27/02/2005
FEATURE BY MIKE LAWRENCE
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When it comes to sport, Johnny American is a pretty rum cove. The overwhelming philosophy of the country is free enterprise, but not in sport. A Major League baseball team is a Major League baseball team no matter if it loses every game it plays, It is so because it holds a franchise to be a Major League baseball team.
We now have a franchise system in Formula One and, behind the scenes, the sport is tearing itself apart with Ferrari signed to Bernie Ecclestone and other teams either coming out for the GPWC or threatening to. At the heart of the dispute is the franchise system, which means money.
There was a time when you could buy a second hand F1 car, find a driver with money, and enter the car in the odd race. If the car and driver were good enough, they got on the grid because they had set a time, not because they were part of a franchise. In 1977, a guy called Frank Williams, bought a secondhand March (he thought he was buying a new one, but Max Mosley was the salesman) and entered it in the odd race while his mate, Patrick Head, set about designing the Williams FW06. In 1978 Nelson Piquet did one race in an Ensign, three in an old McLaren M23 and was so impressive that he was signed by Brabham which, back then, was owned by Bernie Ecclestone.
Remember the Rondel F1 car? It didn't do much, but what happened to the 'Ron' of Rondel?
From the point of view of the owner of an F1 team, the franchise system makes sense. The logic goes, if we restrict the number of teams, then every place on the grid has a financial value and we keep out the embarrassing teams like Andrea Moda.
Andrea Sassetti, who owned Andrea Moda, was merely incompetent, other team owners were forced to spend much time in small rooms. Akira Akagi, owner of Leyton House (formerly March), was one, he was guilty of a bond swindle involving US$ 2 billion. Dr. Jean Pierre van Rossem, owner of Onyx Grand Prix, was another who was housed and fed at public expense. In its late, woeful, stages, Brabham had two owners, Joachim Luhti and Ted Ball, who were both banged up.
One co owner of the Larrousse team, Didier Calmas, murdered his wife, she got stroppy after finding him in bed with one of the team's drivers and she wrecked his suits. He was replaced by 'Rainier Walldorf' who, under his real name, Klaus Waltz, was wanted by the police in several countries for, among other things, four murders. He died in a siege involving the German police. He had been arrested by the French police, but a hand grenade had won that argument.
Then there was Gonzalez Luna, who set up a team called GLAS, and raised US$20 million in sponsorship, he even had Lamborghini on board. In the summer of 1990, Luna vanished with all the money and is still being sought by the Mexican police. Lamborghini tried to make the best from a pretty raw deal which is why there was a Lamborghini F1 on the grid in 1991, occasionally. Lamborghini's record reads six starts and 26 failures to make the grid.
There was the time when a senior member of a top team was bundled into a van, taken to a quiet place and introduced to the joys of baseball, from the point of view of the ball. He had borrowed money from a 'financier' (later gaoled) so he could take control of an F1 team. The story was reported in The Daily Mail, with names given, but no complaint was made to the police.
By introducing a franchise system, and requiring a substantial bond to be deposited, Formula One winnowed out some colourful characters. It also made a franchise an asset, provided there are more potential teams than places on the grid which has not been the case for some years. When TWR Arrows collapsed, it was worth little because there was nobody gagging to get into Formula One. At the subsequent auction, Paul Stoddart picked up a huge amount of kit for £2 million, even a nut and bolt in F1 is expensive because it is made to aviation standards, no schmutter here. Stoddart had already benefited from the demise of TWR Arrows because, as one of only ten remaining teams, Minardi automatically qualified for a slice of the television money.
When Jordan Grand Prix was in trouble, Eddie was lucky because there was a buyer in the Midland Group. Buying Jordan meant that Midland did not have to post a bond of US$ 48 million, which is returned in tranches over the first year, provided the team turns up. With Jordan came a slice of the television revenue from the start. Midland could have come in as a fresh outfit, as was the original plan, but even had they won every race for three years, Midland would have got nothing from TV.
One other thing that Midland bought was the FOCA travel deal, which was one of the foundations of Bernie's packaging. People forget what a hit and miss business Formula One was before Bernie came along. Bernie guaranteed organisers 20 cars on the grid there had been times when there were fewer than 20 cars. Bernie chartered aircraft to fly teams to countries like Brazil and Japan, which made life easier for everyone, especially the organisers because they knew 20 cars would arrive once they had bought the package.
The FOCA travel deal was once worth a huge amount to a team, but its importance has diminished as it has become a smaller part of the overall budget. It was once a revolutionary concept and it was Bernie's idea, just as packaging Formula One for television was Bernie's idea. Neither was just an idea, he worked hard to make them happen.
