The McLaren Formula 1 team has not won a race since '12, and after "suffering ongoing engine problems" with its partner Honda, it does not "look like it will any time soon," according to Kate Magee of CAMPAIGN LIVE. McLaren Exec Dir and Motorsport Network Chair Zak Brown has taken the "unusual move" of allowing driver Fernando Alonso to skip the Monaco Grand Prix to compete at the Indianapolis 500. Brown will "need to use all his commercial nous to find a new title sponsor" for the company for the '18 season -- something the team has "lacked since Vodafone's contract expired" in '13. In '15, the top 10 F1 teams "only raised" $750M in sponsorship revenue, down from $950M three years before. Brown believes Liberty Media will "be a good thing for the sport." He said, "We’ve got strong times ahead of us. The previous owners were financial owners with a short time horizon who were not invested in the sport. They weren’t bad guys but after 10 years of no investment, it is exciting to have a media and sports expert with a long-range view." He also rejected the idea that the shift to pay-TV is a "problem." Brown: "Sport now is consumed so many different ways. As long as the reduction of TV audience is replaced with a good spike in consumption in other media, it's not a loss of audience, it's a shift to other forms." Liberty Media identified expansion in the U.S. as a "key goal." Brown thinks U.S. companies "overlook the sport" because F1 is seen as European. He said, "Global companies that are based in North America miss out because they have a bit of a U.S. view, because that’s what’s in front of them. There are a lot more global U.S.-based companies that could probably be in Formula 1, but it doesn’t have enough presence. ... What the U.S. needs is a second race. ... I don't think we'll see it in 2018, but perhaps in 2019." In particular, he identified the tech companies as "great potential partners" for F1. Brown also encouraged "more collaboration" between those involved with NASCAR and other American sports and those in F1 (CAMPAIGN LIVE, 5/15).
