With Liberty Media's acquisition of F1 from the hands of CVC and longtime boss Bernie Ecclestone, the category began a march (which only stopped due to the COVID-19 pandemic) towards new markets with infinite riches such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar and has focused on city circuits such as Miami and Las Vegas. The latter organized by Liberty Media itself.
This has led to an extra-large calendar consisting of 24 races in which the European stages are less than half (just 10 compared to 14 in the rest of the world). This has infuriated the fans of the Old Continent who accuse Liberty Media and the CEO Stefano Domenicali of not respecting the history of this sport and of putting pressure on the European facilities both from the point of view of infrastructure and of spectator entertainment by asking for boats of money and favoring, in fact, realities that are not inclined to the protection of human rights.
In short, we would prefer nations with suitcases full of dollars and the model of city circuits such as the aforementioned Miami and Las Vegas which not only do not offer particular challenges for the drivers, but give more importance to the surroundings than to the "main event". That is, the race. From 2026, some innovations could arrive for the European GPs, as mentioned by Domenicali, and one of these could be the rotation between Grands Prix.
![Liberty Media - Englewood (USA)](https://www.formulacritica.it/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Liberty-Media-Englewood-USA-750x375.webp)
American fans also have the same problem as European fans
In recent years, many American sports federations, as well as F1, are slowly starting to expand into Europe, Saudi Arabia and Australia. The NFL, the league that organizes the American football championship and holds the most followed sporting event in the world, the Super Bowl, has brought some of its teams to compete in 2022, first at Wembley Stadium in London, the temple of English and European football , and then to the Allianz Arena, home of Bayern Munich. NFL games on European soil were repeated in 2023 and will be held again in 2024. The NBA, the most important basketball league in the world, annually holds a game in Paris.
The case closest to F1 is that of wrestling
WWE, the well-known American wrestling association, has signed a ten-year agreement to hold its "Premium Live Events" (the old pay-per-views), once or twice a year, in the Saudi court. In Europe he first filled the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff with "Clash at the Castle", in 2022, and then the 02 Arena in London where he held "Money in the Bank", in 2023.
In this last event, the beloved American wrestler and actor John Cena, feared the idea of bringing an edition of "Wrestlemania", the most important show for the American category, to London. Which was met with great disappointment from American fans. At the moment only 6 “Premium Live Events” have been announced, of which 3 will take place outside Yankee soil. The first of these, which took place last February 24th, the "Elimination Chamber" was staged in Perth, Australia. After Wrestlemania, WWE will be busy in Lyon, France, with "Backlash France" and then at the end of August in Berlin with "Bash in Berlin".
The hope of Italian fans of the discipline is to have a "Premium Live Event". This year we will only have one “House Show” (an unofficial performance that is not on television) in Bologna. This could be a first step towards bringing a major WWE event to our peninsula.
As reported above, 3 out of 6 “Premium Live Events” have been held and will be held outside the USA, but others that will be announced shortly will take place, as agreed, in Saudi Arabia, with the possibility of leading to a 50% of the events held in the USA and the other 50% divided between Australia, Europe and Saudi Arabia.
AEW, an American wrestling league rival of WWE founded just over 5 years ago, managed to bring 80 thousand people to Wembley Stadium in 2023 with its "All In" pay-per-view. The aforementioned event will be repeated again this year in the same location.
![F1 starting Saudi Arabia GP 2024](https://www.formulacritica.it/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/F1-partenza-Gp-Arabia-Saudita-2024-jpg.webp)
Conclusions: F1 distorts itself to please America, other sports don't
Sport, which generates hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars in revenue, is experiencing a moment in which it is forced to expand. La cosa buffa è che una disciplina di tradizione europea come la F1 debba snaturarsi per piacere al pubblico americano inserendo circuiti cittadini come quelli di Miami e Las Vegas e spingendo su docuserie/fiction come “Drive to Survive” mentre gli sport americani arrivano nel Vecchio Continente, riempiendo stadi ed arene, nella loro totale naturalezza e senza incontrare rivoluzioni di sorta. Forse è questa differenza che fa storcere il naso e che mette Liberty Media sotto l’accusa di “vendere l’anima” al diavolo per aumentare gli introiti.
Crediti foto: F1, Liberty Media Corporation