Football teams start own racing championship

[f1.gpupdate.net]

(It's in Dutch, as soon as I find an English version, I'll post it)

That's a real nice idea! I just hope we won't get the hooligans with it!

These are the teams that have entered/want to enter:

FC Barcelona, Valencia, Real Madrid, Inter, Olympique Lyon, Olympique Marseille, Borussia Dortmund, Schalke 04, Galatasaray, Anderlecht, Boca Juniors, Flamengo, Club America (Mexico), Shanghai Shenua (China) en Samsung Bluewings (Zuid-Korea), PSV, AC Milan, FC Porto and Olympiakos Piraeus

Its the pheonix rising from the ashes of 'Premier1 Grand Prix'. It will fail aswell.

There only market research was to ask football season ticket holders if they would like to see a racing series with football clubs.

Now come on, your asking a demographic of people, who will pay ludicrous amounts of money to watch a simple game like football twice a week, for thier opinion?? i wouldnt wipe my arse on that market research because it already stinks!

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"A new motor racing series combining fast cars and football could bring in extra millions for clubs like AC Milan and Barcelona if it kicks off as planned next year.

'Superleague Formula' organisers went public with their plans on Monday, proposing an initial six race season from August 2008 with some 20 single-seater cars competing in the colours of leading football clubs.

They aim to expand eventually to a maximum of 17 races, mostly in Europe and at circuits familiar to followers of Formula One and MotoGP.

Four clubs - European giants AC Milan, Porto, PSV Eindhoven and Greece's Olympiacos - have signed up already to a project that offers them revenue through licensing agreements, sponsorship and TV rights.

"An average top club could raise between 14 to 18 million euros ($A29.53 million) in the five years of the contract that we are aiming for," Spanish sports marketing specialist Alex Andreu, who has developed the idea with Briton Robin Webb, told Reuters.

Superleague said others currently in talks included Barcelona, Real Madrid, Valencia, Inter Milan, Argentina's Boca Juniors, Brazil's Flamengo, Mexico's America, South Korea's Suwon Bluewings and China's Shanghai Shenhua.

Manchester United and other British clubs have been approached.

Turkey's Galatasaray, Germany's Schalke and Borussia Dortmund, Gothenburg of Sweden, Belgium's Anderlecht, France's Marseille and Lyon are also on the list of candidates along with Lokomotiv Moscow.

"We think that by combining these two large sports we could become a real potential big event in the years to come," added Andreu.

"What motor racing brings is obvious; it's technology, cars, noise, glamour. What football brings is the heart, the passion and the emotions."

The idea is to appeal to a younger, crossover audience who can support their clubs in a different way.

There is still some way to go before the idea becomes reality, however.

Webb was also a leading light in a similar project, Premier1, which made plans for a debut in 2002 but failed to get to the starting grid. He said that Superleague Formula should not be seen in the same light.

"This is a new product," he told Reuters.

"They (Premier1) perhaps didn't understand the base that had to be built, but we have. I think that's fundamentally the difference between why this is going to be successful and that didn't get off the starting blocks.

"In terms of sophistication and reality, this is a different league."

Andreu and Webb said their main partners were Spanish businessmen, including the son of former International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Juan Antonio Samaranch, and the Havas Media group.

They expect to make a loss initially, with a profit forecast from year three.

They plan to use 750bhp Elan/Panoz cars built by Elan Motorsport technologies in the United States and with 4.2 litre V12 engines provided by Menard and made at the former Arrows Formula One factory at Leafield in England.

All cars will be identical and there will be two races per event weekend, with the grid for the second reversed from the first to liven up the action.

Organisers say the overall prize purse will be 1 million euros ($A1.64 million) per weekend and there will also be plenty of off-track entertainment.

"We want to attract families, young people and a female audience, too, and for that you need to have lots of different activities at the circuit," said Andreu.

"We will have an open paddock for all fans, the rear of the garages will be open for viewing by spectators and our teams and drivers will be very focused on providing access to the paying public."

