Recently in the news it has become clear that the CVC is looking to sell Formula One by the end of the year. The Walt Disney Company seems to be one of the only companies interested in the purchase. Disney seems to be buying all sorts of franchises recently and definitely has the capital to take the deal. Currently the CVC owns a controlling percentage of Formula One; owning 35% of the sport. It has not yet been released how much of this percentage the CVC will be willing to sell, nor has a price been released. But will a Disney ownership improve the sport or bring it to its end?
Surely the sport should survive even if the Disney plans fail miserably. Many fans say that they have confidence that Disney will bring far more improvements to the sport than we have saw throughout the Bernie Ecclestone rule. Although Disney has brought great success to companies such as Marvel, which was purchased by Disney in 2009 after the company bankrupted, or the Star Wars franchise, which was purchased more recently in 2012. Nevertheless, the majority of the franchises that Disney owns lack the most important characteristic that Formula One has: Formula One is a sport.
Disney was originally created as a movie company, providing the world with lovable characters like Mickey Mouse; therefore this has most certainly been their niche. Running a sport is far different compared to the entertainment business. It is true that the company has been expanding their niche, but have still had little success in the sports industry. In 1993, Disney created an NHL hockey team called The Mighty Ducks – named after the film trilogy. This was one of Disney’s most well known and one their only attempts at entering the world of sports, but was unsuccessful. Under the ownership of Disney, the team received little success, only making it into the Stanley Cup Finals once – losing to the New Jersey Devils in game seven – in the team’s twelve seasons and not managing to qualify for a playoffs position in eight of them. The team was sold in 2006, won the Stanley Cup in the first season afterwards and have been able to finish in first in their conference for three of their eight seasons. If Disney were to purchase Formula One, would they be able to bring more success than when they owned a team in the NHL?
Disney has no lack of capital to invest to make Formula One better, but the wrong changes could potentially destroy it. Fans would really like to see the Formula One broadcasts moved to a free television service. When it was first televised, Formula One was broadcasted freely on BBC, but in the recent years it has disappeared from the public eye and moved to paid services like SkySports. With an ownership change, many fans will be looking forward to a broadcast change. As a North American fan, I will also be hoping for more Formula One broadcasts in the North American area. Disney – being an American company – may be willing to do this.
Disney also seems to be very social media friendly, which is something that Formula One has not been. As of right now, Formula One is a mystery to the social media world and does not run any official Facebook, Twitter or even Google+ accounts. In addition to that, all race footage in blocked because of copyrights on video services like YouTube, making it impossible for fans to check out things that they missed, share memorable Formula One moments – potentially increasing the fan base – or even just re-watch their favourite racing moments. The only race media that is freely available are the race edits that are created by the Formula One in-house production team. Sometimes, footage can be located on news services like BBC, however, these videos are blocked in any counties outside of Europe. As a Canadian fan, I can confirm that this can be quite annoying.
We’ve talked about the changes that could be made to improve the sport, but what about the mistakes that can be made to ruin it? Firstly, we could see changes to the rules and regulations to change the racing style. I don’t know about the rest of the Formula One fans, but I think that the 2014 season has provided better racing than the 2013 season and would like to see these rules stay the same for the 2015 season. Secondly, since Disney is an American company, they could Americanize the sport. If this occurs, then Formula One could see more American tracks, drivers and constructors; potentially turning into another series like IndyCar or NASCAR. Taking away from the international aspect of Formula One, would be taking away from one of the elements that has drawn hundreds of millions of fans into the sport. Although this process would take a while and would most likely happen gradually over the course of multiple seasons, it is a possibility for sure.
Finally, the thing that has been filling social media, no racing fans want to see Mickey Mouse. You’ve seen the pictures: Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck inside of the 2014 cars, racing. I am certain this is only a joke and this will never happen, but if it does, the end will come to this wonderful sport.
Now to answer my original question: will a Disney ownership improve the sport or bring it to its end?
I would have to say that it is very tough to say so early on. Not knowing how much control Disney will have or any of the plans that they wish of accomplish, I can only guess. I think that it would be quite interesting to see a company like Disney enter the sport, whether it is Disney or someone else. In my opinion, Disney is not yet ready to run the sport. To be ready they would need to have some experience and success in the sport industry. The best way to make a Disney ownership work would be for them to purchase just a very small percentage and then work their way up from there. The only thing that gives me confidence in Disney, is that they care about their fans more than Formula One does.
