How much of this decision can be attributed to one factor, the personality of Bernie Ecclestone, that it was a business decision?
GEORGE: Bernie really wants to see it stay, uninterrupted, I believe. He is a personality, a character, and he’s a businessman and he’s basing (this on) his years of experience of being successful. He knows he’s got to look at all the opportunities for his business, and this being one of them. A lot of people think of Bernie in a lot of different ways, and I continue to have a great deal of respect for him and don’t feel his personality in any way factored into the decision we mutually agreed on.
Do you think you would have had the USGP next if you had just been willing to write a big enough check?
GEORGE: I suppose, but again money’s not the only factor. Again, we’re interested in growing this, and I don’t see all the elements being there for us to do that right now. We don’t have a title sponsor in hand, we don’t have the commitment of national TV, and there are other things. We could agree on the date, and that would be great; we could agree on money and that would be great, but there are other things to consider.
Tony, this is a business deal, but it is very important for the city, third-largest and brings in a lot of money. How much did that factor in negotiations?
GEORGE: I feel bad for the loss of economic impact for the city, but that wasn’t my biggest concern. It’s certainly a factor, and I regret the fact we won’t have it for 2008, but my hope is we’ll be successful in getting that back in the future.
At the end of the day, how confident do you feel you’ll be able to get it back here?
GEORGE: Probably better than the 50/50 that I thought it would be back in 2008. How much more? I don’t know, maybe 60/40?
