F1's top three teams are reportedly not on board with plans made by Liberty Media to change how merchandise is sold at grands prix. Until now, teams have sold from individual stalls, but Liberty Media is now adopting an approach pioneered but then abandoned by Nascar in which merchandise is all sold under one single 'tent' roof.
"We have done extensive research and all the race promoters support the plan," Liberty Media's F1 commercial boss Sean Bratches is quoted by Turun Sanomat newspaper. However, the Finnish publication says Mercedes and Red Bull, but crucially also F1's most famous team Ferrari, are not happy with the plan.
"Throughout history, Ferrari has sold more merchandise than any other team and they have no trouble finding the red of what they are looking for," a unnamed source said. "If the fans are impatient, they will not go to a big hall where they have to go a long way to find where they want. I believe we will lose revenue with this new structure." (GMM)
Changing monetary distribution to teams so that the smaller teams get more cash and the already wealthy teams doesnt get as ridiculously big sums isnt a change? Moving to social media, gaining presence and marketing, isnt a change? Allowing representatives of all of the teams into the Strategy Group isnt a change? Yeah, aint nothing has been changed...
I agree with the previous responses that this is not a big deal, but nobody suggested it was. I am glad to see Liberty looking at all aspects of the business, and for this conversations to be happening. True, the biggest problem is the cars, the hybrid engines, the aero etc... but there is a lot of room to grow. Bernie was an awful steward of the sport for the last couple of decades.
He was once good for F1, but the last decade he seemed more keen on milking the sport of every penny rather than actually making something good out of it.
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calle.itw
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It just seems like an unnecessary change. There are other, more important things that needs refining, go check those first.