Workers at Charlotte Motor Speedway this week "started tearing out 41,000 seats at the track," lowering capacity by 31% from 134,000, according to Erik Spanberg of the CHARLOTTE BUSINESS JOURNAL. The "soon-to-be-demolished seats are part of a Diamond Tower section added in turn two" in '98. CMS owner SMI in a federal filing "'committed' to removing 41,000 seats" at CMS and 17,000 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, which it also owns. A CMS spokesperson yesterday said that SMI "will have more to say next year on how the track will use the area where the seats were removed." Spanberg noted the filing "describes the seats as 'low demand' and lists hospitality and advertising among the planned uses." The company "will write-down" $23M as a result. According to SMI annual reports, CMS "had 171,000 permanent seats" in '01. After the 41,000 seats are "removed between now and mid-2015, capacity will shrink to 93,000," a 46% decrease from the 171,000 peak. No changes "are expected" to the number of 113 luxury suites (BIZJOURNALS.com, 12/10). SportsBusiness Journal in November '13 first reported CMS was considering tearing down its backstretch grandstand.
