IMS on the Sales Block?

[Blancvino]

Read it on AR1 today. But a few weeks back I heard from a couple of fairly well placed Indianapolis sources (lawyer friends) the sisters want to sell the facility for the money and don't give a hoot about the place. At the time I dismissed it as rumor mongering.

In my view, this is a bad idea. No one will care for the place like the Hulman family.

Anyone else hearing "stuff"? Does this "story" have any legs?

Who would buy it if it did sell?

[SarahFan]

http://www.versus.com/nw/article/vie...uce_martin.tpl



^recent story from bruce martin has direct quotes from one of the sisters about the future of the IRL and IMS etc...


of coarse Versus has claimed 30 million viewers for the season when the #'s clearly equal closer to 3 or 4......


but cant see them selling the golden egg.... the IRL sure.... IMS, just cant imagine why they would

[Blancvino]

http://www.versus.com/nw/article/vie...uce_martin.tpl



^recent story from bruce martin has direct quotes from one of the sisters about the future of the IRL and IMS etc...


of coarse Versus has claimed 30 million viewers for the season when the #'s clearly equal closer to 3 or 4......


but cant see them selling the golden egg.... the IRL sure.... IMS, just cant imagine why they would

I hope they are not really entertaining this "crazy" notion.

I would not have brought this up if I did not see a rumor on AR1 site to this effect. It just got me rethinking about what two friends said (over drinks). They both are lawyers and if they were directly involved they would be bound by Client/Attorney privileges, that's why I was dismissive about it at the time.

[Lousada]

http://www.versus.com/nw/article/vie...uce_martin.tpl



^recent story from bruce martin has direct quotes from one of the sisters about the future of the IRL and IMS etc...

So they are planning to split it unto the 7 children? Plus the 4 'parents', that looks like chaos waiting to happen. The three sisters and Tony have obviously not been on the same track this year. Now imagine 7 people ambitious people trying to get along. This has all the makings of a melodramatic soap opera.

but cant see them selling the golden egg.... the IRL sure.... IMS, just cant imagine why they would

Well, the sisters are wealthy because of the speedway. But their wealth is all bricks and aluminium. Common business sense says that you must spread your investments to spread the risk.
Or perhaps they don't like being in the public eyes.
I don't think there is a lot they can do with their experience in management to make IMS and the IRL more profitable. TG is the only one who has the experience and the connections (and still failed) but he is out of it.

[SarahFan]

I dont think there is any question that IMS is profitable.....and can't imagine scenerio where it wont to continue to be for another decade....

the IRL clearly a different story....

I asked this question on another forum earlier today.....why must the IRL be profitable?

sure it needs to be self sufficient to the point it can attract and maintain quality personal etc...

but why profitable?

for example.....if sanctioning fees allowed the league to function, wouldn't the whole (teams/drivers/crews/etc) be better off with a title sponsor that instead of paying the l;eague 5 million, spent 15 million in activation?

[Lousada]

I dont think there is any question that IMS is profitable.....and can't imagine scenerio where it wont to continue to be for another decade....

the IRL clearly a different story....

I asked this question on another forum earlier today.....why must the IRL be profitable?

sure it needs to be self sufficient to the point it can attract and maintain quality personal etc...

but why profitable?

for example.....if sanctioning fees allowed the league to function, wouldn't the whole (teams/drivers/crews/etc) be better off with a title sponsor that instead of paying the l;eague 5 million, spent 15 million in activation?

It is profitable now yes I believe that. But the IRL is bleeding money that the IMS has to cover. From the looks of it, there is no improvement in the IRL at all. Worse, it's been going down for years and this year has been especially hard. If the IRL does not answer the bell it will be a huge blow to the 500 and IMS. The BY400 had a significant drop in attendance as well. I think the credit crisis is not helping sales of hospitality suites.
If the bottom line is made, perhaps there is not a lot of actual profit for the sisters left. Maybe they feel they can make more money with the revenue from a sale.
I'm just speculating for reasons why they might sell IMS. I have no idea what their actual intentions are or how their financials are.

[SarahFan]

It is profitable now yes I believe that. But the IRL is bleeding money that the IMS has to cover. From the looks of it, there is no improvement in the IRL at all. Worse, it's been going down for years and this year has been especially hard. If the IRL does not answer the bell it will be a huge blow to the 500 and IMS. The BY400 had a significant drop in attendance as well. I think the credit crisis is not helping sales of hospitality suites.
If the bottom line is made, perhaps there is not a lot of actual profit for the sisters left. Maybe they feel they can make more money with the revenue from a sale.
I'm just speculating for reasons why they might sell IMS. I have no idea what their actual intentions are or how their financials are.

say the IRL goes out of biz manana.....why would that effect the 500?

teams/drivers/sponsors are still going to show up in may IMO

[Lousada]

I asked this question on another forum earlier today.....why must the IRL be profitable?

Another thought. Technically the IRL does not have to be profitable indeed. But how much is it losing money now? Somewhere John Griffin says it costs 3 to 4 million to stage an ICS race in the US. I assume this is including TEAM payments. Santion fees are reported to be in the 1-1,5 million range, with some (Long Beach) considerably lower. TV Revenue is optimistically reported to be 6+4 million dollar. Let's say .5 million average per race. This still leaves a budgethole of at least 1 million per race, or more then 15 million a season. That is a lot of BY400 tickets to sell.

[SarahFan]

Another thought. Technically the IRL does not have to be profitable indeed. But how much is it losing money now? Somewhere John Griffin says it costs 3 to 4 million to stage an ICS race in the US. I assume this is including TEAM payments. Santion fees are reported to be in the 1-1,5 million range, with some (Long Beach) considerably lower. TV Revenue is optimistically reported to be 6+4 million dollar. Let's say .5 million average per race. This still leaves a budgethole of at least 1 million per race, or more then 15 million a season. That is a lot of BY400 tickets to sell.

I'd say those #'s are resonably close to reality...

that is alot of dough to come up short....you gotta wonder how long IMSetc is going to foot the bill

[Lousada]

say the IRL goes out of biz manana.....why would that effect the 500?

teams/drivers/sponsors are still going to show up in may IMO

Well, if that was the case, why don't they disband the IRL?? According to TG's own words it has never made a profit so why keep it going?