Liberty Media bought Formula One in early 2017, but told Wall Street it's not sold on NASCAR.
The new owners of Formula One racing are playing down any possibility of an interest in NASCAR.
“We both race cars. I’m not sure beyond that there’s a lot that would really make it a natural fit for us,” Chase Carey said in an Atlanta Journal-Constitution report Thursday.
Carey manages the European-based F1 for Liberty Media, which completed its purchase of the worldwide racing organization in early 2017. Liberty also owns the Atlanta Braves. Carey’s comments came from a quarterly conference call with Wall Street analysts.
“NASCAR is a fairly different franchise for us,” he said. “You look at the fan base — the regionalization of it in the U.S. is not really even a broad-based U.S. sport. It would certainly give us scale in the U.S., and we could use that scale to build, but I think there probably are more differences than similarities.”
Liberty paid a reported $4.4 billion for F1, according to Forbes. It has started operating that organization during a time when F1, like NASCAR, is trying to regain lost marketing momentum. F1 carries a 21-race schedule spread across 21 different countries on five continents — 11 races are in Europe, one in the U.S. (Austin, Texas), though talks have started in hopes of including a Miami event.
Greg Maffei, CEO of Colorado-based Liberty Media, also downplayed the possibility, according to the AJC.
“I think it’s not as clear what the synergies are between the two assets, and I would note the trends have not been perfect in NASCAR,” Maffei said on the conference call. “Unless we had a good thesis on how and why we could fix them, it’s not obvious to us.”
Reports earlier this week have NASCAR working with investment firm Goldman Sachs regarding a search for a potential buyer of the Daytona Beach-based stock-car organization. NASCAR officials have offered no comments on the report, but haven’t denied it.
Liberty is a large international media empire, which has led to speculation that a mega-media giant might be a potential buyer. While that may be true, it appears Liberty isn’t looking to expand its racing portfolio.
“Our priority is really making Formula One everything it can be,” Carey said.
A lot of money has been spent on sports franchises in recent years.
You can’t necessarily compare NASCAR to an individual sports franchise, but you’ll get a sense of what’s being spent with this list of the top five prices paid for teams this century (source: assorted wire services).
Big money players
1. Los Angeles Clippers
League: NBA
Buyer: Steve Ballmer
Price: $2 billion in 2014
2. Los Angeles Dodgers
League: MLB
Buyer: Guggenheim Partners
Price: $2 billion in 2012
3. Manchester United
League: English Premier League soccer
Buyer: Malcolm Glazer
Price: $1.47 billion in 2005
4. Miami Dolphins
League: NFL
Buyer: Stephen Ross
Price: $1.1 billion in 2008
5. Cleveland Browns
League: NFL
Buyer: Jimmy Haslam
Price: $1.05 billion in 2012
DON'T MISS AN EPISODE, SUBSCRIBE: iTunes | Google Play