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COTA announced it had inked a five-year deal with F1 in February 2022. (MSI Images/Twitter)
In a year packed with near-constant noise at Austin's purpose-built Formula 1 racetrack, the uncertainty around Circuit of the Americas' newest F1 deal may seem to be forgotten.
But for dedicated fans, the four months of uncertainty following COTA's expired 10-year deal was more than just a blip on the global racing radar.
The track, which is host to the U.S. Grand Prix, NASCAR races, and more, announced that it had secured at least five more years with F1 in February.
Here are the exclusive details on inking the deal from COTA chairman Bobby Epstein himself.
Why the wait?
October on our minds. 🤔 pic.twitter.com/PXFwWChKgw
— Circuit of The Americas (@COTA) April 21, 2022
Every year, Formula 1 receives roughly $25 million from Texas' Major Events Reimbursement Program, a taxpayer-funded initiative that helps bring big sporting events like 2017's Houston Super Bowl to the state.
According to Fort Worth Star-Telegram writer Mac Engel, however, the Major Events Reimbursements Program agrees to provide funding only "if Austin holds the only F1 race in the country."
And with a new Miami race debuting this year, past legal hiccups and the past ambiguous financial impact of the race, some COTA insiders worried that the global sport was 'F1 and Done' with the Austin track.
Epstein told Austonia that the state legislation was not involved in the latest agreement.
"There is no allocation from the state annual budget," Epstein said. "There is existing legislation in place that allows for tax dollars collected from out-of-state event attendees to be used to reimburse some event-related expenses. This legislation is not unique to F1 and is used to attract more than 100 events to our state each year."
Epstein said the delay was due to COVID delays rather than internal disputes.
"The timing was really a matter of 'papering' the agreement," Epstein said. " F1 management and legal teams were overwhelmed with COVID-related schedule shifting, earlier in the year."
Why is F1 committed to Austin?
BREAKING: The United States Grand Prix at @COTA remains on the calendar through to 2026! #USGP 🇺🇸 #F1pic.twitter.com/S85UDo9n8Z
— Formula 1 (@F1) February 18, 2022
Whether there were behind-the-curtains negotiations or not, Epstein said it's easy to see why F1 decided to ink the deal.
On multiple occasions, Epstein has asserted that the 2021 U.S. Grand Prix in October was the "largest sporting event in the world," and with an estimate of 400,000 people in attendance over the weekend, it was the biggest three-day race weekend in F1 history.
"The festive weekend has become a fan and competitors’ favorite destination event," Epstein told Austonia. "As the sport grows and tries new formats, they don’t want to lose what’s already working, and after last year, there was no way F1 could stop (nor did they want to stop) the momentum."
Epstein said the league would also hesitate to leave a track custom-built for them, complete with the necessary turns and elevation changes needed to highlight the prowess of F1's drivers and its signature open-wheeled vehicles.
And the event is a highlight for more than just its track, Epstein said.
"Austin is such a great host city, and an absolute highlight of the sport’s global tour," Epstein said. "With the campgrounds, the entertainment, and the themed villages, the grand prix at COTA takes on an unrivaled atmosphere. The COTA experience is much more like that of a historic, traditional Formula 1 track."
With past attractions, celebrity appearances and a carnival-like atmosphere—complete with the promise of luxury "car condos" and a rollercoaster-studded amusement park in the next few years—it seems like that atmosphere will be hard to beat for years to come.
The U.S. market: too crowded or a chance to grow?
The rumors are true… #LasVegasGP is officially in the cards! Huge thanks to @F1@LVCVA@LiveNation@GovSisolak@WynnLasVegas@MGMResortsIntl@CaesarsPalace and all of our partners. #LasVegas… it’s neon lights out, and away we go! #Vroompic.twitter.com/sHS4zLu3pF
— gregmaffei (@gregmaffei_) April 16, 2022
There's a new track in town—for the first time in over 30 years, a casino-side race in Las Vegas will join Miami and Austin as the third U.S. track in 2023.
But despite enjoying America's sole F1 presence for several years, Epstein doesn't view the two new events as competition.
"With a night race down the glamorous Vegas strip or a cosmopolitan spring race around the Hard Rock Stadium, Formula One is creating a diverse array of offerings," Epstein said. "Each event complements the other and offers vastly different experiences."
While Austin provides a star-studded, yet more accessible Austin-esque festival experience, Miami and Las Vegas will showcase the luxury side of the sport. And thanks to the success of Netflix F1 documentary series "Drive to Survive," the once-foreign sport is growing exponentially—and for F1 higher-ups, the previously untapped market is hard to ignore.
For Austin, that means thousands more are expected to keep making the U.S. Grand Prix weekend one of the biggest travel weekends of the year for Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and local businesses alike.
