F1 suffers losses in the 3rd quarter of 2020 despite the return of Grands Prix

After six months without any competition, the Formula 1 resumed its rights at the beginning of July with a busy program and no less than 10 races in the 3rd quarter of 2020, compared to 7 last year over the same period. 

Despite these 3 additional rounds, Liberty Media published this Thursday figures down compared to those of 2019. If the turnover of the F1 group only falls by 36 million dollars (around 30 million euros) to 597 million dollars (505 million euros) compared to 633 million dollars (536 million euros) last year, the sport suffered losses of 104 million dollars (88 million euros), while the result of exploitation was positive 12 months earlier and then reached 44 million dollars (37 million euros). 

Several reasons explain these trends: first of all the absence of fans at most of the events, due to the Covid-19 epidemic, forced Liberty to offer discounts to promoters, who are counting on a full ticket office to try to amortize the cost of organizing a GP. 

The American group also had to find emergency solutions to build a new calendar in a hurry and refocused on European events which do not have the financial power of certain exotic destinations. 

The very strict health protocol put in place at the Grands Prix also forced Liberty to close the Paddock Club, thus depriving itself of another source of income. Finally, the cancellation of certain rounds resulted in a loss of income for sponsors who had planned commercial operations for the weekends in question. 

Liberty was, however, able to minimize the damage to broadcasters and official TV rights holders even if the US conglomerate specifies that certain agreements were renegotiated in light of the reduced 2020 program. 

Furthermore, Liberty paid 106 million dollars (90 million euros) more to the teams in the 3rd quarter of 2020 compared to last year, 441 million dollars (373 million euros) compared to 335 million dollars ( 284 million euros): an increase due to the payment of a bonus after the signing of the New Concorde Agreements by the 10 teams last summer.