Corner5
07-28-09, 10:09 AM
This article even quotes Bigirlfan!
80 million? What a big fat lie!
Indy may be bad idea, but at least it's our idea
Rev up your Indy spirit; Residents, businesses need to get behind event
BY TODD BABIAK, EDMONTON JOURNALJULY 28, 2009 7:30 AM
Many of us heard the Indy, as we sat out in our sweltering gardens this weekend, our feet in the kiddie pools, but few of us saw it. This is a terrible shame, as we pay dearly for it.
The reason we pay for it is laudable: to enhance Edmonton's stature around the world as a city that, you know, exists. Buying a series of full-page advertisements in The New Yorker magazine or two 30-second television spots during the Super Bowl costs approximately the same amount as what Edmontonians paid for last year's inaugural Rexall Edmonton Indy: $5.3 million. The advantage of a targeted advertising campaign is that Edmonton would control the audience and the message. Pretty pictures, startling wit, river scenes and fireworks. The advantage of the Indy is that several thousand of us get to watch several cars drive around and around a track, in painfully boring fashion, purchase$18 margaritas and get world-class sunburns.
"The publicity," said Coun. Tony Caterina last week, "you can't even put a price tag on it. The Indy is being seen by countries around the world."
You actually can put a price tag on it. Last year, the event lost$5.3 million and we paid for it. We don't yet know how much the 2009 edition will lose; Northlands had projected $1.5 million.
By "countries around the world," Caterina means the U. S. A. On July 12, ABC broadcast the Toronto Indy on a Sunday afternoon. Every viewing household in America has ABC and, according to Nielsen ratings, about 1.1 million of them tuned in. This is, probably, a success. It's difficult to know what the Toronto Indy says about Toronto, but the word "Toronto" gets out there and that's something.
Last weekend, the Edmonton Indy was broadcast in the U. S. on an obscure cable channel called VERSUS that relatively few people can access. It competed for the American sports fan's viewing eye with replays and highlights from one of the most prestigious and hyped events in the world--the Tour de France. The newspaper of record for the U. S. is the New York Times. On their website, they ran an Associated Press "rundown" of the weekend in racing. The Edmonton Indy was in the second section, under the headline, Kanaan Injured in Pit Fire.
On a racing blog, there were some worrisome comments about the Indy Light series, which was a part of the weekend's events. Few cars entered, which apparently bodes poorly for the future development of open-wheel racing. "WHo the hell wants to go to EDmonton," wrote a minor genius with keyboard troubles called BigIrlFan. "THey got running water there? HAHhahahahaa RUnnin [sic] on an airport out in the middel [sic] of some backwater CANdien[sic] town taht [sic] I never heard of until a couple of years ago."
Yes, BigIrlFan, but you have heard of Edmonton now. Haven't you?And we do have running water, bucko. Lots of it!
Last year, the organizers estimated the Indy had contributed $80 million to the local economy. This is curious, since the defunct Formula One in Montreal, a far larger and much more glamorous event, generated an estimated $75 million.
Ridiculous economic exaggerations aside, there is a lot we can learn--in Edmonton--from the example of Montreal.
During the Formula One weekend, every bar, restaurant and hotel in the city had a tie-in to the race. A special drink, a good rate, Formula One poutine. The entire island was committed to racing, just as it committed to the jazz festival and the comedy festival. While there was always plenty of cynicism from certain locals-- "I always leave the city during Formula One. It's simply madness!"--the majority of Montrealers were proud of the event and happy to welcome the thousands of tourists it attracted.
It wasn't so much Formula One but Montreal during Formula One that drew the attention and the tourists. If Edmonton commits to this idea that we're a city that cares about car racing, the business community will have to commit, too. Then the rest of us, in our way, ought to get into the spirit. It might be a bad idea, but it's our bad idea, and we're paying for it. We might as well enjoy the thing.
If we're doing this because of the international exposure and economic spinoffs, or because it gives us an opportunity to "tell our story," there are far better ways to do it. We've got a lock on the blue-collar, beer-drinking, hollering-in-public reputation, and, frankly, it hasn't done us a lick of good in recent years.
We're a city of suspicion. We have the greatest fringe festival in the world, outside Edinburgh. Every city in North America copied us. Yet outside a seven-block radius of Old Strathcona, it's invisible. In Montreal, or even Calgary, hotels and bars and restaurants from one end of the city to the other would be caught up in the theatrical spirit. Yet when the 28th annual Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival opens Aug. 13, only the "Fringe People" will know it.
Those among us who are not Fringe People will, as usual, avoid the Fringe and the Fringe People, just as the non-Indy People avoided the Indy People on the weekend. We can't force cohesion, but if we want to broadcast our specialness to Saskatoon and Vancouver, let alone New York and Los Angeles, our only hope is to start locally. If we don't think it's special, how can we expect America to think it's special?
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Indy+idea+least+idea/1835459/story.html
Also, here's an article on Toronto's tough year for tourism, not a single mention of the Irl race and it did not have any impact on their economy.
http://www.thestar.com/travel/article/672615
80 million? What a big fat lie!
