New rejection by the city council in Miami

Nothing seems to work. Despite changing location in the city, making grand public declarations, creating a dedicated website, and launching an online petition, Formula One and its partners in Miami are unable to persuade municipal officials to grant them permission to hold a race in Miami.

Two weeks ago when the Miami GP promoters and Liberty Media made a joint statement of a principle agreement, we emphasized that it was still necessary to go through a authorization from the city council. According to our information, the vote that was held was unequivocal as it received a unanimous five no votes. Last year, the vote had been mostly yes (4 to 1) but a unanimous yes was required for such an event to take place.

However, Stephen Ross, the owner of the stadium and the Miami Dolphins team, and his associates have led a real promotion campaign, even going so far as to set up a petition on the official race website, urging residents of Miami Gardens (where the stadium and proposed track are located), Miami-Dade, and Florida in general to let their elected representatives know that they were in favor of hosting the Grand Prix.

The fundamental problem for the organization of this event is that F1 and its shareholders need to establish themselves more in the United States, in the heart of the country’s major commercial markets, rather than the other way around. Indeed, Miami and Florida are already major tourist destinations, with worldwide popularity, and therefore do not need to benefit from the global exposure brought by an event. Local authorities have therefore no interest in alienating their voters for minimal local return.

After this new setback, it will be interesting to see if Liberty Media will persist in trying to find a solution in Miami or if it will have to fall back on another solution across the Atlantic. All this in a context where the promoters of Austin are far from favorable to a second race on the territory that they would see more as a rival than an ally in growing the popularity of Formula 1 in the United States.

The next deadline is now set for December 10 when the committee for infrastructure and capital improvements will debate the project. This is especially significant as the commission has passed a resolution prohibiting any temporary or permanent road closures for the organization of a car race until a certain number of studies have been carried out and financed by the promoters of the Grand Prix. The administrative process is therefore likely to be lengthy before the eventual extinguishing of the lights on the starting grid.

With the participation of www.racingbusiness.fr