Canadian Grand Prix puts focus on families

Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix will continue what has become Formula One’s more than three-decade run in Montreal. In some respects, though, this year’s event marks a new beginning.

It’s the first race since organizers reached a deal with Formula One Management last year to keep the event in Montreal (at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve) until at least 2024.

DORAIS

“The new contract gives us time to strategize, take a step back and say, ‘What do we want this to be for the next 10 years? Where do we want to go with this?’” said Louis-Philippe Dorais, strategic adviser and national press officer for race promoter Octane Racing Group.

To that end, Octane this year has put an emphasis on family accessibility. Chief among the group’s efforts has been the creation of a “family grandstand” at the track, where children ages 15 and younger accompanied by an adult will receive free admission, while spectators 65 and older can get nearly half off the $220 price of a three-day pass.

Organizers have touted the feature as a unique offering across F1 venues, designed to be an area aimed at getting multiple generations of families to attend the event together.

“Formula One does have that image that it is a little bit hard to get into and only for people who have a lot of money,” Dorais said.

Surrounding the designated grandstand will be a family friendly activity zone that will include video games, concessions and the cockpit of an F-18 fighter jet. The Montreal Canadiens and Montreal Impact will be represented in the family area, as well.

The event is adding features to encourage multiple generations of families to attend together. Photo by: OCTANE RACING GROUP

“With the Montreal market, the Quebec market, it’s important with the different events that we have across the year to give one another either visibility or be able to feature something that the other one doesn’t have,” said Rino Folino, partnership director for the MLS Impact. “It adds more spike to the event.”

The Impact plans to promote its soccer school and sell both merchandise and tickets at the track.

Also activating will be Tennis Canada, which will host a serve contest and will tout this summer’s ATP/WTA Tour Rogers Cup event.

Dorais joined Octane in January from Tennis Canada. While he declined to disclose specific sales figures for the coming weekend, Dorais did say ticket sales are ahead of last year’s pace. Several grandstands have sold out, he said, and organizers added an additional grandstand this year to accommodate the demand.

The event in the past has attracted about 300,000 people across its three-day weekend.

On the sponsorship front, Octane has added Charton-Hobbs and Sleeman Breweries in the wine and beer categories, respectively. Its partnership portfolio also includes Monster Energy and Mercedes-Benz Canada. The German car brand has been a sponsor of the event since 2010 and has renewed its deal for an additional three years, through 2017.

“It gives our brand and our products a huge amount of visibility on-site during the weekend,” said company spokeswoman JoAnne Caza.

F1’s global partners, including Emirates, Rolex and UBS will have the highest visibility during the race weekend through track signage.

One of the priorities for Octane going forward will be acquiring a title sponsor for the race.

“We are currently in discussions with Quebec-based, Canadian-based and international-based businesses, but we want to find the right fit for the longevity of the event,” Dorais said.

HJ Mai is assistant managing editor of SportsBusiness Daily Global.