When Liberty Media bought Formula 1 for $8B in January, it acquired a global audience of 400 million -- but "just five corporate deals of the kind that enrich other sports around the world," according to Tariq Panja of BLOOMBERG. NASCAR, by comparison, has 43. Much of that is "down to the way it was run, almost single-handedly," by "longtime" former CEO Bernie Ecclestone. F1 Managing Dir, Commercial Operations Sean Bratches said, "There was no head of sponsorship at Formula 1 when I arrived, there was no head of media, no marketing people, no research people." He "reeled off a list of other unfilled roles" before comparing the lack of sponsors "unfavorably" with those "lured" by top English football clubs. Bratches: "We sit here today and we have five sponsors. Liverpool has over 30. Manchester United has over 90. I don’t think we’re going to get over 90, but there’s an opportunity to engage sponsors who are looking to activate their brands." He said that F1 "could take cues" from ManU, which "parlayed its massive global supporter base into a formidable sponsorship model broken down by region and product category." First, though, he said that the series must "focus on growing its online presence." Bratches: "We might be the only company on the planet that doesn’t generate revenue on digital" (BLOOMBERG, 7/18).