"With the Formula One audience skyrocketing in the United States, three events per year certainly won’t meet the demand," Epstein said. "And the event in Austin will continue to bring hundreds of millions of tourist dollars to our hotels, restaurants and shops."
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(Paxton Smith/Instagram)
Paxton Smith’s 2021 valedictory speech at Lake Highlands High School in Dallas wasn’t the same speech she had previously shared with school administrators. She dropped the approved speech and made a case for women’s reproductive rights after lawmakers passed the Texas "Heartbeat Bill.”
Her advocacy made news on NPR, YouTubeTV and in The Guardian. Just over a year later, the “war on (women’s) rights” she forewarned has come to a head as the U.S. Supreme Court voted Friday morning to overturn Roe v. Wade, ending constitutional protection for abortion access.
“It is up to the people to show up and show the courts and the politicians that we won’t sit back and let this happen,” Smith told Austonia Friday morning. “We will show up, we will fight back. Before, we were scared of them, now they should be scared of us.”
Now a University of Texas sophomore and abortion rights activist, 19-year-old Smith said she wanted to give the same speech in the “the most public way possible” to reach “as many people as possible who don't agree that I deserve this right.”
However, she says the response was “actually overwhelmingly positive” and supportive of her cause. According to a recent UT poll, 78% of Texas voters support abortion access in most cases.
The speech opened up further opportunities for activism: she advocated for reproductive rights at the International Forum on Human Rights in Geneva, interviewed with Variety magazine and spoke to tens of thousands at Austin’s Bans Off Our Bodies protest at the Texas Capitol in May.
Smith also serves on the board of directors for the Women’s Reproductive Rights Assistance Project, a national nonprofit organization that helps fund abortions or medication abortion—like Plan C pills—in all 50 states. Most recently, Smith has been attending protests in Washington, D.C. leading up to the ruling.
“This is land of the free. This is where you get to choose how you live your life,” Smith said. “Overturning Roe v. Wade violates everything that we have come to believe about what it means to live in this country. I think a lot of people aren't willing to accept that this is a human right that is most likely just going to be gone for over half of the country within the next couple of weeks.”
Bracing for the next steps, Smith gave some tips for supporters:
- Find a protest to attend.
- “I would say invite somebody to go to those protests with you, invite a couple of friends, invite people into the movement,” Smith said.
- Talk about the issue on social media—use the platform you have.
- “Have these kinds of conversations where people can just talk about their fears and then find ways to go and advocate for yourself,” Smith said.
- Volunteer at a nonprofit near you.
“I feel like a lot of the reason things have gotten as bad as they have within the abortion rights world is that people are not making a scene, not protesting, not putting the effort into ensuring that the government doesn't take away this right,” Smith said. “I want to emphasize that if you're not doing anything, don't expect the best scenario, expect the worst because that's the direction that we're going in.”
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(Council Member Chito Vela/Twitter)
The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling that guaranteed a constitutional right to an abortion, Friday morning. Moments later, Austin City Council set a special meeting for next month to pass a resolution aimed at decriminalizing abortion.
The GRACE Act, which stands for guarding the right to abortion care for everyone, is a twofold plan submitted by council member Jose “Chito” Vela. It recommends that city funds shouldn’t be used to surveil, catalog, report or investigate abortions. It also recommends that police make investigating abortion their lowest priority.
Council Member Vanessa Fuentes, who co-sponsored the resolution along with council members Paige Ellis, Kathie Tovo and Mayor Steve Adler, said the importance of the GRACE Act cannot be overstated.
“By introducing this resolution during a special session, City Council is doubling down on fighting back for reproductive health,” Fuentes said. “Items like the GRACE Act will promote essential healthcare while enabling individuals to exercise their bodily freedom.”
The act takes an approach similar to when former council member Greg Casar moved to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana. Ultimately, state law doesn't allow city officials to order police chiefs to adopt specific enforcement policies so the resolution would be a request to Police Chief Joe Chacon. In May, Politico reported that Vela is having "ongoing conversations" with Chacon about the proposal.
Austonia contacted Attorney General Ken Paxton for comment on the GRACE Act but did not hear back by time of publication. On Friday, Paxton celebrated the overturning of Roe and announced an annual office holiday on June 24 in recognition of the high court's decision.
In a press release, Vela said the Texas state government has a history of overturning municipal protections of human rights. Thirty days after the Supreme Court’s ruling, Texas will ban all abortions, with exceptions only to save the life of a pregnant patient or prevent “substantial impairment of major bodily function.”
Still, Vela expressed hope for the GRACE Act’s longevity. Council’s special meeting on it is set for the week of July 18.
“We know this resolution is legally sound, and Austin is not alone in this fight,” Vela said. “We are working with several other cities who are equally horrified by the prospect of an abortion ban and want to do everything they can to protect their residents.”
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