Liberty Media, the owners of Formula One should take a long hard look at themselves in the mirror before being critical of the television coverage of The Greatest Spectacle In Racing. Speaking at a Bloomberg event ahead of today’s inaugural Miami Grand Prix, Liberty Media CEO, Greg Maffei said that he believes that the likes of Sky Sports do a good job at making the viewing experience more interesting for fans watching at home.

Maffei said that the coverage of Formula One is far stronger than that of the Indianapolis 500. When it comes down to it, however, yes he is entitled to his own opinion, however, in Formula One the TV broadcasters tend to favor British-based drivers however, in the Indianapolis 500 the commentators focus on the drivers throughout the field and don’t focus on one driver.

When it comes to the Race Day experience, there is no comparison. General admission tickets for this year’s 106th running of the Indianapolis 500 which is exactly three weeks away and a general admission ticket for the race starts at $50 which allows fans to enter the Speedway and to watch the race from of the many viewing mounds around the Speedway.

Outside of the Indianapolis 500, the NTT IndyCar Series heads to Detroit for the first weekend in June where fans can have free entry into the race track on Friday for practice while a grandstand ticket also gives you access to the NTT IndyCar Series paddock where fans can get up close to their favorite drivers and cars.

If an everyday Formula One fan wanted to experience that they would either have to enter a competition or have very deep pockets.

When Liberty Media came into Formula One, one of its main objectives was to open the sport up to fans in terms of giving fans greater behind the scenes access to the race track and this is something that Claire Williams had called for however, once again if you don’t have deep pockets, win a competition or are a celebrity than you can’t get into the garages.

Liberty Media, Formula One, and each of the race promoters need to come together to make the sport more affordable for the fans.

The NBC Sports broadcasting team does a fantastic job and the NTT IndyCar Series along with the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series are the only major series where broadcasters speak to the drivers as they head to the green flag.

 

 

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