The Mille Miglia is, of course, a historic Italian over-the-road event that originally covered the 1,000 miles referenced in its name, but which came to an end after its 1957 running as open-road races were generally replaced by closed-circuit events worldwide.
Today, the Mille Miglia — which has been reborn as an event for historic cars — is a profitable business, but is wasn’t always like that. In fact, Andrea Dalledonne, who heads the company that runs the great race, calls it the best public company in the world — even if the MM’s turnover is more modest than most. All of which happened after the 2013 establishment of the 1000 Miglia srl — a limited liability company — by the Automobile Club of Brescia.
Today the “road-going museum,” as the modern Mille Miglia is called, has a turnover of more than €8 million and a net profit of €4.5 million. After paying taxes and shareholder dividends, that produces a clear profit of €1.3 million. The 1000 Miglia has no debts and its suppliers are paid within 30 days.
Of that €8 million or more, about 30 percent comes from the participants, who pay €8,540 per car to take part, then there is profit from merchandising and sponsorship money. The company has 11 permanent employees, but when the race is on that number grows to 3,000, including administrators, security staff, mechanics, hospitality and catering services.
Between one Mille Miglia and another, much of the permanent employees’ time is spent negotiating permission for the “road-going museum” to parade across the public roads administered by 262 municipal authorities in maximum safety. That includes the 450 cars entered for the Mille Miglia itself, the 110 cars that take part in the Ferrari Tribute and 1500 administrative assistance vehicles.
The secret? A lot of work to increase turnover and reduce costs in attempting to create the event with rigid financial regulations and enhancing the strong points. Perhaps this is an example to be emulated by other similar events. For further information, please visit www.1000miglia.eu/MilleMiglia