Indy may be bad idea, but at least it's our idea
Rev up your Indy spirit; Residents, businesses need to get behind event
BY TODD BABIAK, EDMONTON JOURNALJULY 28, 2009 7:30 AM
Many of us heard the Indy, as we sat out in our sweltering gardens this weekend, our feet in the kiddie pools, but few of us saw it. This is a terrible shame, as we pay dearly for it.
The reason we pay for it is laudable: to enhance Edmonton's stature around the world as a city that, you know, exists. Buying a series of full-page advertisements in The New Yorker magazine or two 30-second television spots during the Super Bowl costs approximately the same amount as what Edmontonians paid for last year's inaugural Rexall Edmonton Indy: $5.3 million. The advantage of a targeted advertising campaign is that Edmonton would control the audience and the message. Pretty pictures, startling wit, river scenes and fireworks. The advantage of the Indy is that several thousand of us get to watch several cars drive around and around a track, in painfully boring fashion, purchase$18 margaritas and get world-class sunburns.
"The publicity," said Coun. Tony Caterina last week, "you can't even put a price tag on it. The Indy is being seen by countries around the world."
You actually can put a price tag on it. Last year, the event lost$5.3 million and we paid for it. We don't yet know how much the 2009 edition will lose; Northlands had projected $1.5 million.
By "countries around the world," Caterina means the U. S. A. On July 12, ABC broadcast the Toronto Indy on a Sunday afternoon. Every viewing household in America has ABC and, according to Nielsen ratings, about 1.1 million of them tuned in. This is, probably, a success. It's difficult to know what the Toronto Indy says about Toronto, but the word "Toronto" gets out there and that's something.
Last weekend, the Edmonton Indy was broadcast in the U. S. on an obscure cable channel called VERSUS that relatively few people can access. It competed for the American sports fan's viewing eye with replays and highlights from one of the most prestigious and hyped events in the world--the Tour de France. The newspaper of record for the U. S. is the New York Times. On their website, they ran an Associated Press "rundown" of the weekend in racing. The Edmonton Indy was in the second section, under the headline, Kanaan Injured in Pit Fire.
On a racing blog, there were some worrisome comments about the Indy Light series, which was a part of the weekend's events. Few cars entered, which apparently bodes poorly for the future development of open-wheel racing. "WHo the hell wants to go to EDmonton," wrote a minor genius with keyboard troubles called BigIrlFan. "THey got running water there? HAHhahahahaa RUnnin [sic] on an airport out in the middel [sic] of some backwater CANdien[sic] town taht [sic] I never heard of until a couple of years ago."
Yes, BigIrlFan, but you have heard of Edmonton now. Haven't you?And we do have running water, bucko. Lots of it!
Last year, the organizers estimated the Indy had contributed $80 million to the local economy. This is curious, since the defunct Formula One in Montreal, a far larger and much more glamorous event, generated an estimated $75 million.
Ridiculous economic exaggerations aside, there is a lot we can learn--in Edmonton--from the example of Montreal.
During the Formula One weekend, every bar, restaurant and hotel in the city had a tie-in to the race. A special drink, a good rate, Formula One poutine. The entire island was committed to racing, just as it committed to the jazz festival and the comedy festival. While there was always plenty of cynicism from certain locals-- "I always leave the city during Formula One. It's simply madness!"--the majority of Montrealers were proud of the event and happy to welcome the thousands of tourists it attracted.
It wasn't so much Formula One but Montreal during Formula One that drew the attention and the tourists. If Edmonton commits to this idea that we're a city that cares about car racing, the business community will have to commit, too. Then the rest of us, in our way, ought to get into the spirit. It might be a bad idea, but it's our bad idea, and we're paying for it. We might as well enjoy the thing.
If we're doing this because of the international exposure and economic spinoffs, or because it gives us an opportunity to "tell our story," there are far better ways to do it. We've got a lock on the blue-collar, beer-drinking, hollering-in-public reputation, and, frankly, it hasn't done us a lick of good in recent years.
We're a city of suspicion. We have the greatest fringe festival in the world, outside Edinburgh. Every city in North America copied us. Yet outside a seven-block radius of Old Strathcona, it's invisible. In Montreal, or even Calgary, hotels and bars and restaurants from one end of the city to the other would be caught up in the theatrical spirit. Yet when the 28th annual Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival opens Aug. 13, only the "Fringe People" will know it.
Those among us who are not Fringe People will, as usual, avoid the Fringe and the Fringe People, just as the non-Indy People avoided the Indy People on the weekend. We can't force cohesion, but if we want to broadcast our specialness to Saskatoon and Vancouver, let alone New York and Los Angeles, our only hope is to start locally. If we don't think it's special, how can we expect America to think it's special?
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Indy+idea+least+idea/1835459/story.html
Also, here's an article on Toronto's tough year for tourism, not a single mention of the Irl race and it did not have any impact on their economy.
http://www.thestar.com/travel/article/672615