F1’s new Red Bull problem

It’s been a while since something new in sport really caught the attention of investors and fans alike. Perhaps the best recent example of disruption is the Indian Premier League, cricket’s all-star multibillion-dollar extravaganza. So what’s the next big thing in sport that people should be looking out for?

How about an elite Kabaddi league, a new global athletics competition, and a pan-South American football league? Those are the top picks from consultants at Two Circles in their new report: Sport’s Sprint to $260B, which examines where growth is most likely to come from between now and 2033. The UK-based firm, which advises clients across the industry from the English Premier League to World Rugby, believes these three ideas could all come good in the next decade, and emerge as sport’s new generation of “unicorns” — commercial entities with annual revenue of more than $1bn.

For those unfamiliar with Kabaddi — it is the second most popular sport in India, after cricket. It involves two teams of seven players trying to “raid” the opposition by touching their opponents before they can be tagged or tackled. A professional league already exists in India, with 12 franchise teams competing between December and March. But Two Circles thinks there’s scope for a challenger to emerge, especially if it includes a professional women’s league.

As for a new athletics contest, that could already be in the offing. Legendary US runner Michael Johnson recently announced plans for a new track league designed to be more TV-friendly. So watch this space.

This week we’re looking at the troubled start to Formula One’s new season, both on and off the track. Plus we’ll explain why a move by a group of college athletes to unionise is a potential game-changer for the multibillion dollar industry. Do read on — Josh Noble, sports editor

Red Bull drama overshadows F1’s return

Until very recently, the combination of Formula One and reality TV has made for a largely happy marriage. Netflix show Drive to Survive has transformed the sport’s fortunes by attracting a new generation of fans, and resulted in plenty of additional work for its producers.

But now reality is beginning to bite back, as the drama at reigning champions Red Bull overshadows the new season and reopens the debate about the culture inside F1.

At the centre of the storm is Red Bull team principal Christian Horner. He was accused of inappropriate behaviour by a colleague, the grievance was dismissed following an investigation by an external barrister, and then his accuser was suspended from the company this week. Horner has denied any wrongdoing throughout. You can read the latest here.

For Drive to Survive, which portrays the sport as a soap opera with the team principals as the lead protagonists, it no doubt makes for a very compelling plotline.

But for F1, the Red Bull drama is a major, unwanted distraction. The head of F1’s governing body told the FT last week it was “damaging the sport”.

Under US ownership, F1 has sought to present itself as forward-looking and inclusive, in a shift away from its long-ingrained macho-petrolhead culture.

Now there is concern that the growing focus on off-track events — which helped build the new fan base in the first place — risks setting back a sport that has done much to widen its appeal, especially with women and girls.

Already conscious that no woman has started a grand prix since Lella Lombardi almost 50 years ago, F1 has put its faith in a new driver academy to hone female racing talent. The sport has also used the #WeRaceAsOne initiative to tackle inequality. That’s the sort of thing F1 would like fans to be talking about.

As the F1 circus moves on to Jeddah today, a surprise character is making their debut. A bout of appendicitis has put Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz out of action, with British teenager Ollie Bearman taking his place.

But the racing itself looks unlikely to throw up an interesting new story to draw attention back to the track. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen roared to victory in Bahrain in the season opener last week, making the title race look like a foregone conclusion already.

How an Ivy League basketball team became the unlikely voice for unionising

Earlier this week, the Dartmouth men’s basketball team voted to form a labour union, the first athletes in US university history to officially organise. The step is potentially a watershed moment in college sports, an industry that generates tens of billions of dollars in revenue for universities, tens of millions in salary to top-tier coaches, and which for more than a century has yielded $0 in real compensation to the athletes themselves.

The first crack in the facade of amateurism came in 2021, after a US Supreme Court ruling found that the National Collegiate Athletics Association had unfairly restricted some benefits from athletes, leading the governing body to permit athletes to receive endorsement deals. Those benefits, known as name, image and likeness (NIL) compensation, allow companies to sponsor athletes for product marketing, and indeed some stars have made millions. But colleges, universities, and the NCAA still do not allow athletes to be paid directly by their schools for their performance on the pitch.

The vote by the Dartmouth hoops team — 13-2, with 100 per cent of eligible member turnout, to join the local Service Employees International Union Local 560 chapter — is the most significant progress towards the possibility of athletes becoming employees.

But how did this team from the Ivy League, whose global image projects prestige and establishment values, become the leading force in a paradigm-disrupting labour movement? The answer, in fact, is precisely because it is an Ivy League team.

Crucially, Ivy League schools, unlike most universities in the US, do not offer athletic scholarships, which includes discounts on tuition, putting the Dartmouth team at a relative legal advantage in their union fight.

They argued, successfully, to the National Labor Relations Board that they do receive compensation in the form of highly-coveted Ivy League admission, basketball shoes, equipment, game tickets and other benefits in exchange for Dartmouth College having significant oversight of their academic and athletic schedule and activities. In other words, their relationship already fits common-law definitions of employee-employer relations.

Dartmouth College, meanwhile, argued before the NLRB prior to the union vote that the men’s basketball team has operated at a loss for the past five years; the Big Green haven’t advanced to the NCAA Tournament since 1959, and their record this season is 6 wins to 21 losses, last in the Ivy League. Its players aren’t destined for the NBA, and there is low chance their distinction as employees would transform their individual fortunes.

There is a certain legal fight ahead, with Dartmouth College filing an objection to the union that the NLRB will review. Should the union designation end up, and prevail, in federal court, it could establish a nationwide precedent for athletes at other universities to be made employees and share in some of the billions in college sports revenues.

The Greek CEO leading AS Roma

In the FT’s Women in Business report, we profiled Lina Souloukou, chief executive of Italian football club AS Roma.

The 40-year-old turned a legal background and a love of volleyball into a sports career that has gone from strength to strength.

Since leaving Olympiacos, owned by shipping magnate Evangelos Marinakis, Souloukou has made herself at home in the Eternal City, tasked with leading AS Roma by Dan Friedkin, who led the €591mn acquisition of the club almost four years ago.

You can read about her rise to the C-suite here.

Transfer Market

• Ivan Gazidis, former chief executive of AC Milan and Arsenal, is back in the business. He’s the new president of Kilmer Sports Ventures, the group owned by Canadian tycoon Larry Tanenbaum, who chairs Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, owner of the National Hockey League’s Toronto Maple Leafs, the National Basketball Association’s Toronto Raptors, and Major League Soccer’s Toronto FC.

Final Whistle

Only a few weeks ago, Jürgen Klopp told the world that he would leave Liverpool FC this summer after almost nine years as manager.

The news appears to have bypassed one journalist, who asked the German “heavy metal football” pioneer if any players in Sparta Praha’s squad might be on his summer transfer list.

Klopp flashed his famously white grin as he made clear his mind is set on retirement.

In any case, Liverpool smashed in five goals away in Prague, making qualification for the quarter-finals of the Europa League all but certain.