Dover terminates agreement to sell Memphis track
Gulf Coast Entertainment, which plans to build Alabama Motorsports Park in the Mobile area, had agreed in January to buy the 0.75-mile track for $10 million. Bill Futterer, general manager of the Alabama project through his marketing company PSE-3 (which has a financial interest in the project), said Gulf Coast Entertainment still hopes to purchase Memphis once financing is completed.
The deadline for completion of the deal had been extended from the end of April to the end of June and then to the end of September. Dover Motorsports officials declined comment beyond what was filed with the SEC.
“Gulf Coast continues to express an interest in purchasing Memphis Motorsports Park and/or having us operate its Alabama facility and is still actively seeking the financing for its project," Dover Motorsports’ filing stated. “We are evaluating all of our options relative to the Memphis facility at this time."
Dover gets to retain the $165,000 deposit in MMP as well as the 2 percent interest in Gulf Coast Entertainment. Futterer said Gulf Coast Entertainment still has as good relationship with the people from Dover. If Gulf Coast Entertainment wants to purchase MMP, it would have to renegotiate a new deal, including possibly the purchasing price, although Futterer said he didn’t expect anything to dramatically change.
“We’ve got three bona fide prospects – we simply haven’t been able to get it closed by the end of September," Futterer said in a phone interview Thursday. “As soon as we get that financing closed, we’ll be calling our friends at Dover and trying to get that acquisition done because we’re still very intent on doing it.
“If it doesn’t happen, it’s not going to keep us from doing our motorsports project. But it was a very good fit because our guys are interested in being in the motorsports business, and we felt being involved with Memphis would give us as a group more experience as we got closer to having our own facilities." Scenedaily.com