According to the Australian Financial Review, Supercars are likely to lose Channel 10’s popular free to air coverage of 5 of the series races at the end of this year. It’s said that Supercars broadcasting revenue is worth some A$241 million, obviously, any significant reduction in this revenue is going to have to impact negatively on the teams that are already struggling with falling sponsorship revenue’s
Sighting Supercars free to air coverage being a loss-making deal for Channel 10, the Channels owners Viacom have allegedly said that they are no longer prepared to invest in Australian V8 Supercars.
Quite what that means in the loss of revenue is unclear but clearly it’s not the sort of news that Archer Capital the majority shareholder of V8 Supercars, and the teams themselves want to hear along with the serious setback of the 2020 season due to the Covid-19, and the recent collapse of sponsor Virgin Australia.
Archer Capital’s founder Peter Wiggs reportedly also told the Australian Financial Review, that he was dissatisfied with their investment in Supercars, saying
“The Series has been a poor investment for Archer Capital and we make no secret of that. We purchased it at the top of the market, and we have faced structural issues since the day we acquired the Series. Obviously the first three years were particularly difficult, where we saw a decline in earnings of 66 percent.
“However, since I got involved as its chairman, I have had the benefit of two extremely good CEOs in James Warburton and Sean Seamer and a very good management team backing those guys, and a very good partnership with the teams, we’ve managed to turn that around.”
Supercars CEO, Sean Seamer, is playing his cards very close to his chest but insists that he is very happy with the progress being made on their 2021 TV broadcasting negotiations.
It remains to be seen what the landscape might look like for professional motor racing worldwide, and whether Supercars can weather the impending financial storm.
Meanwhile, the postponed 2020 New Zealand Supercar round is unlikely to go ahead this year unless the Australian and New Zealand government’s can agree on the proposed Transtasman ‘Bubble’ that would allow sports teams and citizens of both countries to enter and exit each other countries without having to spend 14 days in quarantine on arrival in both countries.
