Can we really pull off the F1 race? (Dallas, Austin: sales, hotels)

[cBach]

I've been thinking about this for a while. With the F1 race coming next month and the hundreds of thousands of tourists, are we prepared to handle the crowds and to help the world realize how great of a city we really are?

There's a lot at stake and if we botch this, foreign newspapers around the world will bash us. If we make this succeed, we will get great international exposure.

So, Can we pull this off? I'll post a poll with this.

[cBach]

Also please describe your reasons for your vote.

[EzPeterson]

If indeed 100's of thousands show up, it would be considered a smashing success. F1 has always battled problems bringing a decent crowd in the states, mainly due to a lack of decent facilities.

I doubt we'll see 100's of thousands, but definitely 10's of thousands. Austin has handled crows of this nature for SXSW and ACL, and I don't see this being too different. Will there be traffic snarls and out of control parties? Maybe. Will it casue newspapers worldwide to bash Austin, I doubt it.

[cBach]

An example of a city failing at hosting an event was Dallas when they hosted the Superbowl a few years ago. Media worldwide bashed them. But I don't think the same fate will befall us.

[EzPeterson]

Two things hit there:

1. Ice/Snow storm, basically freak weather that they didn't have any backup plan for (Most of the surrounding events were set up outdoors). Don't see that happening here.

2. The game was in Arlington, everything else was in Dallas. Add the weather, no shuttles, and everything went to hell in a handbasket.

And a third thing - the media loves to jump on Jerry Jones.

[south side chap]

As a European, I would venture to suggest that it would have to be a disaster of epic proportions, on a very quiet news day, for this to make any kind of headline news anywhere outside of the US. Coverage will be in the sports pages only. No one will be bashing Austin, I won't let 'em. Usually when things go pear-shaped it's Bernie Ecclestone that gets it in the neck.

The British Grand Prix weekend this "summer" was hit by heavy rain, which waterlogged the grass parking lots. Still, 127,000 attended race day and no doubt most had a great, if muddy, time.

I'm still puzzled by the necessity of closing 28 downtown blocks for 1 week to allow for festivities. Seems a bit OTT to me. The British race was held at Silverstone, which is a village (population two men and a dog). It's something like 30 miles from the nearest town of any size (Milton Keynes - population, I'm guessing, 200,000). My point being that not all races, and there are twenty of them this year, are like Monaco - all glitzy yachts, fancy hotels and helicopters. I'm sure that the out of towners would find plenty to do in Austin without F1 Fest or whatever it is being billed as.


What is interesting is that there is every possibility that the Driver's championship will still be up for grabs even though Austin is the 19th race out of twenty. Two drivers, Vettel and Alonso are currently a mere 6 points apart in the driver's standings. It's not always that exciting at the end of an F1 season.

I'm as sure as I can be that the Grand Prix will be just fine, although if traffic bedlam around the course is avoided I would be very surprised.

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by south side chap

I'm still puzzled by the necessity of closing 28 downtown blocks for 1 week to allow for festivities. Seems a bit OTT to me.

They're not. That was a misleading headline. It's a total of 28 blocks affected at one time or another during the festivities, but different ones on different days.

I'm as sure as I can be that the Grand Prix will be just fine, although if traffic bedlam around the course is avoided I would be very surprised.

First time out, there will be headaches, unanticipated issues. But I do not foresee any showstoppers.

[south side chap]

[quote=OpenD;26523908]They're not. That was a misleading headline. It's a total of 28 blocks affected at one time or another during the festivities, but different ones on different days.



Open,

Thanks for the clarification. It makes a bit more sense now. Silly me for only reading the headlines.

[atxcio]

A week before last, I attended the UT/WVU game. That game had a record attendance of something over 101K (don't remember the exact number, but it was a record). Getting to the stadium was a non-issue. Traffic was fine, a little heavy but nothing bad. Getting out, especially since the game was competitive until nearly the end, was noticably worse. But still, a little extra wait in the shuttle line and a bit longer in traffic amounted to maybe 30-40 mins longer than normal.

Then, this past weekend ACL happened. Also record attendance, 75K+ (not sure the number). I didn't go, but I can't say I even noticed the event was in town traffic wise. I guess SoCo was slightly more full.

Anyway, just the past couple of weeks -- not to mention events like SXSW, ROT Rally, Texas Relays, etc -- tell me that Austin will be able to handle F1. I don't think 120K on race day will be an issue, and we don't even really know if there will be that many folks. GA ticket sales were capped at some unknown number, and the grandstands (both temporary and permanent) only hold somewhere between 65k and 75k and there are still tickets available. So it could just be 100K, or it could be 120K. But it probably won't be anywhere near 150K.

Regarding the weather: An ice storm in Nov would be incredibly rare. It would be the equivalent of a tornado hitting Austin during SXSW. Rain could be an issue, but I think they have planned for that.

[Austinite101]

I think that Austin can handle it. I look forward to event day (: