Its not hard to see that Bernie Ecclestone loves a good game of poker. He’s forever backing his adversaries into a corner with a wild, ‘all in’ declaration and then sitting back, stone faced and cocky while the rest of the world debates whether or not he is bluffing. Many a poor soul will tell you that they regret misreading Bernie.
Take for instance the drama that is the British Grand Prix. Usually about this time of year there is a quote from Bernie in the press warning Silverstone, home of the British Grand Prix, that they need to spruce the place up, put in more corporate hospitality seats and find more (government) money to pay the ever-higher sanctioning fees demanded by Ecclestone. Each year the same story unfolds. No one has a right to a grand prix, says Bernie, and the privilege costs money. Silverstone and its owners plead poor. Somebody (never Bernie) finds a bit more cash and the race survives for another year. Nothing changes but it always provides high stakes tension.
Maybe because Silverstone has become a deadlock, Bernie is on the lookout for another player to hustle. Enter Melbourne Australia, inconveniently located on the other side of the world and who’s F1 race is played out while most of Europe chooses to sleep.
One of the great dilemmas for Formula 1 is that there is a lot of cash available in the Asia-Pacific market but the historical fan base and the TV viewers are not interested in watching races in a time zone that forces them to turn on the television in the middle of the night. Always wanting to have their cake and to eat it too, the ever-spinning marketing minds of F1 may have found a solution - night racing.
Beginning this season, F1 will present its first ever night race. Live from Singapore and run under massive, computer controlled lighting systems, the entire course will be illuminated to a level sufficient for safe racing and television broadcasting. Because it will be run at night in Asia, the live feed will arrive in European living rooms mid-morning. This makes the race more attractive for the traditional viewer who can now watch the grand prix over scrambled eggs and coffee.
So Singapore will pilot the program, Malaysia has recently indicated an interest in moving to a night race format too, and Australia? Actually, far from choosing, Australia is being told it needs to go to a night race format or be dropped from the calendar. Bernie is playing up night racing like a card shark hinting at aces. No one can be sure if he’s bluffing or not, but threatening a long time race venue like Melbourne makes it clear to everyone how high the stakes are .
What the Melbourne threat really means is that Eccelstone is under pressure. He wants the money available from the emerging economies of Southeast Asia, China, India, and the Middle East but he knows he needs to appease the sport’s fans who are mainly in Europe. Without those fans, TV ratings (the basis for lucrative TV contracts and subsequently team prize money) will fall sharply. Additionally, F1 could become a marginal sport in Europe.
For Ecclestone, night racing is a hand he can’t afford to lose. Its a dangerous gambit because the format is a complete unknown. What happens if it rains heavily or there is a power failure mid race? F1 has not canceled a race in many years, not even when Ayrton Senna was killed. How will organizers deal with a blackout during the race and how will fans react if a race is canceled? As quickly as night racing arrives it could disappear, taking a lot of fans with it.
Beyond Melbourne, the future of Formula 1 is at stake. Bernie wants F1 to grow into new markets without alienating and abandoning the fans who made it what it is today? If he can’t achieve that, is it possible to shift the sport into the Asian market, abandoning Europe, and grow the fan base quickly enough to continue to feed the sport’s huge appetite for cash?
The relatively new races in Bahrain, Malaysia and Turkey all shared one thing in common - empty grandstands. The local populace aren’t keen on racing when basic survival is the primary concern for most of the population. Similarly, well-heeled Europeans aren’t flocking to sweltering Asia and its various security concerns to see races. So far, the odds seem to be stacked against Ecclestone.
Bernie has made his fortune by winning these high risk games but eventually everyone’s luck runs dry. If night racing works and proves popular, F1 could spread further into the Asian market and still keep European interest. If it proves to be a dud with fans or organizers, then we could still see a shift to Asian races but without European interest or support.
Knowing Bernie, there is probably an ace up his sleeve still to be played. That’s just the kind of game it is.
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