F1 sold to Liberty Media. Bernie Out?

[zac510]

For all the people who are saying that viewing figures are dropping and so forth, can you cite any sources and references for that? Otherwise your argument carries no credibility.

Here is some info on that:
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2017/01/24/f ... pped-2016/

Thanks for bringing that information to the argument.

[Andres125sx]

They´ve done that for the past 15 years and they´ve solved nothing. Audience continue decreasing despite there´s new venues at countries where there had never been before.

They solved nothing because there is nothing to solve. There is no problem here. F1 gets a fixed amount from the organisators to hold the venue, if then only one person shows up in the grandstands is, just like turning a profit, not F1's problem

That´s very debatable. It´s not his problem today, but if that trend continue the venue will stop hosting a GP, and F1 will stop receiving the fee. Now it´s F1 problem, their income has been reduced.

They can always go to some other country, but at some point people will realize hosting a F1 GP is only a marketing investment with no direct revenue because fees are too high and tickets sales too low to make it profitable.

IMHO that´s a huge problem for F1, they´re increasing fees, and ignoring the root of the problem, wich is F1 is no longer an interesting motorsport for new fans.

Basically their strategy is compensating the drop in fanbase with higher prices for the remaining fans. Higher track fees means higher ticket prices, and higher TV fees means they go PPV so it´s fans who in the end pay those increases.

But if some day the fanbase is so low they (hosters and TVs) can´t make it profitable, F1 will go to bankrupt. And once that point is reached there will be no salvation for F1, as the fanbase will be too low.

Fanbase is what makes any sport a business, no fanbase, no business.

New venues at Rusia, Arab Emirates, Malaysia, China, Singapore, Azerbaijan, Bahrain... have not been enough to compensate the audiece drop.

But that's not really a problem in their business model.

And that´s exactly the problem, their business model. Or to be more precise, MrE business model.

Some people must be thinking MrE do the best for F1. No, he only do the best for himself. Not a complain, he´s a business man. But what a motorsport like F1 does need is very different to what a 86 years old man need. F1 does need some long term plan. MrE does not, so he´s been squeezing F1 as much as possible. For that his strategy is great, increase fees so the income can even be raised, if the sport fanbase dissapear and the business go to bankrupt in some years that´s not a problem for him, he´ll be retired enjoying the millions he earned

Their business model is great for intant revenue, but IMHO extremely harmfull for the long term.

Means that there´re more people on traditional countries who did follow F1 but is no longer interested, than new people on new countries that start watching. Simple maths

I do not doubt that. I fully agree; there is less viewership. But between that decline and F1's revenue, is that really a problem? While viewership has dropped, F1's revenue has increased. And in a system with shareholders, revenue is of importance.

Off course its very important. But not the only important factor, at least if you want a wealthy business in the long term.

If they want F1 to become a toy for petrodollar millionaires they´re doing great. Otherwise F1 is on a serious problem

F1 would have had a problem if there was an alternative, which there isn't. The calendars (mostly) do not conflict, which means that even if there is an alternative, F1 still has all their reach.

I can agree to some extent with this, but then, do they rely on the lack of alternatives to keep F1 alive?

[dans79]

IMHO that´s a huge problem for F1, they´re increasing fees, and ignoring the root of the problem, wich is F1 is no longer an interesting motorsport for new fans.

Honestly I would rather see F1 die, than be turned into a freak show to suit the younger new fans. Most of them don't want to see racing, they just want to see a bunch of artificial drama. They always complain the race is boring because it doesn't have 7 million overtakes. They seem to have no grasp on how a design series actually works.

[ME4ME]

Honestly I would rather see F1 die, than be turned into a freak show to suit the younger new fans. Most of them don't want to see racing, they just want to see a bunch of artificial drama. They always complain the race is boring because it doesn't have 7 million overtakes. They seem to have no grasp on how a design series actually works.

That might be your perception, but what evidence is there to suggest that younger fans do not want to see good racing? And isn't the majority of people in F1, including senior team members, former drivers or experienced media staff just as needy for solid number of overtakes as anyone else? Afterall many of those people are already worried about the lack of overtacking in the upcoming season. I think your generalization of younger fans is uncalled for. (No I'm not a particularly young fan myself).

[dans79]

That might be your perception, but what evidence is there to suggest that younger fans do not want to see good racing? And isn't the majority of people in F1, including senior team members, former drivers or experienced media staff just as needy for solid number of overtakes as anyone else? Afterall many of those people are already worried about the lack of overtacking in the upcoming season. I think your generalization of younger fans is uncalled for. (No I'm not a particularly young fan myself).

It's my perception that they don't know what good racing is. I've had several conversations with younger fans, and they overwhelming only care about spectacle and drama. The concept of patients, tactics and timing, seems foreign the them almost insultingly so. I would go as far as saying it's just another reality show to a lot of them.

I haven't watched Nascar in almost 2 decades, but the same issue effects it as well.
http://www.nascar.com/en_us/news-media/ ... races.html

"I think generally speaking, we want to see shorter events... not in every circumstance," France told the group, "... It's no secret that attention spans, especially with the millennial fans, are changing, and we all know that.

