In 1974, Colombia obtained the headquarters to make the Soccer World Cup, in 1986. Eight years later he resigned because he never had the money to do it and nothing had been advanced in its assembly and organization. The ball rolled in Mexico.
That project, which at that time was not a pharaonic and extravagant affair like those of today, comes to mind now when they talk about having an F1 race in Barranquilla. Thus, olympically, as it corresponds to describe it, its Mayor said it and President Duque naively followed the rope.
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They said they had spoken with the Liberty Media firm that is the owner of the F1 show and negotiates with each circuit in the world the annual visit of the circus. For each stop they charge between 40 and 50 million clean dollars, in fees alone, assuming that the city has the necessary track and infrastructure. In addition, this is not a question of a weekend but a commitment to do the event for 10 years, under penalty of huge fines.
The tourism and income argument is quite relative, since the requirements for a “Barranquilla Grand Prix” to be an international magnet that manages to attract a minimum of 50,000 people a day is quite utopian.
It is a figure that is rarely met by large racetracks in countries where there are centuries-old fans and traditions, as well as real additional tourist or cultural attractions that motivate foreigners to visit.
To make this year’s race in Miami, Liberty Media required the guarantee of 35,000 hotel rooms and they had to make the track, its facilities, pits, press places, hospitality points, grandstands, in addition to all the systems to operate the career in security, timing, television points, and a thousand more boceles. There are several hundred million dollars that are surely also necessary to square a race track in the sand.
Proposing a race in the streets seems easy but in reality it is the most expensive project because every year it has to be redone. Today they estimate that each annual assembly costs about 60 million dollars between making or renting stands -to accommodate the daily capacity of the Metropolitan Stadium, which is the number of attendees necessary to make it profitable-, spare parts for the circuit, installation of barriers and security measures. security at the F1 level, support staff, insurance and thousands of etceteras.
“Recently they came with the story of starting the Dakar Rally in La Guajira and that was nothing more than a sunny day for the promoters in the area”
Who would not want that to happen but landing the idea, it must be said that we are light years away from achieving it.
Of course, Liberty Media listens and attends to all the cities and countries that ask for F1, but it is one thing to talk and have a coffee with them and another to get at least 100 million dollars each year to make that a reality, in contrast to the enormous social and logistical priorities that the city has.
They recently came up with the story of starting the Dakar Rally in La Guajira and that was nothing more than a sunny day for the promoters in the area. Shortly after, Chile, Peru, Argentina and Bolivia aborted and the test went to the Sahara where the money from the Arabs paid for it. On these sides, there is no ticket for such luxuries.
Let’s leave for now the subject of the “Barranquilla Grand Prix” at the level of the “Gran Premio del Arroyo”, with the hope that I will have to swallow these lines if they succeed.
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Joseph Clopatofsky
Engine Director
@joseclopa
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