Within certain motorsports. Sponsorship is becoming more and more complicated. For example a world wide motor sport say like F1 needs to have a sponsor that would benefit from every race, from Australia, to the USA and then Europe to Asia. The reality is, not many companies in the world have that type of exposure to the whole globe. With the reduction of tobacco sponsorship F1 teams are now relying more on the backing of car manufacturers or a few global organisations to survive, last year seeing the proof of that when the last privately owned F1 team Minardi was bought out by Red Bull. The USA has a benefit in this arena in that the country is big enough to sustain large races through a full season, remaining in North America. Large corporations, say like "Home Depot ? can sponsor a car knowing that it will benefit from coverage in every race. This has meant that racing teams are racing teams sponsored by companies rather than owned by big companies. I believe there is a difference to the type of racing and decisions that would take place within the team. Team managers would make decisions not the corporate CEOs. BMW has now bought its own team Sauber. Not satisfied with providing engines it wants to be a stand-alone team, along with Toyota, Renault and Ferrari of course. What I couldn't originally understand is why there could not be multi sponsor ships. Where a car would display different sponsors depending on country, or even continent that the race was being held. The argument there of course is that the spectators of the races are worldwide and only a small proportion of the viewers are from the host country. There never seems to be this type of issue within Rallying, although it has to be said there is less money floating around in this sport and probably less expected from everyone. As spectators we all expect a lot these days, so cost cutting is pretty much restricted. We want the cars to be faster, more money; we want more glamour, more money, we the best drivers in the world, more money, etc. I don't know the answer but I do know that motor racing should be run by motor racing professionals and enthusiasts and not rich CEOs. |
