Under New Management

[Ruslan 0]

We shall see where this all ends up: http://www.roadandtrack.com/motorsports/news/a30852/formula-1s-new-chairman-dictatorship/

Summary:

1. Carey:  F1 "...can't be a dictatorship, even if probably they are used to it."

2. Carey: "But I still think that there is another level that we can take Formula 1 to"

3. Ecclestone: "If, by chance, things aren't going the way I think would be the right way then I will disappear for sure."

4. "Carey said earlier this month that one of Liberty's top priorities will be finding more fans in the States."

and this link: http://www.roadandtrack.com/motorsports/news/a30741/the-new-owner-of-formula-1-wants/

 

 

 

 

[Sakae 0]

I am under impression that not all paperwork is done yet, thus we cannot say that F1 has a new management. Closing loose ends might be mere formality, but nonetheless one cannot be sure until all ladies sung. I think media got ahead of themselves on this topic.

[Ruslan 0]

Well, Chase Carey was in Singapore this weekend and meeting privately with the teams, so I am assuming it is a "soon to be done" deal, at least.

The new face of Formula One has a handlebar mustache.

[Sakae 0]

The acquisition process of commercial rights of the F1 is under way, there is no doubt about that, just as I assume LM has performed their due diligence exploratory investigation, but until FiA accepts the deal, just as EU commission has to give it a nod, there is only assumption that the deal is concluded.   

[Sakae 0]

New F1 chairman looking to expand calendar to 'great cities'

 

1. Great. But how this is going to be done?

2. What happened to the claim that 21 races are too many, and people suffer from overload? So, what gives?

3. Is it feasible to increase manpower and who will pay for it? All those cost-down initiatives really get smack over this. Refuelling was rejected, in part, because of cost to carry extra equipment and manpower, and now this?

Maybe some cities will be dropped from the calendar, but I doubt it. They already stated, in contrast to the British Imperial hand, that Europe is not dead, and leaving European grounds is not on the LM' agenda. It is going to be interesting, but new solutions will have to be found, that's for sure. This is not just minor scheduling adjustment, but it has earmarks of major change in conducting business.

Maybe CVC can invest something in their own backyard, and give something back to the sport. After all, they are still holding some shares.

[Emmcee 0]

I seriously hope this new clown isn't learning to run before he can walk.

[radical-one 0]

That's what I am afraid of. Like jumping from frying pan into HELL !

[Jem of the Shire 0]

F1 may delve into social media and all that, which is great but even with new owners it's still going to be a business and so the richest tracks will get the races, and the old classics will continue to struggle, or disappear. Can't see that changing

[Sakae 0]

On 9/20/2016 at 1:54 PM, Sakae said:

The acquisition process of commercial rights of the F1 is under way, there is no doubt about that, just as I assume LM has performed their due diligence exploratory investigation, but until FiA accepts the deal, just as EU commission has to give it a nod, there is only assumption that the deal is concluded.   

Blog by Cian:

Quote

But Toto was quick to iterate that it doesn’t really matter in the current climate as the deal has not been completed and it will take time for everything to be arranged, meaning that it probably won’t be until 2020 that any changes can be brought in and instigated.

“We have a bilateral agreement with Bernie Ecclestone and the FIA that we will continue to participate in the championship until 2020″. “This change of ownership will not affect that. In 2020, we will analyse everything again and take a decision,”

 

Exactly. Chase Carey, American Robin Hood. 

Big teams actually do not need money..? That's new.

[radical-one 0]

So in short - New Management, New Sharks , same OLD ways, ....

[Sakae 0]

A few new concepts are creeping in, such as gambling. Isn't this what is associated with professional sports in USA? I am yet to hear however one plausible suggestion how they plan to improve product on the track, which is racing. We should write the brainstorimg ideas down.

Ideas raised purportedly by LM and discussed in media:

- Ignore EU commission, and we will do whatever we like.

- Gambling, cash source.

- More races (>21) - well, good luck with that.

- Break exisiting contracts, stop payments to Ferrari, and keep the cash. (Sue me, I have money and time).

- More races in US.

- More promotions. (10 min race, 20 min. sponsors)???

- No money payments to Tier 2 group. (At least not now).

 

Proposals not raised in media:

- Product continuous improvement.

[Emmcee 0]

You just watch how they will try market thencrap out of it in the USA. Try and create some sort of NASCAR type following.

[Sakae 0]

Should a group of companies consider creating an off-shot series under a new management and different structure, instead re-signing in 2020, I would be interested to shuffle over. E-series is a good try for new direction, but it's perhaps too late for me, after so many years being married to this circus.

