Bernie Ecclestone to charge excessive fees from F1 teams if they refuse to sign Concorde Agreement
Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has said that in case the F1 teams do not sign the new Concorde Agreement, they would be charged “excessive entry fees” which would make it quite difficult for them to be a part of the sport.
Due to this warning, it seems that the situation would now become even more retaliating in a way as the teams initially asked for a share of 70 percent of the sport’s revenue pie since the current commercial contract is expected to expire in 2012.
Ferrari warned the organisers of the sport that the teams might opt for a breakaway series if their demands were not considered. However, Bernie’s recent statement has revealed that the Formula 1 Management does not care about the Concorde Agreement.
“I don't even care if we don't have a Concorde Agreement. What we might do is run the championship and ask the teams for money to enter,” said Bernie.
Currently, the teams are already paying entry fees to the International Automobile Federation (FIA) which is the governing body of the sport. Ecclestone on the other hand has stated that the teams should also pay fees to the commercial rights’ owners.
“If I want to enter a horse in the Derby, I pay a whacking great entry fee. If you are late with an entry in the Derby, you have to pay a chunk of money to enter the horse. If teams don't want an agreement, we will put more money in our bank,” said the CEO
of Formula 1 Management.
It is going to be interesting to see how the teams retaliate regarding this matter as almost all of the teams are quite serious about it and are hoping for better shares of the sport’s revenue.
This statement on the other hand is more like a U-turn due to which this whole discussion might be taken to another direction in the next couple of days.
Tags: