City unveils new team to run Grand Prix
No surprise here. The Rawlings-Blake administration will announce today that it has entered into a five-year agreement with businessmen Dale Dillion and Felix Dawson to salvage the Baltimore Grand Prix from the financial wreckage of its previous promoter.
Dillon, an Indiana contractor with close ties to IndyCars, and Dawson, an ex-Goldman Sachs and Constellation Energy executive, have always been the clear favorites to take over the race following the collapse of Baltimore Racing Development.
Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is expected to announce this morning that the city will require a $3 surcharge on tickets for the September 2012 race.
The money will be placed in a “lockbox” to offset the cost of city services, such as policing, fire protection and sanitation. A 10% admission and amusement tax will also be squirreled away in this account.
The lockbox arrangement is designed to guarantee that the city won’t be out of the more than $1.5 million it says BRD owes the city in taxes and other obligations.