Just_a_fan wrote:Bernie is happy to take money from countries that should be spending it on their own people. Instead they spend it on vanity projects like a Formula 1 race. The only beneficiaries are Bernie and his rich mates.
As a fan of F1 it's great to think the sport will revisit historic race countries like Argentina. But the knowledge that the money would be better spent in a country with financial problems brings a sour taste.
IMO it's not Bernie who is
taking the money - it's ultimately those states that are giving Bernie the money. And it doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing mind you. If we take Singapore for example; it's a great example of a city that has re-invented itself over the past 20 years. And the publicity it gained by staging a F1 race has probably helped to propel and communicate that image to the rest of the world quite successfully of which that state then profits from an increase of tourism etc.
This is perhaps also an incentive for many arabic states or other venues of poorer countries; By staging a F1 race, they are promoting their country through a global event watched and followed by millions. Yes, the grand stands might be rather empty (which is upsetting for genuine F1 fans), but the benefit is not limited to the people partaking in such an event, it's also by the promotion through television and news media. How much this results in tourism is hard to gauge, but it's why these countries have an interest in holding (and subsequently paying Bernie a lot of money) a F1 race in the first place: PR, viewership, promotion etc.
The same could be said over who holds other grand events like the Olympic games, the FIFA world cup etc.
Sadly, the countries who fail to capitalize on using such an event to promote their country or city will be left behind. I've been to both the 2010 Australian GP in Melbourne, and the 2011 GP in Spa. They are night and day. Melbourne really makes it a big event - lots of attractions, lots of things to do - the entire weekend is just one entire big party attracting thousands (if not hundreds of thousand) of people, not just those who go to the actual event. Spa, is well - like going to an outdoor kart event. It's in the middle of no-where (relatively speaking) and the experience is as raw as it can get (weather included) and its sure only to attract the most hardcore motorsport fans. While it would be a pitty to lose Spa as it is surely one of the most epic race tracks - it is a venue that is struggling to keep up paying to stage the event and if you look closely at what they are doing to promote it (that being zilch), you can see easily see why. Arguably, the same holds true for Hockenheim/Nürburgring and many other struggling race tracks. It's just the way it is sadly.
If these events want to stick on the calendar, they need to do something. Either simply pay up to stage and host an expensive event without reward as they have been doing, or they need to find ways to promote the event either to attract more people to the event itself and/or to further promote the event and the country/city by raising awareness through television etc. Those that do this will profit in the long run, those that won't, well.. either they suck it up as they have been, or they will most likely disappear eventually.
