Grand Prix de Formule 1 de Montréal

[ErickMontreal]

It's like Habs leaving: restaurateur

Bombshell announcement. It's big hit for the whole city, business operators agree

 

The Gazette

Published: 8 hours ago

 

The look on Alain Creton's face said it all: Incredulous.

 

"If you told me the Canadiens are no longer in Montreal, it would be the same," said Creton, owner of Chez Alexandre restaurant and president of the Peel St. Merchants Association.

 

"I can't believe it - there was no notice, just like that," he said of the surprise announcement that Montreal was no longer a stop on the Formula One circuit.

 

Business owners like Creton have been the beneficiaries of the $100 million that the Grand Prix race brings to the city each year, money that will no longer be flowing into the coffers of hotels, boutiques, restaurants and bars now that the city has been bounced from the schedule.

 

But Montreal will be losing more than just the money, said Isaac Sahakian, manager of Harry Rosen men's wear on Peel.

 

"The Grand Prix creates a vibe in the city, and Montreal is seen all over the world," Sahakian said. "People love Grand Prix, and it attracts a lot of business to the city. Everyone is going to lose."

 

Suzanne Hiltebrandt of tobacconist H. Poupart on Peel sells expensive Cuban cigars - and lots of them - during the Grand Prix festivities.

 

"For sure, the race brings a lot of people from outside the city to Montreal, but there are so many other events surrounding the event - the parties, the dinners," she said.

 

Parties like the BMW extravaganza five years ago where Pointe Claire's Autumn Kelly met her future husband, Peter Phillips, eldest grandson of Queen Elizabeth. Or the ball where Justin Trudeau met his wife, Sophie Grégoire.

 

"This is very sad for Montreal," said Micheline Pelletier, who was interviewed on Sherbrooke St. W. and works at an upscale downtown boutique. "The world comes downtown, the streets are closed and there's ambience. Montreal pretties up for the Grand Prix, everything is 'fait peau neuve,' " she added.

 

"The limousine companies, the stores, the restaurants - this will affect the industry and the atmosphere downtown a lot," said concierge Louis-Philippe Talbot at Loews Hotel Vogue on Mountain St.

 

"This was our biggest weekend, the busiest of them all. Now it will just be another weekend in the summer," he said.

 

Virginia Lattuca worked for the Olympic Installations Board for five years in the early 1980s and one of her jobs was to act as a hostess at the Grand Prix race.

 

"Every summer I spent a week at the track and then I went into the hotel business, where I've been for 24 years," she said.

 

"I've been working with Grand Prix people for 29 years, and I'm speechless today," she said.

 

Najib Slaoui owns the F1 Formule 1 Emporium on Crescent St. and sells F1 souvenirs, shirts, and die-cast models of famous cars and drivers.

 

"This is a big hit for the whole city," Slaoui said. "We were expecting something last year with the talk about the (condition) of the track, the cost of gas to fly to North America. We thought this might happen."

[ErickMontreal]

'It's a very important, serious blow'

Hotels, restaurants blindsided. 'This is our place on the international scene,' says sales boss at downtown eateries

 

The Gazette

Published: 8 hours ago

 

For months, William Brown, head of the Hotel Association of Greater Montreal, kept a watchful eye on the Grand Prix website.

 

"There we were, sitting at June 7," he said. Sure, it had a star beside it, indicating it was provisional, but he had no inkling that anything was amiss. So the call from a member early this morning hit like a thunderbolt.

 

Without fanfare or explanation, Montreal was dropped from the Formula One calendar for 2009. An estimated $100 million will evaporate from the Montreal economy - and this at a time when the tourism industry is already hurting from a weakened economy, high gas prices and a strong Canadian dollar.

 

"It's a very important, serious blow," he said. "There's a bunch of hotel general managers scrambling to revise their 2008-2009 forecasts."

 

He and François Meunier, vice-president of the Association des restaurateurs du Québec, are hoping all levels of government - which pocket significant taxes during the event - will persuade the racing federation to change its mind.

 

"It's been done before," Meunier said.

 

Nothing can replace a Grand Prix, Brown said. Olympics and world's fairs are great, he said, but they come around rarely. We've got the Grey Cup this year, but we will have to wait several years for the next one. The Grand Prix is an annual event drawing hordes of people, big spenders, year after year. The industry could count on it.

 

This has been a difficult year for local hoteliers faced with unfavourable economic conditions and labour strife, he said. Among his members - the majority of hotels with 90 rooms or more - occupancy rates for the first nine months of the year averaged 66.8 per cent, the lowest they've been since 2003. But during the four-day Grand Prix weekend, the rate shot up to 94.6 per cent, with several downtown hotels hitting 100 per cent.

