Andretti Sports Marketing’s top executive called the construction of Miami’s temporary street circuit earlier this month the most challenging project of his career.
John Lopes, the president of ASM, made that assessment looking back at Formula E’s debut U.S. event, the Miami ePrix, held in South Florida on March 14.
“We basically had less than 24 hours to complete the build once Biscayne Boulevard was shut down,” Lopes said.
 |
Building Miami’s temporary circuit was a challenge for Andretti Sports Marketing.
Photo by: AP IMAGES
|
Lopes has been in the business of building temporary street circuits since 2001. It’s a process that involves levels of permitting and necessary street and highway closures. In Miami’s case, several delays the day of the race led to the cancellation of a nonqualifying practice and pushed back the beginning of qualifying. The first Formula E race on U.S. soil, however, did start as scheduled.
Lopes said ASM will examine the causes of the delays in hopes of avoiding any repeats for future races. To that end, while Formula E has not officially announced its return to South Florida, a city commission has already approved a deal that would keep the race in Miami until 2019. Lopes expects the announcement of the event’s return to South Florida to coincide with the official release of Formula E’s schedule for next season.
“We are already hard at work on planning for next year,” Lopes said.
The first edition of the Miami race also revealed the need for additional footbridges, larger areas for general admission, and at least one more on-site ticketing location. Lopes said the walk-up crowd on race day exceeded ASM’s estimations.
Formula E did not provide detailed attendance figures, but a spokesman said more than 20,000 people attended the race. The large number of walk-up ticket buyers — in particular, general-admission ticket buyers — spurred the idea of opening additional GA viewing areas going forward.
“Although it looks good for TV, what we don’t want is what we had on [race day this year], where you’ve got GA areas 10 [to] 12 people deep and some people who can’t see that well,” Lopes said.
Fox Sports 2’s live broadcast of the Miami ePrix drew a 0.06 rating, with 25,000 viewers tuning in. ASM, which secured Florida Power & Light as the only local sponsor for the race, expects increased interest from local companies as sponsors for the event in the future.
“Now that it has come off as a big and great event, it makes the conversation easier when talking and selling local sponsorships,” Lopes said.
HJ Mai is assistant managing editor for SportsBusiness Daily Global.
