Speedway Motorsports proceeding with purchase of Kentucky Speedway
Speedway Motorsports, Inc. is proceeding with the purchase of Kentucky Speedway, company officials announced today.
The company entered an agreement to purchase the NASCAR track in May and was allowed 90 days to conduct due diligence. That period expired Aug. 18 and SMI decided to move forward with the acquisition, "subject to satisfaction of remaining closing conditions." The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year, most likely in December. The purchase price listed in May was $78.3 million, which included $63.3 million in assumed debt.
Kentucky Speedway has hosted Nationwide and Craftsman Truck series races in the past and Bruton Smith, chairman and CEO of SMI has stated his company's intent to move a Cup race to the track.
"Moving forward on Kentucky Speedway allows our company to expand its geographic reach into the motorsports hotbed of the Midwest," Smith said.
"We are optimistic about being able to promote a Sprint Cup series event at Kentucky Speedway. Once we secure a Sprint Cup series event, we plan to expand seating capacity and host some of the largest crowds in the Midwest. Kentucky Speedway entertained sellout crowds for NASCAR Nationwide Series and IndyCar racing events this year. With a Sprint Cup date, season ticket sales, seat licenses and corporate sponsorship opportunities will increase tremendously."
According to the release, NASCAR has stated it cannot allow realignment of an existing Sprint Cup series race date until the anti-trust litigation among NASCAR, International Speedway Corp. and the current ownership of Kentucky Speedway is resolved. Although the time frame for resolution is uncertain, Speedway Motorsports will continue to work with NASCAR to schedule a Sprint Cup series date at the facility.
Located on 820 acres in Sparta, Ky., just south of Cincinnati, Kentucky Speedway features a 1.5-mile trioval speedway, with chair-back grandstand seating for 66,089 spectators, 50 luxury suites with seats for approximately 2,000, private RV spaces, and reserved and unreserved camping spaces. SMI owns Atlanta Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, Infineon (Sonoma,
Calif.) Raceway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Lowe's (Charlotte) Motor Speedway, New Hampshire Motor
Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway, all of which host Cup races.
"We are in this motorsports business for the long term," Smith said. "The opportunity to buy a modern race track below replacement cost in a market with incredible growth potential was simply too good to pass up. While we expect some short-term loss, this is a significant investment in the future that better positions us to compete in this industry, and will pay off with long-term gains when the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is added to Kentucky Speedway's event calendar."