 

Members know the importance of the event, he said. When the ban on tobacco advertising threatened the Montreal race in 2003, the association - via Tourism Montréal - contributed $500,000 over three years to help the race offset the loss of revenue. This year, when improvements were needed to Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on île Notre Dame, the association kicked in $200,000.

 

And it isn't just a question of filling hotel rooms, said Katherine Evans, director of the Opus Hotel at the corner of St. Laurent Blvd. and Sherbrooke St. W. Its two restaurants - Suko and Koko - are also booming with people who like to buy. On an average weekend, the two welcome about 1,800 guests. For the three days of the Grand Prix, that jumps to 4,500.

 

"It's a devastating loss," she said. "It's the one topic of conversation here today."

 

Joey Ghazal, head of sales and marketing for the Queue de Cheval, Trinity, and Le Pois Penché - clustered on Drummond St. - said sales at the three restaurants top $1 million during Grand Prix. But it isn't just money that will be lost. The Grand Prix is Montreal's big chance to shine. "This is our place on the international scene," he said.

 

"Somebody dropped the ball," he said. He's not sure who, but they have to get it back. He'd been talking to other restaurateurs during the day and "we are prepared to do whatever it takes. We'll march on city hall if we have to."

[Habsfan]

Montréal paie 18m$ par année, et non 12m$.

 

Oui, je viens juste de lire ça ce matin. Donc Il faudrait investir probablement entre 17 et 22 millions pour sauver le GP cette année! Si nous omees debons négociateurs, peut être qu'on pourrait s'en sauver avec 35 millions$ au lieu de 40million$??

 

EN passant, j'ai bien aimé l'artricle de Tremblay (Un Gros Fredericton) dans LaPresse. Avec la perte des Nordiques, des Expos et maintenant le GP le Québec est en traîn de montrer à toute la planète que nous ne sommes une belle gang de losers!

[Malek]

Et il parait que le GP des USA reviens en 2010?

 

alors on serait de retour en 2010 aussi??

[Habsfan]

Et il parait que le GP des USA reviens en 2010?

 

alors on serait de retour en 2010 aussi??

 

Je ne sais pas ou tu as entendu/lu ça, mais je n'ai rien vu/lu qui disait que le GP des USA allait revenir bientôt!

[WestAust]

ils veulent ramener la F1 aux états-unis pour 2010, mais pas a Indianapolis, ils veulent etre sur l'un des deux côtes, soit L.A ou N.Y preferablement, Vegas passerait.

 

C'est loin d'etre fait, et encore moins a un coût de 40-50m$, Tony George a dit screw you a Bernie au renouvellement, il demandait alors 35m$usd par année

[Habsfan]

C'est sûr que si jamais il y avait une course aux USA, ça aiderait la cuase du GP du Canada (les deux GP se partagerais les coûts de transport) tandis qu'en 2008, Montréal à du défrayer les couts de transorts a elle seule!

 

Mais encore là, si Tony George a dit au crosseur d'Ecclestone d'aller se faire foutre pour 35 millions$, pensez vous qu'il va accepter 40 millions$??? I don't think so!

[ericairlines]

Valencia ,bahrein,world cities ?? a joke !! Ever been there ??Even singapore is a big joke compared with MTL...

[LTS]

So what does the Formula One Administration actually do with the money they receive on a yearly basis?

 

Perhaps someone can explain this to me - and I'm not just being snarky; I genuinely want to understand.

 

 

Revenues

 

• 20 GP's * 50 millions each = 1 billion $
   
  
• I suppose the teams (Ferrari, McLaren, etc.) also have to pay for the right to race on the F1 circuit.
   
  
• From what I understand, the Formula One Administration also gets a sizable share of TV revenues.
  

 

 

Costs

 

• The GP's seem to take care of everything related to the actual events (build and maintain the track and infrastructure, organization and coordination of the event, marketing, etc.)
   
  
• The teams (well, their sponsors) are paying for the cars, the pilots, R&D, etc.
  

 

What other cost is there?

 

• Making the schedule? One guy with an Excel file, making phone calls for a couple of weeks and you're done. (You want to remove the Montreal GP? Just click "Delete" and publish on the web site! )
   
  
• The web site? That's hardly a billion dollar affair, is it ?
   
  
• Determining the rules and regulations? That's pretty much done, with a few adjustments every year. Simply organize a yearly meeting to discuss this and that's it.
  

 

 

So... where does the money go? How is this organization useful, except for the fact that they hold the "official" F1 seal of approval or whatever?

 

 

Hopefully I'm missing something.

 

Hopefully.

[MARTY]

BERNIE ECCLESTONE

 

BUD SELIG

 

Could it be Bud Selig with a wig????

 

:greedy: