Could a major construction project at Watkins Glen International this summer pave the way for a return by jam band Phish?

Could a major construction project at Watkins Glen International this summer pave the way for a return by jam band Phish?



Watkins Glen International is preparing to repave the racetrack later this year as the centerpiece of a capital project pegged at $12 million to $14 million.



Contractors are expected to begin ripping up the old pavement the morning after the NASCAR Sprint Cup race, set for Sunday, Aug. 9.



With the track shutting down early, the racing season at Schuyler County’s iconic track will be condensed, and the major fall event - the U.S. Vintage Grand Prix - will be held in July instead of September.



That would leave late summer and early fall open for non-racing events.



And ever since Phish played a multi-day concert over Fourth of July weekend in 2011 that drew 30,000 fans to the track, WGI President Michael Printup has had periodic discussions with the band’s management team about a possible return.



It didn’t work out in 2012, 2013 or 2014, but Printup has made no secret that he’d like to bring Phish - or other live music - back to The Glen.



“There’s no question, since we did Phish, I’ve been on the hunt for a while, trying to find a good deal that would fit in,” he said.



But auto racing is WGI’s primary focus, so scheduling other events can be tough, Printup says. There’s a half-dozen major racing events each year, and car clubs take over the track on off-weekends.



But this year is different.



“This year gives us that opportunity because with the open air time from August 10 on, we would have an opportunity,” Printup said. “That’s what we’ve been working pretty hard on, and our business development people down in corporate (International Speedway Corp.) have been talking to some pretty big folks too and hopefully we might be able to see something this year. It would be great if we could, because we’ve got nothing else going on, so might as well put a concert there. But we’ll have to see.”



Printup said there’s no contract signed with a band yet. He wouldn’t say if a deal was in the works with Phish, although he did say that “it’d be great to have them back.” Any deal with a band would have to be reached fairly soon for the scheduling to work, he said.



The last time Phish played in Watkins Glen, the deal was reached in December 2010. The festival - dubbed Super Ball IX - was announced by Phish on March 31, 2011.



That was well after the first leg of the band’s summer tour had been announced, which included several other shows in upstate New York, including a three-night run at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts and a show at Darien Lake Performing Arts Center.



That’s likely why the attendance of 30,000 at the Super Ball IX festival was well under the 60,000 cap on ticket sales - along with the fact that it was competing against several other major music festivals around the country on a holiday weekend.



Schuyler County Administrator Tim O’Hearn thinks a Phish return - if it happened - would be better attended.



“I don’t have anything definitive yet,” O’Hearn said. “Certainly, they would love to be back, but there’s no deal yet, I do know that. They’re talking. If they do it, they’re going to do it right this time, and not be competing against smaller shows. I’m hoping that if it happens, it’s going to be a much bigger event than the last one.”



In December, the Schuyler County Legislature approved a new five-year agreement for the Schuyler County Sheriff’s Office to provide law enforcement services for WGI.



The deal includes an incentive for WGI to host a new event. If WGI hosts a new event that draws a crowd of 30,000 or more, the county will waive law enforcement costs for the NASCAR races in August.



The resolution adopted by the Legislature states that Watkins Glen International “is considering adding significant large scale events to their schedule in future years” that would have a “positive impact on the local and regional economy.”



O’Hearn said Super Ball IX had “a very measurable, significant impact on the local economy, no question about that.” The county led the state in sales tax growth in 2011.



Schuyler County Sheriff Bill Yessman - who praised the fans’ behavior after the 2011 festival - said he’d be open to a Phish return.



“I have no issues with another music event at WGI,” Yessman said this week. “The last event was great for our local economy and we didn’t encounter any major issues. If Phish does return it would be fine.”



Phish has staged nine multi-day festivals with camping since 1996 at various sites in upstate New York, Maine, Florida, Vermont and California. Most drew between 60,000 and 70,000 fans, but that was at the height of the band’s popularity in the ‘90’s.



There were some concerns prior to the 2011 festival, largely because of 1973’s Summer Jam, which drew an overwhelming crowd of 600,000 for a concert by The Grateful Dead, The Band and The Allman Brothers.



But the sprawling campgrounds at WGI - which handle around 90,000 NASCAR fans every summer - easily accommodated the Phish crowd, and there were no traffic jams that occurred at previous Phish festivals. Campers arrived on Thursday, and the band played eight sets of music on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, capped off by an Independence Day fireworks display.



Right now, this year’s lineup at WGI includes the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen sports car endurance races (June 25-28), the Sports Car Club of America’s Majors Super Tour (July 3-5), the Finger Lakes Wine Festival (July 10-12), the U.S. Vintage Grand Prix (July 24-26), NASCAR Sprint Cup weekend (Aug. 6-9) and the Finger Lakes Beer Festival (Oct. 24).



Preliminary work on the paving project - which recently got $2.25 million in state economic development funding - will begin this spring.



The “boot,” an extension of the race track, will be shut down in July, and that’s where the first old pavement will be removed, Printup said. An asphalt plant will be built on site, and a heavy-duty asphalt specifically designed for auto racing will be used.



The goal is to have the entire track resurfaced by mid-November, weather permitting. It’ll be the first resurfacing since the late 1990’s. Also as part of the project, WGI will be upgrading its optical fiber infrastructure to accommodate TV and radio broadcasts and race teams’ communication systems.