Contract delay means Edmonton’s race likely to lose $1M

Edmonton draws a huge attendance, but will it be enough in 2008 to turn a profit?

"It's a big event that will put Edmonton on the map," Northlands board chair Jerry Bouma said of the July 24-26 race weekend that coincides with, and will be married, in a marketing sense, to the Capital Ex, another Northlands property.

The race weekend clearly is a big event in transition, for good and bad.

It's good to have a three-year deal, although a five-year deal would be better. It's good to have a firm race date — July 26 — bad that legal issues and contract negotiations delayed its being made official.

"Ticket (sales) are lagging at this time and there's a definite reason for that," said Northlands president Ken Knowles. "It's kind of tough to sell tickets (when people are wondering) is it going to be in the middle of July?

The end of the month?"

Partially as a result, Knowles acknowledged the race at funky, fan-friendly

Edmonton City Centre track probably will lose in the neighborhood of $1 million this year. He reckons the race can break even in 2009. In 2010, cross your fingers, black ink on the ledger.

It's good the race has been instantly rebranded from the generic Champ Car to IndyCar. For starters, Patrick, the talented, feisty and hugely popular star of the series, kicked the marketing effort up several notches when she won the IRL race at Motegi, Japan, the first-ever Indy car victory by a female.

Throw names like Andretti and A.J. Foyt IV into the mix, along with the grinning, spinning, charming Castroneves, who won TV's Dancing with the Stars last season, and you've got yourself some athletes who cross pop-cultural barriers, some real marketing sizzle.

"These people are really good for the series," said Australian driver Will Power, a Champ Car holdover, who won the Streets of Long Beach race on April 20. "I think it's really great that Danica won her first race — she deserved it and drove well.

"You need these characters in the series, you need these personalities. I think it's important." More at Edmonton Journal