Normalising hydration breaks; how F1 finessed its hosting model

19:46David Cushnan:And then you get to the Liberty Media era from 2017. And this was around the time where Chloe Target Adams came in to run the race promotion. Another very balanced person, I would say. Indeed. And you saw a deal being done with Saudi Arabia. You saw eventually Miami come onto the calendar, a hugely strategically important race for Formula One and still is. Now under Louise, you have seen deals done with Portugal and Turkey. And I think it's worth pointing out that not all of these new races stand the test of time or run their course. Valencia dropped off the calendar. There were short-lived races at permanently built facilities in India and Korea that only ran for, I think, three or four years.

20:35David Cushnan:Turkey, as we talked about, Malaysia dropped off the calendar. Turkey is now back, both of those after longish stints. And there's also races that are agreed, but then never happen. You never get to the first race. And there were big plans and big announcement and i think even the proposed vietnam street race in hanoi which was basically ended as a result of covid and some local political difficulties i think that even appeared in the f1 official computer game so close it was to being becoming a reality i love that stuff

21:11James Emmett:yeah things that get published that never really happened there was also a big announcement in the

21:16David Cushnan:Bernie Ecclestone era in 2011 for, this is way before the Liberty area of a street race in New Jersey, which would obviously have Manhattan, the Manhattan skyline as a backdrop, which never quite happened as well. So they don't all work, but clearly there are some now very well established quote, new era races that are part of the F1 calendar. And as Louise talked about, and as you mentioned just then are now in their second or third contractual phase and some of them are

21:47James Emmett:signed up until you know the certainly the mid 2030s some creativity involved in the negotiations i'm sure in order to squeeze louise and her team manage 26 promoters contracted promoters as we've said it's a 24-ish season there are a couple of extras floating around there um and that is because at least a couple of the races have this alternating hosting annual alternation situation, which we may well see replicated. Luis not ruling that out, but currently it's Barcelona and Belgium, Spa and Catalonia that are alternating.

22:26David Cushnan:Yes. And you've also got this year the final Dutch Grand Prix at Zamvoort. That comes off the calendar after this year. They've sort of mutually agreed to end that race. Madrid, as we talked about, coming onto the calendar. And I think Louise was talking very optimistically and hopefully about progress on that circuit. If Emma, the local events and convention center and events organizer, who are F1's partners on that sort of hybrid race, that part permanent facility, part street circuit, very, very good transport links. You're relatively in the heart of a big European capital city, which is what F1 is striving for, I think, wherever possible.

23:09David Cushnan:And I think potentially, if they get that race right, there's a genuine opportunity to create a sort of a Miami-like corporate hospitality magnet in Europe. And I think part of that thinking is that Monaco, although it continues to be the, very much the jewel in the European crown, certainly of F1, is limited by space and size. And actually, F1 has seen what is possible in somewhere like Miami and to a certain extent in Vegas. But I think in Miami particularly, they have a big expanse of land, a stadium around which to build all sorts of hospitality facilities and opportunities for particularly the corporate market, but fans in general.

23:54David Cushnan:And I think there's a chance that if Madrid clicks, if Madrid works, that could become a real honeypot race, actually. Yeah.

24:02James Emmett:I don't think Formula One has ever been in a position that it's in now with the calendar so tied up for such a relatively long period of time. There are no spots on the calendar available until after the 2028 season. I can't remember a time where that was quite the case and for louise and her team that's such a very specific challenge of sort of remaining professionally flirtatious with uh with potential venue with potential hosts while also managing expectations and and again she seems to be doing a fantastic job there are i mean every couple of weeks i hear about um potential hosts in argentina for example she actually when the mics weren't on she told a very good story about that which i'll tell you after we've stopped recording as well.

24:48James Emmett:There's a few potentials, right?

