Why F1 Might Drop Its Most Famous Race š«¢ š
Plus how Arsenal reclaimed London and was Nike really started 400 years ago?
Welcome to Athletic Interest,
Monaco is famous for two things that rich people absolutely love, fast cars and tax avoidanceā¦
While the latter is still going strong, there are some genuine concerns that Monaco could lose its famous Grand Prix.Ā
For die-hard F1 fans, the removal of Monaco from the calendar would be unthinkable. After decades of hosting some of the biggest and most glamorous races, the streets of Monte Carlo have become sacred ground, but F1ās current bosses are growing increasingly frustrated and are asking the event to reform or risk losing its status altogether.Ā
The concerns can be split into three main categories:
MoneyĀ
SponsorshipĀ
Fan EngagementĀ
The Money Problem
Money is often a touchy subject when it comes to Monaco. For years people held the false assumption that Monaco was so important to F1ās overall image that the circuit did not need to pay the traditional race hosting fees. Thatās not true, with Monaco paying $12-15m per year for the privilege. That figure is about half what most other tracks pay and far less than newer tracks like Saudi Arabia and Qatar.Ā
While Monacoās legacy probably entitles it to a lower fee than most other tracks, there is a growing feeling that F1 will ask Monaco to up its contribution. This is understandable when you have other circuits across the world willing to hand over tens of millions to take the slot.Ā
F1 bosses are also supposedly looking for more flexibility from Monaco on the date of the event. Monaco officials have been historically stubborn on the date, something which can force F1 to make strange trips across the globe just to fit the event into the schedule.Ā
Tag vs Rolex
With Formula 1ās audience growing at a rapid pace, the series has entered several lucrative partnerships with global brands. In return for their big bucks, these brands often demand exclusivity for their category. To facilitate this, F1 has taken control over the trackside advertising at races, a move that ensures that only the names of F1 sponsors can be seen on the broadcast.Ā
Monaco is the exception to this rule. The organiser still controls which sponsors appear next to the track, and has given prominent advertising space to watch company Tag Heuer. This has been a problem for F1ās official timing partner Rolex.
It is understood that F1 bosses are demanding that Monaco falls in line when it comes to trackside sponsorship, a demand that Monaco officials will not accept lightly.Ā Ā
A Boring RaceĀ
While die-hard fans will insist that Monaco is a historic race, no one will try to convince you that itās very exciting.Ā
The tight and twisting city streets are far too narrow to allow much racing action between the F1ās large modern cars. The average Monaco GP has about 50% fewer overtakes than other races. In 2022, just 12 overtakes occurred, with only 2 making it onto live TV.Ā
There are growing fears that F1 fans, especially those who werenāt alive for the heyday of Monaco, will start to consider the race as boring and switch off.Ā
To combat this, F1 has suggested that Monaco widens some sections of the track to allow more overtakes and increase the spectacle of the race. Monaco officials remain adamant that nothing needs to be changed.Ā
In many ways, it looks like an increasingly revolutionary F1 is headed for a conflict with its most traditional (and increasingly stubborn) circuit.Ā
š“ šµ There has long been a debate over which London football club is the best.Ā
For years, the answer was Arsenal, but things became more complicated as the oil (and vodka) fuelled rise of Chelsea took London by storm.Ā
Since then, fans have traded the saying āLondon is blueā or āLondon is redā depending on which team won the local derby or finished higher in the league.
Tottenham fans stayed surprisingly quiet in this debate, mainly because their team has struggled to win trophies, but also because tweeting āLondon is whiteā is an easy way to get yourself banned from Twitter (or at least it used to be.)
This season there can be no denying that London is truly red. Arsenal have enjoyed a stunning campaign that saw a relatively inexperienced team and manager dominate the league until finally falling to the juggernaut that is Pep Guardiolaās Manchester City.Ā
So, how did Arsenal go from meme material to one of the best teams in England? In this weekās video, we explain how an apparent change of strategy from Arsenalās much-maligned owner has allowed the Reds to conquer London once again.
