As was the case with Mark Twain, reports of Bernie Ecclestone’s (F1) death were greatly exaggerated.
All to do with Liberty Media’s much-trumpeted acquisition of the sport’s commercial rights. Matters certainly moved quickly. From Bernie not even lasting as long as the next race in Singapore – as suggested in Monza by the quintessential ‘source close to Bernie’ Eddie Jordan – whisperings on the wind then had it that he might be around only until the year’s end. In the event of the deal he’s hanging on indefinitely.
But it is not it appears quite the Vicar of Bray-style survival for him. The smart money remains on Bernie being not long for F1’s earth. That this represents the beginning of his final act on the F1 stage. Some reckon it’ll be next year once Liberty completes its control of the F1 board that Bernie will finally be ushered towards the exit.
And you know what? It’s no bad thing. F1 really should have been planning for a post-Bernie world long ago, as there has for a while been little to recommend his continuation.
F1 really should have been planning for a post-Bernie world long ago, as there has for a while been little to recommend his continuation
It makes sense to keep him on for the short term, to smooth the transition. That Bernie is even now so central to things the risks of suddenly removing him wholesale are obvious. Flux, bewilderment, perhaps even power struggles. “Bernie’s still Bernie and they’re frightened [of] ‘what will they do without him?’, as he solves problems” said Joe Saward to this end a few months ago in Canada. In recent days Maurice Hamilton added that “without his authority in his motorhome in the paddock, a lot of things wouldn’t happen”.
And of course Bernie’s contribution as key architect in making F1 is self-evident, going right back to him building it from the foundations of it being a ramshackle and amateur pursuit. Toto Wolff was correct to state in Monza when it was all kicking off that “Bernie’s done an awesome job for 50 years and has made F1 what it is.
“He has built an empire. We are all benefiting from that empire that generates dozens and dozens of millions of live views, full tracks like at Monza, 1.5billion [dollars] in profits every year.”
There have been plenty in and around F1 who have said similar, yet it might not always be what it appears on the surface. A good indicator was the most recent Martin Brundle’s regular Sky F1 online columns which looked at Bernie’s ways. As ever from Brundle it’s an illuminating insight, and intended seemingly as a favourable one. But as Richard Williams said in response it revealed something else too, perhaps unintentionally. “The subtext is how everyone, including the author, abases himself before Mr E…” Williams noted.
Everyone abases himself before Mr E… – Richard Williams
Indeed the relationship often seems a little more of the school bully and cowed class mates than anything else. It seems an odd way of running a $1.5bn industry.
We can but speculate as to why this persists; why it is put up with and even defended. Whether it’s fear of reprisals from doing otherwise, the F1 equivalent of the Stockholm Syndrome or, perhaps, as some US President of yore is supposed to have concluded of some repressive foreign dictator they were backing, “he may be a son of a bitch, but he’s our son of a bitch”. Perhaps it’s as simple as force of habit.
But to go back to our central premise of thinking of an F1 world beyond Bernie, the first point to make is that if nothing else he’s 85, and age is not to be defied, not even by him. Harsh? Yes, but this is a harsh business. Bernie’s lived by such a maxim more readily than just about anyone, and you’ll indeed struggle to find anyone in the paddock in an active role who is kept on out of sentimentality or heed of long past glories. And one can imagine also that it doesn’t speak favourably to those minded to invest in F1 long term to see one in charge – and apparently untouchably so – of that vintage.
Yet the case goes way beyond that base fact. We can cite specifics too. Scratch beneath the deference and habit described and really Bernie’s case for retention is meagre. Think of all the excitement around Liberty’s arrival; the things that it is said it will focus on, most of them being much to our relief. It reads pretty much as a rap sheet of Bernie’s F1. Little wonder perhaps that the body language between him and the new chairman Chase Carey was awkward.
