The future of Formula 1 is increasingly heading westward, with Liberty Media also conquering the United States. Only a few years ago, the US had only one event on the calendar, the one in Texas at Circuit of the Americas (COTA). However, since last year, the city stage of Miami has also arrived, and this season, just one year later, the Las Vegas Grand Prix will also make its debut.
As reported in today’s edition of the Italian daily newspaper La Gazzetta Dello Sport, many people see this opening towards the United States as just the classic “American thing”, also because of the many recent modifications aimed at increasing the show, such as Sprint Races or the glamour celebrations that we have seen more and more often, even during this weekend at the Florida circuit.
Formula 1: the boom in America
“I’m not interested in the young audience who have no money to spend. I prefer seventy-year-olds with plenty of money,” said Bernie Ecclestone when he was still in charge of Formula 1. However, in 2016, Formula 1 was desperately looking for liquidity and when Greg Maffei and Chase Carey offered $8 billion, everyone thought they were crazy, but the two of them already had in mind the future of the category with young people and the USA.
With their entry, television rights also passed from NBC to ESP, or Disney, for a sum around $5 million. In addition, the big project of the series produced by Netflix Drive to Survive started, which brought many young people closer to the events through streaming episodes and also gave a lot of visibility to the sport in the United States, recording an audience increase of 39%.
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As known, Lewis Hamilton is also contributing to the production of a film about this sport starring Hollywood actor Brad Pitt. Meanwhile, Daniel Ricciardo is financing another series with Hulu (also Disney), and Keanu Reeves is working on a documentary, once again with the famous mouse animation studio. The championship rights are currently worth between $75 million and $90 million per season, and Formula 1 has reached a value of $17 billion, more than double compared to just six years ago.
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