Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News.
Speaker 2: F one could make a return to the African continent
Speaker 2: for the first time in more than thirty years, with
Speaker 2: the sport due to announce new host cities in the
Speaker 2: coming weeks.
Speaker 3: One more race we need, and that's going to be Africa,
Speaker 3: you know, and all the other continents.
Speaker 2: And one out there. Rwanda and Morocco are among those
Speaker 2: believed to be vying for the license, but South Africa
Speaker 2: has made no secret of its ambition to bring F
Speaker 2: one back to the country.
Speaker 4: Lewis Hamilton, you said you had a dream to race
Speaker 4: in South Africa again. Understanding here to tell you we
Speaker 4: will not rest until your dream comes to realization that
Speaker 4: you will race again in South Africa.
Speaker 2: On this week's Next Africa Podcast, we look at who's
Speaker 2: bidding to bring back Formula one to Africa and investors
Speaker 2: and governments are so desperate to become part of the
Speaker 2: global phenomenon that is F one. I'm Jennifer's Abasaja and
Speaker 2: this is the Next Africa Podcast, bringing you one story
Speaker 2: each week from the continent driving the future of global
Speaker 2: growth with the context only Bloomberg can provide. Joining us
Speaker 2: this week is our Senior Africa reporter. That's Loney, Prince
Speaker 2: Lou Loney, thanks so much for coming on.
Speaker 5: Appreciate here.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 2: So this is a fascinating story for I think people
Speaker 2: who are fans of Formula one, but even those who
Speaker 2: haven't been. But maybe we just start with the phenomenon
Speaker 2: that has been Formula one over the past few years.
Speaker 5: Can you talk about how big of a.
Speaker 2: Business it is in twenty twenty five and what you
Speaker 2: found in your reporting.
Speaker 1: For NAT one went from a very niche type of
Speaker 1: sports where it was like a few petrol heads, very European,
Speaker 1: to what we are seeing today in twenty five.
Speaker 3: As you ask, which is basically entertainment.
Speaker 1: Strapagan, you are seeing people one hundred and twenty five
Speaker 1: thousand people at a time attend these races. Revenue is
Speaker 1: three point four billion dollars a year. You have one
Speaker 1: point six billion people watching every race. Entertainment on the
Speaker 1: side VIP lounges. You have these young drivers that have
Speaker 1: a new fan base which is younger women.
Speaker 5: Hi guys and girls.
Speaker 3: It's a land alogue.
Speaker 1: A few days ago we put on socials for you
Speaker 1: to send us some questions today today that they answer
Speaker 1: all of those questions, So it's not just sort of
Speaker 1: like old guys watching the cause or small technicalities around
Speaker 1: the cause. It's really become more of an entertainment show.
Speaker 1: We've seen Badpa do, the New show if One. Netflix
Speaker 1: has quite a few Formula one shows running, So yeah,
Speaker 1: it went from a motorizing, sort of niche event to
Speaker 1: what we are seeing today, which is a big entertainment show.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they've really sort of capitalized on the fan base,
Speaker 2: especially with some of the shows that you mentioned.
Speaker 5: And when we think.
Speaker 2: About the last time I was here in Africa nineteen
Speaker 2: ninety three, which is surprising and I think for many people,
Speaker 2: but there's serious contenders who want to bring it back,
Speaker 2: and that's really gets to.
Speaker 5: The heart of your story. Can you talk about some
Speaker 5: of the people who you met and what they told you.
Speaker 1: There's quite a few characters around trying to bring back
Speaker 1: Formula one to Africa. As you said, nineteen ninety three
Speaker 1: were the only populated continent that doesn't have a race,
Speaker 1: but we have a track. We even had a world champion.
Speaker 1: Jodie Schickter at one.
Speaker 5: Point did not know that South African.
