Well, the news Allen brought has me mightily rattled.
Compared to NASCAR, the American following of Formula 1 is more or less at
cult status. Any cable channel relies on advertising money to turn a profit.
Take the number of F1 fans in America and multiply that by at least 20,000,
and there you have NASCAR's advertising base.
Not to mention a network like FOX could simply care less about constantly
renewing a license to broadcast Formula 1 in America. Too much trouble, not
enough viewers, not enough advertising bucks.
When F1 came to Indy last year, no one knew if anyone would care. Well, it
looked like the Brickyard was a sell out, with F1 fans mixing in with the
curious who had never seen these cars before. Also, much has been said that
the future of the sport in America is in danger because there are no American
drivers in the series. I don't argue that.
Still, the visibility of the sport is negligable. In my wife's hometown of
Lancaster, PA, she walked into a race shop with her sister, and asked the guy
at the counter if they had any Formula 1 merchandise. The guy looked at her
like she had three heads. As you guessed it, it was 100% NASCAR, and nothing
else.
But, Formula 1 is only a part of what Speedvision currently offers. Anyone
who watched the 24 hours of Le Mans enjoyed seeing MG's on the track, and it
was made quite clear there was an interest in bringing the MG's to the
American Le Man's race schedule. No matter what you feel about F1, CART, or
NASCAR, I am sure we can all agree that we would love to watch MG's race here
in America. The ALMS depends on Speedvision for coverage, and without it, it
will inevitably die. And that would be a loss to any fan of MG's.
Tom
///
/// mgs@autox.team.net mailing list
/// (If they are dupes, this trailer may also catch them.)
|