MOTOR RACING

F1 owners cool to NASCAR possibility

Ken Willis
ken.willis@news-jrnl.com
Formula One races before a worldwide audience, through 21 different countries and five continents. [AP FILE]

The new owners of Formula One racing are playing down any possibility of an interest in NASCAR.

“We both race cars. I’m not sure beyond that there’s a lot that would really make it a natural fit for us,” Chase Carey said in an Atlanta Journal-Constitution report Thursday.

Carey manages the European-based F1 for Liberty Media, which completed its purchase of the worldwide racing organization in early 2017. Liberty also owns the Atlanta Braves. Carey’s comments came from a quarterly conference call with Wall Street analysts.

“NASCAR is a fairly different franchise for us,” he said. “You look at the fan base — the regionalization of it in the U.S. is not really even a broad-based U.S. sport. It would certainly give us scale in the U.S., and we could use that scale to build, but I think there probably are more differences than similarities.”

Liberty paid a reported $4.4 billion for F1, according to Forbes. It has started operating that organization during a time when F1, like NASCAR, is trying to regain lost marketing momentum. F1 carries a 21-race schedule spread across 21 different countries on five continents — 11 races are in Europe, one in the U.S. (Austin, Texas), though talks have started in hopes of including a Miami event.

Greg Maffei, CEO of Colorado-based Liberty Media, also downplayed the possibility, according to the AJC.

“I think it’s not as clear what the synergies are between the two assets, and I would note the trends have not been perfect in NASCAR,” Maffei said on the conference call. “Unless we had a good thesis on how and why we could fix them, it’s not obvious to us.”

Reports earlier this week have NASCAR working with investment firm Goldman Sachs regarding a search for a potential buyer of the Daytona Beach-based stock-car organization. NASCAR officials have offered no comments on the report, but haven’t denied it.

Liberty is a large international media empire, which has led to speculation that a mega-media giant might be a potential buyer. While that may be true, it appears Liberty isn’t looking to expand its racing portfolio.

“Our priority is really making Formula One everything it can be,” Carey said.

A lot of money has been spent on sports franchises in recent years.

You can’t necessarily compare NASCAR to an individual sports franchise, but you’ll get a sense of what’s being spent with this list of the top five prices paid for teams this century (source: assorted wire services).

Big money players

1. Los Angeles Clippers

League: NBA

Buyer: Steve Ballmer

Price: $2 billion in 2014

2. Los Angeles Dodgers

League: MLB

Buyer: Guggenheim Partners

Price: $2 billion in 2012

3. Manchester United

League: English Premier League soccer

Buyer: Malcolm Glazer

Price: $1.47 billion in 2005

4. Miami Dolphins

League: NFL

Buyer: Stephen Ross

Price: $1.1 billion in 2008

5. Cleveland Browns

League: NFL

Buyer: Jimmy Haslam

Price: $1.05 billion in 2012

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