Next FIA president? Next FOM CEO?

[WhiteBlue]

Whith Max Mosley's time coming to an end in a forseeable time it may be an item of interest to talk about the emerging candidates in a new thread.

I just repeat who was discussed in the old thread:

• Jean Todt,ex Ferrari, France
• Nick Craw, ACCUS USA
• Gerhard Berger ex BMW, ex Red Bull,STR, Austria
• Alan Prost, France
• Francois Fillion, France

Today more candidates emerged for Mosleys job:

• Marco Piccinini, ex Ferrari, Italy
• Hermann Tomczyk, ADAC Germany
• Prof. Jürgen Hubbert, ex Mercedes, Germany

from the new people Piccini would have a problem for the same reason Todt would have. too close to Ferrari. Hubbert would have the same problem only with Mercedes.

Tomcyk I have on my private List for a long time. Not only is he representing German Motorsport he is also big at the ADAC and a vice president of the FIA. There are very view FIA and club people on the list. Together with Craw he would be one of my hottest suspects.

[WhiteBlue]

some speculation from GP.com

....The interesting question is why Bin Sulayem is now talking openly about his involvement and it will probably lead to speculation that he might be a person to succeed Mosley. ....

Mosley has said he will stand down in October 2009 but there s no doubt that he is planning a Putin-like operation in which he will probably move to become head of the FIA Senate, which will give him power without profile.

Bin Sulayem is 46 and has dominated Middle Eastern rallying since 1986. He has won more FIA regional championships than any other driver in history, racking up 14 Middle East titles. His success at world level has been less dramatic but sixth place on the 1993 Rally of Argentina was no mean achievement. With motorsport booming in the Middle East, Bin Sulayem may be seen by Mosley as a man who could replace him.

[Chaparral]

Mosely will run again - he has already stated that to BCE over the last 6 weeks - most likely he's firming up a deputy in Bin Sulayem.

[WhiteBlue]

Mosely will run again - he has already stated that to BCE over the last 6 weeks - most likely he's firming up a deputy in Bin Sulayem.

That sounds a bit far fetched to me. Sure, Bernie has said that Mosley would run again, but then Bernie tells a lot of tales when it suits his purposes (Donnington for Brit GP ).

[nae]

thing is we will have to wait a year to find out

what i will say is that the next #el presidenté wont be Ron Denis

[modbaraban]

thing is we will have to wait a year to find out

what i will say is that the next #el presidenté wont be Ron Denis

[WhiteBlue]

How about a replacement for the FOM CEO Bernie?

Briatore?

[Ciro Pabón]

I don't remember anybody moving from working as head of a team to working at FIA. Are there any cases?

Briatore, Todt, I don't think so.

Berger may be, but why would he want to?

From my point of view is like moving from CEO of Warner to White House press secretary. I wouldn't do it, but hey, maybe somebody is in F1 for the glory instead of for the money.

Yeah, sure.... glory instead of money. Specially Briatore.

The only "fool" with that attitude is Mosley, btw. Or so he says:

I have different objectives in life. What I do is more political. For Bernie, politics are a nuisance. The fact that some people in F1 make a fortune doesn't bother me. I am happy for them. For me it's important to say that the whole machine runs well. Money doesn't mean too much for me. I have inherited a little bit but I'm nothing like as rich as many of the F1 people.

Do you want some quotes from Mr. Ecclestone? Here I have some memorable ones.

"We are not 'a kind of Mafia. We are the Mafia!" (referring to Mosley and himself).

"In Kyalami once, Colin Chapman told me that the McLaren front wing was illegal. We had a little argument with Teddy Mayer, who refused to change the wing. Finally Colin and I jumped on both sides of the wing and cracked it. We told Teddy, 'You see, it's not legal now.'"

"I will run the show until I die, but I don't plan to die."

