The Effects Of The Texas Motor Speedway

Essay, Research Paper

The Effects of the Texas Motor Speedway

The North Texas area has recently added a feature to its geography that will help the local economy to prosper. This man-made monstrosity is called the Texas Motor Speedway (TMS), it covers an area of more than 1,200 acres, construction workers had to move more than 4 million cubic yards of dirt in building the speedway, also the main grandstand has room enough for more than 200,000 people. “Under construction for nearly six months, Texas Motor Speedway [is] America’s second largest sports facility,” (Maready Feb. 8). The motor speedway includes many interesting and amazing sights, like the Lone Star Tower, the 10-story building that looks out over the raceway’s second turn. It has 76 luxury condominiums with living-room views of the auto races. Each is selling for between $275,000 and $575,000. Also, the speedway has a ballroom, tennis courts and exercise facilities. And of course there’s the bathrooms, there are 2,450 toilets, twice as many for women as for men. Speedway officials say the speedway has more toilets than any other facility in the world. It takes a lot to keep up the TMS, for instance the speedway lighting system, which uses mirrors to simulate glare-free daylight, uses enough electricity to power 2,286 homes or to light a 406-mile highway. And speaking of highway, the speedway contains 5,250 tons of concrete, enough to build a sidewalk from Fort Worth to San Antonio (Dearing). As much as the speedway is a spectacle around the metroplex, it really has helped to better our economic system. The newly constructed Texas Motor Speedway is helping the local economy by increasing aggregate spending in the area, causing the surrounding area to develop, and raising national awareness of events, jobs, and businesses surrounding the speedway.

The amount of money that is spent at and around the TMS reaches amazing figures, this influx of new money greatly increases the level of aggregate spending in North Texas. Profits from the TMS have come in waves, the first of these ‘waves’ came from the construction of the motor speedway, the materials, land, and workers were all mainly procured in Texas, this sudden spending were none had been before shot the profits for many people and businesses through the roof. Vast amounts of money were spent during the construction of the TMS, with “private and public expenditures of $107 million for the proposed speedway and supporting infrastructure,” this initial payment would “boost regional economic activity by $262.2 million,” (Gross 1). By examining the figures, we can observe the multiplier effect at work, the original amount of $107 million was compounded in the economy until it developed in to the regional total of $262.2 million. Economic activity will really start to heat up once the second wave of the TMS development comes about, the opening. This stage can actually be broken into two parts, the first of which is to examine the impact the new employees of the TMS will have with the new income and increasing retail expenditures. There are two types of employees at the TMS, permanent employees of the speedway will receive and estimated $4.313 million and will then use $1.725 million of their earnings to buy retail goods, this spending will result in an increase of Texas’ sales tax receipts by $108,000; all this new spending will result in regional economic activity increasing by an estimated $4.2 million (Gross 15-16). Then there are the temporary employees working for the speedway, to figure their effects, one must assume that there will be 3 major events a year lasting 4 days each, then that employees will average 10 hour days at $ 7.53 an hour. These people will receive about $3.634 million a year and annually spend $1.453 million on retail increasing sales receipts by $91,000, economic activity will increase by 3.561 million (Gross 16-17). As one can see, the effects brought about by employing a few individuals are far reaching and very good for the economy. The second part of the second wave of the development of the TMS is the impact visitors will have on Texas. People from all over the world will converge on North Texas to attend races and other events at the TMS, these people will need everything from hotel rooms to rental cars and will have to pay for these services with their highly prized greenbacks. An assumed 750,000 visitors will come annually to the speedway, these foreigners will spend an estimated $62 million dollars in the metroplex and surrounding areas, their expenses will boost state and local tax receipts by $4.8 million. Hotel and motel tax receipts rise by as much as $674,000 and the new spending will boost the economic activity by nearly $152 million (Gross 17). One could be daunted after looking at the vast amounts of money portrayed when viewing the economic impact of motor speedway, but to put it in laymen’s terms, the TMS is good and brings a lot of money to Texas.

