It's unclear what "unprofitable" means in this context, is it unprofitable in terms of not justifying the focus of the parent company looking after its $200M investment, or does income simply not cover upkeep?
Tooele will simply take ownership of the facilities for free, so the prospects of finding sustainable solutions shouldn't be too bad.
Relevant quotes:
"That might be premature to say, but that would certainly be our hopes. The county does not intend to operate it. We intend to find a proper (operator) with experience with such facilities to do so."
AND
"There have been several parties who have made interests known in purchasing Miller," Hawkins said. "Lucas Oil had made an offer to them. The offer was declined. From what I understand, in speaking with Tooele County, they realize that they've got a potential gold mine in their possession. I think--no, I know--they're 100% interested in making the facility a fully operational facility, and they want to try to increase the tourism into that region."
They had an operator who offered to purchase the property yet the county thinks it's a "gold mine" and they're looking for a "proper" operator...Mistake 1-1 million
The County is in control of the property. It's fucked. Pure and simple. Public/ private partnerships on assets with financial troubles never work out. Either the governmental entity sucks the ROI out of the project, puts too great of restrictions on the uses or controls the whole deal too tightly, or the "operator" cannot get to profitability. "Gold Mine" is code for "soak the next guy".
I don't expect anyone to come in and be able to make the numbers work if Larry Miller couldn't. The economic of SLC don't support what it takes to keep that place open.
IMO, sadly. Miller is my favorite track I've ridden.
