The promoter of the Mexican Grand Prix has denied that it is in support of the conclusions that came from the Formula One Promoters' Association (FOPA) meeting on Monday evening.
16 of the 21 race promoters voiced their discomfort with F1's commercial rights holder, Liberty Media. The points raised included F1's TV broadcast disappearing behind a paywall and the introduction of new venues at the expense of other races.
However, in a statement released by the promoters of the Mexican City race, it declared: "Following the statement made by the Formula One Promoters’ Association (FOPA), the Formula 1 Gran Premio de Mexico promoters want to express their sympathy with the promoters from other countries understanding that each country and race is different.
"In addition, the Mexican Grand Prix’s promoters welcome the ongoing collaboration and good relationships with the rest of the promoters. However, the Formula 1 Gran Premio de Mexico did not participate in said meeting and appreciate the work that the new owners of Formula 1 are doing to understand the promoters’ requirements and concerns, as well as those from the fans.
"The Mexican Grand Prix’s promoters recognise that the new administration of Formula 1 has listened and been sensitive to their concerns, with both parties working very closely together. As a result, they do not agree with what was released by the Formula One Promoters’ Association on their behalf. The Mexican promoters and Formula 1® continue the negotiations regarding the renewal of the Formula 1 Gran Premio de Mexico contract in private."
Mexico is one of five races on the 2019 calendar that doesn't have a contract in place beyond this year's event.
Replies (4)
Login to replycalle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Thats interesting. I've kinda heard similar tunes from Suzuka, but I wonder if they will tell a similar tale to the press.
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
Bernie already offered to help... to reconcile the different parts... because he doesn’t want to die and see “the sport I created go downhill.” I just hate the man so much. I homestly don’t understand this complaint about a paywall, Bernie did this long before Liberty came in.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Oh so do I, AJPP. So do I. In fact, I probably dislike him more than Viasat, because he actually agreed to such monopoly deals so he could earn more money now, f**k the longterm. To me, the end of the Ecclestone era lead us to airing rights monopolies to pay channels, to tracks getting charged so heavily they went broke, to overpriced tickets in the name of "glamour" and to some teams getting more money than others for arbitrary reasons, regardless of performance. The same thinking is giving us phones with low longevity, cars with low 3rd party repairability and possibly to another game industry crash.
LightIsRight
Posts: 113
"Mexico is one of five races on the 2019 calendar that doesn't have a contract in place beyond this year's event."
In short "We might agree but won't show it because we too busy sucking up to liberty in order to get a new and hopefully better deal"