Speaker 1: South African, Yes, but now really like forty years on,
Speaker 1: so where are we now. We have two sort of
Speaker 1: cities that people are trying to pitch for. The one
Speaker 1: is Johannesburg with the old track Kyle Laumi that needs
Speaker 1: a few upgrades to get us to speak. The one
Speaker 1: kind it seems like a serious contended There is entertainment
Speaker 1: sort of promoter and it does some entertainment things like
Speaker 1: delicious festival on Carliami track already and you have the
Speaker 1: poche Ceo there that owns the track and so sounds
Speaker 1: like he will basically rent the track to whoever is
Speaker 1: the winner there on the johannes Bog side. But then
Speaker 1: we have a much more what some people would view
Speaker 1: as a much more iconic sort of destination, which is
Speaker 1: Cape Town, recently voted as the best city in the
Speaker 1: world by a Timeout magazine. You have the beautiful sort
Speaker 1: of table mountain and just all around sort of views
Speaker 1: Forday Robin Ireland, history of Nelson Mandela, so people view
Speaker 1: that as maybe an iconic sort of destination. There's two
Speaker 1: that we really went into a bit in the article.
Speaker 1: The one is a street race and that's being done
Speaker 1: by Telka, who's world renowned in terms of the sort.
Speaker 3: Of tracks that they build.
Speaker 1: You know, street tears might be difficult in capet On
Speaker 1: because it will lock up the city for quite a
Speaker 1: few weeks.
Speaker 3: But there is that proposal.
Speaker 1: And then there's a stadium outside of Cape Town that's
Speaker 1: being proposed. A new track, the Guard's Zing that actually
Speaker 1: owned Kyle Lamie in the eighties when the race was here,
Speaker 1: still here, when Formula one is still here. So these
Speaker 1: there is Bobby Hartsleeve, here's some US backers called Bounces Racing,
Speaker 1: and they seem very serious about what they want to
Speaker 1: achieve and they have interesting ideas on what they want
Speaker 1: to do there, like an Amphi theater, condominiums, things like that.
Speaker 2: So Lonie talk about maybe some of these proposals and
Speaker 2: the details you just said condominium. So they're looking to
Speaker 2: build an ecosystem around these.
Speaker 5: Tracks is what it sounds like.
Speaker 3: Yeah, one hundred percent.
Speaker 1: So let's start with the old track, Ki Armie, as
Speaker 1: I said, from the sixties student nineties, we had the
Speaker 1: Formula one race here. So they still have the track.
Speaker 1: The track is well maintained, but it needs some upgrades.
Speaker 1: As we said, Formula one is now a show. You
Speaker 1: need one hundred and twenty five thousand seaters. Kyloms only
Speaker 1: fifty thousand seaters, so you need to expand. That is Johannesburg.
Speaker 1: But then we have Cape Town. Cape Town is seen
Speaker 1: as the more iconic venue. Liberty has said it wants
Speaker 1: an iconic venue. I mean, you know, you have Monaco,
Speaker 1: you have those sort of cities.
Speaker 3: Recently Madrid that has come online.
Speaker 1: So you want to sort of compete and show off
Speaker 1: what we have in Africa.
Speaker 3: So they are planning a.
Speaker 1: Track then outside of about eight or nineteen miles from
Speaker 1: his old track Kylomy. They are planning a track outside
Speaker 1: of Cape Town and worth that an ecosystem, as you said,
Speaker 1: so Amphi theater to have shows. You have condominiums where
Speaker 1: rich guys with nice cars can sort of buy a
Speaker 1: condominium and then race around on the track on the
Speaker 1: weekend if there's.
Speaker 3: No sort of races normal weekend.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so that's the plan for the track that's back
Speaker 1: by Bounder's race. And then this is the street race
Speaker 1: that is beautiful and goes around the mountain and all
Speaker 1: of that, but has its own sort of sets of
Speaker 1: challenges if you have to sort of lock up the
Speaker 1: city for a few weeks.
Speaker 2: So all of these plans sound like they will require
Speaker 2: a lot of funds, a lot of capital in order
Speaker 2: to get things going. Clearly, people who pay attention to
Speaker 2: you know, the coverage that we have. It's not a
Speaker 2: great time economically for the continent, for the globe, but
Speaker 2: even for South Africa.
