2018 ticket sales on hold after report
Event was scheduled to run downtown despite Plante’s pledge to move race
Evenko has suspended the sale of tickets to next year’s Formula E race.
The move on Thursday came hours after Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante said she was surprised to hear that Evenko was already selling tickets to a July 28-29 race in the same controversial downtown location as this year’s event.
After complaints from downtown residents and business owners, Plante pledged during the election campaign to move the electric-car race to the site of the Formula One — on the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in Parc Jean-Drapeau.
As of Thursday morning, Evenko was selling tickets to the event on its website. At some point in the day, the event page was changed to indicate that tickets would be “on sale soon.”
Evenko, the Montreal Canadiens-owned event promoter, issued a statement Thursday evening detailing its involvement in the Formula E race. Evenko said that its responsibilities for the event included: preparing the event site, excluding the track; installing accommodations such as stands, corporate boxes, and garages; organizing entertainment connected to the two races; promoting the event; and managing ticket sales and local sponsorships.
The location of the race and the planning of the race route were the responsibility of the city of Montreal in collaboration with the Formula E Organization, Evenko explained.
News of the ticket-sale suspension came on the same day that a news report revealed new details about behind-the-scenes decisions by former mayor Denis Coderre.
After this year’s race, Coderre was asked how many people attended; he would not reveal the information.
He blamed Montréal c’est électrique — the non-profit organization Coderre set up to run the race — for failing to divulge the number of tickets sold for the event. During the election campaign, Coderre said several times he could not reveal the ticket sales because it was up to the non-profit organization to do so when it made its full report.
But Coderre’s handling of the race became a major election issue and four days before the Nov. 5 vote, Montréal c’est électrique revealed 20,000 free tickets were handed out and 25,000 tickets were purchased for the two-day race.
At the time, Plante said Coderre should be embarrassed about how few tickets were sold.
In an interview the Journal de Montréal published Thursday, Sylvain Vincent, the director of Montréal c’est électrique, said it was Coderre, on Evenko’s advice, who elected to keep the information under wraps.
Evenko responded that promoters generally don’t give precise ticket sales figures, for reasons of marketing strategy.
Numbers made public always refer to overall attendance, which, the promoter said, is why it recommended not to announce the number of tickets sold.
Vincent added that it was Coderre’s idea to hold the event in downtown Montreal, and not that of the event organizers or the Formula E organization.
He also said the Formula E organization would probably be open to relocating the event for the next two years of the three-year contract signed with the city.
The July event was criticized for tying up many streets in the downtown core, making driving difficult and hurting local businesses. Some critics also condemned the event for its price tag — at least $23.8 million, including $7.5 million for concrete safety barriers.
On Thursday, asked about the Journal de Montréal report, Plante said “those are things that we knew already.”
For example, “I know that Mr. Coderre was really attached to having the race downtown — that was his decision, his choice and people had to follow,” she told reporters.
However, she said she “was surprised to hear that tickets are on sale” for the next race.
Tickets for next year’s Formula E have been on sale since July, Evenko said, adding that at the time the tickets went on sale, the dates and location for next year’s race had not been called into question.
Although Evenko suspended ticket sales today, tickets already purchased will be honoured, the promoter said.
Plante said she was heartened that race officials have indicated they are open to moving the race to Parc Jean-Drapeau, and that she will have more to say about future Formula E races after she has her first meeting with Montréal c’est électrique officials early next week.
Longtime city councillor Marvin Rotrand said the Formula E fallout shows there’s an urgent need to rein in the power of the mayor and executive committee.
He said the fact that the office of then-mayor Coderre ordered a lid on releasing ticket-sale details shows there is too much power centred on the city’s mayor and executive committee, and not enough accountability.
“This explains why Denis Coderre lost, and why he deserved to lose,” said Rotrand, Snowdon city councillor and leader of the opposition party Coalition Montréal.
Rotrand called on Plante to rein in the spending power of the executive committee and to implement rules that would force nonprofit organizations like Montréal c’est électrique to regularly report spending activities.
This explains why (former mayor) Denis Coderre lost, and why he deserved to lose.
T’Cha Dunlevy and Jason Magder of the Montreal Gazette contributed to this report.