We are Losing the Plot
Do you ever watch a sporting event or even a TV show that you are fan of and think, what are we doing? We have completely lost the plot.
Recently, this has been my thought when it comes to Formula One & its broadcasts. Consider this an open letter to those in charge.
Formula One is a sport that is rapidly growing in popularity and is trying to capitalize on the moment. The powers that be have been making decisions when it comes to broadcasting that has left me quite puzzled. This is not a sport like American Football & Basketball where there are natural lulls within the game play. F1 is a sport that is high speed & high stakes from lights out to the checkered flag with no reprieve unless something goes drastically wrong. So, during our last outing at the Singapore Grand Prix there was so much that the viewers at home missed out on. There was amazing battles & overtakes happening in the midfield & later lap battles between Fernando Alonso & Lewis Hamilton. All of these were things we couldn’t see, instead the powers that be thought it was more important to show us celebrities & driver’s partners. Respectfully, no one cares about who is in the garage unless they are in a team uniform. The moment you begin to compromise a live sports broadcast just to be able to score a few non vital clout points, you begin to lose an audience.
Even though this is not the first time they have done this, normally they pan to the garage for live reactions to certain on track actions but, this is the first time I feel the F1 fan community has noticed it become a growing & glaring problem.
Within the last season or two I have noticed a more Americanized approach to how the grand prix weekends are executed. It feels as though the decision makers within the sport are forcing the sport to be a spectacle that it just isn’t. Between the Hunger Gamesesque driver displays in Las Vegas & the heavy coverage of influencers that no one understands why they are there, it truly feels like we are losing the plot. It doesn’t seem like the sport many of us tune into watch any given weekend.
Sometimes I need the people in charge to recognize that sometimes simpler is best. Especially in a time where everything is being made into a performative act & attempts to out do each other. Let the product on track speak for itself. You’re going to continually rely on your preexisting fans to help effectively build your community more than the influencers who are there for work & more than likely aren’t engaging with the sport outside of these events. This is not why we are waking up at the worst times on Sunday & planning weekends around this sport.
So, please highlight your billion dollar sport during the broadcast & showcase the smaller or up & coming voices in the sport with these brand trips. This will be far more effective in the long run.
Fans of the sport will continue to tune in because we love the sport, not because we like who is sitting on the sideline.
