Ryan O'Doherty, spokesperson for Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, said that Downforce Racing "missed three of the five benchmarks that it agreed to have complete" by March 15 under its contract with the city to operate the Baltimore Grand Prix, according to Steve Kilar of the Baltimore SUN. O'Doherty said that Downforce, the new operator of the Izod IndyCar Series event, and Rawlings-Blake's administration are "still working out the terms of three agreements that were scheduled" to be completed by Thursday. He said that technical information in the ticket escrow agreement, which will "govern how the city collects its share of ticket proceeds, is being checked for accuracy." O'Doherty added that two other agreements -- one "between IndyCar and Downforce and another between the Maryland Stadium Authority and Downforce -- are expected to be executed by the end of next week" (Baltimore SUN, 3/16). In Baltimore, Jack Lambert noted despite missing the deadline, city officials said that they are "pleased with the progress that has been made" by Downforce. The city said that it "expects the ticket escrow amount agreement to be completed shortly." Downforce also "agreed it would have a sanctioning agreement with IndyCar and a deal with the Maryland Stadium Authority to lease parts of the Camden Yards Sports Complex by the first deadline." O'Doherty said that the IndyCar agreement is in the "final stages of being complete." Stadium Authority officials said that a "contract with the group has been reached" (BIZJOURNALS.com, 3/15).
