World Rally Championship teams have attacked an instruction from the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, motorsport’s world governing body, for rallies in the championship to negotiate their own television deals, motorsports news website Autosport reports.
The order came in a letter from Jarmo Mahonen, president of the World Rally Championship Commission, a part of the federation, to event organisers after talks with pan-European broadcaster Eurosport to become the full-time promoter of the series collapsed. The promoter contract included the global media rights.
“[Events sourcing their own television agreements] would be totally impractical,” said Ford’s director of motorsport Gerard Quinn. “As a long-term solution that would not give the manufacturers, the participants, the organisers or the fans or anybody in the sport what we want.”
Autosport quoted another team insider as saying: “This sends us back to the dark ages. How can the FIA ever think this is going to work?”
The next WRC event begins on Thursday, February 9 in Sweden. The Swedish organiser has a domestic rights deal with public-service broadcaster SVT. The organiser is trying to secure funding for a separate production of the rally for international broadcasters.
Eurosport was widely expected to sign a long-term contract with the FIA after stepping in at short notice to replace the North One Sport agency as the production, broadcast and distribution partner of the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally last month. North One’s deal to promote the WRC was terminated by the FIA after the federation accused the agency of breaching its contract.
The federation said it would now start negotiations with other companies for the promoter rights.
“The FIA regrets to announce it has not proven possible to find an international promoter as well as a global broadcaster for the 2012 World Rally Championship season at this stage in time,” it said. “The federation has been involved in lengthy and detailed discussions with interested parties but a series of issues proved impossible to reconcile, and it finally had to take the decision to withdraw from these negotiations.
“In addition to the usual sporting and technical services it provides for these events, the FIA will finance the timing/tracking of each event so that the championship can take place in the best conditions. Teams, manufacturers and the other stakeholders have all been informed of this situation.
“The FIA will now open discussions with all the other parties which have expressed interest in the promotion of the WRC in order to guarantee the future development and growth of the FIA World Rally Championship.”