Formula 1 could be set for an early renewal of the Concorde Agreement between teams and the sports’ owners, according to Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei.
The current Concorde Agreement signed in 2020 runs until the end of the 2025 season, which is when the next deal was expected to be negotiated, but that timeline may be shortened with the sport enjoying unprecedented profitability for both teams and Liberty.
The Concorde Agreement is a contract between F1, the FIA and teams on the grid, each constructor must sign it to compete in the sport.
“They see the benefits of the regime that we’ve created together and the benefit of extended that deal,” Maffei told a Goldman Sachs event. “And what we’re basically talking about is the early renewal of a deal that’s very similar to the terms that they have today.
“That’s a benefit, we can all sell sponsors, broadcasters, we can sell all people on the certainty of the sport and de-risk it in the future.
Historically the Concorde Agreement was a fight and never got signed until after the season had already ended and they were operating backward on what was already paid.
“We got it done this time and we’re trying to change the dynamic with the teams, we’re far more aligned with the value that we’re growing together, growing the pie has been a positive thing for everybody and providing stability and certainty about where we’re going is the benefit to them.”
Maffei: F1 could push for bigger revenue share
Currently, the teams get a bigger cut of profits from the sport than F1 owners, but Maffei also hinted that could be about to change.
He has previously commented that Liberty would enter the next Concorde Agreement negotiations with a strong negotiating position, and highlighted teams’ revenue from F1 could go up even if their share goes down.
“You’ve seen the value of F1 rise dramatically but the reality is the team’s valuations have increased much faster,” Maffei added. “It doesn’t mean they want to pay us more, but if you look over the last five years, that percentage had gone down.
