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Speaker 1: We want to move on to something now that is,

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Speaker 1: of course, something that all sports fans are excited about.

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Speaker 2: Anyone who is a fan of.

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Speaker 1: Las Vegas is excited about because Formula one is preparing

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Speaker 1: to race right through the neon heart of the city

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Speaker 1: of sin the three point eight mile track, where we've

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Speaker 1: passed world famous casinos and hotels, with drivers reaching speeds

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Speaker 1: of up to two hundred and twelve miles per hour.

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Speaker 2: This is a giant undertaking.

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Speaker 1: It required an investment of five hundred million dollars and

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Speaker 1: I'm pleased to say that joining us now is Greg Mafay,

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Speaker 1: CEO of Liberty Media, the parent company of Formula One. Greg,

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Speaker 1: thank you so much for joining us. I'm sure you're

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Speaker 1: very excited. Gives a sense of what the last minute

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Speaker 1: preparation looks like right now from where you sit.

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Speaker 3: Thank you for having me. Well, we are all very excited.

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Speaker 3: I think that all of Las Vegas is gearing up

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Speaker 3: and we're ensuring that the track, the barriers are set.

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Speaker 3: We're ensuring that the track is clear and clean, and

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Speaker 3: we're ready to go.

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Speaker 2: You're ready to go.

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Speaker 1: And of course there's been a couple of US Grand Prix.

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Speaker 1: There's been one in Austin, there's been one in my

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Speaker 1: and a lot of people say that the Awesome one

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Speaker 1: really felt like it was one for the people, for

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Speaker 1: regular fans, while the one in Miami and now the

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Speaker 1: one in Vegas feels more like it's for corporate sponsors

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Speaker 1: and the ticket prices are a little bit more out

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Speaker 1: of reach. How worried are you that three US GRANP

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Speaker 1: races might be a little bit too much and differentiating

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Speaker 1: between these different races, Well.

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Speaker 3: First, I think each of the races has a different character,

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Speaker 3: and they're very have characteristics which make them unique and

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Speaker 3: special and all worthy. I do think Vegas is going

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Speaker 3: to be unique in that it's a night race down

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Speaker 3: the strip.

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Speaker 4: On a Saturday night.

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Speaker 3: I think it's going to be iconic, the visuals will

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Speaker 3: be amazing, and I am not worried about demand because

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Speaker 3: we have been lucky enough to see interest in Formula

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Speaker 3: one explode here in the US, partly due to Netflix,

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Speaker 3: partly due to social media, partly due to the quality

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Speaker 3: of the product. We've seen increasing fan interest with fans

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Speaker 3: of all ages and all different sorts of levels attention

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Speaker 3: and knowledge grow as an audience group.

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Speaker 5: Well, when you think about how to keep that momentum going,

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Speaker 5: how to keep building the sport in the US.

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Speaker 2: Do you think that F one needs a US star

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Speaker 2: to do that?

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Speaker 3: Well, I think a US star would be great, But

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Speaker 3: we don't seem to have a problem. We've had an

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Speaker 3: English star, we've had a Dutch star, and we have

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Speaker 3: a lot of people who love Lando Norris or Carlos

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Speaker 3: Signs or Charles Lecleric. So there's interest in all nationalities.

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Speaker 3: That doesn't seem to have stopped a lot of interest

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Speaker 3: in the sport.

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Speaker 5: And so let's talk about to how Liberty actually profits

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Speaker 5: from this. So, as I understand it, you're the promoter

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Speaker 5: for Vegas, so you have direct ownership of the actual race.

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Speaker 5: How does that turn into a profit and what's the

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Speaker 5: timeline there.

