Bernie gone

[Terryathome]

I can see F1 going pay per view

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

2 hours ago, Terryathome said:

I can see F1 going pay per view

Sadly, so can I.

[DonPeffers]

If I've scan read the new 2017 F1 regs. correctly the cars will be about 8 inches wider.

To improve overtaking opportunities surely the cars should be narrower unless tracks are getting much wider which I've not read.

Seems the new cars will be faster and have more durable tyres so to me it seems that follow the leader round and round is all that will happen and I certainly won't pay to watch that.

[Terryathome]

4 hours ago, dpeffers said:

If I've scan read the new 2017 F1 regs. correctly the cars will be about 8 inches wider.

Will have to be wider for them big fat wallets the F1 drivers seem to demand.

I'm sure a few of us would pitch in and drive a couple of 30 million pound cars for them. Have to ask nice mind.

[XTR2Turbo]

11 hours ago, Terryathome said:

I can see F1 going pay per view

They have I think looked at football and think they can replicate but imho it is different. First for football there are so many games very few can be shown live without pay channels.  So fans expect to pay to see live in a way motorsport fans don't. Secondly the amounts of money from sponsors and advertisers are much less.  F1 sponsors pay what they do to reach a mass audience.  They will not stay if that declines as it has started to and it can spiral downwards very quickly. 

You can milk income from all sides  for a period and there is no doubt Bernie and cvc have recently cash cowed the whole set up

It's a bit like councils charging silly amounts for parking in town centres and also huge rates on shop businesses .  At some point it moves out of town and they loose income through short sighted greed 

 

 

[Terryathome]

I wonder how long it will take Bernie to spend his money, do you think he might buy a Westfield? 

Bernie Ecclestone/Net worth

 

2.9 billion USD

[XTR2Turbo]

1 hour ago, Terryathome said:

I wonder how long it will take Bernie to spend his money, do you think he might buy a Westfield? 

Bernie Ecclestone/Net worth

 

2.9 billion USD

I am sure his 35 year old female companion will have some ideas to help.

[SootySport]

So a Media company has bought F1.    I can see where this is going clear as day,   full of advertising and pay per view.    It will be following the way Boxing & Football is presented.  The true die hard fans will not be able to afford multiple trips to the Grand Prix around Europe anymore.   It will disappear from free  terrestial  TV as well, that course was set when Sky and BBC shared the rights to broadcast.

To be honest Bernie E. did save F1 from imploding on itself years ago, by autocratically setting the format of F1 racing when he took over. Later  the Teams were given the opportunity to have a say on how  the sport is run.  I fear this element will soon be lost.  

[jeff oakley]

You never know, it all depends if someone like channel 4 who coughed up a huge amount for a baking show, might get a look in. 

These people are not mugs and have seen tv audience figures fall. They also look at Nascar and Indy car and what makes that a spectacular event. It is the danger, the speed and the overtaking. It is a pretty simple formula but because of deals done there isn't a fair share of money to teams, because of allowing too much aero they have made it hard to overtake and when one does (Verstapphen) the other drivers moan as if there is some rule that says if you are infront it is your right to stay there.

They have said they are going to turn every race into a week long event. If they get drivers doing signings for fans, let them get closer, stop ripping people off as they charge the circuits too much to stage the race, then they might sort things out.

The rules are too complicated and teams dominate too easily for too long. They need to get back to allowing testing, remove aero and get mechanical grip as the main thing. Stop trying to appease the greens and dump expensive complicated kers systems and let drivers race.

[Blatman]

Not sure anything much can happen in the "sport" as the current concorde agreement is in effect until 2020. Liberty Media may make a better fist of getting more engagement through their expertise in modern media platforms but I think that will be the limit of their input until they can do something about the aforementioned concorde agreement.