How Much Cash does a Nat Event Generate?

[mastertone]

Any ideas, for example, the US Nat brings in how much in just spectator fees? Racer fees? All the income compared to the expense? Seems like someone is making a hell of alot of money compared to what the racers receive in prize money.

 

[mick]

ok, i'll guess. (for nationals)
- $10 mill. +......... gate receipts
- $5 mill. + .........souveniors & concessions
- $2 mill. + .........camping/rv fees
- $1 mill. + ..........racer entry fees
- $1 mill. + ..........parking

nhra takes how much from concession vendors?
track takes how much from concesson vendors?
concession vendors pay to play up front? give % of profit? or both?
nhra takes what % of gate? track takes what % of gate?
camping area track or private owned?

just guesses - answers would be interesting to know.

 

[vegasnitro]

Here are my guesses based on what I have heard/learned in my time hanging around LVMS.

I was told by someone who should know LVMS averages 17,000 paid fans per day at a National Event, for a total a little north of 50,000 for the weekend. So if you average ticket prices between reserved and GA over the course of 3 days I came up with $52.33 average ticket price for any one day. Multiply that by 51,000 (17,000 per Fri-Sat-Sun) and you get $2,669,000 for the front gate. I doubt this number is spot on, but it should definitely be in the ballpark.

I have no idea about back gate, but Vegas 2 is usually the highest attended National Event of the year for the Sportsman guys, usually well over 700 cars, in '06 it was over 1000. So if anyone knows what it costs to run as a sportsman at a National Event, multiply that number by 700 at least.

Parking is FREE at LVMS.

I camp at LVMS for every race, and the first 2 rows are $250 per spot and the back 5 rows are $200 per spot, giving an average camping spot price of $214. There were over 400 campers at Vegas 1 when I asked security, so we will say 425 just to round up a bit. 425 X $214 gives you $90,950 in RV revenue. There are some premium trackside spots that go for over $1000 for the weekend, plus they have pay showers and fresh water and RV dumping services, so you can safely add $20,000 to the RV figure for a total of $110,950 or thereabouts.

The real interesting numbers to know would be the concession numbers. Beers are 6 bucks a pop, hamburgers $8 etc. PLUS we all know the teams get dinged a fee for setting up a souvenir trailer. I would have no idea where to even start with these numbers. My best guess would be $25 in concessions per customer per day, giving you a number of $1,275,000. That number is definitely low.

I didn't account for Thursday at all in these numbers, as there are usually very few spectators there, mostly just the sportsman guys and us campers. I also didn't account for trackside signage, event sponsors, etc. That probably doesn't add up to as much as most people think.

My best guess is that the gross for a National Event at LVMS is in the $5.5 - $6 million range ... probably more for Vegas 2.

 

[willy]

I think either way you look at it..the question is 'WHERE THE HELL IS THE MONEY GOING?" I don't have a problem with a non-profit making a profit..geezz Alan has to get paid. But it just seems counter-productive to be paying executives outrageous salaries and witness the series go down the tubes for all kinds of reasons.

I reall ydon't see how it will survive in its current state..but that's just my HO.

 

[Mad Mark]

ok, i'll guess. (for nationals)
- $10 mill. +......... gate receipts
- $5 mill. + .........souveniors & concessions
- $2 mill. + .........camping/rv fees
- $1 mill. + ..........racer entry fees
- $1 mill. + ..........parking

nhra takes how much from concession vendors?
track takes how much from concesson vendors?
concession vendors pay to play up front? give % of profit? or both?
nhra takes what % of gate? track takes what % of gate?
camping area track or private owned?

just guesses - answers would be interesting to know.

Heck, I think i've seen $5M in Ashley Force shirts in the two races i've been to this year!

 

[clwill]

ok, i'll guess. (for nationals)
- $10 mill. +......... gate receipts
- $5 mill. + .........souveniors & concessions
- $2 mill. + .........camping/rv fees
- $1 mill. + ..........racer entry fees
- $1 mill. + ..........parking

nhra takes how much from concession vendors?
track takes how much from concesson vendors?
concession vendors pay to play up front? give % of profit? or both?
nhra takes what % of gate? track takes what % of gate?
camping area track or private owned?

just guesses - answers would be interesting to know.

These seem really high. Let's say you've got 50,000 over the weekend (a solid crowd).

• That means you're saying $200 a head average for tickets? That's probably 5x too high.
• You have it at $100 a head in concessions, probably 2-3x too high.
• In Seattle, there were ~150 campers, so you have them being charged $13,000 a piece Even if there were 5 times that many, you're at over $2,500 each, probably 10x too high.
• In Seattle, there were 361 cars on the ground (I asked), that means you've got $2,600+ entry fees. I promise you, we didn't pay that. Almost exactly 1/10th of that, in fact.
• In Seattle (and many other venues these days) parking was free.

So I think your total is very high.

But I don't have access to any real data, just doing some back of the napkin math.

 

[none]

ok, i'll guess. (for nationals)
- $10 mill. +......... Gate receipts
- $5 mill. + .........souveniors & concessions
- $2 mill. + .........camping/rv fees
- $1 mill. + ..........racer entry fees
- $1 mill. + ..........parking

nhra takes how much from concession vendors?
Track takes how much from concesson vendors?
Concession vendors pay to play up front? Give % of profit? Or both?
Nhra takes what % of gate? Track takes what % of gate?
Camping area track or private owned?
Just guesses - answers would be interesting to know.

is this for the daytona 500 ???

 

[mastertone]

Doesn't a non profit organization have to make all their records public?

 

[mick]

hey, like i said, it's just a guess........
and for the nationals, NOT every event.
(the originator of thread made reference to indy)

 

[clwill]

Doesn't a non profit organization have to make all their records public?

No, they just have to file several forms with the gov't and those are public. Things such as their tax return, corporate establishment docs, and so on. And every year people pour over those and share the interesting info here and elsewhere.

 

[Harry Mannback]

When you add in the expenses, I would bet it's not as much as some would think. There are a lot of expenses, travel, salaries, lodging, rental cars, track rental, vht, dry sweep, equipment, security, Alan's bail, TV show cost, fuel, trophy's, fire and safety, general staff, it goes on and on. Not saying they don't make any money, just thinking it may not be as much as some might think.

Dan

 

[vegasnitro]

When you add in the expenses, I would bet it's not as much as some would think. There are a lot of expenses, travel, salaries, lodging, rental cars, track rental, vht, dry sweep, equipment, security, Alan's bail, TV show cost, fuel, trophy's, fire and safety, general staff, it goes on and on. Not saying they don't make any money, just thinking it may not be as much as some might think.

Like I said earlier, my best guess on a gross for LVMS is in the $5.5-6 million range ... the net is going to be far less for LVMS. You have to pay NHRA, your people, the purse to the racers, and all of the things you listed above.


Another thing to consider, is at Pomona 1 + 2, Commerce, Gainesville and Indy the NHRA owns the track ... so they get to keep all the money. I am sure NHRA does well at other National Events, but it's really those 5 events that make NHRA profitable.