24:49David Cushnan:Yes. And listening to the conversation and what I read into that was that Turkey has been signed up on a longish deal to come onto the calendar from next year. Portugal has signed a, and I think it was described as a stopgap deal. So 2027, 2028. And it sounded to me like that is while they sought out a new big race somewhere in the world, potentially for 2029. So I think that's what we're looking at here. And as you say, there are definitely some options and there's definitely been some reporting and some announcements within various markets about certainly bids for F1 races moving forward. There's definitely been talk in Thailand and Thailand's government has approved a bid at least, a bid said to be ultimately worth around$1.23 billion to host a street race in Bangkok, which was obviously particularly spectacular.

25:48David Cushnan:And Louise was talking about looking at other markets within Asia. There's also been some talk about a potential return to South Korea. The city of Incheon has been mentioned, and there's been some sort of feasibility study conducted about whether a street race would work in a market like that. Argentina as you said last hosted a Grand Prix in 1998 and then there's the question of Africa which is is the big gap on the calendar if you look continent by continent at the moment and there seems to be two potential options one is to return to South Africa for the first time since 1993 and there's definitely been some movement at government level there Gaten McKenzie the sports minister has been doing the rounds and trying to work up a package that would involve some kind of private funding allied to some public financing to bring a Grand Prix back to South Africa.

26:48David Cushnan:The Kailami circuit, which has been the traditional host of races in South Africa, is undergoing upgrades to bring it up to F1 standards. And then there's Rwanda, which has never hosted a Grand Prix before, but there are plans or at least a proposal for a permanent circuit to be built near the new international airport just outside Kigali, which is being built. And actually, and again, this might be putting two and two together and making 15, but Qatar Airways, a major partner of F1 and very, you know, and obviously Qatar hosts a Grand Prix, Qatar Airways has a 60 % stake in the airport project that's going on there.

27:32David Cushnan:Paul Kagame, the Rwandan president, famously an Arsenal fan, I think, and the man behind the Visit Rwanda Arsenal sponsorship, has been cited at a number of F1 races, now expired, of course, has been cited at a number of races. There are obviously some, I mean, shall we call them local difficulties, local challenges?

27:52James Emmett:I think it's fair to call them international challenges.

27:54David Cushnan:But there's certainly an ambition within Rwanda to promote itself and use sport as a vehicle to do so. Now, whether that ultimately becomes an F1 project, I think building a permanent circuit by 2029 feels ambitious. So if I was putting my money somewhere, I think it would be on either South Africa or Thailand as the next F1 location.

28:22James Emmett:I'm willing to take you up. I'm going with Argentina. Okay. In any case, if you haven't listened to that recording with Louise Young from this week, you really must do arguably the most enjoyable job in the sports industry. Certainly not without its challenges, but a good, fun role to sink your teeth into there. Shall we cruise around the industry and tell people what's been happening? Let's do just that. Okay. Liverpool Footy Club have hired Hannah Pym to the role of SVP of Marketing and Digital. She joins from beauty and nutrition retail outfit The Hut Group. Amy Taylor is the new CEO at Angel City.

29:04James Emmett:She's a former president and CMO of Red Bull North America. And Giovanni Carnevale has replaced Damien Camoli as CEO of Juventus. Camoli resigned from the position last week.

29:17David Cushnan:Former Jockey Club CEO Nevin Truesdale has resurfaced in cricket as the MD of Hampshire County Cricket Club. Real Madrid and Emirates have signed an eight-year extension to their front-of-shirt sponsorship deal. That one is reported to be worth€100 million a year. And the US Department of State has announced a partnership with the UFC to advance sports diplomacy initiatives and develop educational programming related to mixed martial arts. Dana White of the UFC signed the deal with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio last week in Washington DC.

29:55James Emmett:What a timely agreement that was. You sort of think this is giving people something to do ahead of the UFC Freedom 250.

30:03David Cushnan:We had a busy weekend Marco Rubio because he was one of the many celebrities slash figures of note who was at the US, the first US World Cup game in LA on whenever that was in this mind-bending time zone World Cup Friday night. But you are probably referring to UFC Freedom 250.

30:27James Emmett:UFC Freedom 250, yeah.

