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Old 19 Mar 2005, 14:54 (Ref:1256016)   #35
indycool
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Join Date: Nov 2002
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indycool should be qualifying in the top 10 on the gridindycool should be qualifying in the top 10 on the grid
Times change. People change. Situations change. Electrocuted makes a lot of sense in his post. If you have 25,000 at Cleveland and it looks packed, and 40,000 at Phoenix, and it looks empty because they seat 80,000 at Phoenix, which had the larger attendance?

There are comparisons to make in regard to changing series at popular venues. Long Beach made a change when it went with CART instead of F-1 because it couldn't afford F-1 any more. There wasn't much change in attendance when that happened. And Long Beach has been in the delicate position of being "first up" during the past few years.

Phoenix has been at the forefront of change twice. In 1979, Phoenix dumped USAC for CART. In '96, Phoenix dumped CART for IRL. In both cases, Phoenix was "first up" to make the switches. In both cases, attendance dropped slightly for a year or two but regained it quickly.

Long Beach has actually been losing attendance over the past few years. There are going to be a lot of factors in any decision Long Beach makes other than how many hardcore CCWS fans go there and would refuse to go if IRL is chosen as the headliner.
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