Richmond boss eyes diversifying their events
It's an intriguing model for Bickmeier: Could RIR do something similar?
Bristol's racetrack-turned-football-stadium is expected to pack in the largest crowd to watch a college football game — more than 150,000 fans — when Virginia Tech tangles with No. 17 Tennessee on Saturday night.
Bickmeier said a large-scale football game, or maybe a soccer game, at RIR hasn't been more than a thought and won't happen soon. But Bickmeier and officials at International Speedway Corporation, which owns RIR and multiple tracks, are in the midst of a master planning process to modernize the facility.
As part of that, they are "wide open " to the possibility of being a multipurpose venue for sporting and other events, such as large festival-style concerts, down the road.
"I think that could be the next progression, " said Bickmeier, who expects the planning process to be finished within a couple of years. "I think it ties in nicely. … This facility turns 70 years old this year. Our job is to get it ready for the next 70 years. "
Bickmeier and ISC officials have spent the past 12 months generating ideas to build flexibility inside the racetrack portion of the approximately 1,000-acre complex.
In its current state, RIR faces obstacles to putting on a college football game that would be worthwhile financially, either through or with a promoter or as an owned-and-operated event by RIR.
Foremost is the date of the second race in the fall. Richmond gets the coveted first weekend after Labor Day for the "Last Race to Make the Chase, " which sets the field for the Sprint Cup playoffs.
Bristol set aside almost three weeks after its Aug. 21 race to convert the track into a football field. A three-week transformation time frame would push the earliest football game at RIR into late September/early October and conference schedules.
"(Someone) would have to give up a home conference game, and that's tough, " Bickmeier said.
Then, thinking out loud, he said, "It wouldn't eliminate having a bowl game. "
The capacity of RIR might be a financial deterrent for RIR or a promoter. Bristol is one of the largest venues in the country with a capacity of about 160,000. It was able to attract Tech and Tennessee with paydays of $4 million-plus for each school.
RIR holds a little more than 60,000. Temporary seats could be added along the backstretch and infield for a football game, but would the additional capacity make a big enough difference for whoever puts on the game and the schools? The listed capacity at Tech's Lane Stadium, for instance, is 66,233. Virginia's Scott Stadium is 61,500.
Also in the way are several buildings — an old gas station, the infield media center and the garage — that are spread out in the track's infield. Moving them and opening up space is part of the planning process, Bickmeier said.
He said the 153-foot video tower in the middle of the infield is not "going anywhere. "
"That's one of the best video boards in all of racing, if not sports, " Bickmeier said. "To me that's one of the sacred cows in the infield. I'd never say never, but we'd have to figure out a work around for that one. "
Improving the fan experience is the major focus of the upgrade planning. Bickmeier wants wider, individual seats and wider concourses, and that could mean tearing out the stands and starting over.
The layout of the track wouldn't change.
"We're the only ¾-mile track that NASCAR races on, " he said. "We love having that unique brand identity. As we go forward, it's about the fan experience and amenities. I think you need to look no further than Daytona and see what a modernization can do.
"An iconic speedway has become an iconic stadium. "
With lagging attendance at NASCAR events, ISC went all-out adding "wow " factor to Daytona with a $400 million transformation: wider seats with cup holders, wider concourses with interactive displays, a nose-cone replica of the space shuttle, a waterfall, wifi, 1,400 TV screens, 60 suites, 40 escalators and 17 elevators, among many things.
"That has raised the bar in our game, " Bickmeier said. "That's going to be the example to follow. "
Some of ISC's tracks have held large-scale music festivals. Bickmeier said RIR has been "on the edge of some of those discussions, " although nothing is imminent. Some site surveys have been done for different layouts utilizing the grandstands or a parking lot.
"We're in the sports and entertainment business, " he said. "We are (year-round) focused on our NASCAR business. That's who we are. These other opportunities are that: They're opportunities. We'd be crazy not to explore them. " Richmond Times Dispatch