Olikohan tässä sittenkään mitään järkeä?
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A1 lost over $200m in first season
By Dieter Rencken Tuesday, June 6th 2006, 09:02 GMT
A1 Grand Prix lost $212m in its first season of operation, Tony Teixeira, deputy chairman of the self-proclaimed 'World Cup of Motorsport', has told financial news service Bloomberg.
The South African entrepreneur added that the series' second season would be financed by a loan of $120m, made available by Nomura Holdings, and hoped to raise $80m through the sale of shares in the series, presently held by venture capitalist company RAB Capital, Teixeira, series founder Sheik Maktoum and the British, Canadian, New Zealand and South African seat holders.
"We made a loss of $212 million in the first season. I expected it to be half that," said Teixeira. "We weren't ready for the unknowns, including the cost of transportation (and) promoting races."
Teixeira said he was "very disappointed" with the promotion of events in Germany and Portugal, and these had been dropped for the second season, whilst admitting that growing the television audience remained a major challenge.
"We finished the season with an average (television) audience of 9.5 million, which is more than expected. We're aiming for 14 million to 16 million for next season ... but to get on proper (television) channels you need to spend money," he said.
Formula One claims a global television audience of 350m viewers.
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Siis minä kyllä ymmärrän, että tuollainen summa on sheikeille vain pisara meressä, mutta tsiisus! 212 miljoonaa!
Alkaa hieman mietityttämään olikohan tämä A1GP sittenkään hyvä idea... Kilpailu oli toki upeaa, mutta se ei suureen yleisöön tuntunut uppoavan... Mitä sinä muuten tekisit 200 miljoonalla dollarilla? Minä en ainakaan loisi moottoriurheiluluokkaa tyhjästä... Entä te?