A velodrome is a recreational amenity that appeals to a very small subset of people - as Carleton likes to note, we are a niche within a niche sport.
True, and the key to making something like this a success in the Detroit model is to make it useful to a broad range of people, whether it be school children using it for recess, or seniors using the outside as a walking track, doing special events for local businesses, or putting on a show for race night – broad appeal is key.
Originally Posted by
700wheel
I am a little suspect of the $100k number. The article notes the startup cost was $4.5 million.
.
Sorry if It wasn’t clear, but the 100K number is the basic start up cost for the 166m outdoor tracks for Chicago or Cleveland (built by one of the best, lol). That is the cost for the track only. Everything else was volunteer and use of available land from the city (at least for Detroit’s northern outdoor track). The indoor track is obviously a whole different can of worms.
Detroit has seats, the infield has “suites” (roped off couch areas) and an open area with seating rather like a bar (including the beer) in the infield. Personally I think it is inspirational that someone had such a dream and the moxy and the vision to make it come true. I read about more track closings than success stories like this lately.