With all the money surrounding the TMS new businesses crop up like weeds, these stores open up the way to further development, new workers are hired thereby

giving them money to spend at local stores thereby putting more money into circulation, stating the cycle which will build to economic fulfillment. The motor speedway creates jobs for thousands of people, both within itself and then in the surrounding areas. During the construction of the speedway, it supported about 5,575 jobs, the money they received for their work was the first step to upgrade the standard of living that existed in that North Texas area. The TMS employs great numbers of workers, the only problem is that it does this intermittently. For instance, after the completion of the speedway, it supported an average of about 3,398 workers, however it only kept up this many during races or concerts or other major events. The speedway keeps only 150 workers on full time employment, then rest are unused when not needed. This does not necessarily mean that in between events they are all jobless, the part time workers come from a whole spectrum of backgrounds. There are nearly 4,000 temporary workers during each event, consisting of everyone from security guards, concession vendors, souvenir vendors, to the guys who stand at the gate and take the tickets and janitors. After these people have fulfilled their job at the speedway, they go back to whatever company they’re from and wait for the next job. The speedway create helps to create new jobs all over the metroplex, thereby helping many families and raising the level of living throughout North Texas. As a direct result of the creation of the speedway, more than 3,398 jobs were created and average household were raised by more than $57 million (Gross 1). The motor speedway indirectly helps people around North Texas to get jobs, showing just how much of a profit it is to have it in our area. The TMS also encourages people to migrate to the North Texas area. The new immigrants need housing, thereby creating jobs for construction companies. New residential areas are built, and the new people spend money buying and furnishing their new houses. All this new spending just goes to help the local economy. All this profit can be traced back the motor speedway so that we can see just how much we profit from it.

There are many ways that the TMS helps our local economy, but some of these are very hard to quantify, for instance, how do you measure the profits you make from receiving national attention. The speedway is now receiving nation wide attention, especially for the auto races that go on there, while this attention is fairly focused on the TMS, much notice is given to the area around the speedway, especially to the businesses and commerce that associates with the speedway. “Texas Motor Speedway continues to benefit motorsports in the Fort Worth-Dallas market, particularly in the form of increased media coverage in the nations eighth-largest television market,” (Maready Jan. 11) Once the nationwide TV race fans see Texas many decide to move to the area, as the national awareness of North Texas grows so does the population, and new people means new money, further benefiting the local economy. The popularity of the speedway is attractive to investors and corporations alike. “Revenue from corporate-sponsored racing teams based at the speedway and the emergence of new businesses in support of speedway operations” will help to develop the rich environment of the TMS (Gross 1). Corporations pay for many things at the speedway, some ‘underwrite’ racing teams, others provide large purses for big races, and still others purchase condos in the speedway locality (Gross 19). Advertising plays a big issue at the speedway, much revenue is gained by companies who shell out big bucks for a billboard on the track. The national coverage that the raceway receives is like getting billions of dollars worth of free advertising spread throughout the nation. Advertising for all sorts of local businesses and land around the metroplex is sent to the TVs and radios of sportsfans around the country. The new commerce that comes from this publicity is practically immeasurable (Gross 21). Though many of the ways in which the TMS helps our local economy are immeasurable, we still know that they are significant.

The TMS is helping our local economy to prosper by causing more money to be spent on local businesses, creating jobs for many people around the metroplex, and transferring national attention onto North Texas. The TMS has spent vast amounts of cash on its construction and upkeep, money which in turn went on to spread throughout the metroplex and help our economy prosper. Local areas to the speedway have undergone development since its conception, the standard of living in that area has been raised considerably because of the availability of jobs and income. The free advertisement that local areas have received because of the speedway is helping many businesses to grow strong, it also help new residential areas to grow with new immigrants to Texas. It is curious how something as insignificant as a sports arena can generate as much attention and revenue as the TMS has, it really goes to say something about where people place their priorities in today’s world.