Speaker 5: So how would these funds be raised? Where would the
Speaker 5: capital actually come from?
Speaker 1: So talking to the different people around this, most of
Speaker 1: the funds will be privately raised. When we spoke to
Speaker 1: for instance, the bounds is raising people. The attraction is
Speaker 1: the sort of yields that the returns that you can
Speaker 1: get on your investment in Cape Town versus more developed
Speaker 1: markets like a Europe or so you returns.
Speaker 3: Are quite good.
Speaker 1: The government, the South African government sports minister, he's really
Speaker 1: keen on this.
Speaker 3: He's a new sports minister and he's very keen.
Speaker 1: He's been talking to sponsors trying to raise the money
Speaker 1: for a licensing fee. It's anything from about twenty million
Speaker 1: dollars to about fifty million dollars. So he's trying to
Speaker 1: raise that initial funding around just getting the licensing fee
Speaker 1: to the bidders. But there's lots to go with it,
Speaker 1: including roach. You need public links, transport, most of the
Speaker 1: people are saying minimal direct investment from government, but you
Speaker 1: do need some investment from government.
Speaker 5: So the government is supportive of this.
Speaker 3: They want very supportive.
Speaker 1: In fact, the minister said he would have failed in
Speaker 1: his sort of portfolio if he doesn't bring Fortuna one back.
Speaker 2: That is the South African case that you just presented there.
Speaker 2: Let's take a quick break and come back and talk
Speaker 2: about some of the.
Speaker 5: Other bidders from the continent. We'll be right back. Welcome back.
Speaker 2: Today we're talking about hopes for Formula one to return
Speaker 2: to the continent of Africa. We have our Bloomberg Senior
Speaker 2: Africa reporter here, Loni Prince Lou who has just reported.
Speaker 5: On this story for Bloomberg.
Speaker 2: So LONEI we talked about the South African bids just
Speaker 2: before the break. If you can share some of the
Speaker 2: other bidders from across the continent that we know who
Speaker 2: are trying to also bid for this license.
Speaker 1: So there's been some talk about interest from Rocco. When
Speaker 1: we spoke to sources the Morocco interests, they doesn't seem
Speaker 1: as far advanced as what South Africa and Randa is trying.
Speaker 1: So then let's talk about Rwanda Rivana has hosted a
Speaker 1: recent event for Formula one in Kigali, so they look
Speaker 1: very as that the president has said several times. You know,
Speaker 1: they are interested in getting into the bidding for Formula one.
Speaker 1: They are said to have some Middle Eastern backers for
Speaker 1: what they would need to bring it, you know, your
Speaker 1: track and stuff as well the broad in the Austrian
Speaker 1: sort of track designer to look at a track and
Speaker 1: all reasons. Romana looks very serious about their efforts. They
Speaker 1: have a bit of trouble currently where you know, they're
Speaker 1: involved in a war with the with the Congo, so
Speaker 1: that that could play into it for them in the
Speaker 1: shorter term. No one says I think I can only
Speaker 1: have one race. Yeah, you have several races. So we'll
Speaker 1: see how all of this plays out.
Speaker 3: Currently, the bits or eyed for twenty twenty seven.
Speaker 1: More realistically, it could be actually twenty twenty eight, just
Speaker 1: because of the time it'll take to if you have
Speaker 1: a proposal that seems like it could work, the time
Speaker 1: to put in everything that you would need and you
Speaker 1: take that backwards is about two years.
Speaker 2: So then learning maybe you can share what actually comes
Speaker 2: into the final decision.
Speaker 5: What is it that the FIA. What is it that
Speaker 5: they're looking for.
Speaker 2: Is it what you said, you know, an iconic backdrop
Speaker 2: like Caketown. Is it something where you know they can
Speaker 2: build an ecosystem around it. What will be factored into
Speaker 2: the final decision?
