ISC expects its $400M renovation of Daytona Int’l Speedway to boost annual revenue at the track by $20M. The project, which is set to begin next week, will improve the track’s hospitality offerings, concessions and corporate sponsorship inventory enough to boost EBITDA by $15M. ISC projects annual mid-single-digit growth after the renovation’s completion. During an earnings call Wednesday, ISC CFO Dan Houser described those projections as conservative and added, “This doesn’t include the long term benefits to our sport.”
Execs declined to detail how ticket prices would increase after the renovation. ISC CEO John Saunders said the track would continue to offer Daytona 500 tickets for less than $100, but said that final pricing would be shared with fans in the future before it is shared with investors. Saunders reassured investors that the two-year renovation would not disrupt any events at DIS. He added, “We’re very confident when you look at the entire portfolio of events across the ISC facilities, we’re not going to see any loss of events through this construction period.”
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ISC reported revenue of $178.4M for Q2, almost flat with the $179.6M it reported for the same period last year. Admissions revenue totaled $35.8M, down slightly from $37.3M last year. Motorsports-related revenue totaled $126M, up from $125.8M last year. Food and beverage sales for the quarter were flat at $12.7M. ISC execs said that the company’s tracks continue to struggle with advance ticket sales. For example, advance sales at Talladega Superspeedway this spring were down 23% in the week leading into the May event.
The company plans to reduce capacity at some of its tracks in order to bolster demand and rejuvenate advance sales. It declined to say what tracks would see seats removed. Execs also expressed optimism about NASCAR’s pending media rights sales. NASCAR is set to begin negotiations with Turner and ESPN this month for 23 Sprint Cup races and the Nationwide Series. ISC execs predicted those deals, combined with Fox' recent eight-year renewal, would deliver a more than 20% increase over the $562M in rights fees NASCAR now collects annually.
