Liberty Media Floated the Idea of Buying IndyCar Alongside its F1 Acquisition
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According to some reports, Formula 1 owners Liberty Media toyed with the idea of buying American open-wheel series, IndyCar. Back in 2017, the mass media giant acquired the rights to F1, with Chase Carey replacing former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone.
Since then, the company has been hard at work, trying to modernise the sport and one idea is, “potentially expanding Formula 1 into other motorsports”.
Chief executive Greg Maffei told Forbes.“There are emerging sports that could be considered as well, starting with motorsports would be the most natural but that’s not to say there’s nothing else that could work.
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Where Would IndyCar Fit into the F1 Equation?
Recently, Liberty Media entered a bidding war with Penske Corporation, but the latter held firm and completed a takeover of the American series. In addition to the series, Penske also bought the rights to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
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According to a report from Auto Motor und Sport, the company backed out an initial asking price of $250 million. Further adding credit to this news, were claims that Sky Sports UK added IndyCar coverage to their F1 channel as part of a huge new broadcast deal.
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However, nothing came of it, though Liberty is not giving up the ghost, as Maffei told Forbes that Liberty is continuing to search for mergers and acquisitions and synergistic investments.
He concluded, “We think there are things we can do. We like the live event area. We like the sports area. There are things that are synergistic with F1. We bid on a bunch of assets.”
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“Unfortunately prices remain high. We will see but there are things we think we will do over the next four years in this space and we will certainly try.”
For now, though, F1 and IndyCar will continue as two separate entities, and the former enters its 70th year.
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