Montreal is at its best when the Grand Prix comes to town.
The streets are alive with the sound of 750hp and 20,000 rpm, not to mention the massive street festivals, overflowing bars and restaurants along Crescent St., and the overall party atmosphere that blows in to town along with Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa, et al.
Come 2009, however, those four days in June that officially kick off summer in Montreal will now be like any other June day. The Dom Perignon will remain behind the bar, the strippers will make fewer tips and the city just won't be as enthusiastic as it could be, unless the Canadiens are vying for their 25th Stanley Cup.
FIA has announced it is dropping the Canadian Grand Prix which, from a marketing standpoint, is not the smartest move. Montreal has always been a big draw for F1 and if it's hoping to further increase its presence in North America, dropping Canada from the sched will all but make the sport obsolete on this continent, allowing NASCAR to further gain a stranglehold on racing fans here.
Taking that June weekend from Montreal is Turkey which allows the teams maintain its summer break. In the meantime, Abu-Dhabi—the new kid on the block—rounds out the 2009 racing season.
From the city's standpoint, this is devastating news. It's estimated the Grand Prix plunks nearly $80-million in to city coffers and that's not chump change. Sure, NASCAR has got a toe-hold in the Montreal market but by no means is it as a big of a draw here. Circuit Gilles Villenueve just isn't a NASCAR-friendly track and that probably does keep some away.
This isn't the first time Montreal has dropped off the calendar. In 2003, Bernie Eccelstone announced Canada had been bumped from the 2004 calendar because of tobacco advertising ban that was being implemented. A massive campaign from all three levels of government, plus additional funding from merchants and hotels in Montreal, allowed the race to go ahead. In 1987, another sponsorship issue resulted in its cancellation outright.
It's unknown what FIA's beef with Montreal might be this time around but already, merchants and hotels are vowing to join any coalition that would campaign to keep Montreal on the F1 sked. The word on the street is, Circuit Gilles Villenueve is the problem. It's a track the mechanics hate and many view this decision as a pressure tactic by FIA to get the city and the Quebec government to invest in a retrofit.
What may eventually save the race is a contract, signed by the city and the promoter with F1 which keeps the race in Montreal up until 2011. Breaching that contract could cost the F1 or FIA a lot of money if Canada's Grand Prix team lawyers up. It's assumed, however, that this would have already been discussed by those behind the scene.
Whether or not any attempt to keep the race in Montreal will be successful remains to be seen but those who want it to stay here better hope the plan works. Otherwise, it may be some time before we see another Grand Prix race here in Montreal and the city, its merchants, restaurants, bars, and strippers can't afford to lose that kind of revenue.
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