Here are some bullet points from Liberty’s slide deck outlining the deal and its plans:
– Increase promotion and marketing of F1 as a sport and brand
– Enhance distribution of content, especially in digital
– Establish broader range of commercial partners, including sponsorship
– Evolve race calendar
– Leverage Liberty’s expertise in live events and digital monetization
Think of all the excitement around Liberty’s arrival; the things that it is said it will focus on, most of them being much to our relief. It reads pretty much as a rap sheet of Bernie’s F1
The ‘evolve race calendar’ point is likely loaded, as is to some extent ‘increase promotion and marketing’. We all know the way the F1 calendar has gone in the last decade or so – all ‘new markets’, each waving a vast hosting fee cheque – which became the core of the sport’s financial model – inspired as they are by some sort of national branding and promotion. Many of the governing regimes doing the waving are at best questionable and, judging by the numbers in attendance, local F1 enthusiasm can often be described in similar terms. Word is Liberty is to move away from this, that instead of relying on such quick bucks it wishes to grow the sport, its fanbase and numbers through the gates organically, as well as to invest and to promote the races properly.
One can point at previous owners CVC as making the sport highly minded of the bottom line, that it takes a lot of money out and that Bernie with all his ubiquity was in effect merely an employee of them, and one would be right (though it was Bernie’s manoeuvrings with the sport’s commercial rights that got them into CVC’s hands in the first place). But equally it only accelerated something Bernie was doing anyway. We can go all the way back to 1985 to find the classic Zandvoort circuit’s final F1 appearance (ironic that only now with the Max factor are we talking about bringing a Dutch race back), to be replaced by the Hungaroring which arguably was the first ever such event as described above (though that’s not to be down on the Hungary round specifically which has become a successful and popular event). The first round that really fitted the template was Malaysia’s which debuted in 1999, still some seven years before CVC arrived.
Meanwhile the sport’s core support, mainly in Europe, had its back turned on it rather. And this is something Liberty apparently wants to readdress. “We have great respect for the European foundations of Formula 1”, said Carey shortly after the deal. “Europe is critically important to us, and we will build on that.”
Had the shifts described been genuine and long-term efforts to expand the sport among new audiences then great, but that at best was a distant secondary consideration. Instead it was a matter of parachuting in, churning the event out almost dispassionately, grabbing the vast hosting fee, then departing. There was little effort to promote the race or the sport, or to put local roots down, such as by demonstration runs in nearby cities, appearances on chat shows and the like.
Had the shifts described been genuine and long-term efforts to expand the sport among new audiences then great, but that at best was a distant secondary consideration
And some of the new races did have massive potential for F1, potential that was almost entirely untapped. It remains of considerable regret to me that the sport departed India so rapidly, presumably on the over-riding grounds that its hosting fees didn’t add up. It is a vast country which mainly is sports mad, the IPL confirms that there are a few highly moneyed individuals in it willing to invest in sport, while chatting F1 on social media reveals quickly that there are plenty of knowledgeable and passionate Indian F1 fans already. Heck, this one wasn’t even the usual top-down imposition by a Government with its own priorities, rather it was a labour of love from genuine motorsport enthusiasts. The rewards to the sport there remain considerable, but were dashed out of wrong-headedness.
Even the Korean race falls into something like the same category. Yes of course it was dismissed as a joke when F1 departed (and for some good reasons), but it also was a populous and wealthy country – and one with a famous car industry. Its potential was there and the sport did little to seize it.
But at the broadest level too Bernie also appears a man out of time. In addition to the race hosting fees mentioned much of his financial model is based on selling a one-size-fits-all TV package to various broadcasters. As an excellent article by James Allen, which had consulted various experts, explained though most sports these days seek to tailor their content to fit the various different audiences that are out there, as well as offer considerable content between events. F1 does almost none of either.
Bernie also appears a man out of time…much of his financial model is based on selling a one-size-fits-all TV package to various broadcasters
Pressure on the TV buck has meant also an increasing disappearance of coverage behind pay walls with its implications for the size of the audience; the sport’s (in)ability to attract young people has reached rather frightening levels.
