Brad
Your reply is very well thought out and correct. The total amount that was promised to the organizers will not be the amount given due to the loss of Mitsubishi. That is really the same dynamic that is killing the TV program. There is no-one who has stepped up to fill Mitsubishi's shoes there either. Our share of TV money is a sizable investment in rally but it would not be enough to produce a show on our own. Therefore I am left with no options. In addition, I need at least one strong, full-time, well financed competitor in open class or we would look silly being there as you pointed out.
All I can do is keep the promises I made. I can't control what the other players do. Would we be better off if James, Dick, Garret, DC, Lance and I never tried to start the PRPP? I don't think so. Do I look kind of stupid because the program stumbled so fast? Yes. Do I care that I look stupid? No.
I got into the PRPP because it was the right thing to do and because everyone involved truly felt that it would come off as planned. It didn't. But you can't look at everything and say "well, I better not get involved because what if it doesn't work?" I do everything under the assumption that it is going to happen and I keep working at it until someone or something forces me to stop. It is the only way to do anything or else you would just spend your life being frozen by the fear of failure.
Anyway, back to the point. I am not speaking for Subaru but my understanding is that Subaru will fulfill their PRPP commitments with us. Hopefully a new series sponsor will be signed soon who can add more money to the pot but it still, probably, will not equal everything we would have had. On the other hand, I have never heard of a sanctioning body ever putting a program together to give any money to an organizer to run a rally. David Campion told me he had never seen it in all of his years of participating in rallies around the world. So even if it didn't live up its promise I think we still went a step further than anyone has gone in the past (I'm sure a veteran will speak up if I am mistaken here.)
As we said in Topeka, no organizer is forced to participate in the PRPP. They do not have to take the money nor fulfill any obligations. The choice is strictly up to them. I trust all organizers will look at the situation and make the best choice for their particular event.
Greg