All the fuss about Mosley comes from the astonishing proposal that is in the desk of the FIA Council right now, if you believe today's news:

Mosley, who is trying to position himself as somebody whose continued presence is essential to the sport's wellbeing, seeks a fresh agreement under which the teams will share the majority of the race fees and two-thirds of the TV revenues. At present they get only 50 per cent of all revenues generated by the Formula One Group. Mosley's proposal would raise the figure closer to 75 per cent.

I don't think he's going to leave until that "small issue" is resolved.

Mosley vies for upper hand in F1's money wars -- The Independent --

I've said many times that we will miss Mosley and Ecclestone. They're old, and once they leave, the sport will be run by faceless, slimy characters. I'd rather be under the rule of a feudal lord than under the rule a CEO (it's not like I like much any of them, but...).

My conclusion: Ecclestone bought Mosley back in the 80's. Somebody else has bought Mosley in the 2000's. My bet: Mateschitz/Murdoch did it. Prepare yourselves for F1 only at Pay-Per-View... In the future, I expect some character like Don King, instead of the old greedy bastard of Ecclestone.

[Chaparral]

Mosely will run again - he has already stated that to BCE over the last 6 weeks - most likely he's firming up a deputy in Bin Sulayem.

That sounds a bit far fetched to me. Sure, Bernie has said that Mosley would run again, but then Bernie tells a lot of tales when it suits his purposes (Donnington for Brit GP ).

The owners of Donnington stated publicly last year in an interview with Motor Sport UK that under no circumstances were they interested in holding the British GP - the upgrade costs alone made it prohibitive - forget all the b/s about Tilke doing a feasibility study on an upgrade etc thats appeared lately wont happen. Mosley its been quoted lies through his teeth (all the time) to the point you never know where you stand - BCE is slightly more up front I believe however the devil is in the detail with him. Heres an article in Sportspromedia on Mosley - forget the author just read it for what it is


http://www.sportspromedia.com/mosley.htm

[WhiteBlue]

Ciro, I was not suggesting Briatore for FIA president but for FOM CEO. I believe that the position would offer the monetary incentives he feels intitled to.

The question of FTA or payTV is really a question of marketing. If you look at it with the eyes of Bernie and the teams you cannot really justify to take it exclusive to payTV. it would not generate the necessary returns, particularly for the teams as their sponsorship would be dramatically affected. The FTA TV generates most of the sponsorship of approximately $ 2 bil, including of course what automotive pumps into F1.

It would be an entirely different situation if a payTV marketeer had the total commercial rights to F1. If he has no obligation to listen to the teams and he can use the marketing rights internally that would open the TV money to all kinds of manipulation. The commercial value of F1 could dramatically collaps as most of the revenues would not show up in F1 books any more.

I do not see Mosley as the most probable driver for a sale of F1 to Murdoch. He is being hunted by Murdochs press. It is most likely CVC and Ecclestone who would make huge profits if F1 CRH would pass to Newscorp. My impression is that Mosley would block this CVC exit strategy and suppress their value increase by a concord agreement until they give him Ecclestone's head on a tablet. Then he might allow them some other form of exit not involving Newscorp.

I do not think Mosley is the kind of character who forgets enemity for money. he cares for the power to shape things in his view. Ecclestone is the guy who goes for power to make money only.

[Chaparral]

Posted by WB - It would be an entirely different situation if a payTV marketeer had the total commercial rights to F1

That will never happen in the next couple of decades - anyone with knowledge of the TV medium would know that (at best) Pay TV has a market share of approx 10% of any market globally - so the game is still squarely aimed at 'free to air' or 'terrestial' commercial networks.

Theres also actually no indication that Murdoch are even involved or interested - to be honest Murdoch could do better deals in other sporting arenas for a much larger audience and also Mosley wont have anything to do with any sale apart from a possible veto of it - wheres your head at WB - and forget Mosely getting BCE's head on a plate - its Mosely who will lose this battle - you should do a bit more research old son.

[WhiteBlue]

I'm not making predictions who will win this one. I'm just looking at the facts and sometimes I speculate for myself what the outcome could be.