š The Boot Room
If there are two things that people hate itās running long distances and having their location constantly tracked by satellite.Ā
Well, in theory anyway. It turns out that you can track anything you want about someone as long as they are allowed to post it on social media.Ā
For years, runners and cyclists have been using the app Strava to create GPS records of their workouts to post on social media. This has led to some hilarious posts showing people running through cities to create depictions of everything from Darth Vader to unmentionable parts of the human body.
But encouraging people to create a giant penis in New York is not the only thing that Strava does. In fact, the app has just teamed up with Nike to give users access to more features and content.Ā
The new partnership will allow members to share activities from the Nike Run Club and Nike Training Club apps to Strava, a process that used to be a complete hassle.
Strava members can also join a special Nike-branded club to access special workouts, challenges, and advice from Nike's expert coaches and athletes.
This move comes after Strava also integrated Spotify controls into the app and linked up with external fitness monitoring tech like Peloton, Garmin, and Apple Watch.Ā
It looks like Strava is striving (a hilarious joke if you speak Swedish) to become the one-stop shop for all things fitness, a place where athletes can do everything from tracking their workout to learning new tips and even posting on social media.Ā
š While Nike is busy promoting genitalia art, Adidas is making a big move in India.
As announced by CEO BjĆørn Gulden on Instagram, Adidas is the new sponsor of the Indian Cricket Team.
The caption under Guldenās post sums up the reasoning behind this move perfectly, āIndia is important! Cricket is important!ā
India is undoubtedly an integral market for sportswear brands, and in recent years it has been largely dominated by Adidasā cross-town rival Puma.
Ironically, it is the former Puma CEO Gulden that is trying to turn around the fortunes of Adidas in India.Ā
The easiest way to gain traction in this market is to associate your product with cricket. There are two main ways to do this, sponsor a cricket team or go after individual athletes. For years, Adidas went with option two and sponsored several famous cricketers including Sachin Tendulkar. Now they have decided to change course and will have the Adidas logo plastered on the front of Indiaās national cricket team.Ā
This should work in theory. There is no bigger sport in India than cricket. That being said, Adidas may look to the experience of Nike, the former national team sponsor, for a warning.
Nike sponsored the Indian national team for 14 years until giving it up in 2020. There are reports that Nike decided not to continue with the team despite being offered a 30% discount on the per-match fee. This may have been triggered more by a general desire to cut costs in the face of the pandemic and other market strains, but it suggests that Nike was not seeing a phenomenal return from its sponsorship.
Despite this, Gulden and Adidas seem to be excited about the new partnership, perhaps they see something that Nike missed.Ā Ā
š®š¹ India isnāt the only new partner for Adidas. The sportswear brand has just released a collaboration with Prada.
While not the first collaboration between luxury fashion and football, itās perhaps the first time we have seen a company like Prada go so deep into football. This is another sign of the āfashion of footballā becoming far more easily accepted by the wider fashion industry.
š± Social Media Madness
šØ Nike was founded, under the name Blue Ribbon Sports, on 25th January 1964 by Phil Knight. Although, if you went into one weird corner of the internet this week, you might think it was actually started by a small Dutch boy more than 400 years ago.
For some reason, people on the internet have become convinced that this painting of a Dutch wine merchantās son by painter Ferdinand Bol includes the first representation of shoes sporting the famous Nike swoosh.Ā
Obviously, that is not true, but itās not hard to see where they are coming from. The positioning of the bow around the white sock does create the illusion of a swoosh.
ā½ļø It looks like the winner of the Champions League has already been revealedā¦itās Inter Milan.
Why, we hear you ask? Well, an egg told us.
Donāt believe us, watch this:
Of course, it goes without saying that no one should take any betting advice from an egg!Ā
And finally, donāt you just hate it when you are trying to enjoy your holiday and you accidentally sign for a professional football club for five hoursā¦