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Speaker 3: Well, we have a bunch of big revenue streams as

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Speaker 3: Formula one. We've got broadcasts, We've got sponsorship, we have

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Speaker 3: promoter fees where the promoter pays us a fee. There

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Speaker 3: may be some overrides for success. In this case, we

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Speaker 3: are the promoter. We are taking in all of the

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Speaker 3: local sponsorship, we are taking in all of the ticketing money,

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Speaker 3: we're taking in the hospitality. We will share that with

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Speaker 3: the teams. Obviously, after expenses, we'll share that with the teams.

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Speaker 1: Greg I got to ask you about Andretti. Of course,

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Speaker 1: this is another team that the FIA has approved, but Liberty,

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Speaker 1: as the commercial holder of the race, hasn't yet done so,

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Speaker 1: and we know that there's some concerns among other team

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Speaker 1: principles that maybe are against expanding the grid.

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Speaker 2: Do you think it is inevitable?

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Speaker 4: No, nothing's inevitable.

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Speaker 3: I think there's a process which Formula one will go through.

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Speaker 4: We will look at what a new team can offer.

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Speaker 3: We're blessed with ten very strong teams, a lot of excitement,

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Speaker 3: but we'll look at how a new team, which would

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Speaker 3: be sharing in the growth and sharing in the profitability

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Speaker 3: of the sport. We'll look and see how what they

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Speaker 3: can bring to the table and whether the best entrant

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Speaker 3: to expand our team roster.

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Speaker 2: What are the terms that you're considering.

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Speaker 1: I'm just wondering what kind of timeline are you operating

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Speaker 1: under it in thinking of making a decision here.

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Speaker 3: Oh, I think you'll see it over the next several months.

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Speaker 3: But we don't have a set deadline, and so greg.

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Speaker 5: I also want to talk about pretty much the sport

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Speaker 5: more broadly, are you seeing more people try to come

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Speaker 5: in and buy F one teams?

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Speaker 2: What does that look like?

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Speaker 4: Absolutely so.

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Speaker 3: Liberty has been involved with F one for about seven

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Speaker 3: years now, and literally when we started, the bottom team

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Speaker 3: got sold for one pound. Manner went into a receivership

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Speaker 3: in the UK equivalent of bankruptcy and no one would

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Speaker 3: buy them.

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Speaker 4: And now the bottom teams.

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Speaker 3: Are probably worth close to a billion dollars, maybe seven

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Speaker 3: fifty seven hundred and fifty million dollars, and the top

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Speaker 3: teams are probably worth three billion. We've seen an explosion

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Speaker 3: in prices and we've seen a huge growth in demand.

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Speaker 3: Most recently, an investor group bought into Alpen, including people

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Speaker 3: like Rory McElroy and Ryan Reynolds. So not only do

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Speaker 3: we have a lot of investor interests, we have a

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Speaker 3: lot of a highly pro high profile investor interests.

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Speaker 1: More investor interest means an expansion of the sport.

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Speaker 2: Of course, I hate to go back to the idea.

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Speaker 1: Of an eleventh team here, but I do wonder the

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Speaker 1: environmental considerations of widening the grid as one. I'm sure

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Speaker 1: this is something you think about as well. What kind

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Speaker 1: of emissions, pollutions, logistics challenges does that present, and how

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Speaker 1: do you think through doing the due diligence for that.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I think the eleventh team is just part of

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Speaker 3: our One of the considerations is that we have a

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Speaker 3: twenty thirty zero carbon plan. We'll have in the new

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Speaker 3: engine in twenty twenty six comes forth, which is a

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Speaker 3: hybrid engine that'll be with a sustainable fuel. But we're

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Speaker 3: looking to make the whole ecosystem environmentally friendly. Eleventh team

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Speaker 3: may stress that and add to that a little, but

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Speaker 3: I don't think we can absorb that for the right

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Speaker 3: team because we have a plan that I think is

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Speaker 3: very sound.

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Speaker 5: All Right, Greg, it's great to get some time with

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Speaker 5: you really appreciate it. That is Greg Mfay, of course,

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Speaker 5: the president and CEO of Liberty Media.