Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and her administration have “struck a five-year deal with a new team to manage the Baltimore Grand Prix race, including new safeguards designed to insulate the city from losses,” according to a front-page piece by Scharper & Broadwater of the Baltimore SUN. Officials unveiled a contract today with Downforce Racing, a company headed by Indianapolis-based contractor Dale Dillon and two former Constellation Energy Group Inc. execs -- Felix Dawson and Daniel Reck. Dillon has "built tracks for IndyCar races in St. Petersburg, Fla., and Toronto.” The contract stipulates that “a portion of the proceeds from each ticket sold will be placed in a ‘lock box’ escrow account" controlled by a trustee chosen by the city -- ensuring that the racing group, "unlike its predecessor, would pay city admission and amusement taxes and service fees.” Under the contract, the city “also would retain the right to inspect Downforce Racing's financial records at any time.” At the same time, the city “isn't imposing some of the same fees that the previous organizer, Baltimore Racing Development, blamed in part for its financial woes.” The city is “demanding hundreds of thousands of dollars less from Downforce Racing than it did from Baltimore Racing Development, which failed to pay $1.5 million in city taxes and fees.” Dillon said that he “was confident that his experience working on other races would prevent the group from having the same problems” as BRD. The group expressed “confidence that the race would be profitable, but would not say whether they expected to turn a profit in the first year.” The contract “does not require Downforce Racing to pay back the debts Baltimore Racing Development owes to the Maryland Stadium Authority” (Baltimore SUN, 2/15).
