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View Full Version : Silverstone’s £300m deal saves British Grand Prix



Perdita
07-12-2009, 13:06
A £300 million deal to secure the future of the British Grand Prix has been announced this morning after Bernie Ecclestone agreed to forgo fees of a further £60 million, The Times has learnt.

Officials from Silverstone together with Damon Hill, the president of the British Racing Drivers’ Club, which owns the circuit, announced the details of a 17-year deal at a press conference in London this morning. After months of uncertainty and fears that the race would be cancelled, British Formula One fans will be delighted they can see their heroes — Jenson Button, the world champion, and Lewis Hamilton — do battle on home territory in 2010 and beyond.

"We've always had five-year deals and never been able to get the investment we needed to redevelop," Richard Phillips, Silverstone's managing director, said. "But 17 years gives us the ability to invest and move forward.

"We've always had the belief the British Grand Prix was an important cornerstone of Formula One but, with Bernie, you're never quite sure. At the end of the day, though, you have to have a British Grand Prix.

"We've now got to sell a lot of tickets, to get out there and do similar sorts of numbers as we did this year when we had 230,000 people there over the three days, and promote the event."

Phillips described the deal as "peace in our time" between the circuit's owners, the British Racing Drivers Club, and Ecclestone.

"The relationship with Formula One Management has been improving," added Phillips. "There's a good working relationship with him now and we don't have any issues."

Ecclestone said last night that he was happy with the deal, but he made no secret of his irritation at having had to spend so much time coming to terms with the Northamptonshire circuit with which he has had a long and tempestuous relationship.

“It’s been a long and tiring nonsense,” he said. “They could have done this whole thing months and months ago.”

The Times has established that Ecclestone, who repeatedly said he was prepared to cancel the race should Silverstone not meet his demands, has come a considerable way to ease the concerns of the circuit. The Formula One commercial rights-holder initially demanded a £12 million annual fee for the right to stage the race and on top of that a 7 per cent annual increase on that fee calculated on a compound basis. It was this escalator that was frightening Silverstone’s managers, who feared it would force into bankruptcy a business that made a profit of just £662,000 last year.

Ecclestone has now cut the escalator to 5 per cent. Although the deal remains spread over 17 years, it includes a mutual break clause after ten years when Silverstone and Ecclestone, or whoever represents his interests, have the right to pull the plug on the agreement. Under the original terms, Silverstone would have paid a total of £370 million up to 2026 to stage the race, while, in its modified form, the contract commits them to fees of £310 million.

The contract is still hugely expensive for a business that will struggle to meet even the modified terms. As one City expert said: “What goes up 5 per cent or 7 per cent per annum without fail? Not many things.”

Ecclestone was adamant that Silverstone has not been given preferential terms, while Button said it was “fantastic news” that the race, expected to be staged on July 11, the same day as football’s World Cup final, is secure.

Hill, the BRDC president and former Formula One World Champion, applauded the work of the negotiating team. "It's not easy to enter into an agreement of this magnitude. It's a big commitment," he said.

"But the BRDC felt we wanted this relationship to continue, and we were prepared to back the negotiating team, with the level of risk satisfactory for the deal to go ahead."

"This announcement is tremendous news. It really does cement Silverstone as a motor sport venue and is incredibly satisfying for the BRDC to cement its relationship with F1. We want Silverstone to be retained as a place for motor sport, for motor racing of all sorts, but significantly the British Grand Prix.

"We're also looking forward to the bike grand prix (Moto GP), on top of the British Grand Prix."

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/formula_1/article6947165.ece

alan45
07-12-2009, 13:48
About time.

Donnington was never going to be acceptable to real Moror Racing Fans. SIlverstone is the home of British Motor Racing. I think the fact that Button won this year and Hamilton last year swung it for the greedy people in charge of F1

Siobhan
07-12-2009, 14:02
About time.

Donnington was never going to be acceptable to real Moror Racing Fans. SIlverstone is the home of British Motor Racing. I think the fact that Button won this year and Hamilton last year swung it for the greedy people in charge of F1

Button didn't win UK grand prix last year.. it was Vettel as far as I know