Nick Fry foresees tense battle over Concorde Agreement renewal due in 2013 – Formula 1 news
Chief of Mercedes Nick Fry said that he is expecting a tense battle over the next Concorde Agreement between the teams, Formula One Management (FOM) and International Automobile Federation (FIA).
Fry said, “This is going to be a real bunfight. You're dealing with a large number of intensely competitive people, who, at the end of the day, want to do the best for their teams. But I think the thing that is overriding is that we've got to do the best
for Formula One. We will find a solution, I'm sure.”
The Concorde agreement is going to be up for renewal in 2013 and all the stakeholders would be looking to gain more financially. The Concorde agreement gives 50% of the revenue share to the teams through prize winnings and Formula 1 income. The rest goes
to FOM and CVC Capital Partners.
The teams are gunning for a whopping 70 to 75% of revenues in the new Concorde agreement, although FOM boss Bernie Ecclestone has rubbished such claims and said that there is no chance they will be getting that much and they should be happy with what they
have.
The Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) tried to threaten to start their own independent series earlier, to change the terms of the Concorde agreement before, and although an independent series never came to existence, but the teams built a strong case
and were able to increase the revenue percentage from 47% to the current 50%.
History could repeat itself, but from 50 to 70 is a huge difference and does not seem a realistic figure, but it shows the intent is to increase the percentage as much as they can squeeze out of FOM.
The revenue is almost coming to a saturated point as TV rights are already globalised, sponsorships are also at their peak and ticket sales revenue generation cannot increase significant enough during a season unless the teams are willing to entertain more
than 20 Grands Prix in a season.
According to the Concorde agreement, the maximum number of races in a season is 20 and if FOM wants to increase the number of races, the teams will have to show their intent.
Already some teams have expressed their issues over the congested schedule of the current season with 19 Grands Prix. The season originally comprised of 20 races but the Bahrain GP was cancelled due to political unrest in the country earlier in 2011.
It will be interesting to see how the terms and conditions unfold for the 2013 agreement.
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