And of course the way we consume is changing rapidly. Bernie is one who self-admittedly doesn’t get the new age of the internet, seeing it mainly as something he cannot make money out of. “No. We’re commercial…If they find people to pay us [to do that] then I will be happy” he said of it a few years back. “I’m not interested in tweeting, Facebook or whatever this nonsense is,” he added a couple of years ago. In fairness F1 has started more recently to move into this area but still it feels almost literally a day late and a dollar short.
And while many successful sports offer extensive digital content – season passes, streaming on mobile devices and the like – F1 despite its vast potential remains on the starting grid.
“Give it all the credit for what’s been built, [but] there’s an opportunity to take F1 to another level,” said Carey, “[there is an] untapped digital market [that] F1 has only scratched the surface on.”
Give it all the credit for what’s been built, [but] there’s an opportunity to take F1 to another level…[there is an] untapped digital market [that] F1 has only scratched the surface on – Chase Carey
Even Bernie’s much-vaunted TV deals aren’t quite what they’re cracked up to be. I recall reading three years ago that F1’s TV money intake was roughly the same as that got by Turkish football’s top division. Rather remarkable considering we’re told constantly about F1’s global reach, only bettered by the World Cup and Olympics supposedly, and F1 of course has the conspicuous advantage over even them of taking place 20-odd times each and every year. Turkish football meanwhile to my knowledge isn’t watched much outside of Turkey.
Little wonder that the consensus around as Liberty takes the reins is that F1 is something considerable, but it could be much more so.
We can add many of the sport’s other most conspicuous problems – the financial skew among the teams and sport’s complex and dysfunctional governance structure. Both of these have Bernie’s fingerprints all over them too. It’s not clear if Liberty can solve either of these quickly, though perhaps it can with the latter if it establishes a good relationship with the FIA. In the former the obvious problem is that the likes of Ferrari and Red Bull are unlikely to welcome cuts to their lavish settlements, and even Liberty will have to protect its profit margin.
We can add also the damaged goods element. The stench of the Gerhard Gribkowsky case lingers around Bernie’s presence, particularly given its highly unsatisfactory conclusion. As do his public comments on women, homosexuality, Putin, Hitler. Again in most such instances you hear the odd ‘tsk, Bernie, what is he like?’ sort of defence. But really all it does is embarrass the sport, as well as likely puts off sponsors and other potential investors.
And for all that Bernie and his achievements are revered, flip the question around and ask what you woudl say if you were running a sport and he came in anew suggesting you let him do all of this stuff. You’d likely lose little time telling him where to get to.
It is, in truth, a pattern that has been repeated over and over. The trailblazers go in and create a colony, the entrepreneurs give it dynamic growth and then the administrators are required. There is no room after that for the buccaneers – Joe Saward
But even ignoring everything said so far Bernie’s departure makes sense at the macro level too. The age of the ‘rogue’ – of which Bernie it can be said is one – generally has now passed and has been replaced by corporate squeaky-cleanliness and transparency. But also, as Saward further noted, this also is in absolute keeping with the point of its life cycle that F1 appears at anyway. Mavericks build something up, then the more sober sort consolidate. This is the point F1 has reached, indeed probably reached a while ago.
“It is, in truth, a pattern that has been repeated over and over” said Saward a few years back. “The trailblazers go in and create a colony, the entrepreneurs give it dynamic growth and then the administrators are required. There is no room after that for the buccaneers. A calmer future beckons.
“If other sports can make corporate management work, there is no reason why F1 cannot….Transparency is good. More sensible financial structures are essential and a new age can then begin.”
As George Harrison – himself a big F1 fan – once noted, all things must pass. Even the longest and most glittering reigns have to come to an end. Yet in Bernie’s case amid the cacophony of questions asked as to why should he go, we’ve neglected to ask the obvious one of why should he stay?
