Formula One an opportunity for Miami, but will a deal get done?

MIAMI — Imagine Miami getting the Super Bowl of auto racing every year for the next decade — without the fuss (and cost) that comes with landing the NFL’s championship game.

That’s basically Formula One’s sales pitch to the people of Miami — and the politicians who represent them — as F1 organizers and Miami City Manager Emilio Gonzalez close in on a soft July 1 deadline to hammer out a multi-year deal that would bring the world’s top auto racing circuit to downtown Miami.

“We’ve been working on this for quite some time,” Sean Bratches, Formula One’s managing director of commercial operations, told the Miami Herald Saturday from southeastern France, ahead of the French Grand Prix. “Progress has been on pace and we anticipate closing something on around that deadline.”

If Gonzalez and F1 can strike a deal, it would still need to be approved by the entire commission. Cautious optimism abounds that Formula One cars will race through the streets of Miami beginning in October 2019.

The proposed Formula One Miami Grand Prix _ which is expected to draw tens of thousands of visitors to Miami, both from across the country and around the world _ will have an economic impact in the hundreds of millions of dollars, F1 argues. And it will favorably introduce Miami as possible a tourist destination to the event’s massive global television audience.