Andretti Global F1 team

I don't think it will make it that far. Once congress notes they have essentially been ignored, they will let them know further action into antitrust issues will be discussed and I can see all the teams folding then. There's no way the teams want that kind of heat on them if congress wants to place tariffs on their manufacturers etc.

 

The US department of justice is launching an antitrust probe against Liberty for it's handling of the Andretti candidacy

popcorn ready, this will be juicy

Cf Motorsport.com

 

You can bet Malone is paying attention now.

I hear the Saudis are interested in expanding their pro sports portfolio. ….

 

And so Formula 1 and all it used to mean will die......?

 

And why not ?

 

We all know that nothing beats Spa, Suzuka, Monza and Siverstone... But if I compare what the Middle East circuits have shown over the last few years (Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Saudi) to the Celebrity Circus events in the US (COTA excluded) established by Liberty, I clearly know what at least I prefer... IMO the US-events are far more detached from the spirit of "traditional" F1 than the mentioned ones in the Middle East.

 

Someone get my extra buttery political popcorn. F1 is about to get tuned up by American politics.

If they're just announcing this today, it means it started a while ago, likely shortly after they decided to ignore the congressional letter which noted a deadline of May 25th. Bad idea. If American politics has shown anyone anything, they can find or invent dirt on anyone and anything to levy tariffs, which is likely the end-game here if they don't allow Andretti into the show.




https://www.crash.net/f1/news/1053221/1/f1s-owners-liberty-media-under-investigation-after-andretti-entry-rejection

 

They can be fined for not allowing them in. They do not have to allow them in at all. They have a process. IF this gets referred to a Grand Jury fine. In open court you have a business on trial that has no competition, and a pushy government telling them how to run it. Yeah not good optics right? They can inquire on anything and more than likely the letter was sent. The letter probably did not satisfy the members involved. Its on the Justice Department to prove competition was prevented. How so. This is not a competitive market. The 10 teams are participants lol. Who is producing a similar product and being harmed legally??? No one. This is petulant and the FIA and FOM have a stated process. The Andretti's didnt like the answer. Ben Sulayem probably made a promise he could not keep.

As far as Andretti saying Maffei told him Michael would never be in F1. Thats here-say on a good day. Would that be 'admissable'? Its a fun squabble at best and at worst they make a deal, pay a fine and Andretti never see's the grid. Whats the forcing 'mechanism' to put them on the grid. No statute says you get a grid slot does it??

 

I hear what you're saying, and it makes sense, but the end game of this farce is a slot for Andretti. F1s rules and procedures mean nothing to congress. The DOJ and congressional hearings can make up anything they want, however ambiguous, and under the guise of anti competition, to see their end game. The public is not about to be in outrage that a bunch of billionaires are getting the screws put to them. If their best argument is, "team X will only get $98m now instead of $107m", while it's owned by a company or guy worth $10b, then they have absolutely zero case.

 

Ben Sulayem did a U-turn and came back on his promise to Andretti since.
He must have realised that the FIA relinquished its Commercial Rights over F1 years ago.
Now the ball is in Liberty's court, and they must have good reasons to refuse an 11th team.

 

I think it's bad for a sport when political pressure from a lobby in one country can dictate who can participate.
Libery could move its F1 headquarters in a neutral country out of reach of US Congress.
What would they do then ?

 

William you have no idea of the power they yield. First off they could ban the three US F1 GP's, how's that...for a start?

The last thing any organisation in the eye of the storm in this way should do is display arrogance.

Again I will give the example of when the big three Detroit car manufacturer CEO's came to congress to get bailed out some years ago during a bad crisis...they got the dressing down of their lives because in an era of dramatic financial difficulties they all had come in several private jets.

The next time they drove from Detroit to DC and spoke with great humility.

So getting off one's high horse with pompous indignant attitudes is chapter 1 page 1 to come out of this as best liberty can.

This will be fun to watch

 

I believe all the actual F1 operating companies are still European based (UK, Luxembourg, Netherlands) and simply owned by a US Holding Company (Liberty).

the wrinkle is Liberty is publicly traded on US exchanges, and as above they operate within the USA so they do have jurisdiction in some capacity. The US government also knows how to use all its bureaucratic tentacles

 

That wouldn’t make a difference. Liberty would still be a public U.S. company…..with huge positions and influence in media. That alone puts a big bull’s eye on their back….all kinds of regulatory scrutiny. Malone is a pragmatist. If this begins to impact his operations he will comply or jettison F1. You can bet an exit strategy is already being considered…just in case.

 

I believe the exit strategy is already known- sell to Saudis/PIF.

 

What's PIF?