Was'nt this spoken about before? i remember reading something about this a few years back, obviously it never materialised.

i expect it to die a short painless death.




LS's Tip of the week
ESSENTIAL OILS aren't essential unless you're an engine, a gearbox or a twat

It's going to fail dismally (if it even gets off the ground), but I do like the sound of a Panoz with a 4.2 litre V12 :D

Just don't make it like the champcar... make it like a champcar of the late 90's.

I know someone on the inside that knows a lot about this, more than 4 teams have signed up already, and they have a tv coverage deal on the table, with some reasonably recognisable names floating around, cant really say much more cos he uses this site and he'll have a whinge, i'm scepticle about it's success but I wouldnt write it off, it's not the same as that premier racing league thing that was spouting about a couple of years ago.

"Racing is LIFE. Anything before or after is just waiting"
Steve McQueen.

Premier1 had a couple of teams signed up and did presentations of cars decked out in club colours. I remember Leeds were signed up and seeing their car, and I think Benfica?

bazza_racer Wrote:
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> but I wouldnt write it off, it's not the same as that
> premier racing league thing that was spouting about
> a couple of years ago.

We'll come back in 2009, perhaps 2010, and see where things are, but if I'm brutally honest, I can only see this going in same direction as ASCAR. If it lives at all, it's just waiting to die again.

I'm all for new formulae, especially if they sound as good as a 4.2 litre V12 should, but worshipping the God of football isn't the way to go about making business. Football is one sport, motor racing is another. Motor racing bowing to football is never going to work out financially.

Not exactly comparable, but I'll put it this way. If Bernie was involved in this, in any capacity, would it get off the ground in the way proposed? Not a hope in hell. It's bound to failure from the outset. 2009 is my conservative estimate, but as I said, I doubt there'll be even the 1 race.

Premier! basically became A1GP

Reading the article, it's very strikingly not intended to be a racing series. It's a publicity cash cow to bring revenue to football teams. I highly doubt there would be any actual "racing", more like demo runs with scripted battles and preset results, just to provide a good spectacle.

I think it's a horrible idea. I certainly wouldn't expect F1 teams to try setting up a football league, because they're racing teams and know jack about football. Exactly same argument works in reverse.

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Panoz are struggling to keep up demand on the {anoz DP01 Champ Car chassis with only 24 built for this weekends race, and now they talk of this?

Wont happen.

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mm so teams who know nothing about motorsport are going to try run a whole multi million ££ series =/

it will fail.

its like that guy who bought Midland, the chelsea/arsnal guy idk!! how long did he last ? and he wrecked the team!

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"Trulli was slowing down like he wanted to have a picnic" LOL

The problem isn't so much the people running the series, it's the lack of popularity of open-wheel series not called Formula 1.

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Judging by the Champ car race at Vegas, the DP01 is still not good enough to be used in 1 series, nevermind 2.

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Will Power (worst name in motorpsort, just ahead of Scott Speed) had a win I see?

Well yeah but the first 2 or 3 cars were there because they were uneffected by the stupid problems the DP01 had.

The air doesnt vent out of the fuel tank correctly when refueling, making it difficult to get fuel in, and impossible to know how much is in until afterwards when you measure whats left in the rig. So most cars had to make at least 1 extra stop.

The starter motor which was a major feature and a primary reason Panoz got this deal, doesnt work. Mainly because it isnt in the car because it doesnt fit...

The gearbox problems still arent solved, where it randomly loses all drive, or gets stuck in gear.

The electrical problems arent solved, and the paddle shift (part of the electrical problems) randomly stops working.

Couple with this Bridgestine bringing the wrong tyres to the race, it was a bit of a shabby event.

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Holy crap!

Shocked & amazed they (Panoz) could botch it so badly!

edit - wrong manufacturer :p

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"Trulli was slowing down like he wanted to have a picnic" LOL



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/12/2007 01:19PM by chet.

This idea will suck so bad.