NASCAR officials Monday defended their HOF as a "successful shrine to the sport even though it won’t produce the millions in profits -- and possibly no revenue ever for NASCAR -- nor attract the numbers projected during a search for a site a decade ago," according to Bob Pockrass of SPORTING NEWS. The Charlotte City Council voted Monday to "alter how the $192 million facility is funded." The HOF lost $1.4M and $1.6M in its last two fiscal years. So instead of at least a $1M per year (and possibly more than $3M) "moneymaker for NASCAR when it negotiated what appeared to be a sweetheart deal with Charlotte, it will now make nothing." NASCAR Chair & CEO Brian France, in an interview with Motor Racing Network, said the HOF has "done fine." France: "It’s come with a very big price tag, and part of digesting that is always a leap here, especially in the early days of operations. But they’re doing a great job. … We’re quite pleased with it.” NASCAR VP & Chief Communications Officer Brett Jewkes in a statement said, “The hall of fame is important to the sport, it is important to our company, and it will continue to be. We’re going to keep investing in it to promote it. … We have a big commitment to the hall of fame.” But Charlotte city council member Ed Driggs said, “We need to be clear about one thing -- and that is this is not a cause for celebration. The NASCAR Hall of Fame has completely failed to live up to all the projections on which its original capital structure was based and right now we’re at a point where the attendance figures which were (the) basis for our analysis have reached maybe half.” Jewkes added that despite the financial struggles, feedback he gets from those who visit the HOF "is positive" (SPORTINGNEWS.com, 1/13).