 

per Wikipedia: The Public Investment Fund (PIF) is the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia. It is among the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world with total estimated assets of US$925 billion. It was created in 1971 for the purpose of investing funds on behalf of the Government of Saudi Arabia.

 

I am not dismissing what you say. I just think it's bad for F1.

 

Congressional question to Liberty: Does the Concorde Agreement in effect in 2023 provide for 12 teams and 24 cars? Yes or no?

Follow up question: Does that same Concorde Agreement have a clause providing for a "Dilution Fee" or similar for a new entrant? Yes/no?

Next: Is it true that the FIA deemed that Andretti had passed all their criteria to be a qualified entry, including the ability to pay the proscribed Dilution Fee?

Next, directly to Greg Maffei: Do you deny making the comment to Mario Andretti that you would do everything possible to prevent Michael from being a part of F1, or, or substantially to that effect?

Follow up after Maffei says he did no such thing: I have here a copy of the magazine F1 Business (or the exact name of that publication) where it says that they had multiple people that were in the room at that time that confirmed that you did essentially say that. How can you deny having made that statement and do we need to subpoena them?

Next topic: Review of Liberty Medias holdings and the financials.

The Congressional Committee could ask for document and electronic communication discovery with all mentions of Andretti, grid expansion topic, new Concorde Agreement. Liberty, FOM, Domenicalli, FIA, all current teams. This could turn into being quite embarrassing for a lot of people and making public the internal financials.

At what point does Malone decide that Maffei is expendable?

 

I wouldn't advise anyone interrogating Maffei to quote BusinessF1, as its publisher has a decades-long record of yellow journalism dotted with losing libel cases and insolvency....

 

Disagree. One might use the specific reporter that wrote the article and get a list of names of who else was in the room. I would expect that the threat that Maffei could be caught in a lie by others that were in the room when he made the statement would be enough.

The public spectacle of a televised hearing could be fun, but just getting depositions and discovery materials could be enough to sway Liberty. Would they really want to have every signed Concorde Agreement in the hands of a notoriously leaky Congress? Would they want for the exact details of the money distribution to become fact not just rumors? Does anyone not believe that money is/has been changing hands to secure race venues and dates? Investigations for violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act can get nasty and would attach to all of Liberty's entities which could put them under scrutiny of any broadcast licenses.

 

An investigation is not stopping this profit rocket lol—


Q2 in 2024 was a financially good quarter for Liberty Media. The figures show that Formula One Group's total revenue increased from $724 million in Q2 of 2023 to $988 million in Q2 of 2024.


More revenue for Liberty Media in Q2 2024
Greg Maffei, president and CEO of Liberty Media, is delighted with the figures the premier class is currently achieving. "Formula 1 is having an incredible season with particularly high engagement in growth markets. Five races have already set US live viewership records for their events, and we look forward to our new opportunities ahead including Apple’s highly anticipated F1 film which will debut in June 2025.''


According to Stefano Domenicali, F1 president and CEO, these figures are also due to the support classes. "The F1 season is seeing phenomenal racing, with seven different winners through fourteen races and tighter gaps across the grid. Social media followers are up over 30% across F1 platforms and we had 3.7 million race attendees through the first half of the season with ten sellout crowds,” said Stefano Domenicali, Formula 1 President and CEO. “F1 Academy is off to a strong start in its first season running all events alongside F1 race weekends. Together with the Sprint and FIA F2 and F3, it is adding to the exciting on-track action and bringing added value to our fans, promoters and sponsors."


Because the Grand Prix in China and Imola went ahead this year and not in 2024, two extra races were run in the second quarter of the year. This also accounts for the higher numbers, as more income from media rights and sponsorships are coming in.

 

Maybe not, but it just makes it that much more tempting to sell on the up.

 

If F1 becomes a hot potato, Liberty could probably try to offload it .
Most of the practices of Formula One Management started way before Liberty was involved, under Ecclestone.
A Congress enquiry digging too deep and revealing secret transactions to force Liberty to accept Andretti could wreck F1 totally.

 

And if the process was not followed exactly to the letter--Liberty could be fined and have their product tariffed to death.

Monopolistic practices are frowned upon over here.

Definitely not good for Liberty, maybe not so good for *.gov either.

Under monopolistic law--this is an open and shut case::
Was Andretti prevented from joining the competition ??
Was Andretti capable of joining the competition ??
Did Andretti have <access to> the funds to make a go of it ??

It is a business--businesses have to avoid monopolistic practices.

Andretti is being harmed by not being allowed to vast vast sums of money in a failing endeavour !

<<Not that I am for or against Andretti in particular; but the arguments being presented fail.