With some legal limbo to wade through, the New Hampshire Motor Speedway will not host a music festival this coming summer. They will try, however, to put on the three-day country concert during the summer of 2018.
NHMS discussed it with the Loudon Planning Board Thursday. The conversation held certain significance a week after NHMS lost one of two major races to Las Vegas.
“I think we all know what’s transpired in the last few days and certainly that has an impact on a lot of us,” NHMS General Manager Dave McGrath said. “My job is to continue to develop new things.”
NHMS is proposing a three-day country music festival with promoter Live Nation. It would take place between 2 and 10:30 p.m. over three days, bringing in an estimated 60,000 ticket holders.
A 1989 settlement agreement resulting from a lawsuit brought by several individuals against NHMS and the town of Loudon, however, specifically bans concerts not associated with a race.
NHMS lawyer Bill Glahn argued Thursday that the agreement language refers to “premises currently known as” the speedway, which, in 1989, included only the physical racetrack. The proposed property for the music festival, lot S6, was aquired after the agreement was finalized.
Glahn noted that NHMS would prefer to sort through the issue with Loudon, though is willing to go to court over the problem.
Planning board members agreed they wanted to work with NHMS, starting with consulting with Loudon legal counsel.
Loudon also plans to include Canterbury and other towns claiming regional impact in the site development planning process.
“We want to make sure you’re treated the same as any other business in town,” ex-officio member and Selectman Steve Ives said. “Granted, you’re a big player, but you’re still just a player in the game.”