Speedway Motorsports, a leading marketer, promoter and sponsor of motorsports entertainment, has agreed to acquire Dover Motorsports in a deal that values the latter at $131.5m (£97m/€113m).
Speedway Motorsports owns and operates premier US speedway facilities in Atlanta, Bristol, Charlotte, Las Vegas, New Hampshire, Sonoma, Texas and Kentucky, with NASCAR events regularly held at these venues.
Dover Motorsports is a promoter of NASCAR-sanctioned and other motorsports events in the US and its subsidiaries own and operate Dover International Speedway (pictured) in Dover, Delaware and Nashville Superspeedway near Nashville, Tennessee.
Speedway Motorsports’ acquisition of Dover Motorsports will end Dover International Speedway’s run as one of the last independent NASCAR operators.
The terms of the agreement dictate that Speedway Motorsports, through a subsidiary, will initiate a tender offer to acquire all outstanding shares of Dover Motorsports.
Upon successful completion of the tender offer, Speedway Motorsports’ acquisition subsidiary will be merged into Dover Motorsports. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the calendar year.
The deal was announced yesterday (Monday) by Speedway Motorsports president and chief executive Marcus Smith and Dover Motorsports president and chief executive Denis McGlynn.
Smith said: “We’ve been committed to working for the fans and growing the sport of NASCAR for more than 60 years. This is a tremendous opportunity for us to continue growing our investment in motorsports. I’d like to thank Denis McGlynn and the Dover Motorsports board for their cooperation and support in our goal to exceed customer expectations and create amazing lifetime experiences for all NASCAR fans.”
McGlynn added: “While this marks the end of our 52 years as an independent operator in NASCAR, our future advancement is best secured by joining forces with a major player in the sport and we are happy to be able to become part of the Speedway Motorsports family and to be able to work with Marcus Smith as NASCAR embraces its future.”
Image: Zach Cantanzareti Photo/CC BY 2.0/Edited for size
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