The following is an excerpt from a letter to the editor of the Billington Bugle There is no possible downside to the community in bringing the Grand Prix to Billington Though it has not proved financially successful in other cities that have hosted the ra

With various countries around the world vying to host international sporting events, it is evident that the prestige of such honors are immense in terms of boosting a country’s profile. However, post-hoc reviews often show that countries that host these international competitions might see more financial loss than benefits, as is the case for South America and Brazil with the FIFA World Cup, as well as Tokyo, Japan with the Olympics. The author of the excerpt in the Billington Bugle claims that there is no possible downside to the community in bringing the Grand Prix to Billington, and provides various reasons to support his argument. However, he clearly disregards past cities’ experiences, and various questions need to be addressed and evidence provided before we can evaluate the legitimacy of his claim.

First and foremost, the author states that the organizers of the Grand Prix have offered to repave the downtown streets which will function as the race’s course, implying that not only will Billington face no significant financial burden, but will also benefit from the repaved roads. There are many questions that need to be answered by the author’s flow in logic. First, while the organizers of the Grand Prix agreed to finance the repavement of roads, Grand Prix race courses need constant upkeep for competition and safety purposes. The author did not consider future annual costs, and did not state which party is responsible for these upkeeps. If the city has to foot this bill, the one-stop investment of repaving its roads will likely be cheaper than the yearly costs of upkeep streets until the end of its Grand Prix contract. Additionally, since the Grand Prix’s main goal is to repave the road for race purposes, such construction projects are very likely to be condensed to a short but disrupting project, potentially interrupting the lives and businesses of Billington’s citizens. Most importantly, the author says that repaving streets will lead to a tremendous boon to the city. More evidence is needed to support the statement — are potential businesses or investors turned off from Billington by its lack of infrastructure, or would rebuilding bring in their interest? If there are other factors that turn off investments, such as crime rate or safety, it is unlikely that repaving streets can bring a boon to the city.

Furthermore, more data needs to be provided on how hosting the Grand Prix would financially benefit Billington and its citizens. Since Grand Prix races are already being held all over the world, data on how much money Grand Prix events bring in (or out) of the cities would be a great resource to evaluate this proposal. Since downtown businesses (aside from restaurants and food vendors) will be shut down for three days for the competition, the influx of tourist dollars will not help them and a survey needs to be carried out to evaluate the sentiment of these business owners. Additionally, the author claims that the international prestige of hosting the Grand Prix will help raise the city’s profile, generating new business interests. Similar data from other cities need to be provided to evaluate whether there is an influx of investments and businesses after the hosting of a Grand Prix race in order to justify this claim. On top of all of this, cities generally need to pay franchising fees to host such events, and may only earn very little of the tourist money from ticket sales and merchandising. Thus, if the author can provide data from other cities on the financial impacts of hosting a Grand Prix, these questions can be easily answered and his argument validated.

Last but not least, the most jarring statement the author makes is that the Grand Prix has not proved to be financially successful in other cities that have hosted the race. More details need to be released regarding this information. If the Grand Prix does not make other cities financially successful, there is a very slight possibility that Billington will be an anomoly and succeed. Did a similar city facing infrastructure problems agree to host the Grand Prix but proved to be financially unsuccessful? If so, Billington will most likely be in the same situation. Did other financially well-off cities still face a financial strain while hosting the Grand Prix? If so, what are these financial burdens and does Billington have a unique competitive advantage that will obviate it? With the limited amount of information we have, it seems ignorant to disregard the failures of past cities when there is ample data to support that hosting Grand Prix races are not financially smart choices for a city.

In conclusion, if the author can provide more evidence into the potential future financials burdens of hosting the Grand Prix, how the Grand Prix will impact its citizens, as well as what main factors lead to the failure of other cities and whether Billington will face the same challenges, we can then evaluate the validity of the author’s argument.