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IndyCar Boston only mostly dead
By adamg on Fri, 05/06/2016 - 11:50am
Mayor Walsh and Mark Miles, CEO of IndyCar's parent company, Hulman & Co., issued this statement yesterday:
Boston has an open door for new and innovative ideas that will benefit the city's future. While it is disappointing that IndyCar will not race in Boston this year, we look forward to continuing our work together to bring IndyCar to Boston in the future. Boston has always been a great partner for IndyCar and we are confident that with a strong local promoter the race can be a great success.
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Comments
"Local Promoter"
I wonder who they have in mind?
Please
We all know what that means.
One of Marty's friends.
More of Marty's friends
One of his friends is the PR weasel for Indy Car.
http://indycarboston.com/author/katenorton/
"*strong* local promoter"
I think that's meant to be a dig at this year's local promoter, who apparently didn't do a very good job, and was the one responsible for the announcement last week saying that the city had been "impossible to deal with" or whatever.
I imagine this year left a bad taste in people's mouths
I wonder how turnout / ticket purchasing will be if they do try it again. I imagine I'm not the only one who purchased tickets for this year's event who is now a bit put-off by the whole thing after the mess this has been.
IndyCar emailed ticket buyers on Monday to say they'd start issuing refunds in the order they were purchased, but the Boston Herald wrote an article yesterday implying they may not have started the refund process despite what the email said. As someone who bought the morning ticket sales opened, I'm surprised to have not seen a refund yet and am half expecting to hear them file for bankruptcy and the ticket buyers to get screwed - I can't say I'd be likely to support another IndyCar event here again even with a different promoter.
What happened to diving at the ICA?
Seemed to be a hugely popular event - we were hoping to go the next time and then it disappeared. Did they lose Red Bull as a sponsor or just take Boston off the list...?
Vertex happened
The new (although old compared to the rest of the new development down there) Vertex building and its surroundings are basically required to pull off the event, and they wouldn't play ball. I think they were going to try again from the downtown waterfront somewhere but couldn't get the logistics figured out.
Thanks
Makes sense - though not sure we can blame Vertex. Could have been them - could also have been their insurance company who were concerned about having a horde like that on their property.
I guess that's fair, but that
I guess that's fair, but that's not the indication I got from the source to whom I am married. She doesn't always have all the dirt, but she's often got the good dirt.
Happy to go w her dirt
Better story that a company that got tens of millions in tax breaks killed a popular local event.
Plus my dirt is pure speculative dirt.
RedBull is hosting Flutag in
RedBull is hosting Flutag in Boston this August. It seems they just switch up their venues from year to year.
Soapbox
They need to bring the RedBull Soapbox to Boston too. I would vote for Mission Hill, but in light of what happened to that firetruck and downtown tourism it's probably best put on Bowdoin, starting at the base of Ashburton Place.
Would love to see it in
Would love to see it in Boston
Agreed, with conditions...
I think the concept sounds super exciting and fun, but that was never the issue for me. There are always a million things that can not get done right, and a million ways these public events can wind up screwing over the tax payer, and Boston officials have consistently shown they're not up to the task of doing it right.
If they can't cut corners and there's no graft involved, I doubt you'd ever see Boston's leadership proposing or approving of such an event.
I didn't know anyone who
I didn't know anyone who lived in Boston who was excited about seeing racing on the streets of Boston, but I know quite a few people from the 'burbs in NH who were looking forward to it. Kind of sounds like IndyCar screwed quite a few people over. It's a shame, but I'm not surprised. Seemed shady from the start, just like the whole Olympics scheme... Boston taxpayers would be footing the bill and IndyCar and the IOC would be reaping all the benefits.
I was looking forward to it.
I was looking forward to it. AND I live in South Boston. They were at best negligently optimistic about the impacts of their event, especially as time wore on and they were still not building anything. They should have started the process 12-18 months sooner. So if all the planning and permitting was carryable to next year, they'd only be a month or two late for that. Now.
Me too
Was just about to buy tix when I heard it was cancelled. Would LOVE to see this in Boston - even in my neighborhood.
The one BIG thing they didn't work out was disruption to the neighborhood. People have to come and go and if you've done any work in the neighborhoods - you know you have to get buy in there before anything happens. The rest - even finances - probably could have been worked out.
There were plenty of people in Boston
and in Southie who were looking forward to it. It seemed far less shady than the Olympics to me, but as cool as the event seemed, and as much as I wanted to see it happen, I was skeptical that it would turn any sort of a profit; especially considering all the road work that would be required for its inaugural year.
I live in South Boston...
...and I was absolutely pumped for this event. Everyone is away that weekend anyway. Allston and Brighton will be a mess with students moving in, but the seaport would be slower than normal otherwise.
My whole office was going to go. Such a cool thing for Boston to host. Much less disruptive than the Olympics and much less even than the marathon. I hope it happens some day.
I live in SoBo
...and i was planning a whole weekend of it. hosting international friends and everything :-(
Really...? huh.
Really...? huh.
"In the future"
"The future" being sometime after November 2017.
Marty Walsh = House Greyjoy
"What is dead may never die."