Boulder Valley Velodrome for sale

[pncguy]

Weren't we just talking about how successful velodromes can or cannot be in the US?

http://www.dailycamera.com/boulder-b...velodrome-erie

[Tickdoc]

had a chance to ride it last year....but I chose a shop trip to Mosaic instead

[David Tollefson]

Dammit, I just bought a house...

[MattTuck]

Interesting.

How many weeks out of the year is it open?

[pncguy]

Originally Posted by MattTuck

Interesting.

How many weeks out of the year is it open?

Last day is 11/5 for this season. You could check the calendar (http://www.bouldervalleyvelodrome.com/calendar/) to see when it opened this year. I don't know offhand.

[MattTuck]

Originally Posted by pncguy

Last day is 11/5 for this season. You could check the calendar (http://www.bouldervalleyvelodrome.com/calendar/) to see when it opened this year. I don't know offhand.

March 4th, according to that link. Actually, not bad. Only 4 months of downtime is better than I'd have thought. Still, I don't see how a for-profit investor could do this. I think for it to be sustainable, the facility has to be paid for by a non-profit, with operations generating enough cash flow to fund maintenance and programming.

I just don't see how you could make that kind of investment back.

[pncguy]

Originally Posted by MattTuck

March 4th, according to that link. Actually, not bad. Only 4 months of downtime is better than I'd have thought.

A secret we like to keep is that the snow doesn't really last that long as soon as you get a little bit away from the foothills, so Boulder proper and east tends to have dry (if cool) riding for a lot of the winter.

[ultraman6970]

To me the price is reasonable, you have a lot of land in there, the bad thing is that I doubt you can built a neighborhood in that area (yet)...

Was a millionare I would buy it just to enjoy it myself like eric cartman

[echelon_john]

I'd donate to a GoFundMe for this before saving Vaughters' team...

[gdw]

Annual memberships are $400 and they claim to have hundreds of members. If they actually have 500 people paying full memberships than they're only bringing in $200,000 a year. Additional fees might generate $75-100,000 so they might be taking in $300,000 a year. After subtracting the costs of running the business the profits are minimal if it is profitable. If those figures are in the ballpark, finding a buyer willing to drop $4.7 million on the track will be difficult if not impossible.

[shovelhd]

Is it really only a 250 foot track, or was Banta misquoted? If so, then that's a crazy price to pay for a practice facility.

[nooneline]

Originally Posted by shovelhd

Is it really only a 250 foot track, or was Banta misquoted? If so, then that's a crazy price to pay for a practice facility.

it's a 250m.

[11.4]

Originally Posted by shovelhd

Is it really only a 250 foot track, or was Banta misquoted? If so, then that's a crazy price to pay for a practice facility.

250 meters isn't a practice facility. It's the standard length for UCI world events these days.

As for the valuation of a track, the proposed price is only that, to begin with. Beyond that, no track is valued based on membership alone. You also have racing revenue, extensive sponsorship revenue, spectator admissions, hopefully TV revenue, and plenty of other sources of revenue. And at that point you probably don't declare a profit. One will also be seeking local support from community, county, and other sources. Plus donations. Annual auctions/dinner/etc. Plus class fees, clinic fees, and on and on. Add potential parking fees, rent to local food trucks, restaurants, vendors, bike shops, etc. This is why tracks frequently fail -- it takes an exhausting amount of work, without respite, to keep any track alive, and if you want a deep racing and community program, it only gets more exhausting. The people who have made their tracks successful deserve every compliment you can muster.

[nooneline]

Yeah it probably doesn't come back as profit - it comes back as staff salaries and capital improvements. In the black? Finally give your staff raises. Or start paying those volunteers and interns. Etc. Hire people to make **** sustainable. Pay a company to do the repaint and repair instead of asking people in the community to help out.

At least, that's what happened at the track I helped out at.

[gdw]

A question for the locals.....
Do you know anyone who uses or has used the velodrome?