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Ticket sales for the September’s NASCAR events at Dover International Speedway were down approximately 17% from 2008 and the track’s parent company, Dover Motorsports Inc., saw its quarterly revenues fall more than $8.6 million from last year, officials revealed in a conference call Nov. 2.
Denis McGlynn, Dover Motorsports CEO, said the company’s third-quarter decline was a result of the slumping economy, which has limited discretionary spending and impacted not only ticket sales but concessions and merchandise revenues as well.
The company also staged two fewer events in the third quarter of 2009 than it did in the same quarter of 2008. Those scheduling changes accounted for about half of the quarterly losses, said CFO Tim Horne.
Dover Motorsports also announced Oct. 30 that it will close its Memphis Motorsports Park in Tennessee and will not promote any events at the track in 2010.
The company previously had agreed to sell the Memphis facility to Gulf Coast Entertainment contingent on that group’s building of a large-scale race and entertainment complex in Mobile, Ala., but Gulf Coast was unable to secure financing for the project and had to back out of the sale.
Dover was expecting $10 million in cash for the Memphis track, plus a 2% share of revenues from the Mobile project.
McGlynn said Dover will keep its share in the Mobile project, but the decision to close Memphis was unfortunate.
“This was a difficult decision in light of the remarkable efforts on the apart of many employees and sponsors,” he said. “If not for the downed economy, the outcome might well have been different.”
As a result of the scrapped deal and subsequent closure, Horne said Dover incurred $7.4 million in impairment charges for writing down the value of the Memphis property.
In addition to Dover International Speedway, the company owns and operates Gateway International Raceway near St. Louis, Mo., and Nashville Superspeedway near Nashville, Tenn.
Ticket refunds for 2010 events at Memphis will be mailed out to fans in the next few weeks.
Email Doug Denison at doug.denison@doverpost.com
Ticket sales for the September’s NASCAR events at Dover International Speedway were down approximately 17% from 2008 and the track’s parent company, Dover Motorsports Inc., saw its quarterly revenues fall more than $8.6 million from last year, officials revealed in a conference call Nov. 2.
Denis McGlynn, Dover Motorsports CEO, said the company’s third-quarter decline was a result of the slumping economy, which has limited discretionary spending and impacted not only ticket sales but concessions and merchandise revenues as well.
The company also staged two fewer events in the third quarter of 2009 than it did in the same quarter of 2008. Those scheduling changes accounted for about half of the quarterly losses, said CFO Tim Horne.
Dover Motorsports also announced Oct. 30 that it will close its Memphis Motorsports Park in Tennessee and will not promote any events at the track in 2010.
The company previously had agreed to sell the Memphis facility to Gulf Coast Entertainment contingent on that group’s building of a large-scale race and entertainment complex in Mobile, Ala., but Gulf Coast was unable to secure financing for the project and had to back out of the sale.
Dover was expecting $10 million in cash for the Memphis track, plus a 2% share of revenues from the Mobile project.
McGlynn said Dover will keep its share in the Mobile project, but the decision to close Memphis was unfortunate.
“This was a difficult decision in light of the remarkable efforts on the apart of many employees and sponsors,” he said. “If not for the downed economy, the outcome might well have been different.”
As a result of the scrapped deal and subsequent closure, Horne said Dover incurred $7.4 million in impairment charges for writing down the value of the Memphis property.
In addition to Dover International Speedway, the company owns and operates Gateway International Raceway near St. Louis, Mo., and Nashville Superspeedway near Nashville, Tenn.
Ticket refunds for 2010 events at Memphis will be mailed out to fans in the next few weeks.
Email Doug Denison at doug.denison@doverpost.com