Now let us consider ice hockey. It is a game which once had a strong following in North America and, in particular, Canada. In Canada, ice hockey even beats sex with a grizzly bear. The National Hockey League has just cancelled the 2004 5 season. The current season is no more, there will be no champion team in 2005. Forever there will be a blank in the records. There has been a dispute over pay, which led to a strike by the players and a shut down by the team owners.
Nobody knows whether there will be an NHL come the start of the new season. The broadcasters are not best pleased can you imagine thinking of ways to fill prime time TV when you have scheduled maybe 250 hours and thought it a done deal? Many of the fans will have discovered other ways to pass their time. America is driven by the notion of free enterprise, but there have been strikes by players in both baseball and what they call 'football' (no feet, no ball). Funny, but all three sports are operated on a franchise system, just like Formula One, and the disputes have all been about money, just like Formula One.
In English football it is theoretically possible for even Arsenal to be relegated to a lower division. (Woo-Hoo! - Ed) Every other club in the Premiership has been relegated at some time since the Football League was instituted in 1919, and the rules allow for Arsenal to be relegated as though Arsenal was some ordinary club, like Manchester United or Tottenham Hotspur. Tell your children not to worry, it will never actually happen, we don't want tears at bedtime, do we?
At the other end of the scale, consider Northampton Town FC. Northampton used to be a quiet country town of no particular distinction. Then Britain's first arterial motorway, the M1, was built connecting London to Birmingham, England's second largest city and the centre of what was then a major automobile industry. The M1 went right by Northampton and people soon latched on to the fact that the town is halfway between London and Birmingham. That is one reason why Cosworth moved to Northampton and why motor racing is now a big industry in the town and immediate area.
In the 1950s, Northampton was chiefly known for shoe making so Northampton Town FC's nickname is 'The Cobblers', and never has a team been more aptly named. It barely survived in the Football League and had to seek re election. Then a miracle happened, between 1961 and 1965 Northampton Town moved from Division Four to Division One. For one glorious season, 1965 6, Arsenal, Man. U., Spurs, all played in Northampton and, back then, Spurs was a considerable side. (Woo-Hoo! - Ed) It didn't last and Northampton was back in Division Four by 1970. Northampton Town is no longer even in the Football League, but it did once earn the right to play at the top level of what was then arguably the best league in the world England won the World Cup in 1966.
The Cobblers had their chance and that is something that a franchise system denies. Sport is not just about playing and winning, it is about dreaming. One of the very best stories in motor racing is the story of the Connew F1 car. Peter Connew and two mates built an F1 car and it ran in the 1972 Austrian GP. It was not a very good car, it qualified last and ran last until it retired, but Peter Connew reckons it was a complete success. He set out to build a Formula One car and he built one. I reach for Peter Higham's The International Motor Racing Guide, a book always to hand, and there I find Connew listed with Ferrari, McLaren and Williams.
Would there have been a dispute in the NHL if the moment that the players from a top team downed their sticks, another team skated into the empty space? There is no other team because you either hold a franchise or you do not. There are plenty of small teams playing ice hockey, but no matter what they do, they cannot win a place in the NHL on merit alone, they cannot do a Northampton Town.
The franchise system in sport takes away the dream of the little guy, you and me. Nobody can do today what Frank Williams did in 1977.
There is no way of knowing whether there will be a National (ice) Hockey League later this year, things are that bad. The game will continue while there are two kids with skates, sticks and something to hit around, but professional ice hockey may be consigned to history There may never be another Wayne Gretzky. Most people in the world have never heard of Wayne Gretzky, but that is not something you say in Canada.
If the NHL fails to re emerge, as may happen, it will tell us everything we need to know about franchised sport dependent on television. How is Champ Car doing? How goes the Indy Racing League? Do you know how badly baseball is doing? Baseball was not doing well before the Barrie Bonds drug scandal, baseball is not looking good.
Northampton Town FC is still in business. It is in Division Two of the Coca Cola (semi pro) League where the players' car parks are wall to wall with Fords, not Ferraris and Bentleys. The thing about Northampton Town is that it could get to the top of the Coca Cola League, get back into the Football League and, on merit alone, it could be playing host to the likes of Arsenal, your actual Gunners. Northampton Town has done it once and the possibility still exists. Northampton Town FC spent one glorious season in the top division of what could be argued was then the world's best football league.
For me, the story of 'The Cobblers' is the spirit of sport. That is why I like the story of the Connew F1 car, and the Rondel and the March 761 (actually an ex Brambilla 751 as sold
by the current FIA President, do not buy a used car from this man) which plain Mr. Williams ran for Patrick Neve in 1977. Mr. Williams had his chance, and he took his chance when the sport was open. He is now Sir Frank and may good fortune ever fill his sails.
The franchise system denies the likes of you and me the chance to dream. It is the work of Beelzebub.
To check out previous features from Mike, click here