Formula One chief executive Bernie Ecclestone has rejected the teams’ calls to be given more earnings from the sport’s marketing pool.
Ecclestone said in an interview with the German magazine auto, motor und sport that there was “no chance of them receiving 70 per cent. They should be happy with what they’ve got.”
The teams reportedly want their share of F1’s revenue to be increased from 50 per cent in any new Concorde Agreement, the commercial contract between the teams, motorsport federation FIA and Formula One’s owners CVC (Citicorp Venture Capital).
The current agreement expires at the end of 2012. Last week, Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo said the Formula One teams could consider setting up their own series from 2013.
He told CNN television the teams had three options. “We renew with (the commercial rights holders) CVC, or we theoretically — as the basketball teams did in the U.S. with great success — create our own company, like the NBA. Just to run the races, the TV rights and so (on)). And third, to find a different partner,” he said.
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp and the Italian investment holding company Exor are considering creating a consortium to take over the sport. Exor has a 30 per cent stake in Italian carmaker Fiat, the controlling shareholder of Ferrari.
But Ecclestone, who is CVC’s chief executive for the sport, said CVC had no plans to sell.
“They are happy with Formula One,” he said. “What they earn from it they use to run their other businesses. The future is good. Why should they sell?”
