Quote:
Originally Posted by Jacques Rabbit
One worry I do have: television. You're not getting a race on FOX in NFL season, and you'd think the USGP would be the one they'd want on network (meaning everyone with a TV gets the channel) to generate more interest in the event and the sport. Not saying SPEED's a bad place to be, but the ratings and exposure are higher on FOX.
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I realize TV exposure is key but there is more to F1 than the race. For a casual or disinterested fan, the more you are exposed to the more you may want to learn. One of the biggest blunders F1 could make with the resurrection of any USGP is to let FOX or a network butcher the broadcast with a lights to checkers
do-or-die two hour time slot like they employ when given the broadcast rights.
You just can't thrust a completely foreign spectacle in the face of US sports fans and expect them to feel the passion, especially when the remaining 90% of the spectacle takes place in the wee hours a world away and gets ZERO press coverage when it does. The disinterested US fan base should be exposed to the entire F1 spectacle including a 30 minute pre-race show, podium ceremony and post race interviews.
Help the uninitiated to understand the nuances of the sport, teams and where things stand with a half hour pre-race show. Let them get to know the drivers, (albeit probably the same three or four
) by showing the podium & post race interviews and DON'T dare consider any type of broadcast delay to get it on a major network; the cat will be out of the bag on US news outlets long before the race is shown.
F1 doesn't have to become NASCAR to capture some interest in the US and hopefully it never will. It will have to succeed or fail on its own merits, (or lack thereof) without a US team, driver, Ferrari sales or a perfect venue.
How success in this latest attempt is measured remains to be seen.