Bernie Ecclestone says F1 be sold this year.

[Sodemo]

Nothing changes.

The prices will still go up, the tracks will still get charged more, the viewing experience at home will get more restrictive and expensive.

[chillibowl]

my hope is that their model to monetize the sport (publicly traded stocks) will require more people watching in order to keep the share prices high. rather declines in viewership (one of the more easily observable metrics) will lead to a decline in their share price so it is something i would think they will try to avoid.

so in an attempt to get more people watching, i hope they pursue better, more accessible and cheaper TV and internet broadcasting deals.

probably being too optimistic though.

kind of a side thought, i am assuming the deal includes ownership of the FOM video vault and we start seeing an effort to restore and re-release old/classic races along the lines of of what the NFL has done with NFL Films.

[S griffin]

I just want to see the new owners of the No. 1 Motorsport make it literally the best thing ever when they get to work on it and I don't know why I don't think that the Ringmaster will be in the sport for much longer than the time said

[Mike Harte]

More about the proposed sale: http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/th...f1-820531/?s=1

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

More about the proposed sale: http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/th...f1-820531/?s=1

Nice article. Frankly... as screwed up as F1 is, and even with declining viewership, it probably is a good buy. Time will tell, but there is a potential that the new owners might do things differently that do show value where none was perceived previously. Bernie has been the only game in town (from a management perspective) for so long that it is likely hard to tell if he is doing a good or bad job! I am sure he thinks he is doing an excellent job and that nobody but him can handle the challenges!

Originally Posted by chillibowl

my hope is that their model to monetize the sport (publicly traded stocks) will require more people watching in order to keep the share prices high. rather declines in viewership (one of the more easily observable metrics) will lead to a decline in their share price so it is something i would think they will try to avoid.

so in an attempt to get more people watching, i hope they pursue better, more accessible and cheaper TV and internet broadcasting deals.

probably being too optimistic though.

kind of a side thought, i am assuming the deal includes ownership of the FOM video vault and we start seeing an effort to restore and re-release old/classic races along the lines of of what the NFL has done with NFL Films.

I agree with what you are saying. But its hard to tell if they view the broadcast rights as something to squeeze for cash (continue with status quo), or nurture (expand base via lower costs).

I think the back catalogue is an intriguing idea. I broadly assume it is part of the deal. I also think Bernie has a pretty sizable luddite streak in him. The most advanced technical things you see was the move to HD (which is not groundbreaking), but he seems very adverse to social media and other digital concepts. I think there is a huge amount of things that can be done to increase the spectator experience for those who are not attending a race. Plenty of room for F1 to be the leader in that space.

Richard

[chillibowl]

Originally Posted by Richard Casto

Time will tell, but there is a potential that the new owners might do things differently that do show value where none was perceived previously. Bernie has been the only game in town (from a management perspective) for so long that it is likely hard to tell if he is doing a good or bad job! I am sure he thinks he is doing an excellent job and that nobody but him can handle the challenges!

great point and never really thought of it that way before.

BE and his vision have been around for so long it is hard to objectively judge whether he has done a good job or not because there really is no one else to compare his reign too.

true he is a bit of a luddite and from that article Mike posted, it sounds like Liberty have some ideas how to extract more money from the sport (which for the most part sounds like getting more advertisers - via official sponsorship deals (only 9 out of the 21 races have title sponsors???) and social media).

also like the notion of expanding the number of teams who can become financial stakeholders in the sport is a good idea.

only time will tell if more commercialization (money from sponsors due to increased viewers) actually leads to the changes many of us are hoping for.

at the very least we have something new to talk about.

[Mike Harte]

Like so many public announcements, the Liberty one had it's share of spin, smoke and mirrors, and a bit of muddying the waters thrown in for good measure.

The bit about tittle sponsors puzzles me because, unless the goal posts have been moved to another field, this sponsorship used to be main way that the circuits could offset the stratospheric sanctioning fee the FOM charge. Assuming that nothing has actually changed to that, how can that be of any concern to Liberty unless they aim to charge the sponsors a sanctioning fee for allowing their name to be associated with a race? Or do they do that already?

