A new year is here: bleary eyes from the end-of-year celebrations have been met by cold January mornings, and this writer has been trying his best to make predictions for the coming 12 months.
It remains to be seen how accurate this year’s crystal ball will be, especially after predicting that IndyCar’s docuseries last season may be a misstep. As it turned out, 50 per cent of the three million people that tuned into the ‘100 Days to Indy’ series had never watched an IndyCar race before.
This year, I’m focusing on how evolving media rights strategies will impact fans, why this season will be make or break for Formula One’s relationship with the International Automobile Federation (FIA), and the quiet success story that will be MotoGP.
Fans will find out just how important they are
At a time when fan engagement is so crucial for sports properties, it is interesting to see the direction many motorsport series are taking in this space. Right now, fans don’t appear to be the priority for some series as every last penny is chased.
The new media rights deals agreed by Nascar and Formula E are evidence of this. The former has pursued fragmentation to an extent that Nascar fans will need to navigate five broadcasters and up to ten different platforms from 2025. Overall viewership is sure to be impacted.
It’s a different situation for Formula E, though. While Nascar has haemorrhaged domestic viewers since the turn of the century, the all-electric championship has struggled to build momentum with its audience in the UK. But the loyal fanbase it has managed to curate, however small, will now need a TNT Sports subscription to watch the series. I can see the effect on its following in the UK being substantial.
🏡 The new home of Formula E in the UK and Ireland!
— Formula E (@FIAFormulaE) December 7, 2023
We're delighted to announce that all 17 races in Season 10 will air LIVE on @tntsports ⚡️
The cautionary tale for a series moving behind a paywall, specifically via TNT Sports, is MotoGP. But the two-wheel championship is now setting the standard for reengaging with its fans. I believe that, next year, Formula One may finally take notice of the work being done in MotoGP, especially with former National Basketball Association (NBA) exec Daniel Rossomondo pulling the strings.
This may become even more important for Formula One if this upcoming season is as stagnant as 2023. More dominance by Red Bull could see fans become more detached, with the longest season in history only set to fuel more fatigue if there’s little-to-no competition. Formula One is too much of a behemoth to feel the effects at the moment, but its popularity will swing if this continues for much longer.
It’s make or break for F1 and the FIA
This prediction may already be true to an extent, with relations between Formula One and the FIA approaching their lowest point in recent memory. But I can only see tensions heightening throughout the season.
The fallout from Andretti’s proposed entry to the sport in 2025 – unwanted by Formula One but approved by the FIA – will rumble on throughout the season. This is likely to spawn additional disagreements as politics behind the scenes bleed over into the sport itself.
This has been seen previously when FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem overstepped by commenting on Formula One’s commercial interests in a series of tweets related to the reported interest from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) in purchasing the series.
Stefano Domenicali and Mohammed Ben Sulayem are bound to have more run-ins throughout the 2024 season
We are now a year removed from this incident and the relationship not only remains strained, but it has further deteriorated. The backdrop of the Andretti entry bid has added further friction, of course, but signs of impulsive, careless decision-making has done the most damage recently.
The decision to investigate Toto and Susie Wolff for a conflict of interest, in a sport riddled with conflicts of interests, made the FIA look rather amateur. This was also not a good look for a sport claiming to do all it can to increase female participation.
This was closely followed by the resignation of Deborah Mayer, the head of the FIA’s commission for women. Then, amid reports of the governing body being resistant to change, sporting director Steve Nielsen stepped down after less than a year in the job.
In 2024, expect to see many a team principal express their disapproval around certain developments, especially in the build-up to Formula One’s final decision on the commercial benefits of the Andretti entry.
The FIA set strict entry criteria and, after thorough due diligence, we are pleased to approve @AndrettiGlobal who met all the selection requirements.
— Mohammed Ben Sulayem (@Ben_Sulayem) October 3, 2023
👉https://t.co/TPscNzQEwv pic.twitter.com/mXv7ArOIVY
MotoGP will lead the way in innovation
Quietly pulling together an excellent product is MotoGP. This will only continue in 2024, especially with the addition of Trackhouse Racing to the series. As previously mentioned, former NBA exec Rossomondo has his sights set on the US since joining the series, and this will start to come to fruition this year.
As Formula One squabbles over the positives and negatives of adding a US-based team, its motorcycling counterpart has secured one of the country’s most innovative and forward-thinking teams with little fuss.
Co-owned by American singer-songwriter Pitbull, Trackhouse has a Nascar team making waves in the comparatively traditional stock car racing series. Its Project91 initiative has enabled drivers like Kimi Raikkonen and Shane van Gisbergen to compete in Nascar, highlighting its ability to appeal to multiple markets.
Through MotoGP, the growth opportunities are limitless. North America has largely remained an untapped market for the global motorcycling series, something that will surely change with the addition of Trackhouse Racing.
Rossomondo previously admitted to BlackBook Motorsport that the arddition of a US team “is one of the many things” MotoGP needs to do “to increase the visibility of the sport in the US”, which could be aided by the addition of a rumoured second race in the country.