Facility Notes

Dover Motor Speedway Officials Say Track Lost $30M In ‘06

The English Football Association is “anticipating a huge demand for tickets” for the England national soccer team’s first game back at Wembley Stadium on June 1 against Brazil. The FA “hopes its ticket-pricing policy will ensure a healthy turnout at the 90,000-capacity stadium.” Tickets will range from US$30-120 (London INDEPENDENT, 4/12).

DOVER: ESPN’s Angelique Chengelis reported Dover Motor Speedway officials claimed they lost over $30M last year and are “already in the hole this year.” Chengelis cited some track presidents as saying that “part of this is sanctioning agreements with NASCAR and there’s some formula that no one else seems to know about except NASCAR, and it varies from track to track and they think that might be part of the problem. Another part of the issue is ... just two races a year is probably not enough to sustain” (“NASCAR Now,” ESPN2, 4/12).

MSG: In N.Y., Robert Moore reports Hudson County (NJ) sheriff’s officer Juan DePeña “carried a loaded handgun past security” at MSG last Saturday “without ever being searched — despite calling ahead to tell them he was coming to the [Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus] with a gun.” DePeña: “When I got there, I found almost no security at all.” He said that he was told on the phone a guard would “screen him using a hand-held metal detector and then escort him to a supervisor’s office to verify his identity. But none of that happened” (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 4/13).