xsiveone

According to reports, BMW is prepared to offer Michael Schumacher several hundred million dollars for his services. The marketing possibilities for the two German giants would be astronomical and would seem like a logical move on BMW's part.

http://www.sportnetwork.net/main/s85....htm?fromrss=1

I'd personally hold out for $1.5 Billion.

AU N EGL

Damnnnnnn

Hey Mike care to sponsor a few Corvette Forum guys ??

yellow01

I honestly don't get this.

Does F1 really make companies that much money that they can pay drivers this much on top of the cost of running the cars?

I can understand NASCAR in the US generating revenues, but F1? Regardless of which I like more.

Obviously I'm wrong.

96LT1

"ONLY if they were willing to drive BMWs"

John Shiels

dwarfs NASCAR in audience by far I'll do it for nothing like JPM

0Randy@DRM

What does one of the highest paid drivers ever need? Well more money!!

Randy

0ATI Performance

F1 is for Europe (and maybe other parts of the world) what NASCAR is for the US. I learned several years ago from the head of Magneti Marrelli's racing electronics group, who makes all the electronics for Ferrari F1, that Ferrari's annual racing budget was $600M+ and there were about 1000 people involved in supporting the team.

I think Schumacher at that time got $60-70M/year (plus endorsement contracts) and was the highest paid athlete in the world. In Germany word was you could buy everything from Michael Schumacher underwear to cheese. Obviously Ferrari themselves could probably not afford it, but the sponsors like Marlboro pay big bucks.

Other big budgets at that time were Audi's factory ALMS team rumored at $300M (that kept finishing 1-2-3). Word was their operation was nothing short of an F1 scale, and it showed in their results.

AU N EGL

NOT A PROBLEM.

ghoffman

Impressive $$$ for an individual employee obviously, but for in the world of corporate finances, $600M is pocket change. A new Boeing 737 is $70M and Southwest Airlines which bills themselves as an economy airline has hundreds of them. What is fair? A USAF Captain flying an F-22 is getting paid about 1/1000 of Schumacher and has a ride that is about 1000 times as trick as any car. We all make our own choices I guess...

xsiveone

F1 is massive outside the US.

96CollectorSport

F1 Champions are national heros in Europe, NASCAR has it's followers but who ever wins the Daytona 500 isn't a national hero.
Americans tend to make Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie our hero's, I'm quite fond of Ms. Jolie but Americans need to get there priorities strait!
How many Americans would even know who Scott Speed is?

wtknght1

F1 is the most watch sport in the world...has been for years. Sponsors pay big bucks for that air time!!!!!!

flybyyou

good work if you can get it

corvette-pilot

I see your point. Just because a BMW F1 car wins a race, how doew that translate into a new car sale??
But if Jeff Gordon (insert your own drivers name) wins in his Chevy Monte Carlo, in theory this could produce more sales of that car. Maybe not like it used to when "stock" cars were really stock.

xsiveone

It's most likely because BMW would be aligning themselves with the greatest German F1 driver of all time. The endorsement deals would be huge.

That's partially why Ferrari wants Italian Valentino Rossi from MotoGP in one of their seats. In Italy, Rossi is absolutely huge.

This is also why I can't figure out why Renault wouldn't at least test someone like SeaBass. You'd think that they'd want a great French driver in one of their seats.

As far as Jeff Gordon and the Monte Carlo, I have said all along that if GM made the Monte Carlo at least somewhat similar to the NASCAR, they'd sell a ton of them. They need a rwd, V8 Monte Carlo.

M14

First, they need to learn how to run their business, or Renault will be building the rwd Monte Carlo!

xsiveone

Yes, but that's part of running their business. The biggest problem that I see with GM is product. They don't build enough of what consumers want to buy.

psycho-mullet

Advertising isn't about selling the product, it's about making it known.

When you go to the store people don't tyically purchase the brand they've never heard of in the package they've never seen. Nor do they typically go looking for products they've never even fathomed could possibly exist.

Not only do you need to create a great product but you need to make it available to the public, AND let them know it exists. If Marloboro stopped advertising how long would it take for us to forget about it? I have no idea, but apparently spending hundreds of millions on F1 cars to keep it in our consciousness isn't bankrupting them.

yellow01

Agreed.

And obviously all you guys are right, or F1 wouldn't spend so much $$ on it.

I see a big difference in the demographic that NASCAR and F1 appeal to, or target. NASCAR uses cars made by manufacturers with offerings that are affordable by most economic classes. F1, or ALMS by contrast, uses cars affordable only upper classes. So I thought the impact of a BMW winning F1 would be more muted than a Chevy winning NASCAR. I just figured F1 & ALMS by their nature appealed to a smaller cross-section because of more expensive cars, but I forgot about the other products.

The flaw in my logic was the (1) other sponsorships, and (2) the coolness/status factor.

For (1), clearly it isn't BMW paying Schumacher, it's BMW, Marlboro, this and that...and ultimately that adds up.

For (2), people who purchase BMWs, Audis, Ferraris, AMs etc. are willing and capable of paying for status. So I suppose there are plenty who will buy a Tag because it's the one Schumacher wears...

Clearly I'm just jealous

My flaw years ago was I picked a job that was needed in the world, vs. wanted

xsiveone

I just watched the German GP F1 practice this morning. I bet that BMW is getting tired of seeing a sea of red in the stands at their home GP because their German hero drives for Ferrari.