Good news for an expansion of Formula E’s media footprint is said to be coming soon, but it has to prioritise improvement in the United States specifically – according to one of its highest-profile personalities.
Formula E and the majority of its teams covet the US as one of the most important commercial territories, and Andretti Autosport CEO and chairman Michael Andretti has told The Race at the Portland E-Prix that the all-electric world championship has to ramp up its presence in the US.
Formula E raced on the east and west coasts of the US in its first season at Miami and Long Beach, and while the latter race stayed on the calendar for the second season in 2015-16, Miami – a race that Andretti helped promote and market – was only run once.
The Red Hook circuit in Brooklyn hosted races between 2017 and 2022 but was both expensive and logistically difficult, with its future cut off by an expansion of the ferry industry in and around where the Formula E race was held.
The inaugural Portland E-Prix this weekend is essentially a stop-gap race before a hoped-for deal should take Formula E to Los Angeles in 2025.
Andretti said that in his opinion “TV is everything to all sports, so I’m anxious to see what they’re looking at for the future”.
“Right now, I’m not happy with where we are, they’ve definitely got to improve it and make it better, where people can follow the whole weekend, every practice,” he added.
“It’ll be interesting to see what they’re going to come up with in the future.”
The Race understands that Formula E is set to reveal expanded coverage details in the near future although exactly what form that will take is presently unknown.
Formula E has been in negotiations with the Dodgers Stadium organisation for several months. The facility has been the home of the LA Dodgers baseball team since 1962 and Andretti is believed to have assisted Formula E with a proposed race at the facility, being targeted for 2025.
Some modifications to aspects of the stadium entrances are believed to be needed before a race can be agreed and delivered.
“We need to get to markets like Los Angeles and New York,” said Andretti.
“We were in New York, it’s a shame we lost that, but I think LA is really important because of the way that everybody looks at the environment and things like that there.
“I think we’ve got a big following for us there [LA], it’s important, and we’ve got to get to a couple of those big markets eventually. Personally, the stadium model would be awesome.
“I think LA would be a good one.”
Andretti joined team principals in a meeting at Portland on Thursday where future calendar plans and some media strategies were outlined and discussed.
Andretti team principal Roger Griffiths agreed with his chairman’s viewpoints but expanded on why it is deemed so important for Formula E to succeed in the US.
“Trying to find Formula E in the US has been notoriously difficult, it’s almost played second or third fiddle to pretty much every other sport on the planet,” Griffiths said.
“I think getting on a channel where people can find it, find it consistently, obviously in the US we deal with the timezone issues more so than in Europe so I think it’s a combination of a few things.
“Having more races in the US will, for sure, help. I don’t think honestly switching from New York to Portland is going to make a great deal of difference if it’s only one race.
“It’s a large enough continent that it can support two or three races, other championships are demonstrating that.”
