Opinion: How Bernie Ecclestone will take back control of Formula 1

Rumours of Formula One’s sale have emerged this week as Grand Prix promoters expressed their concern regarding Liberty Media and the state of the sport.

This came just a day after an unconfirmed report alleging that Liberty Media are ‘exploring scenarios that would decrease their stake,’ sparking rumours that the sport could once again be up for sale just three years after they acquired the sport in 2016. It is now looking more and more possible and the prospect of a certain Mr. Ecclestone returning is on the cards.

There has been a lot of rumbling going on over the last 12 months about the state of F1 and many promoters can’t make the numbers work anymore, and the public money that kept some western events going is rapidly starting to dry up. The line has been drawn and it is no longer profitable for them to run a Grand Prix.

The main reason why circuit promoters are getting annoyed is that Liberty Media has been offering favourable deals to new tracks while still trying to play hardball with the old tracks. A statement issued by the 16 members of the Formula One Promoters’ Association (FOPA), took aim at Liberty due to concerns the group has about the future direction of F1 and declining audiences caused by the move to pay TV.

Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Mexico, Singapore, Spain, UK and the USA are all being represented here. The statement from FOPA is hard to disagree with unfortunately but one major point must be said.

The broadcasting gripe is a bit of a false statement as the UK TV deal to have F1 live, exclusively on Sky until 2024 was done by Bernie Ecclestone at the start of 2016. Plus, in France it was agreed to bring F1 back to free-to-air with key races being broadcast live, whilst in America, rights switched from NBC to ESPN which has been a positive move with ESPN taking Sky’s coverage, with now no commercial brakes during the race.

Only in Mexico has Liberty moved F1 from free-to-air to behind the paywall.

Personally, I think Liberty Media have done a good job. They may not have achieved what they set out to do (yet) but they are doing a lot more that what CVC did for example. I would rather keep Liberty than see a company like CVC return who just did nothing and took an obscene amount of money out of the sport. Three years is not a long time so we should be giving Liberty a chance to shine and a chance to attract more young people to the sport.

Most sports are suffering at the moment and things are not going to change overnight.

But will Liberty get that chance? It is the first time that FOPA have done something like this so we must not take it lightly. Liberty paid (£3.44billion) for F1 which, looking back, was far too much and they now might be paying the price. Something is going on and it’s not just the FOPA statement, you have to step back and look at what is going on, on the track

The teams have too much power, which I believe Liberty underestimated and if we look at the racing perspective, those crucial 2021 regulations have STILL not been sorted out. I remember around this time last year when people were saying that 2018 would be a massive year as we would find out what the new regulations will be, 12 months later and are we actually any closer? It makes sense that the sport being sold is preventing any new regulation change.

The sport is not in a healthy spot and I think Liberty are slowly but surely realising that they paid far too much for a sport which is suffering from uncertainty, greed and power. Liberty may want out. Who would have thought that Ecclestone would have been forced to leave after 42 years in charge? Liberty Media came out of nowhere really but they may have to hand the keys back to Ecclestone.

Why would any organisation want to take over F1 right now? You wouldn’t. For Liberty, they may just say “enough is enough” and may have to accept a big loss and give the sport back to Ecclestone who will want to buy the sport back:

a) it will be sold back to him for much less than what Liberty brought it off him
b) Ecclestone ‘s ego will surely make him want to come back.

He knows what Liberty are going through, and it would be a massive slap in the face for them if they were to give the sport back to the person who they bought it off.

Most importantly the tracks will love to have him back. Remember the endless amount of times it looked like a track was going to disappear off the calendar but Ecclestone somehow negotiated his way to a deal which worked for him but also the track.

Last year Silverstone and Mexico were the top two best attended events, if they can’t make money then something is not right at all and the funding model needs to change immediately before those fans who have supported F1 lose their event so that Liberty can get bigger hosting fees from new venues.

If Liberty don’t listen to the tracks then perhaps it is simply time for the promoters and any sympathetic teams to just go their own way. 16 promoters are enough to host a series particularly seeing the circuits they represent. This is where Ecclestone could come into play again.

Ecclestone could be a short term solution to F1’s problems. At 88-years-old he isn’t exactly going to be around for long. He might put the sport in a better position before selling it onto a new investment group. Even a 50/50 stake could give new groups more confidence. Liberty drafting him in as a negotiator for them to put a new concord deal together would be a great idea and a real benefit to have someone with decades of experience to work together with the teams to put something in place.

With F1 going somewhat downhill and with a worrying amount of circuit promoters unhappy with the state of the sport, the door is slowly widening for Ecclestone to return.