Liberty Media to sell F1?
Discussion
The premise is a little flawed. I accept that they can't replicate the growth over the last 9 years, in the next 9 years... But there can still be some growth (China, and continued adoption by US viewers). If they sell it, there is no more growth from their perspective. They would get a huge lump of cash, but Liberty exist to own and add value to sports series - and with that lump of cash there's nothing else they could buy (that I can think of..??) that has a greater scope for further expansion and revenue generation than F1.
The premise suggested, is a little like owning a cash cow that makes you £1bn in the first year, £2bn in the second, £3bn in the third... but after that it only increases it's revenue by £0.5bn a year. It's slowed down but you wouldn't get rid of it would you?
Aside from what Liberty may wish to do and why, I think they've done a very good job with the sport as an asset. They solved the fear of teams leaving the sport very quickly by introducing the cost cap and making each team more valuable than some small countries. They have increased viewership and footprint. They've got F1TV up and running (really good now). There's been a lot of things I don't like that have happened in recent years, but I don't believe Liberty have been the driver of most of those changes. I believe they have wanted certain changes, but it seems that the FIA and the teams vote largely controlled the detail of how the changes have been implemented, which has caused problems. But not problems for Liberty, they've added about $20bn to the sports value in less than a decade. They've unquestionably exceeded their mission statement.
The premise suggested, is a little like owning a cash cow that makes you £1bn in the first year, £2bn in the second, £3bn in the third... but after that it only increases it's revenue by £0.5bn a year. It's slowed down but you wouldn't get rid of it would you?
Aside from what Liberty may wish to do and why, I think they've done a very good job with the sport as an asset. They solved the fear of teams leaving the sport very quickly by introducing the cost cap and making each team more valuable than some small countries. They have increased viewership and footprint. They've got F1TV up and running (really good now). There's been a lot of things I don't like that have happened in recent years, but I don't believe Liberty have been the driver of most of those changes. I believe they have wanted certain changes, but it seems that the FIA and the teams vote largely controlled the detail of how the changes have been implemented, which has caused problems. But not problems for Liberty, they've added about $20bn to the sports value in less than a decade. They've unquestionably exceeded their mission statement.
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