Ecclestone Out
Huge news in the racing world dropped earlier this week. After almost four decades at the helm of Formula One, Bernie Ecclestone has been replaced as CEO. Liberty Media, which has completed its $8 billion takeover, have named Chase Carey, vice chairman of 21st Century Fox, to replace the 86-year-old. Ecclestone has been given an honorary role as chairman emeritus and will serve as an adviser to the new board.
Liberty Media has “major plans” in place to grow the series around the world, and Casey told the BBC "Bernie is a one-man team. It was not right in today's world. The decision-making is not as effective as it needs to be. Clearly it has to be improved." One proposed change, in an effort to help the teams, Liberty has given them an opportunity to buy equity in the sport. Teams have rejected the initial offer, but according to BBC, talks are ongoing.
"We initially made a proposal that had too short a timeframe and we have found a way to have discussion that can have an appropriate level of exchange.
"Out of discussions of equity will be discussions of where do we want the sport to be. There is a great deal of interest in the equity but first and foremost it is about trying to create more of an alignment with the teams about the future of the business."
He added Liberty would look at the prize-money structure, which many inside the sport believe is too skewed in favour of the leading teams.
"We'd like owning a team to be good business, running a track to be good business and F1 is a good business, and together we are all figuring out how to share in making the whole business stronger," Carey said. "But dealing with revenue is complicated."
You can read more about the changes here.
NASCAR Changes Rules … AGAIN
Last year, rumors of an impending “Chase Format” coming to Monster Energy Supercross in 2017 dominated much of the conversation. At the time, while I thought it was a good idea (I still do), in the back of my mind I was always concerned that it was a slippery slope, and we’d end up like NASCAR, which can’t seem to stop tripping over their own feet. Earlier this week, NASCAR announced ANOTHER change to the format, and this one is more confusing than the last. I’m not going to try and explain the new rules, because it’s a waste of space, and I don’t really understand them. NASCAR released a video, which may or may not help you, and they’ve set up a FAQ page.
Everything you need to know about NASCAR's new format. pic.twitter.com/ATkJ6dwizn
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) January 23, 2017
Black Flag has a really good piece on it all. Here is a snippet.
The most basic problem here is that if you tried to explain the new format to someone who hadn’t watched NASCAR before—forget about the rules on the race track, on pit road, in the garage and everywhere else, which, like many sports, are overwhelming enough on their own—they’d stare at you, mouth agape, wondering why anyone would try to understand this.
Confusion is not the key to success, in sports or most other aspects of life. Take a look back at NASCAR’s disastrous All-Star Race format from 2016, during which neither the fans, the drivers nor anyone else really knew what was going on or what to do next. That isn’t how things should be.
Read the entire thing here.
Marquez Rips Up a Ski Slope
Last week, we gave you a little preview of MotoGP Champion Marc Marquez shredding Austria’s Kitzbuhel Alps on his Repsol Honda RC213V, and said that rumors of a full film from Red Bull may be dropping soon. It dropped the next day. For real.
Marquez told Red Bull: “It was really difficult to keep the bike under control, but I’m young and it’s good fun to try some crazy things! We enjoyed it and we could see after a few runs everything that was possible.”
Haaker Preps for Snow BikeCross
On Friday, Snow BikeCross will debut at X Games Aspen. The field, which consists of 16 riders, features a mix of FMX stars, enduro riders, and even motocrossers. X Games veterans Jackson Strong, Ronnie Renner, and Ronnie Faisst are competing, along with former amateur motocrosser turned free rider Axell Hodges. Colton Haaker, the 2016 FIM SuperEnduro and 2016 AMA EnduroCross champion, will also take on the challenge, and is documenting it with his new media company, Plaeco. The California-born Haaker said the transition was tough, as he’s only seen snow “three times in the last 10 years.” Check out episode one of “Pioneering the Comfort Zone” below.
HD Snowbike
I’ve seen plenty of snow bike builds like the one above, which have become very popular recently thanks to companies like Timbersled offering an easy conversion kit. But, I’ve never seen someone slap a kit on a Harley-Davidson, until now.
Snowmobile Jump
Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god….
He made it.
2017 MotoGP Odds
Last week, many of the MotoGP teams held their “team launches” introducing new bikes, new riders, and more to the assembled media. While the 2017 season is still two-months away, with the opener in Qatar set for March 25, there is still plenty to talk about with upcoming tests, etc. (Also, Dorna and the FIM confirmed the 2017 calendar earlier this week.) In the U.K., you can place bets on the MotoGP season and two of the largest gambling companies have released their odds for this season. Revzilla has the entire list, but you can view a few below.
Rider | Ladbrokes | William Hill |
Marc Márquez | 13/8 | 6/4 |
Maverick Viñales | 9/4 | 23/10 |
Jorge Lorenzo | 7/2 | 9/2 |
Valentino Rossi | 5 | 9/2 |
Dani Pedrosa | 16 | 14 |
Andrea Dovizioso | 16 | 16 |
Andrea Iannone | 33 | 25 |
Cal Crutchlow | 33 | 33 |
Yep, It’s Been Raining a Lot in California
Social Status
It’s always nice to see riders open up and show their personalities. Most in the pits are nice, humble, funny guys, but for one reason or another that doesn’t always come through. With that said, you’ll enjoy these posts from Jason Anderson, Martin Davalos, and Justin Bogle this week. Bravo, gents!
PGA, Twitter
Earlier this month, the PGA Tour announced they have chosen Twitter as the property’s exclusive global platform. Twitter beat out social media giant, Facebook, as both companies tested with the PGA Tour last summer. Per Sports Illustrated, Twitter will distribute “more than 70 hours of free live event and competition coverage during the rest of the 2016-17 season.”
“Streaming PGA Tour Live programming to Twitter’s global audience, as well as the millions of users who follow @PGATOUR and hundreds of PGA Tour player accounts, will provide new and innovative ways for sports fans to engage with our premium OTT offering,” Rick Anderson, chief media officer of the PGA Tour, said in a statement.
More from SI.
The new live-streaming partnership between Twitter and the PGA Tour, which will be available globally at the PGA Tour’s Twitter account and PGATourLive.twitter.com, begins at the CareerBuilder Challenge on Jan. 19 and will finish with the Tour Championship. Twitter’s live stream will include the first 60 to 90 minutes of PGA Tour Live’s over-the-top subscription window typically on Thursday and Friday mornings. Additionally, it will include interviews, driving range coverage, pre-game analysis and live competition from each day’s PGA Tour Live Marquee Groups.
Timelapse
This is a pretty cool timelapse of the MLB’s Miami Marlins baseball park being transformed into a race track for the ROC Miami (Race of Champions), which took place last weekend.