Michigan Int'l Speedway To Reduce Ticket Prices Beginning In '10

By Michael Smith, Staff Writer, SportsBusiness Journal

MIS Will Lower Prices On Every Ticket In Every Grandstand For Its '10 Events From 5-63%

Most every racetrack has dropped ticket prices, but Michigan Int'l Speedway (MIS), in the heart of the region that's been so heavily impacted by the recession, decided to take it another step. MIS, an Int'l Speedway Corp. (ISC), facility, announced Sunday that it would lower prices on every ticket in every grandstand for its '10 NASCAR events from 5-63%. The Speedway is dropping prices while also expanding its seats from 18 inches to 20 inches or 22 inches, depending on the grandstand. "When the idea was first thrown out there to lower every ticket price, the room fell silent," said MIS President Roger Curtis. "And then I said, 'Let's do it.' We've got to continue finding ways to show our appreciation to the fans. To show that we're being sincere about it, we're even lowering the prices on the seats that renew at 90% or higher." In addition, MIS lowered the price on the wristband that admits fans into the infield from $100 to $60 and youths 12 and under will be admitted free, while youths 13-17 will be admitted for half price. The lowest general admission grandstand ticket will now cost $25 and the lowest priced ticket in reserved sections with seat backs will go for $35. MIS already widened 23,000 seats and will widen another 65,000 seats, lowering capacity to 119,550 seats. "We lowered prices last year before the bottom fell out of the economy and we thought, 'Man, we didn't do enough,'" Curtis said. "When we came up with this idea, we took it to ISC and honestly we didn't have to do a lot of politicking. I told the team here at the speedway that we'll probably never be a part of anything like this again because of how unique it is."