30:28David Cushnan:Took place on Sunday night in Washington DC. Well, not just in Washington DC, in the grounds of the White House. Yeah. I didn't watch it, but I've seen some clips

30:38James Emmett:and obviously knew it was happening. And the imagery coming out of this, whatever your political inclination it's phenomenal right it's a it's a fantastic setting for a sports event to have like watching a movie it was genuinely like watching sort of the kind of the kind of thing

30:57David Cushnan:that in a movie like independence or something like that yeah and absolutely extraordinary to

31:02James Emmett:see donald trump on his 80th birthday no less happy birthday mr president beaming away never seen such a grin on the guy alongside Dana White and the UFC big hitters. There is a list, I mean, you should check out SBJ, who are very good on this. There's a list of essentially the who's who who are at this event. I think it was an invitation only audience of just over 4 ,000, you know, who's who from politics and particular sort of politically leaning celebrity lineup. And I was actually chatting to adam kelly the img president not too long ago about this event he was very excited to be um fly to be on the invite list for this even though through tko he's effectively organizing and he was telling me the order in which they were going to line up to to chat to uh the president um or basically to try to take credit for the event from president he goes this is the order uh this is the pecking order right it goes dana white then he stands aside and then it goes aria manuel and he stands aside it's mark shapiro and then it's adam kelly who's uh who's that's good that's good that's good stuff yeah fantastic event it's somewhat fitting for the for the ufc and for tko this is a win win win win win um and it looks absolutely fantastic they spent a good deal of money on setting up this um this venue the the kind of temporary roof of uh above the octagon which was sort of nicknamed the claw i think it was 60 million dollars they spent installing this thing as i say it looked phenomenal it is sort of fitting isn't it for a trump presidency that cage fighting i mean mma is the sort of sport of choice the diplomatic tool of choice is you know beating the shit out of each other on uh you know not in front of a global audience.

32:56James Emmett:It's sort of the perfect match for a diplomatic policy there. Yeah, what a world. What a world. What a world.

33:05David Cushnan:And as we touched on last week, one of a number of events as part of the 250th anniversary of the United States, as it relates to sports, you've got, there's a lot of military stuff coming up. You've got NASCAR running a race on a naval base coming up soon. I think we mentioned last week, you've got IndyCar racing around the streets of Washington, DC coming up towards the end of the summer. So it's going to keep on coming. And of course, as we mentioned last week, the World Cup ongoing and playing through the 4th of July and well beyond. so no doubt we're going to see a little bit of that 250th anniversary hoopla who's playing on the fourth do you know it's got to be the us surely i don't think they would have been able to you say something else and i'll just have a look i don't think they would have been able to swing that i don't know let's have a look talk to us about hydration breaks or something david as i as i do some live research all right um well let's talk about hydration breaks because we are a few days into the World Cup.

34:16David Cushnan:The games are coming thick and fast now. First of all, it's a little bit of a mind-bending World Cup in terms of... Just a time, just a time, time zone challenge. It is interesting watching a number of people on certain parts of the internet discover time zones in real life and struggle with that concept. No, you can't have games taking place early afternoon UK time during this World Cup, at least. But the hydration breaks are a big talking point i think probably a little bit less so in the uk than in other parts of the world mainly because itv the commercial broadcaster here in the uk uh who share the coverage with uh the advert free bbc are choosing not to break into the uh coverage with adverts during the three minute hydration hydration breaks in each half in other parts of the world particularly in the us yeah

35:05James Emmett:Yeah, they are doing this.

35:06David Cushnan:Very much are taking every advertising dollar possible, having been given license to do so by FIFA as these breaks were brought in to, you know, ostensibly to make sure that players were watered and not struggling too much in the conditions. Gives Powerade a nice storytelling opportunity as well.

35:26James Emmett:It does. There was perhaps predictable, and obviously I've not watched the Fox coverage, But I listen to all sorts of podcasts, as I'm sure you do as well, David, around the World Cup. It's like what we're talking about with Rob Harris earlier, there's sort of predictable opprobrium over this. the English football journalists out in the US, if they're not at the games, consuming it on US TV, could not get their heads around the fact that Fox were coming in in the hydration break to play advertising. And I don't know whether you listen to the same one as me, but there was this guy who was furious that Fox was still playing adverts in the first game, the Mexico opener, when the play had resumed and the coverage, the live match coverage resumed a few seconds, 20 seconds into the game actually being restarted, which I think is perfectly normal in US sports, right?

