president, Bernie Ecclestone, to keep theCanadian Grand Prix in Montréal."We were constantly guided in our negotiations by principles ofresponsible management. However, despite our endeavours and those of thebusiness community, the unreasonable demands of Formula One exceeded thetaxpayer's ability to pay. I would like to thank my colleagues from thefederal and provincial governments and members of the business community whojoined forces in an attempt to save the Grand Prix. Their concerted effortsattest to Montréal's vitality and could prove an opportunity for creating adevelopment fund for new events of all kinds that would stimulate theeconomy, tourism and employment," said the Mayor of Montréal."Whenever the Grand Prix of Canada needed help from the Government ofQuébec, we were there. We worked very hard over the past few weeks to ensurethere would be a Grand Prix in Montréal, while staying fiscally responsible.We cannot meet Mr. Ecclestone's unworkable demands. Unless he eases hisrequirements and adopts a different approach, there will be no Grand Prix inMontréal in 2009," said Minister Raymond Bachand."This is a loss for Greater Montréal and for all Canadians. The GrandPrix was a window on the world for Montréal and for the rest of Canada. Iwould like to salute my predecessor, the Honourable Michael Fortier, for hisefforts to save this event - efforts that were unfortunately unable to meetthe unrealistic demands of Mr. Ecclestone. As I recently said, 'yes to aGrand Prix, but not at any price,'" said the Honourable Paradis.A bit of historyOn October 7, we learned that the Grand Prix of Canada was no longer onthe 2009 Formula One schedule. Representatives of all three levels ofgovernment became involved at that point in finding ways of ensuring that theevent would be salvaged.On October 23, the three representatives went to London to meet withBernie Ecclestone and discuss the financial situation of the Grand Prix ofCanada.On October 28, the three representatives received a final contract offerfrom Mr. Ecclestone. This offer also required an eventual promoter of theevent to put up a government or bank guarantee of some $175 million over thenext five years.Because of Normand Legault's retirement, the government representativesactively sought a solid promoter who was experienced in organizing majorevents and had the financial capacity to sustain Grand Prix operations.Ultimately, no private promoter expressed interest in taking on such a greatrisk, considering the limited revenue generated by the event.In view of this fact, the government representatives envisioned settingup a non-profit organization (NPO) that would provide a new organizationalstructure.On November 4, another contract proposal based on the creation of such anNPO was sent to Mr. Ecclestone. The proposal included participation from thegovernment and tourist industry valued at some $10 million per year over fiveyears.Despite this fresh constructive proposal, Mr. Ecclestone refused to budgein his demands, particularly with respect to the length of the contract andits financial guarantees. Faced with this intransigence, he was presentedwith an enhanced proposal for the 2009 edition, but Mr. Ecclestone would notalter his position.

[smokie]

Typical Bernie really...trouble is, he will get his revenue elsewhere and won't care about any consequences.

[nopanic - neil]

Surley that will mean no F1 in the whole of North America.

What percentage market does that repesent to car manufactures, across the world?

Bernie has got to be bitten on the bum one day, what with the credit crunch and most car manufactures suffering a huge down turn in sales.  Most of them are not making money. In fact some are looking for govenment hand outs.

The F1 could be in for a few lean years and the who is going to pay for his meagre and pauper life style?

I bet some of the canadians are thinking Greedy little git, eh

[nickliv]

China are looking to back out of their race too. Profitability is an issue.

I can just see Ecclestone sitting in his belgravia mansion vehemently denying the existence of global financial difficulties, just like his friend Max would probably deny that gravity was what was holding him onto the ground.

Although, what with Max being a little deviant, it could be erm, sticky fluids on his shoes, or possibly leather straps doing it instead.

[Robspot]

Typical Bernie really...trouble is, he will get his revenue elsewhere and won't care about any consequences.

He doesn't give a flying f**k about F1. He's only interested in lining his pockets and that means selling to the highest bidder regardless of the impact on F1 fans, F1 teams and car manufacturers. The only thing he will make sure is that Ferrari are always challenging for the title as they have the biggest following of mugs who are prepared to pay exorbitant prices.

I would absolutely love it if Ferrari and Maclaren (and maybe a couple of others) set up their own organisation. Let the stunted little c**t run his desert racing and then let us get back to traditional Grand Prix's at traditional circuits.

On a similar note (although this is probably more to do with the BRDC) we were considering going to Silverstone next year for probably the last EVER British GP but the cheapest weekend enclosure ticket is £219. f**k off! Have they been taken over by Brittany Ferries? I can do the whole of Le Mans for less than that (well only if I don't use Brittany Ferries  ).

[Boorish Grobian]

RSZ hit it on the nose, Bernie couldn't give a rats ass about the sport these days (calling it sport is a stretch).  There may have been a time when he did, but now its all about making money, and as long as he has middle eastern and asian dictators & prince's willing to caugh up millions of their oil dollars, he'll keep moving races to the other side of the planet (at least until their economies go tits up and they can't afford them anymore).  North America is the largest market on the planet for Mercedes, BMW, Honda, Toyota, etc.  How much longer are they going to be putting up with this?
Fax

[Bas]

A shame Bernie and the Quebecois couldn't agree on a deal to keep the GP there.

It's one of the traditional GP's, the only one in NA and Montreal is a great venue to have a GP.
I think back to me attending the 1996 GP there with great pleasure, it had the GP and the Mondial de la Biere in 1 weekend, it doesn't get any better than that 

[Andy Zarse]

  North America is the largest market on the planet for Mercedes, BMW, Honda, Toyota, etc.  How much longer are they going to be putting up with this?
Fax

Good point, maybe Bernie can get some advice from the King of Killing the Golden Goose; I give you Mr Tony George.

Making unrepentant and unreasonable demands is a one way street. The Chinese have pretty much backed out of the game and now so have the Canadians. The British are under notice, and I seem to recall earlier he was making the same "divide and conquer" noises to the French about the awful state of their curcuit (which is truly crap to be fair).

And yet we end up with joke curcuits like Valencia docks and the Singapore night race, which were pathetic races. People will soon get sick of sand racing in Dubai etc and the whole thing will implode in the credit crunch. Well, good! Maybe we can then get back to some honest competition based on real-world budgets from clever and passionate team owners and witness the genuine skill of current crop of amazing world class drivers we seem to be blessed with at the moment; they're as good and talented a bunch as any other past era IMHO.

[Canada Phil]

"What's the difference between Max & Bernie?   ... Max pays others to screw him,  Bernie expects others to pay him to be screwed!"

Phil