The negotiations are already quite advanced and the knot to be untied is the fee: Amazon wants to add another sport to the Prime Video offer and aims at the top
After the Champions League, now Amazon aims at Formula 1: "They are an incredibly important potential partner and an opportunity for us to expand and grow our business," Chase Carey, managing director of F1, told the Financial Times.
Carey's words to the Financial Times show that this is not an indiscretion waiting to be confirmed, but a negotiation that is truly underway. Even if it won't be an easy negotiation, since the financial newspaper also says that at the moment positions are still distant on the main point: how much Amazon will pay to broadcast Formula One races. Not a small detail, but fundamental given the very serious economic losses suffered by the "Circus" due to the Covid pandemic, which blew up half the 2020 championship. Amazon's interest, however, is clear and evident: to position itself as the leading platform for live broadcasting (but also deferred on demand) of top-level sporting events.
The negotiation
If Carey announced the negotiation between Liberty Media, the company that owns and manages the F1 championship, and Amazon the person who will close the deal will probably not be him: in January Carey will leave his post as CEO of Liberty Media to Italian Stefano Domenicali, former Team Principal of the Ferrari team and currently president and CEO of Lamborghini.
Carey said in fact that "active negotiations" are underway with Amazon, but are unlikely to be closed within the few days until Domenicali, who joins Liberty Media on Jan. 5, arrives.
Amazon and sports
Amazon is clear about the importance of the live sports business and has already won the rights to broadcast to Amazon Prime Video subscribers the English Premier League and, a few weeks ago, also the best matches of the UEFA Champions League and the Italian Super Cup.
But it has also focused on cricket, signing the agreement with the National Cricket Team of New Zealand, on the American football league by signing with the NFL, on tennis with ATP, US Open and WTA (women's tennis), on rugby with Autumn Nations Cup.