Well it’s been announed that the 2009 Race of Champions is going to be held in the Bird’s Nest, Beijing of all places.
Don’t believe me? Well just take a look here my friends.
It’ll be the first international sports event to take place in China’s national stadium since the 2008 Olympics.
The thing that’s worrying me is the organisers claim to have moved the event because of a fall in spectator tickets being bought.
Right so moving the event half way across the world is going to boost spectator numbers is it?
I admit, Wembley and the Stade de France might not have been as spectacular looking as the Bird’s Nest but they were central locations to motorsport fans all over the world.
How is the average loyal European motorsport fan going to be able to afford to get to the ROC now?
Loyalty to your sport is one thing but having enough money to follow it that far is another thing entirely and this is where the organisers are going to lose out.
Maybe they were thinking that holding the event in such a stadium would attract more TV viewers and this is what makes me laugh the most….
The ROC attracted a primarily European audience. Broadcasted live at a prime time on Eurosport fans could sit down late on a Saturday afternoon and watch motorsport to their hearts content into the early evening.
If Eurosport still plans to broadcast it live us Europeans will have no other option than staying up until the early hours if we want a piece of the live action, that’s not really going to boost viewing numbers is it?!
Plus, it’s the end of a motorsport season, all the drivers will be tired and after months of travelling the globe all they’ll be wanting to do is spend time with their families. All these drivers are based in Europe…how many of them are going to want to hop on another ten hour flight?
I would love to meet the person who came up with this fantastic plan, it’s absolutely pants in my eyes and a real kick in the teeth to dedicated motorsport fans.
Rant over, well maybe not, this one’s going to annoy me for a while.
Daft people, why don’t they think things through?!
Remote:Service 
I totally agree and I for one won’t be watching it now. The whole point of it was to watch it live, you get all the atmosphere that way – are we still really going to get all of that through an edited ‘highlights’ programme? I don’t think so somehow.
Bad decision on the organisers part.