Is the Grand Prix such an economic boon?
I don’t think this is the first time a journalist has asked whether the Grand Prix is the economic windfall we’ve been led to believe, but in even this short piece you can see the conflicting points of view that make this an unanswerable question as posed.
Bill Binns 09:26 on 2019-06-05 Permalink
The question will be answered quite reliably when one political party or another finally succeeds in killing off the event. We can simply count up the losses in sales tax receipts for the first summer with no Grand Prix or see what Toronto or Vancouver report they made from their newest acquisition from Montreal’s ongoing estate sale.
Clee 11:54 on 2019-06-05 Permalink
I don’t agree with the point that local tourists wont spend their money in Quebec City or Sherbrooke if they spend it at the Grand Prix. I can see the Grand Prix competing with other major events in Montreal, like I will attend fewers Habs games this year to afford Grand Prix tickets, but not Quebec City.
Blork 12:24 on 2019-06-05 Permalink
@Bill Binns, you’re only counting one side of the ledger. Nobody doubts that the Grand Prix brings in money. The question is whether the amount of money it brings in greatly exceeds the amount of money that flows out.
F1 races cost a lot of public (and private) money to put on. Everything from security costs to all that infrastructure. The hosting fee alone is around $30 million according to some sources. Total public cost is in the range of $50-$60 million per race. That’s a lot of public money so that a handful of fancy restaurants can have a full house for a couple of nights.
Bill Binns 14:37 on 2019-06-05 Permalink
@Blork – “a handful of fancy restaurants can have a full house for a couple of nights”
That’s the thing right there. I think you could be in Montreal and have no idea the Jazz Fest or Just For Laughs or Osheaga are going on but that would never happen with the Grand Prix. Sure, the $25.00 Martinis will be flowing in Old Montreal but the checkerboard flags will be flying from Little Italy to Monkland Village and just about everywhere else. I have only been to the actual race twice since I moved here but I enjoy the hell out of Grand Prix week for the little pleasures like seeing a 4 million dollar car casually parked on Sherbrooke street.
Personally, I don’t think the ramp up in city services like Police, Fire, Trash etc should be counted against the ROI of an event but regardless, we should come up with an agreed upon measurement and then apply that same methodology to all events that receive city funds. I don’t think the marathon or any of the various cycling events would appear to be in the least bit profitable taking city services into account.
I attribute the great majority of resistance to the Grand Prix to the fact that it celebrates the hated automobile and is seen to be geared toward the equally hated wealthy.
Blork 14:50 on 2019-06-05 Permalink
@Bill Binns, I agree that a lot of the anti-Grand Prix noise is just knee-jerk anti-car stuff, but the question of whether or not the economic benefit is as big as we think it is, is a legitimate question. And it’s not just the security and infrastructure; it’s that $30 million fee that Montreal hands over to them for the right to host the event.
Raymond Lutz 17:39 on 2019-06-05 Permalink
“for the little pleasures like seeing a 4 million dollar car casually parked on Sherbrooke street.” A 4 M$ car, Bill??? Was it a Koenigsegg CCXR Trevita ? If not, the guy lied to you… As for my car porn, I prefer watching it in the privacy of my home… Blork: can one be anti-car without beeing knee-jerk?
Blork 21:43 on 2019-06-05 Permalink
@Raymond Lutz, yes, one can be anti-car and not knee-jerk. One can recognize that there are too many cars in Montreal and that many people have them and don’t even need them, and that infrastructure is biased towards cars, but at the same time recognize that cars do have a certain utility, and some people do need them, and not every problem that the world faces is because of cars. So… yes! 🙂
Bill Binns 13:46 on 2019-06-06 Permalink
@Raymond Lutz – Bugatti Veyron. The first year or maybe the 2nd it was out.