And before you all get too excited by the possibility that Liberty might be able to extract more money from F1, don't they do that well enough already? Their profit before taxes, etc. for this year plus the three previous seasons is a cool $1.9 billion. Isn't that more than enough?

The one thing that I don't expect this proposed deal to provide is for the cost of watching all the races live to be cheaper. And they talk about increasing the number of GPs. Who do they expect to pay for that?

[wolfhound]

Liberty will need to look at F1's revenue streams to see what is sustainable and what is not. For example a lot of the current race deals are under pressure examples being Britian, Germany and the USA. There is also the falling TV audiences due to pay per view TV.
The imbalance in the money paid to the teams is also causing problems.

The way CVC/Bernie has been operating over the last number of years has been building up these problems by sucking out as much profit without putting anything in place for future grown. I think that the new owners will have to solve the above issues before F1 can grow to the next level.

[jimclark]

http://www.celebritynetworth.com/art...l-8-5-billion/

http://www.autoevolution.com/news/li...00-111047.html

[JABWOA]

Originally Posted by wolfhound

The way CVC/Bernie has been operating over the last number of years has been building up these problems by sucking out as much profit without putting anything in place for future grown. I think that the new owners will have to solve the above issues before F1 can grow to the next level.

BE hasn't had to do any long term growth strategies while countries are still clambering to pay high (and escalating fees) to FOM.

It's a shame, as there is money to be made in digital media but FOM hasn't embraced it, instead focusing on paydirt deals. Hopefully the new owners (and nothing says they won't) are taking the long approach and will utilize their strength in digital media to generate the growth.

[275 GTB-4]

Originally Posted by S griffin

I just want to see the new owners of the No. 1 Motorsport make it literally the best thing ever when they get to work on it and I don't know why I don't think that the Ringmaster will be in the sport for much longer than the time said

I predict BE will be employed for a honeymoon/transition period before being shown the door

[Moneyseeker]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

Like so many public announcements, the Liberty one had it's share of spin, smoke and mirrors, and a bit of muddying the waters thrown in for good measure.

The bit about tittle sponsors puzzles me because, unless the goal posts have been moved to another field, this sponsorship used to be main way that the circuits could offset the stratospheric sanctioning fee the FOM charge. Assuming that nothing has actually changed to that, how can that be of any concern to Liberty unless they aim to charge the sponsors a sanctioning fee for allowing their name to be associated with a race? Or do they do that already?

And before you all get too excited by the possibility that Liberty might be able to extract more money from F1, don't they do that well enough already? Their profit before taxes, etc. for this year plus the three previous seasons is a cool $1.9 billion. Isn't that more than enough?

The one thing that I don't expect this proposed deal to provide is for the cost of watching all the races live to be cheaper. And they talk about increasing the number of GPs. Who do they expect to pay for that?

The sponsors are all FOM/Allsport including the race sponsorships, they own everything at the GP, the circuits only really have ticket sales income plus their own hospitality suites. They can also sell trade village space.

From my experience of working at a GP circuit, they were able to develop some 'non-visible' (to TV) activities with brands but all these had to be pre-approved by Allsport and they took a % of the income.

BE was known for rigorously policing branding at races, on one occasion a hire truck was parked in a compound by the track and the brand name could be seen over the fence and was tv visible on a long shot and as it was blocked in by about 50 vehicles it couldn't be moved, so the circuit had to get up a ladder and paint over it...

It's interesting to hear Liberty talk about monetizing F1, as I am sure that this is something the circuit's would love to be able to do themselves, the business model they have to work with is so skewed in FOM's favour, hence the position some of them find themselves in.

[Lancsbreaker]

Originally Posted by 275 GTB-4

I predict BE will be employed for a honeymoon/transition period before being shown the door

3 years according to reports today....