[Emmcee 0]

There's no free flow race series, in the sense where they build the cars to how a race car is supposed to be. No restrictions that hamper the art of racing or drivability. Like you look at formula e, fantastic alternative but a race car has never had basically road tyres since the 60s and having a dry grooved tyre or tyre for all conditions looses me. How can the machines be pushed to the limit of there restricted from the start? 

[Sakae 0]

Younger fans? I thought better technical regulations would be priority.

Ideas raised purportedly by LM and discussed in media:

- Ignore EU commission, and we will do whatever we like.

- Gambling, cash source.

- More races (>21) - well, good luck with that.

- Break existing contracts, stop payments to Ferrari, and keep the cash. (Sue me, I have money and time). Robin Hood story.

- More races in US.

- More promotions. (10 min race, 20 min. sponsors)???

- No money payments to Tier 2 group. (At least not now).

- Old farts out, more diverse (whatever that means) audience in.

Proposals not raised in media with LM:

- Product (racing) continuous improvement.

[Massa 0]

F1 will never succeed in the United States.  I have no faith in this management saying, "We want to be in America because we're Americans."  There's zero sense in it.

Auto racing in the United States is dying, and dying fast.  NASCAR loses close to 25% of its audience every single year.  The 100th Indianapolis 500 (this year's) was one of the least-watched ever.  The other IndyCar races have bottomed out at about 0.09% of the U.S. population watching them.  Sometimes, F1 gets more viewers than IndyCar, but even then, F1 has HALF the audience on cable ("pay TV") in the U.S. that it had in 1995, and has a lower audience on network ("free TV") than it did in the mid-2000s.  In a nation of 327,000,000, only 33,000 people tuned into the sports car race at COTA.  The NHRA (drag racing) is drowning in irrelevance.  MotoGP has fallen into the most premium tier of cable—of 118,000,000 homes with cable TV in the U.S., only 18,000,000 have the channel MotoGP is on.  Even the youth-oriented Global Rally Cross, which is part of the X Games, gets p**s-poor viewership.

So, no one watches auto racing in the United States anymore.

Now, look at attendance.  No one goes, either.  NASCAR, IndyCar, sports cars—racing in front of aluminum bleachers and empty viewing mounds.  New auto races are met with extreme opposition by the public (see IndyCar trying to race in Boston).  Other than COTA, no new major-level circuits have been built here in over a decade.

And then you get to the other part: of those still watching, they're not a desirable demographic.

Auto racing fans are among the oldest of all sports.  Part of NASCAR and IndyCar's problems is that all their fans are dying, and no one younger is stepping in.  Even GRC, again, which was invented by TV network ESPN to attract young people to motorsports, has a very old demographic.  If you look at viewership and compare it to the figure of those who are age 18–49, you'll see how alarmingly poorly auto racing does in the United States with that key segment.  As more young people live in cities, are in debt, and care about the environment, auto racing becomes less and less popular—and it's important, too, that millennials in America have made their political beliefs very, very central to their identities (as religion declines among youths, youths have instead adopted politics).  Auto racing is seen as conservative.  The youths are extremely liberal.  They can't see past NASCAR drivers endorsing Trump and the big racing states—North Carolina and Indiana—passing laws against LBGTQ persons.  And they question why racing remains a sport where almost every visible figure is a white man (I question it, too, and am admittedly embarrassed by the political endorsements of racing).

And that's part of the demographic issue.  No diversity.  Racing fans in America are white, Christian, mostly did not go to college, lower-middle-class incomes.

Another problem: F1 already has done a lot in America that's made no difference.  What do they propose to try?  We've had countless USGPs, including the current one at a state-of-the-art facility in a very, very cool city.  None moved the needle.  We require four races to air on free TV every year—doesn't move the needle.  We have an American-based team; no one cares.  Lewis Hamilton was on 60 Minutes.  Sebastian Vettel was on David Letterman's show; when JPM was in F1, he was on there, too.  None of it makes any quantitative difference to F1's presence here.

The only glimmer of potential in America is that F1 does pretty well on UniMás, Univision's other over-the-air network.  The demographic is very young (in large part because Spanish-speakers in America are, as a whole, a very young group, and the future of this country).  Despite being in 30,000,000 fewer homes than NBCSN, the channel that normally carries F1, and despite many of those homes not speaking Spanish, F1 on UniMás has gotten higher viewership than F1 on NBCSN.  UniMás is free, so it's on every TV in cities where there is an affiliate, but many cities (the Midwest in particular) have no affiliate, so no one has it.  NBCSN is pay TV, but ends up in more households because a lot of people pay for TV in America.  The point being, data in specific markets is unfair (e.g., UniMás is in Houston, so it getting more viewers in Houston means nothing), but nationwide, the comparison is more than fair—if anything, it is biased to NBCSN.

