On the nosey! I think the FIA is about as corrupt as the IOC.... if not more.... so I'm in no doubt votes were bought.
In the early-mid 90's I was working a deal that would have been in Saudi... so you have to have or had at the time a Saudi Trading partner sponsor... who got 50% of your profits, for basically being Saudi. anyway - we would usually meet in Paris or London. mostly Paris. They would be dressed in jeans, jackets - all Couture labels... drinking Johnny Walker Black and Blue at the time.... then when we had to finally go to Riyad, they were in Thobes, and full-on Arabic dress and it was mint tea, and lemon or Rose water..... in Paris they were rip-snorting drunk every night, in Riyad early rise early to bed.... and bored out of their minds..... once at La Tour d'Argent the manager asked them to leave because they were so drunk and loud.... did I mention the girls too? and not their wives.... their favorite place was the Crazy horse cabaret... I have no idea why!
It´s not the same a building (that supposedly are built to last so you don´t want the owner of the land to make you demolish it in 5 years) that some TV rights. The Mosley-Ecclestone collusion was only understandable in such a corrupt business as motorsport.
There's actually a concealed painting of a decaying Bernie deep in the basement of a creepy manor house in continental Europe. All the best, Andrew.
I meant he got the rights for 100 years from the year he made the deal. Actually it´s an overstatement, I think his deal was for 15 or 20 years or something like that. Anyway, too much time: someone like Bernie can do a lot of harm in a decade. Why commit for so long?
I think the deal is that FOM gets the Commercial rights to Formula One as the operator of the championship for 99 years. perhaps we are 10 - 20 years into that deal. This goes back to CVC capital etc, that is how they were able to leverage the deal to get an institutional investor. the money is in the TV revenue and exclusive rights to the name. The FIA can not sanction a competing championship nor can FOM ( Liberty now ) defunct the championship in favor of its own without a major penalty. However as we have seen you can monetize it and sell the business under the FOM / FIA deal. as the commercial rights holder. FOM has to deliver x races, x teams and X annual revenue to the FIA - which pays exorbitant salaries - and puts up road signs across Europe for safety.....
Bernie was only a part owner in Formula One Management. FOM was owned by Ecclestone, Bambino trust, and also a smaller portion by individual teams - legacy folks like the Stanley's, Mosley, Briatore, and several other ( unsavory ) players. I believe those have all been bought out - payed out since the mid 2010's. Bambino was Ecclestone's x wife and daughter's trust... so he's kind of involved - kind of not. now that it was all sold to Liberty he's 100% out. However, I think there are a number of lawsuits out there from Ecclestone's bribing and payment of political campaign donations that all came about to allow this deal - or resulting from the deal. It is a mess...
The problem, here, is that you used the word "owned" in the past tense rather than the present tense "owns". If Bernie owned F1 rights for 100 years and today is 2023, then Bernie obtained the rights in 1923. However, if Bernie owns the rights for 100 years, and acquired them in (say) 1980, Bernie still has ownership rights until 2080. See how tenses work in English ?
Grammar nazis so early in the morning? I´m not in the mood, but thankfully someone else did the job for me.
FIA leader not going anywhere. Liberty has a new season to worry about. He cannot be replaced by Liberty.
The F1 rights were sold for 99 or 100 years, and passed to different owners since, AFAIK. - Bernie Ecclestone originally and his family trust - CVC but still managed by Bernie - Liberty Media. After 100 years, the rights should revert to the FIA. That's how a concession works. Thus, Liberty still has only 60 years left to operate F1. The value of the concession will decline when it will approach its end. No wonder they make hay whilst the sun shines and extract as much as they can during that period.
were it me, I'd drive the value down the closer I get to renewal, to force a cheaper rights renewal term....
huh? he Got the Rights in an option from the FIA in the mid 90s - so that Bernie owned them is correct? he would have owned them until approx. 2094 ish.... since Bernie no longer owns them- and sold the option and rights to Liberty its now Liberty who owns them to 2094....
We don't even know if the FIA, or Liberty will still be around in 60 years' time, or if F1 will still exist !
Not sure I disagree with Sulayem on some of his points. F1 is still something that originates from the FIA and is part of their system. They maybe should not be conceding everything to FOM no matter how the Bernie/Max show operated. He may have a legitimate concern that a sale by Liberty at a massive price would be the equivalent of a leveraged takeover where the debt load is so high that normal business decisions can't be done because the #1 priority is feeding the debt payment. That could be very bad for F1 as they have since Bernie's original sale, squeeze out so much money that it is hard for a race promoter to make a profit without government support. I am also agreeing with Sulayem that F1 should allow more teams. More available seats for drivers would be good for the sport. The insane proposition that the existing teams should even have a say in if and who is an entrant is just wrong. The piranhas don't want anything that won't directly and immediately help them; protecting their self-interest is their only concern. The current Concorde Agreement allows for more teams with a $200 mil fee; don't invent new requirements.
From what I know - the FIA after the sale was / is basically a vendor who happens to own the rights to Formula One... and they happen to help sanction races. they have traded their authority for $$$ under M. Todt. a sale to the Saudi's would likely simply rearrange the debt... The revenue now vs. when the deal was down is at least double or triple. debt load is not a problem for F1. Liberty like Bernie is a promoter as well... and likely will have to continue to do so. However, they have found a way to monetize social media and streaming... so there will be more of that to come. the races will be shorter and shorter to fit viewing habits. ( my opinion) The teams are obligated to show up, provide two cars, and attend all races - per the concord agreement. the carving up of the money is what is at stake... and that was not handled well. you are correct its F-1's to run but the teams have a franchise now and can say and block on a whim. that is the Ferrari clause for all... F1 has always been about money - from the very beginning in 1950... it was just spent in different ways back then.
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/fia-president-ben-sulayem-steps-back-from-day-to-day-f1-operations/10429522/ FIA president Ben Sulayem steps back from day-to-day F1 operations The FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem has stepped back from the day-to-day running of Formula 1 ahead of the new season. By:Luke Smith Feb 8, 2023, 12:59 PM Ben Sulayem was elected the president of F1’s governing body in December 2021, and quickly outlined a plan to restructure the FIA’s F1 operations. This included an overhaul of race control, sparked by the controversial end to the 2021 season in Abu Dhabi, as well as changes to the senior FIA management such as appointing a CEO for the first time. As part of this process, Ben Sulayem informed teams in a letter on Monday that he would be stepping back from hands-on involvement in F1, leaving the day-to-day handling of operations with FIA single seater director Nikolas Tombazis.