[275 GTB-4]

Originally Posted by Lancsbreaker

3 years according to reports today....

Ahhhh the old "let them think they are comfortable" ploy...

Born 1930...hmmm

3 Years? can I quote you on that

[jimclark]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

And before you all get too excited by the possibility that Liberty might be able to extract more money from F1, don't they do that well enough already? Their profit before taxes, etc. for this year plus the three previous seasons is a cool $1.9 billion. Isn't that more than enough?

What and/or who is supposed to determine "enough"? In a free world, I'd like to see that be the person(s)/entity(ies) producing the product....no? If not compensated enough the producer then decides not to produce and takes their resources and goes home....

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

Like so many public announcements, the Liberty one had it's share of spin, smoke and mirrors, and a bit of muddying the waters thrown in for good measure.

The bit about tittle sponsors puzzles me because, unless the goal posts have been moved to another field, this sponsorship used to be main way that the circuits could offset the stratospheric sanctioning fee the FOM charge. Assuming that nothing has actually changed to that, how can that be of any concern to Liberty unless they aim to charge the sponsors a sanctioning fee for allowing their name to be associated with a race? Or do they do that already?

And before you all get too excited by the possibility that Liberty might be able to extract more money from F1, don't they do that well enough already? Their profit before taxes, etc. for this year plus the three previous seasons is a cool $1.9 billion. Isn't that more than enough?

The one thing that I don't expect this proposed deal to provide is for the cost of watching all the races live to be cheaper. And they talk about increasing the number of GPs. Who do they expect to pay for that?

Maybe Liberty are going to have the title sponsors more in line with IndyCar and NASCAR, where the series has a dedicated sponsor, like Verizon and Sprint and the races themselves have a dedicated sponsor. For example the Rolex F1 Series and the USB Belgian Grand Prix.

[Moneyseeker]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Maybe Liberty are going to have the title sponsors more in line with IndyCar and NASCAR, where the series has a dedicated sponsor, like Verizon and Sprint and the races themselves have a dedicated sponsor. For example the Rolex F1 Series and the USB Belgian Grand Prix.

The FIA own the F1 Championship and I don't think a title sponsorship for the series is allowed, it has to be the FIA Formula One World Championship.

[BSchneiderFan]

I must confess I found the Gran Premio Heineken d'Italia a little jarring.

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by BSchneiderFan

I must confess I found the Gran Premio Heineken d'Italia a little jarring.

But it isn't something new. I seem to recall the Molson Grand Prix of Montreal (other libations are readily available, as are venues).

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Moneyseeker

The FIA own the F1 Championship and I don't think a title sponsorship for the series is allowed, it has to be the FIA Formula One World Championship.

The FIA are the sanctioning body, that doesn't mean someone else can't come along and run their own F1 Championship. Over the years rumours have come and gone of break away F1 championships.

[BSchneiderFan]

Originally Posted by Mike Harte

But it isn't something new. I seem to recall the Molson Grand Prix of Montreal (other libations are readily available, as are venues).

Molson is fine for the Canadian Grand Prix - a fine Canadian lager. But Monza should be something like Martini e Rosso, surely.

[wolfhound]

I found the attached article about Chase Carey. He seems like the sort of person F1 needs.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-chas...yer-1434509031

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by BSchneiderFan

Molson is fine for the Canadian Grand Prix - a fine Canadian lager. But Monza should be something like Martini e Rosso, surely.

Peroni Nastro Azzurro has that Blue Ribbon quality.

[old man]

Reading the intentions and various pieces on what they may do with F1 the intrigueing thing is "virtual racing" .

Can't wait to test my skills on the virtual grid alongside Mr Hamilton in real time!😎😎😎😀

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by old man

Reading the intentions and various pieces on what they may do with F1 the intrigueing thing is "virtual racing" .

Can't wait to test my skills on the virtual grid alongside Mr Hamilton in real time!😎😎😎😀

There's always rFactor.