Speaker 1: What goes into it is a bit of sort of
Speaker 1: political role from them. They did say quite a few
Speaker 1: times that they are willing to bring the Rise back
Speaker 1: to Africa, but it comes with these challenges. As we said,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of infrastructure that needs to come with us.
Speaker 1: You need the track, you need one hundred and twenty
Speaker 1: five thousand siters.
Speaker 3: You need to manage.
Speaker 1: The traffic that comes with all of that, You need
Speaker 1: to manage the security. It comes with all these famous drivers,
Speaker 1: and you know it's just catering fabric transport. Having an
Speaker 1: airport thirty minutes that's one of their requirements as well,
Speaker 1: having an airport thirty minutes from your track.
Speaker 3: So the list is quite extensive. I think it's more
Speaker 3: than three pages.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 1: So it's a massive list of requirements that you need.
Speaker 1: And as we know Africa, you know we have some
Speaker 1: issues with limited infrastructure, but we've hosted the World Cup
Speaker 1: soccer before.
Speaker 2: Sold is away I think that's what many many people
Speaker 2: are hoping for, at least on the government side. We've
Speaker 2: talked for a while, and I think you mentioned this.
Speaker 2: F one has talked about coming back to the continent
Speaker 2: for a while. Lewis Hamilton is one of those who's
Speaker 2: been a big proponent of that. Actually he pitched it
Speaker 2: to former President Nelson Mandela and it didn't happen, right
Speaker 2: for various reasons. Does this actually seem like it could
Speaker 2: realistically happen?
Speaker 1: Realistically, it does look like it could potentially happen, But
Speaker 1: there's so many other interested parties.
Speaker 3: There's talent that sounds a good chance.
Speaker 1: I mean, and there's also limited races, only twenty four races,
Speaker 1: limited slots, lots lots of interest in hosting eras. South
Speaker 1: Africa has tried before quite recently, so there was twenty
Speaker 1: twenty in twenty twenty three that tried again and there
Speaker 1: was some sort of financial issues around renting the track.
Speaker 1: So hopefully everyone has sort of gone through the snacks
Speaker 1: that there is around it and this time around.
Speaker 3: You can make quite a serious proposal and get it
Speaker 3: back with it.
Speaker 1: That's like twenty twenty seven eight, but yoll get it
Speaker 1: ultimately have a raised.
Speaker 3: It's a spectacular show.
Speaker 1: It brings a lot of you know twitters to that
Speaker 1: hasn't seen many of our sides before.
Speaker 2: And that's our Bloomberg senior Africa reporter Lonely PRINCELYU there.
Speaker 2: Thanks so much, Lonie for joining us, and you can
Speaker 2: read Loney's coverage right now across Bloomberg platforms. Here's some
Speaker 2: of the other stories we're watching in the region this week.
Speaker 2: African countries are concerned that the US may withdraw military
Speaker 2: cooperation and aid, which has helped them fight against terrorists
Speaker 2: and rebellions. US military leaders and officials have expressed concerns
Speaker 2: about the potential withdrawal of aid, and some have hinted
Speaker 2: that it may not continue in its current form. And
Speaker 2: the US Attorney's Office in the District of Utah unsealed
Speaker 2: charges against four citizens accused of participating in a failed
Speaker 2: coup attempt in the Democratic Republic of Congo last year.
Speaker 2: The four men face charges of conspiring to provide material
Speaker 2: support and resources, conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction,
Speaker 2: conspiracy to bomb places of government facilities, and conspiracy to
Speaker 2: kill or kidnap persons in a foreign country. According to
Speaker 2: the statement, and you can follow these stories across Bloomberg,
Speaker 2: including the Next African Newsletter. Will put a link to
Speaker 2: that in the show notes. This program was produced by
Speaker 2: Adrian Bradley. Don't forget to follow and review this sh
Speaker 2: show wherever you usually get your podcasts. I'm Jennifer Zabasaja.
Speaker 2: Thanks as always for listening. We'll see you next week.