But that's not what I suspect this man is after.  I think he's a moron.  Auto racing peaked in America and will never peak again.  NASCAR exploded in the early 2000s when it was on network TV every weekend.  Dale Earnhardt died and it got huge attention.  9/11 happened and NASCAR jumped on the "IT'S PATRIOTIC TO WATCH NASCAR" bandwagon even before the NFL did it.  An economic bubble made it easy to sponsor race cars, keeping the sport competitive and exciting, and easy for fans to travel around the country to go to races.  The economy collapsed, the marketing gimmicks started to fail, and now NASCAR's bubble is forever burst.

And most people in America think NASCAR is all racing.  They think the Indy 500 is NASCAR.  They probably saw Lewis Hamilton on 60 Minutes and thought he raced NASCAR.  And Americans now know what NASCAR is and know they don't like to watch NASCAR, so they won't take to F1, which to them is NASCAR, and NASCAR, to them, sucks.

[Sakae 0]

Thanks for rather extensive overview. I have to admit that I am also short of understanding how this will work in era, when attention span of most is shortening each new day, and here we have F1, showing once a year, collects pile of money, and disappear into the night only to be heard, like a favorite money collector, knocking on the doors a year later. Sounds this like a plan for long, lasting future? Maybe they could start by hiring race commentators with American accent...

 

[Emmcee 0]

When you watch some of the older clips on YouTube with American race callers. "Riding onboard with Michael Schumarker"

[Sakae 0]

There is a story bubbling in the background, regarding sale of the F1. EU commission is purportedly not in hurry to endorse sale, and I am not sure what it all means. Rumor has it, that American habit to sue if profit is not made could be a deal breaker. Will Liberty Media sue teams, and event promoters, or even EU institutions will be attacked if there is loss? This is not a joke, but you do this once or twice, and no one will want to do business with you anymore. BE touched on that subject in light way the other day, saying that if clock shows 12:05 pm, and you say Good Morning to someone, you might get sued in US. That's his joke. Everything is quiet, and we are assuming all is fine a dandy, but I am not so sure that all skies are blue as optics suggest. EU wants assurances, and I am not sure they are getting those. We are facing interesting times.

Coincidently TTIP is facing the same challenges, among others, and while EU trade with Canada - CETA - is fine (well almost), TTIP (EU/US) negotiations grounded to zero, allegedly because American partners said it's our way, or it is highway. EU did not agree. Part of the problem next to shipping potentially low quality of food products, American companies would be able to sue EU enterprises, if investments go bust. Such conditions of course are a deal breaker.

[Sakae 0]

In today news...

...no threats to sue Ferrari

...no changes to bilateral CA (until 2020)

...BE (hopes) to stay put (obviously he needs money)

...no gambling (at least in immediate future)

[Sakae 0]

Bad blood between those two is still there?

Quote

When asked by Bild about Brawn becoming the new F1 chief, Ecclestone scoffed, “This is total nonsense. Ross cannot do anything for us right now. We don’t need an engineer or someone with his kind of skills.”

 

[Emmcee 0]

And what is bernie? What's degrees does he have ? Does he have even the faintest idea of what is going on or he just doesn't care? I take the second, why would you want to p**s so any of before you cark it? Can't take it with you and all it will do is make people stop for a restroom break on your resting place. " you like skid marks bernie? How bout these ones"

[Sakae 0]

motosport.com

Quote

Bernie Ecclestone says he doesn’t know if Liberty Media has the funding with which to complete its purchase of the F1 business, amid suggestions in some quarters that the company may struggle to fulfill its obligations.

What happen to "sue me, I have time, lawyers, and money"? (Directed at Ferrari, and applauded in certain quarters).

[Ruslan 0]

The immediate problem is what are they going to do next year if there is no one at Mercedes able to compete with Lewis (a distinct possibility) and no team able to really compete with Mercedes (also a distinct possibility). Do they have a good marketing strategy to sell a Hamilton and Mercedes walk over the field?

I think this is the immediate challenge....and I don't think anyone has any real answer for it.

[Sakae 0]

I think other than actually proving they have hard cash, instead a lot of imaginary credit, they should be more worry how to market whining Hamilton, should he loose next year. Whom is he going to blame again? We already know that he is really sore, and little bit ugly looser. The way in which he is continuing daily attack Rosberg is really a small example of his character and what one can expect of him.