[zeph]

IMHO that´s a huge problem for F1, they´re increasing fees, and ignoring the root of the problem, wich is F1 is no longer an interesting motorsport for new fans.

Honestly I would rather see F1 die, than be turned into a freak show to suit the younger new fans. Most of them don't want to see racing, they just want to see a bunch of artificial drama. They always complain the race is boring because it doesn't have 7 million overtakes. They seem to have no grasp on how a design series actually works.

Sorry, Dan, no disrespect intended but your reply sounds like:

[dans79]

Sorry, Dan, no disrespect intended but your reply sounds like:

None taken! honesty I'm not that old, if I had been born a few years later I'd be a millennial.

[zac510]

People come onto forums, say they've been watching for 20 years and they also complain that the races are boring so you can't blame young people.

All sports are boring often.

[Andres125sx]

IMHO that´s a huge problem for F1, they´re increasing fees, and ignoring the root of the problem, wich is F1 is no longer an interesting motorsport for new fans.

Honestly I would rather see F1 die, than be turned into a freak show to suit the younger new fans. Most of them don't want to see racing, they just want to see a bunch of artificial drama. They always complain the race is boring because it doesn't have 7 million overtakes. They seem to have no grasp on how a design series actually works.

That´s exactly the same I did hear around 20 years ago when I started watching F1 and told to some of my friends

You can´t take any teenager opinion as a general teenagers opinion. Even 20 years ago F1 was not a general public motorsport, it only was for those of us who also enjoy strategy, design, etc.

Problem is today design is so restricted they almost look like a spec series, strategies depend on tires wich do not last as much as they should, and the little overtaking we see is so artificial and sterilized since DRS did appear not even that is exciting anymore...

And you blame young people as the responsible for the lack of young fanbase? Bernie, is that you?

[zac510]

Compared to the new race rules that NASCAR is rolling out for 2017, F1 is practically identical to the sport we had 2 decades ago.

[FW17]

compare motor racing to cricket

Tests were all you get in the beginning, then we had ODIs and now we have T20s

T20s really rocked the sport

Sometimes a change in format is not bad.

I would certainly like to see a short race with forced cautions on Saturday to set the grid for Sunday.

[zac510]

That's true. The change to 3-part qualifying was a T20-esque change that really made qualifying great.

[WaikeCU]

I think it should be mandatory for test drivers to be in the cars on Fridays, but then I wonder why people would attend those Fridays, since those are not the stars and nobody really wants to see them.

[Just_a_fan]

I think that if the audience could choose their own camera views, most would find things that make races more interesting. In the midfield, for example, there is a lot of racing that never gets seen by the TV viewer. It would mean leaving behind the Bernie model of TV rights and moving to full online presence. I'd happily pay £10 per race weekend if I could pick and choose what I watch.

This would help the mid field teams too. It would increase their exposure and thus make them more attractive to sponsors.

The overall format of F1 is fine. It's how it is consumed that needs to be changed.

Of course, so long as people think "good racing" = "lots of overtaking" we'll keep getting silly solutions. A period of two laps where one driver is trying several times to pass is much more exciting than two laps with ten passes. It's the "edge of the seat: will he / won't he" that's exciting.

[Facts Only]

IMHO that´s a huge problem for F1, they´re increasing fees, and ignoring the root of the problem, wich is F1 is no longer an interesting motorsport for new fans.

Honestly I would rather see F1 die, than be turned into a freak show to suit the younger new fans. Most of them don't want to see racing, they just want to see a bunch of artificial drama. They always complain the race is boring because it doesn't have 7 million overtakes. They seem to have no grasp on how a design series actually works.

That´s exactly the same I did hear around 20 years ago when I started watching F1 and told to some of my friends

You can´t take any teenager opinion as a general teenagers opinion. Even 20 years ago F1 was not a general public motorsport, it only was for those of us who also enjoy strategy, design, etc.

Problem is today design is so restricted they almost look like a spec series, strategies depend on tires wich do not last as much as they should, and the little overtaking we see is so artificial and sterilized since DRS did appear not even that is exciting anymore...

And you blame young people as the responsible for the lack of young fanbase? Bernie, is that you?

Blimey you've really gone all in to get as many of the same-old-same-old F1 complaints into one post.

- A dig at Bernie; Check
- Tyres are rubbish; Check
- The designs are the same; Check
- DRS has ruined F1; Check

If only you had mentioned the way the prize money is distributed you would have had the full set of cliche' F1 moans.

The one thing that baffles me, you say that "Strategies depend on tyres" well what on earth else are they going to depend on? the engineers toilet breaks? I suppose we could bring back refuelling.... and then listen to everyone complain about how "races are only won in the pits" and "all the overtaking is in the pits" blah blah blah

Also this is just plain BS "Even 20 years ago F1 was not a general public motorsport" I remember 25 years ago Mansell mania taking over, then Schumacher v Hill was headline news for years. People sat an watched F1 on Sunday afternoons as families.