In the wee hours of the morning on Saturday September 13th, 2014, the world
will finally be able to see the brand new racing series that has received more
hype globally than the creation of the Indy Racing League way back in 1996.
That racing series is the all-electric Formula E. It will debut on a street
circuit in Beijing, China. Here in the states, the Beijing ePrix is set to air
on the toddler television network, Fox Sports 1.
Since its launch in August of last year, Fox Sports 1 has already shown that it is ready and willing to show any sport it can find the rights to. Even after the closure of SPEED Channel, Fox has still shown a significant commitment to motorsports programming. In addition to gaining US Formula E rights last year, Fox Sports 1 re-upped their NASCAR package through 2022, taking over the entire first half of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and NASCAR Nationwide Series (soon to be called the NASCAR Xfinity Series). Fox also took a step in the right direction by signing on to be the exclusive television partner of the newly unified Tudor United Sports Car Championship through 2018.
Fox aired live flag to flag coverage of the 24 Hours of Daytona on Fox, Fox Sports 1, and Fox Sports 2 this January. The coverage was received well and they showed even further that they were not going to leave motorsport fans in the dark. Later that June they aired 23 of the 24 Hours of LeMans live throughout Fox Sports 1 & 2. A year ago, many had serious doubt we would even see 15 of those 24 hours, but Fox has shown they're not going to go the way of ESPN and ignore the motorsports fan base. Fox has made up for their cancellation of SPEED Center and Wind Tunnel last year with equal coverage of motorsports news and highlights on their nightly sports news show, Fox Sports Live, along with coverage of other sports. In addition to the equal treatment of motorsports to ball sports, Fox has heavily promoted its daily NASCAR talk show, RaceHub around their networks. This comes in light of ESPN's cancellation of their own NASCAR talk show, NASCAR Now that had received high ratings since its launch in 2007, only to see a steady decline in ratings throughout the last four years due to constant scheduling shifts.
What does all of this mean however? What does any of this have to do with the success of Formula E?
Currently, there are two planned events here in the United States for Formula E. The season runs throughout the 2014 and 2015 calendar years with planned events in Miami and Long Beach in early 2015. Fox is scheduled to air every race of the season live with a condensed and tape delayed broadcast to run a day or so after the live event. Fox will not be sending any of its own announcers, cameramen, or reporters to cover the series, but instead relying completely on the world coverage feed, anchored by European broadcaster Jack Nicholls and three time Indianapolis 500 champion Dario Franchitti.
This begs the question, was this just a PR move to gain more content for the channel while hushing the critics still bitter over the loss of SPEED Channel or a showing of legitimate interest in open wheeled racing? In a recent tweet (which you can read here) made by longtime Fox motorsport broadcaster Bob Varsha, Varsha claims Fox might be waiting and seeing what Formula E is and if it's worth being covered and shown on their channel.
The main worry that gives any fan with hopes that Formula E will take off is that casual sports or racing fans will not be drawn in by Formula E and with many already calling the series 'gimmicky' and 'doomed to fail', poor television coverage in the United States, the only country to hold two ePrix, could cause not only a failure for the series, but also a significant financial loss for Fox.
As of right now, I have yet to see a single promo, advertisement, or plug of any kind on Fox Sports 1 about the race Saturday morning. The Fox Sports Facebook and Twitter pages are however, doing quite the stellar job of promoting the race.
Only time will tell whether or not Formula E and Fox will have success or failure, but with the next ePrix not being held until late November, whatever momentum carries over could predict the Fox's future commitment to European auto racing.
Since its launch in August of last year, Fox Sports 1 has already shown that it is ready and willing to show any sport it can find the rights to. Even after the closure of SPEED Channel, Fox has still shown a significant commitment to motorsports programming. In addition to gaining US Formula E rights last year, Fox Sports 1 re-upped their NASCAR package through 2022, taking over the entire first half of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and NASCAR Nationwide Series (soon to be called the NASCAR Xfinity Series). Fox also took a step in the right direction by signing on to be the exclusive television partner of the newly unified Tudor United Sports Car Championship through 2018.
Fox aired live flag to flag coverage of the 24 Hours of Daytona on Fox, Fox Sports 1, and Fox Sports 2 this January. The coverage was received well and they showed even further that they were not going to leave motorsport fans in the dark. Later that June they aired 23 of the 24 Hours of LeMans live throughout Fox Sports 1 & 2. A year ago, many had serious doubt we would even see 15 of those 24 hours, but Fox has shown they're not going to go the way of ESPN and ignore the motorsports fan base. Fox has made up for their cancellation of SPEED Center and Wind Tunnel last year with equal coverage of motorsports news and highlights on their nightly sports news show, Fox Sports Live, along with coverage of other sports. In addition to the equal treatment of motorsports to ball sports, Fox has heavily promoted its daily NASCAR talk show, RaceHub around their networks. This comes in light of ESPN's cancellation of their own NASCAR talk show, NASCAR Now that had received high ratings since its launch in 2007, only to see a steady decline in ratings throughout the last four years due to constant scheduling shifts.
What does all of this mean however? What does any of this have to do with the success of Formula E?
Currently, there are two planned events here in the United States for Formula E. The season runs throughout the 2014 and 2015 calendar years with planned events in Miami and Long Beach in early 2015. Fox is scheduled to air every race of the season live with a condensed and tape delayed broadcast to run a day or so after the live event. Fox will not be sending any of its own announcers, cameramen, or reporters to cover the series, but instead relying completely on the world coverage feed, anchored by European broadcaster Jack Nicholls and three time Indianapolis 500 champion Dario Franchitti.
This begs the question, was this just a PR move to gain more content for the channel while hushing the critics still bitter over the loss of SPEED Channel or a showing of legitimate interest in open wheeled racing? In a recent tweet (which you can read here) made by longtime Fox motorsport broadcaster Bob Varsha, Varsha claims Fox might be waiting and seeing what Formula E is and if it's worth being covered and shown on their channel.
The main worry that gives any fan with hopes that Formula E will take off is that casual sports or racing fans will not be drawn in by Formula E and with many already calling the series 'gimmicky' and 'doomed to fail', poor television coverage in the United States, the only country to hold two ePrix, could cause not only a failure for the series, but also a significant financial loss for Fox.
As of right now, I have yet to see a single promo, advertisement, or plug of any kind on Fox Sports 1 about the race Saturday morning. The Fox Sports Facebook and Twitter pages are however, doing quite the stellar job of promoting the race.
Only time will tell whether or not Formula E and Fox will have success or failure, but with the next ePrix not being held until late November, whatever momentum carries over could predict the Fox's future commitment to European auto racing.
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