Superleague Football Thing... I don't get it!

[plomax]

Sorry, but I really don't get it.
Why on earth would you want to try and mix the worlds most inaccurate sport with the worlds most accurate sport?
Fans of inaccuracy wouldn't know that something is "good" or not until they are told that the guy who just went past "that chequered thingy on the end of the stick" won (...that's like scoring a goal...) "Oh.. there's just the one then?"
Fans of inaccuracy would have a hard time understanding that driver X was actually driving really well.... even though you weren't sporting that drivers team shirt. "You F***** traitor!!... OK, he was really good when he drove for "our" team, but now he's just crap!"
Fans of inaccuracy will also have a hard time understanding why driver Y, who "played a really good race" like a top premier league player (ie passed the ball to his team mate... only the team mate was 30 yds away) is now in a wheelchair.

However, fans of Accuracy will now have to:
a) Shave their heads
b) Find their local tattoo parlour (names of children are compulsory down the inner forearm). [unless unproven by DNA Test on Jeremy Kyle show... in which case laser surgery is in order]
c) Throw away all semblance of normal clothing and buy and wear at all times (especially when on holiday) superleague team home kit (£3000 for Nike overalls) superleague team away kit..oh damn I forgot.. no away kits in Accuracy. Although... Ferrari and other tobacco sponsored teams could make a fortune with their different "kits" with the different ways they get around the advertising bans.
d) Call their children the first name of every "player" in the team. (Which I think should include them guys that do that stuff on the thing with wheels when its not wizzin round and it's like stopped)
e) Ten-Tenths and other "Accuracy" forums will (seriously)have to get used to the Police asking them (and their domain name registrars ;-) ) for the names and address details of their members who are ganging together and arranging to have Silverstone showdown riots and the Brands brawls.

You have been warned!!

Superleague.... please stick to Football, we don't want you. Keep your fans where they belong... caged in a stadium. We've got our own fans, who believe in good humour, sportsmanship (most of the time ;-) ) and fairness.... and are not content watching a guy who's paid a million dollars a month kick a pigs bladder a million miles from where he "thought" he was going to kick it!
Please keep your organised crime gangs (fans) out of motorsport!

[Obizzz]

LOL

[Lightning Bug]

What a load of patronising nonsense.

I like football and I like racing.

Agreed though, it's a rubbish idea that has absolutely no chance of getting off the ground.

[duke_toaster]

ROLF. It sounds like A1 but someone nicked the idea, so they translated it in to bunches of overpaid nancy boys that kick bags of wind around a field.

It's the same guy as a similar series that failed a few years ago - make up your own mind!

[Go_For_Pole]

I read in Autosport about many team being interested, 30 in total from various countries. I have to say I am quite surprised that people seem to think that the series will get off the ground.

[courageous]

There may be several teams interested, but the same was true for PremierF1.

Would never work, the best they could hope for would be to combine different ball game teams (Canada can have a hockey team if they like LOL).

Find a Football fanatic forum & suggest the reverse (McLaren FC vs Ferrari United) and see what they say.

[Roninho]

Originally Posted by Go_For_Pole

I read in Autosport about many team being interested, 30 in total from various countries. I have to say I am quite surprised that people seem to think that the series will get off the ground.

This is what the serie has to say about this:

Traditionally the onus is on racing teams to generate operational income. To what extent will that be the case once the series is up and running?
RW: "The race teams are stakeholders in this. Between years three and five they will be receiving one third of the net revenues, which is a substantial sum. In the early years there will be some investment but I doubt it will cost more to enter than most other major international championships. We've looked at the figures and I have spent lots of time discussing them with selected race teams. We'll actually be supplying the first race car free of charge, which takes a big hit away from them. The engine costs are being subsidised and so won't be huge - nothing like the price of doing Champ Car, for instance, so a lot of capital costs have been taken away. The fact that we're starting with a six-race programme late in 2008 probably means teams will be running dual or triple programmes - contesting Superleague

Formula and other championships - so they can cover some of their costs through existing operations. We think they can be profitable after one year and substantially so by year five."

What would be the major investment required from the race teams?
RW: "If you set up an F3 team from scratch you have to purchase cars, lease engines, buy transporters and so on... In most cases, teams will be operating out of existing premises, which won't incur any extra expense, although they might require a few extra personnel. In terms of running costs we've looked at the price of spares, accident damage and so on and it's probably very similar to other series. Apart from initial capital costs, such as needing an extra transporter, perhaps, that's pretty much it."

AA: "The costs will almost all be operational."

RW: "We've tried to keep costs down by running two-day events with races in Europe at the beginning, imposing limits on testing - most of that will be done on Saturday mornings, in front of a public who will appreciate the glorious sound of our V12s. We think we've contained the costs. They aren't crazy numbers by any means."

Without engine costs and a free car we are talking about a budget that will @ f3-world series level. I'm guessing those teams are thinking that for such amounts they will find junior-drivers with some money. And that might be not such a stupid idea, because we are talking about a 750hp-car and a serie that will attract way more media-attention compared to your average f3-ish serie.

As for the idea behind the serie: They probably have found an investor, but i don't believe it will be a succes. The serie is targeting 10% of 150 million fans of the involved football club. I don't think these 10% will tune to watch the racing.

What i don't understand with all this is the amount of money involved, just like in A1gp. Superleague is talking about investing 50 million pounds ($100 (!)million) into this, a1gp lost $200 million+ in their first season. I mean we are talking about running 20 cars for 6 races and televise it. Superfund spend $3-4 million on running their serie (8 races a year?) and the cars were run for like $10 millions in total. Superleague could have put the football logo's on those cars and run 6-7 years for the money they are now going to spend.

Slow but profitable growth seems more interesting than mega-losses.

[Go_For_Pole]

Aaaah, by the way I see that SF organisers claim that a racing team from Greece showed interest. Well, that's cool but seriously the most modern thing any Greek team has ever touched in a Dallara 396.

And that is if we are talking serious, existing racing teams because I have a fear that they are talking about the same people who tried to own the Greek A1 team. Too bad they had no money and let EVERYBODY with the worst impression and debts...

PS for a series that intends to invest so many million they sure have a hell of a crappy website

[Go_For_Pole]

According to Greek website MSFree.gr, the list of teams that have applied for the series include:

Zakspeed, Triple Eight, Carlin Motorsport, Hitech Racing, Van Hool, Meycom, JAS and Pro Motorsport.

[dave not neil]

Is there anything Carlin won't apply for?

[Go_For_Pole]

Last weekend SLF launched Olympiacos car over here and they got massive amount of publicity (TV, auto mags, sports newspapers). We Greeks can spot a legit series, can we?

[Adri_tifosi]

Carlin is at all the championships