One last chance for USGP next year

[John S]

Bernie offers revised contract whilst still putting boot into track owners.

"They never had the money" he says, well Tavo never that's for sure Bernie.  

Ecclestone has offered a revised contract to COTA and they have until Wednesday to sign the new offer. Should no deal be reached then the 2012 season will consist of only 19 races as the Formula One supremo has made it clear that the US GP won't be replaced on the calendar if it is dropped.
 
"Everybody will be happy with that I believe," Ecclestone told Autosport. "The teams complain there are too many races, so we will solve the problem."

Bernie is still sounding the death knell for the 2012 United States GP, saying the Circuit of the Americas "never had the money" to pay for the race.
 
The new circuit in Austin, Texas, was pencilled in to hold its inaugural race next year, but constructions at the track was halted earlier this month after the promoters, organisers and Ecclestone failed to agree terms.
 
Although COTA hasn't given up hope of hosting the race, Ecclestone is less optimistic as he feels the organisers were never in a position to come up with the money to pay him.

"What's more important than money in the bank is we want security for the future, so we've tried to help them with that," Ecclestone told SPEED.com. "We want a letter of credit up front before every race.
 
"We want to know that next time it's going to happen again. We're changing the calendar a lot to accommodate these people, and if suddenly they're not there, we're in trouble.
 
"It's not just the $25 million; that's a small part of it. It's the whole package. Everybody else seems to be happy and comply. I think the problem is a simple one: They never had the money. It's simple."

Planet.com, Today.

[lkjohnson1950]

maybe they don't want to give Bernie the cash, but some of the people involved have almost as much as he does.

[Alianora La Canta]

They had the money promised to them but the state backtracked, apparently not understanding the implications of their behaviour.

[cosworth151]

Texas governor Rick Perry is running for President on a small government platform. There was never any real chance that he would, or could, have stood for state money being given to a "foreign" car race.

In any case, Bernie is giving them one more week, until the WMSC meeting in Delhi on the 7th. Then, in the words of a former Texas Senator, "Stick a fork in it. It's done!"