By alley - Jul 26, 2017, 6:03 PM ET

'So far so good' for new Long Beach IndyCar deal

It's not a done deal just yet but the chances of IndyCar keeping the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach for the forseeable future look very strong.

After several months of evaluating proposals and listening to presentations by the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach (IndyCar) and the World Auto Championship California (Formula 1), the City of Long Beach announced Tuesday its intent to award the contract to the GPALB.

"Based on information provided in the interviews, proposals and clarification, as well as the analysis provided by KPMG, the Selection Committee identified GPALB as the most qualified firm to operate the Long Beach Grand Prix race," read the memorandum from the City of Long Beach.

"So far so good and the City Council still has to meet on Aug. 8 to give their final approval, but from our perspective it's a strong step in the right direction," said Michaelian, whose contract to host IndyCar is set to expire after 2018. "The city was asked to consider the best option and it hired worldwide accounting firm KPMG for $150,000 to do the evaluation.

"It was a lot of work to make sure the city got the true picture of what IndyCar contributes to the city and what problems could be encountered with F1."

First and foremost is the millions of dollars F1 commands for a sanction fee and Long Beach would have to undergo a multi-million dollar facelift to try and make room for F1's teams, television village and track upgrades.

The recap of the KPMG research also noted that Michaelian's group "was the best proposal in fully demonstrating the ability to deliver a race and providing the breadth of information required to financial stability, race implementation, marketing plan, minimizing negative impacts and conformance with the terms of the request for proposal."

Last October, the city released a request for proposals seeking an open-wheel auto racing format to run the annual street show but Michaelian and Chris Pook were the only two horses in the race. Of course, the great irony is that Pook founded Long Beach and turned it into a treasure with F1 and then CART before leaving in 2001. In 2014 he started making noise about bringing F1 back before getting serious in 2016 and putting the wheels in motion during the past several months with his World Auto Championship California.

Michaelian was Pook's right-hand man before becoming the boss and he's helped keep Long Beach as the longest-running and most successful street race in American racing history. In 2005, then Champ Car owners Kevin Kalkhoven and Gerald Forsythe bought the company and remain co-owners today.

Just having staged its 43rd consecutive year of racing (the last 34 with IndyCar), Long Beach is the second-most prestigious event on the Verizon IndyCar schedule. And losing it to F1 would have been a major blow.