Officials from NASCAR and the state of NJ said that the
proposal to build a $400M, 100,000-seat automobile racetrack
at the Meadowlands "is all but dead," according to Jordan &
Futterman of the Newark STAR-LEDGER. The "deal-breaker"
came last month when NJ officials "refused to subsidize" the
track with taxpayer money and low-interest loans. NASCAR
Senior VP Brian France, on the deal: "It's almost dead.
It's on life support. We need some help." Peter McDonough,
spokesperson for NJ Gov. Christie Whitman, "confirmed that
the major sticking point" to the venue was NJ's "refusal to
subsidize construction." McDonough: "While we are willing
to help attract professional sports, there is an amount that
is just too much." Jordan & Futterman add that a speedway
"also was seen as a potential savior" for the Meadowlands
which "could lose" the Devils, Nets, Jets and MetroStars in
the next ten years. Donald Trump, "whose company was
retained to seek sites" for a NASCAR facility in the N.Y.
area, said that "negotiations will continue with other
sites" in the area. Trump: "We'll know in the next few
months what will happen and where NASCAR is going. If they
are unable to make a deal with New Jersey, they will make a
deal with New York ... it's getting to be crunch time." But
SMI President Humpy Wheeler said a Meadowlands deal "is
dead." Wheeler: "We have been actively looking for a site
40 miles outside of Newark. We must be close to New York.
It's something we have to do. It's a must." France and
Wheeler said that a proposed site about 40 miles west of
Atlantic City and over 100 miles south of N.Y., "was too
far" from N.Y. France: "That won't work. We have to be
somewhere within 25 miles" of N.Y. (STAR-LEDGER, 10/11).
