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Formula One
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CART
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IRL
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NHRA
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| Friday, January 26 |
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| FIA to loosen commercial ties Reuters | |||
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BRUSSELS -- The European Commission
signalled the end to its lengthy antitrust investigation into
motor racing on Friday after Bernie Ecclestone, Formula One's
ringmaster, agreed to loosen his grip on the sport.
The Commission had objected to the close links between the
FIA, motor sport's regulatory body, and Formula One
Administration (FOA), the company which markets the rights to
Formula One races.
The Commission believed that FIA had the power to prevent
competition by threatening to withdraw the licences of track
owners, teams and drivers.
The FIA has agreed to loosen its ties with the commercial
side of Formula One and now has no claim over broadcasting
rights.
The Commission said that Ecclestone, who is FIA
vice-president and also chief executive of FAO, will no longer
handle FIA promotional matters and will also reduce his role in
FIA affairs in other ways.
"FIA will no longer have a commercial interest in the
success of Formula One and the new rules will remove any
obstacle to other motor sports series competing with Formula
One," an EC statement said.
EC competition commissioner Mario Monti said the changes to
the marketing and broadcasting arrangements "seem to us to
amount in principle to a satisfactory solution."
"In the light of this progress towards the resolution of a
long-running and difficult case and as all complaints have now
been settled, the Commission is in a position to give its
preliminary approval to the modified rules and arrangements,"
the commission said in a statement.
The EC investigation stymied Ecclestone's attempts to float
his Formula One interest on the stock market. He sold a 50
percent stake in his SLEC Formula One holding company to German
media firm EM.TV in 2000 for 3.5 billion marks ($1.67 billion).
FIA welcomes announcement Before giving final approval, the Commission will give third parties the opportunity to make representations. FIA welcomed the EC's announcement which it said ended a "long-running and difficult dispute." "Over the past six months the FIA has changed its rules and commercial arrangements and will now take further measures to carry out its role as regulator of international motor sport without any commercial involvement," said president Max Mosley. "This will eliminate all possibility of future conflicts of interest." The European Commission began looking at Formula One and Ecclestone's influence in early 1997 after a complaint about access to the sport by German television group AETV. The EC put forward objections to the FIA's hold over the sport in June 1999. Changes introduced over the past year include FOA selling its interest in all forms of motor sport including rallying. FIA has amended its regulations to strengthen the rights of circuit owners and the 11 grand prix teams and "to make it clear that FIA will act impartially." The FOA has agreed to limit the duration of its free-to-air broadcasting contracts to five years for host broadcasters and three years in other cases. | |
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