Charlotte celebrated when the announcement was made official on Monday. Credit: AP
Charlotte's Hall of Fame bid a true team effort
Money wasn't only factor in deciding on location of sport's venueBy Marty Smith, NASCAR.COMMarch 6, 200607:37 PM EST (00:37 GMT)CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The slogan used in Charlotte's platform to lure the NASCAR Hall of Fame to the Queen City is now official creed:
Racing was built here. Racing belongs here.
As expected, NASCAR on Monday announced its Hall of Fame will reside in Charlotte, N.C., a conclusion one key decision maker on the project called "the tipping point for Charlotte being the Hollywood of NASCAR."
"The one thing Charlotte has been lacking is a real tourism magnet," said Mark Dyer, NASCAR vice president of licensing and a lead negotiator on NASCAR's behalf throughout the site-selection process. "This provides it. This is the tipping point for Charlotte being the Hollywood of NASCAR."
Dyer said Charlotte won out over Atlanta and Daytona Beach mainly due to NASCAR's stability in the market and importance in the community's overall economic structure.
In short, Charlotte will tout the facility as the focal destination point for NASCAR fans to coincide with the numerous race shops and museums in and around the area, as well as a centerpiece in the rapidly expanding downtown infrastructure.
"This is home to the drivers, and there's no place like home," said Charlotte mayor Pat McCrory.
North Carolina Governor Mike Easley added, "Charlotte, start your economic engines. This thing's gonna be big."
"Add all that up, and fans can spend a whole week in Charlotte and really experience the sport and its history," Dyer said. "It puts an exclamation point on the experience."
Dyer said plans are in the works to organize a coordinated touring business to simplify seeing all Charlotte-area racing attractions.
"Charlotte sees the Hall of Fame as a catalyst for economic development downtown -- and there is a lot of momentum downtown already with office and residential and restaurants in place and on the move," Dyer said.
"Charlotte worked very hard to put themselves in this position. They had a terrific proposal, and did a great job when we visited in the summer. They were very resilient as we questioned them and requested more information.
"Their core team hung in there on this thing and represented their side extremely well over hours and hours of negotiations. They got the best deal representing the city against our viewpoints, and we ended up being very close on everything."
Pooling resourcesDyer cited a collaboration of resources by Charlotte-based banking giants Bank of America and Wachovia as key in the Queen City's triumph.
"They're really strong rivals, headquartered in the same city just a few blocks apart, and deserve a ton of credit for working together to make this happen," Dyer said.
"We had a firm commitment from both companies from the very beginning to do what it took to secure the Hall of Fame in Charlotte.
"This is a huge economic development opportunity for downtown Charlotte, and they realized that immediately and joined arms and acted really as one voice. That's extraordinary."
Extraordinary, yes. But far from the lone determining factor, Dyer said. Charlotte's local government had to prove its mettle to the selection committee, as well.
"The state of North Carolina and Charlotte, in the metropolitan area, at a governmental level has done a lot of work to study and recognize the importance of motorsports in the area, and because of that they stepped up with a great financial package that was geared towards long-term security for the facility," Dyer said.
"Those were two very big factors that weighed heavily into the decision."
Easley said NASCAR's approach was so straightforward, the Charlotte committee almost didn't know how to react.
"It was unlike anything I've ever dealt with in economic development," Easley said. "They walked in and said here's what we need. I appreciate them showing the confidence in Charlotte and in North Carolina."
Late push raises questionsAtlanta officials said last week they'd increased the city's planned investment from $5 million to $77 million. The State of Georgia had already pledged $25 million.
News of Atlanta's proposal left many with an impression that NASCAR was playing a bidding game with its candidates to increase NASCAR's payday.
Dyer said that isn't the case, rather that intricate contractual details held up the finalization of the project.
"The toughest part of a situation like this is you don't know you absolutely have a final deal until the last day or two, because there are so many loose ends," Dyer said. "And you owe it to other cities to keep the communication lines open. So it starts to take the look of a big sweepstakes.
"We didn't run it that way. We really tried hard to address the concerns of the long-term security of the project. The discussions and things you saw in the media weren't predicated on NASCAR getting paid, more the arrangements of financing the facility and giving the facility the best long-term financial future."
The Hall of Fame project is important enough to NASCAR that its royalty package isn't guaranteed. If the Hall of Fame suffers a financial loss in any given year, NASCAR forgoes a portion of its royalty guarantee.
"It's important to note that we placed no financial guarantees on the facility," Dyer said. "If the facility ran a deficit in a year we wouldn't get paid our full royalties. We won't let our royalties take the facility into a deficit in any given year.
"The facility is a non-profit, and while everybody thinks we're doing this thing for money -- and yes, we'll make royalties off of the use of our name -- but the negotiations in the past few weeks weren't predicated on us trying to up the bidding on what we'd be paid. It was about ensuring the financial future of the facility."
Not just NASCAROne of Atlanta's greatest assets was its standing among destination cities for corporate conventions -- second only to Las Vegas. The Hall of Fame is expected to greatly improve Charlotte's allure.
"This will be a tremendous boon to tourism, not just in Charlotte, but this entire region," McCrory said.
The budget for the entire project is $150 million, with $43 million of that set aside for a banquet hall/ballroom that should assist Charlotte's growth as a destination for corporate conventions.
"The ballroom is a terrific feature," Dyer said. "Induction banquets will be held there, as well as other NASCAR official events. The banquet hall is owned by the city and run by the city, so lots of non-NASCAR events will be held in banquet hall, too. They really need a facility of this size."
Dyer said organizers and developers will need another year to finalize the building's design, and namely the interior design. He estimates construction will begin next spring, and a grand opening in 2010.
NASCAR has the option to build an office building on the Hall of Fame site, for which the City of Charlotte bears no financial responsibility. Instead, NASCAR would be required to foot the bill for the office building.
What makes a NASCAR Hall of Famer?To date, NASCAR's sole focus has been location, location, location.
Little thought has been given to induction criteria, or what individuals will make up the first official class.
"By the time this building opens, we'll have 61 or 62 years of racing in our history, so how many people do you induct in your charter class? Too many wouldn't be meaningful," Dyer said. "How high is the bar for induction?"
Presumably, quite lofty.
"I do know one thing we've already talked about -- the induction process has to have the highest integrity among fans, drivers, teams, sponsors. Everybody in the sport has to view this as highly credible," Dyer said.
"I think the bar will be pretty high. I don't think I'll have a vote but I think the bar will be high."
In the end, NASCAR projects it will have the finest professional sports hall of fame in the country.
"Absolutely. The advantage we have over Cooperstown or Canton is we're able to build a brand new building with all the technological know-how of the years 2006 through 2010, so this will be the finest professional sports hall of fame ever built in America at the time it opens," Dyer said.
"And because we're in Charlotte, with the industry around us and willing to embrace us, we can create that same heart and soul connection for inductees that inductees in Cooperstown and Canton have.
"I'd like to think we can have the best of both worlds -- a state-of-the-art facility that also captures the heart and soul of the sport."
Mansfield Motorsports Speedway
