|
|
Post by ChrisM on Mar 8, 2020 13:33:16 GMT
Autosport is currently reporting that the Bahrain GP will go ahead in 2020 but with no spectators due to containment actions for Coronavirus. Not sure if the press and sponsors' guests will be permitted, or who will present the trophies but it's a First for F1
|
|
|
|
Post by Sav on Mar 8, 2020 17:28:09 GMT
MR E never cared much about spectator attendance, TV viewership is what he cared about. We're going to literally put that to the test!
|
|
|
|
Post by Big Blue on Mar 9, 2020 14:17:45 GMT
 Me and Bernie last week, discussing live TV sport actually. F1 did more for live sport than anything else: it proved that people were willing to watch a whole season of a live sporting event and that this was financially viable in an era pre-pay TV in Europe. No other sport tried this until F1 had paved the way. As to Bahrain: I watched MotoGP yesterday with only Moto2 and 3 racing. Looked like a testing session. I reckon the Bahrain GP will be a better watch on Twitter than SKY. |
|
|
|
Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on Mar 9, 2020 15:37:19 GMT
^ see the poisoned dwarf brought his own box to stand on.
Surely they could just CGI in a crowd like they did in the race scenes of Star Wars? Or the Coliseum scenes in Gladiator?
In fact they could charge you to upload your image and they would fit you into the crowd scenes so during the race you could try and spot yourself. It would make it more interesting to watch.
|
|
|
|
Post by Ben on Mar 9, 2020 16:02:20 GMT
There was some talk a while back about simply forgoing this season as most teams are ramping up development for the new regs in 2021. So maybe, why not just cancel this season? Just a thought.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2020 16:15:21 GMT
The money people are already dropping kittens so losing a whole season might just drop a number of them out of the game. Investment goes on even without races.
|
|
|
|
Post by Big Blue on Mar 9, 2020 16:36:05 GMT
^ see the poisoned dwarf brought his own box to stand on. Surely they could just CGI in a crowd like they did in the race scenes of Star Wars? Or the Coliseum scenes in Gladiator? In fact they could charge you to upload your image and they would fit you into the crowd scenes so during the race you could try and spot yourself. It would make it more interesting to watch. Your talent is wasted drilling for oil off Scunthorpe.... |
|
|
|
Post by johnc on Mar 9, 2020 16:44:32 GMT
Bernie looks as though he has fallen asleep!
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2020 19:11:45 GMT
.
|
|
|
|
Post by Sav on Mar 10, 2020 22:14:06 GMT
It must have been quite something to meet Bernie.
Unintentionally, Bernie has done a heck of a lot for motor racing. Before going to Bahrain, no international series was racing in the Middle East. Look at the championships that have raced in the region since 2004, it probably wouldn’t have happened without Bernie and Bahrain. Whether one thinks that it’s right or wrong misses the point. Even closer to home, Bernie negotiated with the KGB to host the Hungarian GP, it happened behind the Iron Curtain. Back then, people probably thought he was crazy. Today, nobody thinks the Hungaroring is crazy. His desire to go to new markets has been of benefit of other championships.
TV with FOM was massively improved under Bernie’s directorship. He realised early on that television was the way to grow the sport, it had to look good and the races needed consistent start times for that growth to happen. I still watch the pictures we see today and feel grateful for the coverage we have.
Sure, Bernie’s tenure wasn’t all positive. The global market he tried to create wasn’t going to last, in pitching one host country against another to get a bigger host fee. Malaysia was the first country to pull out, and countries like Britain and Italy couldn’t keep up. That put him at loggerheads with the sport’s traditional fanbase. Bernie would claim he was paid to do a job, to get maximum return for CVC. But it was Bernie who created that situation.
I think part of the problem were the woeful journalists who interviewed him. They asked questions that deserved the answers that Bernie gave. Proper journalists like Alan Henry knew exactly what to ask someone like Bernie, and exactly what not to ask if the interview were to go anywhere!
|
|
|
|
Post by Big Blue on Mar 11, 2020 13:32:10 GMT
Amusing story from a guy I met a few days after the dinner. He'd been in front of a parliamentary committee with Bernie and Bernie was asked, as a matter of protocol, his name.
Bernie: "You know my name."
Chair: "For the record and in line with process, please state your name."
Bernie: "You know who I am."
Chair: "Please tell us your name."
Bernie: [leans over to run finger along his nameplate on the table in front of him] "Mr. Bernard Ecclestone."
Chair: "So tell us, Mr Ecclestone. How much does Formula One take from the tobacco industry each year?"
Bernie: "I have no idea. Quite a bit."
Chair: "Well you must have some idea. You manage the commercial aspects of the sport."
Bernie: "I can't get involved in the minutiae. Nothing would get done."
Chair: "An estimate, perhaps?"
Bernie: "Well I'd estimate roughly the same amount of money that the EU pays to the European tobacco growers to make sure it maintains the industry against non-EU suppliers."
Bernie remained unruffled throughout.
|
|