I see a pretty good chance that by the end of 2009 FIA and FOM will be run by someone else. I would not deny that Mosley could aim for a Putin style solution. That is entirely possible and in his style.

I would not mind if some of the dosh the midget has pressed out of F1 would be returned to the sport but in the end I expect that to be marginal when they settle. Mosley is aiming for 125 mil $ annually more to the teams. Perhaps they will get 50.

It is true that there is no proof for Newscorp being interested to buy FOM. They just happen to fight on Bernies side of the concord war. one has to ask why that is the case. Bernie used completely different media in the past. now he always uses Newscorp media.

We know that the battle trenches have been dug since May 2007 for the Max/Bernie showdown. Max send his proposal for the money redistribution to Bernie at that time. The Mosley observation started last year as well and ended with a Newscorp paper attempting to destroy Mosley. Next week we will probably learn a great deal more about that affair. Perhaps it transpires what was Newscorp's reason to take on the FIA president between May and November 2007.

In my view the best explanation for this is that they are CVC's exit strategy.

[WhiteBlue]

Despite the peace talk Mosley had with McKenzie of CVC and Bernie Ecclestone before Silverstone there are obviously still high tensions between FIA and FOM. The Times interview led to an article in this Newscorp paper which openly speculates about F1 without Bernie.

Max Mosley considers F1 life without Bernie Ecclestone
The FIA president is thinking the unthinkable - that Formula One's future could be without its ringmasterKevin Eason, Sports News Correspondent
Bernie Ecclestone will travel to the Hungaroring today in his chauffeur-driven limousine, along the road the Hungarians named after the man who has run Formula One as a personal fiefdom for almost three decades.

The sport without Ecclestone is unimaginable but Max Mosley, the president of the FIA, the governing body, and his running mate as they built the sport into one of the wealthiest in the world, has raised that prospect for the first time. Mosley suggests that Ecclestone could be the stumbling block to the sport's future.

As he rehabilitates himself from his anguished legal action against a national newspaper, Mosley has turned back to the business of shaping a Formula One future that appears to exclude Ecclestone. Vultures are circling as speculation grows that CVC Capital Partners, the private equity group that owns 75 per cent of the commercial operation, is set to sell up.

CVC bought control over Formula One's lucrative commercial rights two years ago after a period of turbulence when it seemed that Ecclestone had lost his grip. But the billionaire was kept on by CVC as chief executive of Formula One Management (FOM), simply because he pulls every string in the Formula One paddock.

But a sale could spell the end of the reign of Ecclestone, who is 78 in October, according to Mosley, 68, who confirmed this week that he is standing down from his post next year. He said: “If a sovereign wealth fund came along with a huge amount of money, then CVC would be tempted, but I suspect it would be getting to the stage where Bernie is replaced. If someone wanted to buy it, the whole business depends on a man who is 78 years old.” Mosley believes that the answer is for the FIA to take greater control over the sport and force a redistribution of wealth. Ecclestone and CVC pay the teams half of Formula One's income, but Mosley wants that increased to 75 per cent - a figure that might make CVC wonder whether it is worth holding on to Formula One. CVC hardly needs it: the company owns blue-chip brands in Britain such as Debenhams and the Saga-AA group.

Mosley said: “Eventually, I think we will agree a compromise while they [CVC] abandon a lot of control that they have over the sporting side and, in return, we [the FIA] will give them much greater freedom to sell the business to whomever they want.”

A comment by GP.com

I can see a possible explanation that involves a new management if CVC want to sell. They have denied that they want to sell but for a private equity firm it must be very bad news to be locked into an investment without exit.

There would be a certain symmetry to the power struggle if the FIA makes it mendatory to an exit agreement to drop Bernie. That is highly speculative but it could be an explanation for the sudden enemity followed by peace again.

[f1italia]

Paul Stoddart

[WhiteBlue]

Paul Stoddart

no way