Race against loss

>>The city’s hospitality industry is
desperate to save the Grand Prix

GOOD TIMES GOING? Crescent during Grand Prix ’08

by PATRICK LEJTENYI

No one seems really sure why Bernie Ecclestone, the mercurial 77-year-old head of Formula One racing, decided to kibosh the 2009 Montreal Grand Prix. Something about “contractual negotiations,” and the Canadian GP organizers owing Ecclestone’s Formula One Management “significant sums of money from the past three years,” according to news reports.

But there is one thing everyone does know: if the Grand Prix does not return to Montreal next year, the city’s nightclubs, hotels, restaurants, bars and hundreds of other small businesses are going to take a big bite out of their annual profits. It’s estimated that Grand Prix weekend, the busiest of all summer weekends in Montreal, brings in $75-million, no small chunk of change. So politicians are scrambling to save the race, with Montreal mayor Gérald Tremblay, Quebec Minister of Economic Development Raymond Bachand and federal counterpart Michael Fortier scheduled to meet Ecclestone in London today, Thursday, Oct. 23. Bachand told the Journal de Montréal that the situation had “evolved favourably” last week, and that there is still a chance the race will be back. Several teams, including BMW Sauber, Honda and Toyota, were reportedly furious that Montreal, the only North American stop on the circuit and thus the only entry point to the continent’s market, was to be passed over for Abu Dhabi.

But despite the slim signs of optimism, the hospitality industry in Montreal is deeply worried. And that’s why they organized a press conference yesterday, Wednesday, Oct. 22, to let the city know that they are ready to back all levels of government in any financial and moral way necessary.

Big money

“To be honest, we are all a little unclear on what the reason [for pulling out of Montreal really is],” says Sandy Greene, the director of the Crescent Street Merchants’ Association. “We don’t know if it’s because of money or because the drivers need a vacation—it all seems a bit strange. We have no real answers.”

Involved in yesterday’s conference were representatives from the Crescent, Peel, Drummond, Little Italy and St-Laurent merchants’ associations and the Fashion & Design Festival on McGill College. All have big events on Grand Prix weekend, and all have a lot to lose.

“Numbers-wise, the Grand Prix accounts for between eight and 15 per cent of our members’ yearly revenues,” Greene says. “Last year, for our 10th annual [street festival] edition, we were looking at around 500,000 people who attended. So it accounts for a big chunk of our revenue, and if we take it away, a lot of the smaller guys are going to have to close their doors.”

The merchants are looking at the support they fork over to saving the race as an investment. Greene says there has not been any contact between her group and the municipal, provincial or federal governments, but everyone is well aware what is at stake.

André Beauséjour, the general manager of the Société de développement du boulevard St-Laurent, says the strip’s annual four-day closing draws something like 300,000 visitors. “All the merchants take advantage of it by offering street sales…. The restaurants and bars see a big shift that weekend—all the restaurants are filled, the terrasses are twice as busy as normal. It brings in thousands and thousands of dollars.

“If there was no Grand Prix, we would have to try to find a solution, but trying to replace an event like this is difficult. I doubt we could close the boulevard, but we could always try, it’s just a question of asking the borough. But we do need an important event to bring 300,000 people back.”

Beauséjour knows the Grand Prix well, having served as the Montreal race’s communications director for three years. “I know Bernie,” he says. When asked what he thought of him, he chuckles and says, “No comment.”

Staying on the map

If there is something smelly about taxpayers having to foot the bill to woo Ecclestone, International Automobile Federation president (and S&M fan) Max Mosley and the rest of the Grand Prix mob to come to Montreal, Greene, Beauséjour and the rest of the organizers don’t seem to mind. “It’s not only the [immediate financial] impact of the Grand Prix that we are concerned with,” says Beauséjour. “If our visibility is increased thanks to the Grand Prix, it might incite people to come at other times, or to examine Montreal’s investment and business potential throughout all 12 months of the year…. If someone in, say, China, is looking to open a sales office, they draw up a list of cities, and having [an event like the Grand Prix] might make someone ask, ‘Why not Montreal?’”