16/06/2010
NEWS STORY
Yet more proof that Bernie Ecclestone is the only man who knows how to broker deals in F1 comes from a report that Allsport Management, the company in charge of the sport's hospitality and trackside advertising, has written to teams threatening to clampdown on them displaying signage of their own sponsors in the pit garages.
Allsport reportedly pointed out in the letter that it owns the space in the garages and it is understood that this is a negotiating tactic against those teams who are pushing for better terms from the sport's tyre deal. Nick Clarry, a suit from CVC, which majority owns F1's commercial rightsholder, is the president of Allsport and Ecclestone is not on the board of the company. As Pitpass' business editor Chris Sylt says, it shows.
The top 10 teams receive 50% of the underlying profits from all revenue sources controlled by F1's rightsholder including advertising at the circuits. The teams' current sponsors are not likely to be paying a premium for exposure in the garages which rarely appear on TV. However, if Allsport sold the space to one company it could bundle it with race access privileges, charge a tidy fee for it and the teams would ultimately get a 50% share in the profits.
In a nutshell this doesn't look like the negotiating ploy which Allsport reportedly thinks it is and accordingly it doesn't have the handiwork of a certain 79 year-old billionaire about it.