Michigan Int’l Speedway Diversifying Revenue Streams With Numerous Music Festivals

The success of the three-day Faster Horses country music festival at Michigan Int'l Speedway has prompted the track and concert promoter Live Nation to "begin plans for a rock festival that could be akin to Lollapalooza, Coachella and Bonnaroo," according to Bill Shea of CRAIN'S DETROIT BUSINESS.

The idea "is still in the talking stage, but it represents the track's latest effort to boost revenue outside of auto racing." MIS President Roger Curtis: "It kind of dawned on us we've got a great facility, we've got a great team here, let's start to expand our portfolio and look at becoming an entertainment destination." MIS "is best known for its two NASCAR Sprint Cup races," but attendance at the races "has fallen since the recession." MIS "hasn't sold out either NASCAR weekend" since '06.

Curtis: "In NASCAR, we lost a generation. With all the growth through the '90s and early 2000s, the sport didn't reach out to millennials. … There were changes in society, and we didn't adapt, didn't notice. Now, we're backtracking." Shea notes corporate business at MIS "has started to rebound." Curtis: "Entertainment, hospitality, suites and corporate sponsorships have been very strong."

Curtis noted that MIS' two NASCAR weekends account for 85-90% of the track's annual revenue, but added that before Faster Horses, races were 99%. Faster Horses "attracts about 40,000 attendees each day." Live Nation, which leased the track for this past week's Faster Horses, used "all of MIS except for the media facilities and suites." Curtis said that MIS "offers a variety of on-site services, from concessions to sign-making to website creation, and those options increase the rental fee."

He also noted that MIS and Live Nation "have a revenue sharing deal for the festival." One bonus "not available at every festival venue: MIS has 8,500 campsites available." Crain's Detroit Business