SMI removing seats from Charlotte, Atlanta Speedways

Another round of seat removal is underway at permanent racing facilities. This time, Speedway Motorsports Inc., announced that it will remove a significant number of seats from two of its tracks, Charlotte Motor Speedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway.

The publicly traded company revealed in a required filing with the Federal Securities and Exchange Commission that 41,000 seats will be removed at Charlotte, and 17,000 seats will be removed at Atlanta. SMI described the seats being removed as "low demand" and said it anticipates that the spaces being opened up will be utilized for "premium hospitality, advertising, and other facility purposes." The company said the removals are expected to "result in a fourth quarter 2014 non-cash, pre-tax charge for accelerated depreciation of approximately $23 million."

By eliminating seats that have proven difficult to sell even for traditionally popular NASCAR Sprint Cup races, tracks save on maintenance costs and are able to utilize the space for more profitable purposes like high-end hospitality.

Charlotte hosts two Sprint Cup races, in May and October, while Atlanta's single Sprint Cup date runs the week after the season-opening Daytona 500.