36:26James Emmett:It happens all the time. They try to make sure that it doesn't, but it sometimes happens. So it's par for the course. But the fury on this sort of European sports correspondent.

36:35David Cushnan:Well, the fury in the way that manifests itself on Sunday, when a lot of the chatter online as the hydration break in the first half happened in the Germany-Curusau game, which I think was 1-1 at the time. And again, the fury as people were sort of suggesting, well, you know, Curusau were just getting on top of the game when the hydration break happened. You know, there may be an element of truth to that, but I mean, it did finish 7-1-2. Could have been so different. It could have been so different. I do think, though, that there is some merit to the consternation about this. And I think what we have to watch out for beyond this World Cup, where it's happening, it's not changing, regardless of weather conditions, regardless of whether it's indoor or outdoors, these hydration breaks will happen during every game.

37:21David Cushnan:And we will get used to them, which is actually possibly the dangerous thing here for anybody who is railing against them as a concept. And I think we have to watch out for how do the hydration breaks creep into football more generally over the next few years. And I think you could see a situation very easily where FIFA turn around and, you know, again, for player welfare reasons, ostensibly introduce them for the Women's World Cup next year. and you think about the relationship, the new relationship in North America between FIFA and Netflix, who have an ad tier and a growing advertising business that they would quite like to maximize, I am sure.

38:06David Cushnan:You look and think maybe about what relevant football partners might be thinking about, not this immediate phase, but maybe the next phase of Champions League media rights and what that might look like and how they can provide more value to their broadcast partners and more of a compelling proposition. And again, that would be something that would be hugely controversial and debated and discussed, but I don't think it's now we've seen it in action. And now, presumably at some point over the next few weeks, there's going to be a proof point of monetary value ascribed to what advertising was sold in these slots, it is going to become, I think, very hard for the football world to avoid this creeping into other aspects.

38:59James Emmett:But in truth, I mean, people involved in the advertising spending or the ad buying world in sports know that football may well be, soccer may well be the most popular sport in the world by some distance, but it is massively undervalued versus most of the, all the major American sports. And that is simply because the advertising opportunity within it is really so minimal. People want to come and watch the live game. You probably get the bump, the bumper before the sort of ad break immediately before kickoff is valuable. Probably the ad break immediately into halftime. And that's it. The rest of it, you know, there is no reason for people to be there and to continue watching.

39:40James Emmett:So finding a way to insert an advertising opportunity within the, well, not within the fabric of the game, but within a period of time where people want to be watching and will come back and continue to watch is hugely valuable.

39:55David Cushnan:And there will be people in these organisations who are already starting to make the calculation about whether anybody truly really would not watch or switch off, let's say, the Champions League final in 2028 or 2029, if there were hydration breaks, three-minute hydration breaks included in each heart.

40:18James Emmett:And it has to be said that while FIFA is doing this, has done this, has introduced a hydration break, and the dam is broken there, they have also taken some measures to try to speed up the pace of play and to keep the game flowing in, you know, when the ball is in, keep the ball in play. And it's interesting what, I don't know whether you've noticed this, one of the new rules, lots of new rules that have come in for this World Cup. One of them is a time limit on how long a throw in, how long you can take to take a throw in. I can't remember. The five second rule. Five second rule. And have you seen how people are already getting around this?

40:52David Cushnan:Is this by not picking the ball up?

40:54James Emmett:Don't pick the ball up. You do your gesticulating and your time wasting without the ball in your hands and you can legitimately claim that you're not taking

41:01David Cushnan:the throw in but i think stuff like that is great in any sport it's just people finding little loopholes or the bits the gray areas of of the rule book and you know for a bit maximizing it before you know there's a little clarification somewhere i'm sure now um nothing gray area about

41:16James Emmett:this this is um simply black and white david because um i've got to go now we're at time well that's it that's it thanks very much for your participation in this podcast i will see you next week. Cheerio.