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Comment by anitil | Hacker News Reader

While events like these are likely good for the local economy (though I think that's in dispute), I can understand the frustration with the level of disruption. Locally they had the 'Newcastle Street Circuit' [0] and visiting my friends living nearby was a bit of a nightmare for a few weeks either side of the event

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newcastle_Street_Circuit

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I understand the hassle, but it's a shame the Newcastle round is no more, it was a brilliant track and had great racing. Really showed off Newcastle to those who haven't been there as well.

> likely good for the local economy

Keep in mind cities pay tens of millions of dollars per year to host an F1 race, and they're often locked in for many years.

I would imagine they do this because it’s a positive ROI.

I’d hope they do it because it’s a positive ROI but I certainly wouldn’t assume so. Often politicians sign up for these kind of things for the prestige, irrespective of economic cost.

It reminds me of the realities of being an Olympic host city:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/24/business/olympics-economi...

In theory, sure.

In reality? not sure much.

Cities compete for the prestige of hosting the Olympics and not so long ago Brisbane "won" the "content" to host the 2032 summer Olympics.

Guess how many cities submitted a proposal for the prestige of "winning".

One.

Barcelona has a proper race track, this was only an exhibition.

And also that F1 keeps all of the direct profits. The cities are supposed to recover that from taxes on associated sales, which never works out.

It's basically all about buying "prestige" with taxpayer money.

From an exhibition? Seriously?

That's why I noted that it's in dispute. I'm not familiar with the research outside of "it's complicated"

"Events like these" is relative; it seems to depend on the specific event being discussed.

Infamously, FIFA events (World Cups in particular) have been increasingly planned and executed without regard for the wellbeing of the local people and economy. They're hosting one of the upcoming World Cups in (among others) my city, Toronto, and I've rarely been less enthusiastic about a thing in my life.

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