Circuit of the Americas organizers went out on a limb to win back F1 fans after last year's rain disaster, and the initial ticket sales figures have proved them right. The Austin, Texas-based racetrack is expecting its second largest-crowd, after its inaugural race in '12, for this year's U.S. F1 Grand Prix, COTA Chair Bobby Epstein told SBD Global. Attendance for the series' sole race on U.S. soil has been on a downward spiral for the past three seasons, and hit a new low last year with a three-day attendance of 224,011 spectators. While last year's U.S. Grand Prix was affected by an unprecedented amount of rainfall, it still represented a 15.6% decline from the 265,499 spectators that were present for the initial race weekend. To stop the trend, COTA decided to take on a financial risk and offered a "no rain guarantee" for this year's running. "We did a number of things to win the fans back and encourage people to come back from last year’s experience," Epstein said. "One of the first things we did was if you bought your ticket before July 4, you got a 'no rain guarantee,' where if it rains two inches within a 24-hour period around race day everyone would get 105 percent of their money back and still get to keep their tickets to the event. So we gave people the chance to make money if it rains."
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Bobby Epstein
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BOOSTING TICKET SALES: The promotion was well received by customers, with COTA generating about $10M from ticket sales before July 4. Epstein did not disclose the exact number of tickets that were sold during the promotion, only calling it a "significant" increase over the same period last year. Promoters also dropped ticket prices by an average of 6% from last year, and invested in facility upgrades to keep another "mud fest" from happening. Last year's race saw people get stuck in the mud as Austin had to cope with 25 inches of rain within a week, Epstein recalled. "We think those are major commitments to the fans," he said. "We learned a lot last year, even in a terrible-case scenario." The initiative to pay back 105% of the purchase price in case it rains is especially risky considering that ticketing is the largest revenue stream for F1 promoters. The idea behind the promotion came from F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone, Epstein said. "I'm not sure any promoter has done that before," he said. "But we had to give people an incentive." COTA also stepped up its entertainment offers surrounding the F1 race. They will be headlined by musical guests Taylor Swift and The Weeknd. The 2016 U.S. F1 Grand Prix will take place from Oct. 21-23.
