F1 vs NASCAR | Land of Liberty | 3
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What changes are happening in Formula One's management?
Audible subscribers can listen to all episodes of Business Wars ad-free right now. Join Audible today by downloading the Audible app. It's March 2017 in Melbourne, Australia, and the final preparations are underway for the opening race of the Formula One season. The buzz of a busy garage floats through the open windows of a sleek hospitality suite. Outside, mechanics in silver uniforms move around a Mercedes Formula One car with military precision. Inside, two men sit across from each other at a small table, the tone quieter but just as intense. A few months ago, U.S. entertainment giant Liberty Media bought Formula One for more than $4 billion. Now, it wants to usher in a new era for the sport. Sean Bratches is the Liberty executive charged with making it happen.
but he can't do it alone. He needs the race teams to buy in as well. Today, he's here to sell his vision to one of Formula One's most powerful figures, the famously competitive Mercedes team principal, Toto Wolff. Bratches leans forward. The product on track is phenomenal, but the fan experience? We think it can be bigger. Wolff's expression tightens. How? How? Bracha's gestures towards the garage outside. Well, for starters, fans never see this. The paddock, the garages, why not let people experience it? Absolutely not. Well, that's a clear answer. You see that car? Every millimeter of it is intellectual property. If rival engineers enter our garage, they can photograph it, copy something, steal our ideas.
We cannot allow that. Okay, fair concern, but what if fans don't roam the paddock? What if they're guided through? Guided? Yeah, maybe in golf carts. Golf carts? Yeah. Fans ride through the paddock, a quick loop, no stopping, no wandering into restricted areas. We'll keep them moving the whole time, maybe a few carts linked together, like a little train. Sean, you're describing something that belongs on a Hollywood studio lot. Come on, is that a bad thing? Of course it is. This is the pinnacle of motorsport, the greatest competition in the world, not entertainment. Outside, the mechanics step back as the Mercedes fires up. Ratchas glances out the window, then back at Wolf. And he smiles, because the Mercedes boss is dead serious.
But he's also completely wrong. Formula One has always been more than a sport. It's a high-tech, high-speed spectacle that oozes drama. For decades, most of that drama has stayed hidden behind closed doors. But Liberty Media is out to change that. They want to bring Formula One into the modern entertainment era. But not everyone in the sport is ready for the show.
I'm Leon Neifak.
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In the last episode, NASCAR and Formula One were both facing identity crises as the 20th century gave way to the 21st. Backed by banks and private investors, Formula One's supremo Bernie Eccleston transformed the sport into a global big-money spectacle. He struck lucrative TV and sponsorship deals and brought races to wealthy new markets across the Middle East and Asia. But Liberty Media has since taken control. It's already forced Eccleston out. Now, it's ready to launch a fresh push into the previously indifferent US market. And NASCAR is watching all of this with growing unease. For decades, it dominated American motorsport. But its owners, the France family, are facing a twin threat. Formula One's new ambitions and an aging fan base at home.
For years, the two championships coexisted. NASCAR ruled the U.S., Formula One, the rest of the world. But that balance is starting to shift. And now, they're on a collision course. This is Episode 3, Land of Liberty. By the late 2010s, NASCAR finds itself in increasingly uncomfortable territory. Its television ratings are sliding, track attendance is shrinking, and the sports leadership is struggling to answer a difficult question.
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