Tuesday, August 19, 2025
86.0°F

Holding pattern on hydros

| October 6, 2013 9:00 PM

Race fans and foes holding their breath waiting for a bottom-line report on the Coeur d'Alene Diamond Cup races over Labor Day weekend: You're going to have to hold on a little longer. That's the word from Doug Miller, president of CDA Diamond Cup LLC.

Miller broke an uncomfortable silence this week when he spoke to The Press editorial board about the lack of hard numbers, which newspaper staff have been hounding him for since shortly after the races were completed. Miller said early indications are that only one of every three or four people who watched the races - from land or lake - actually paid for the privilege of doing so. That's the same general idea imparted in a press release delivered last week by Miller - one he says represented not just his feelings, but those of the Cup's board of directors - saying greater sponsorship and ticket participation would be needed if the races are to go on.

This week, he vowed they will go on.

"We need to put 2013 to bed so we can work on 2014," he said. With only the slightest hesitation, he added: "There will be a 2014 Diamond Cup."

While Miller said nobody wants a final accounting more than he does - he mentioned that he has not had a day off since long before the races took place - he said nobody is trying to stonewall the public or keep from them the hard, cold facts of how the races fared financially.

"We have financial obligations we're working through," he said. "It is what it is."

For some perspective, Miller said the 65-year-old Gold Cup hydroplane races in Detroit take place in July, yet even with all those years' experience, organizers don't have a final accounting of the races until October or November. While he's certain this year's Diamond Cup has "holes in the bucket," Miller is adamant that the future looks bright.

This time, he and his fellow organizers have a full year to plan next year's races. For the 2013 edition, financial planning began the third week of May, he said. One benefit of having more time is that supporters can get in front of local companies and other sponsors before their 2014 budgets are set. For another, they can - and he said, will - produce ticket packages that can go on sale this winter during the holiday season.

We will take Miller at his word that a full accounting of the 2013 Coeur d'Alene Diamond Cup will be shared with the public through this newspaper, though that might still be weeks away. The event certainly had its detractors and non-paying supporters, but the general consensus is that the races were well worth bringing back. Once we can all see exactly how big those holes are and where they might be in the bucket, we can figure out as a community how to forge ahead.