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MOTORSPORT: V8 Supercars confirm Warburton as CEO
It had been no secret for a month but it's now official that former free-to-air TV boss James Warburton is taking the 'steering wheel' of Australia's major race seriesOwner hails latest appointment as 'ideal fit'
In the week of its new American event, V8 Supercars has confirmed James Warburton as its fourth chief executive in five years.
But the former Network Ten CEO, and before that sales supremo at Seven, won't be in the "driver's seat" at the Austin 400 in Texas this weekend – he won't start until next month. Warburton's appointment follows the short tenures of David Malone, Martin Whitaker and Cameron Levick as V8 Supercars CEO.
No announcement has been made yet on a replacement for chairman James Strong, who died in early March just months after the exit of long-time executive chairman Tony Cochrane.
Warburton, who departed Ten in February, claims to have been "a life-long fan" of the V8 Supercar Championship. He said the track action had been the best since what he labelled the "seamless" introduction this year of the Car of the Future – which has seen four Nissan Altimas and three Mercedes-Benz AMG E63s join Holden Commodores and Ford Falcons in the series – and he could not wait to get started in his new role and saw growth potential in the business.
Confirming the appointment foreshadowed in the Australian Financial Review last month, while ex-pay TV executive Malone was still in the job, V8 Supercars director Andrew Gray – of majority owner, private equity company Archer Capital – said Warburton was "an ideal fit" for the position. Gray said Warburton had an "extensive track record in the television, sales and commercial fields, as well as strong knowledge of the sport".
"He is incredibly well credentialed and enjoys support from a wide cross-section of business leaders as the right person for the role," Gray said.
Roland Dane, owner of top team Triple Eight Race Engineering/Red Bull Racing Australia and also a director of V8 Supercars, said Warburton had been seen by the board as "an extremely shrewd and capable CEO".
One of Warburton's major tasks will be to get a more lucrative TV contract for the sport than the diminished deal Malone was forced to make with incumbent Seven for this year and next after supposed "competitive tension" between networks failed to materialise. The Financial Review has reported that Archer, which bought control of V8 Supercars two years ago, is "concerned about a lack of revenue from the new television deal and having no naming rights sponsor after the organisation was unable to find a buyer to pay $3.5 million annually to replace Telstra".
"Archer will be hoping he (Warburton) is able to achieve a big uplift in the $18 million in cash Seven is paying now, considering the private equity firm will probably attempt to exit its investment in the sport by 2016," wrote the paper's sports business correspondent John Stensholt. "There is speculation World Sports Group, which former Network Ten sports director David White runs in Australia, could be a potential buyer."
Stensholt also wrote in the report carrying an "exclusive" tag that the V8 Supercars organisation was "undergoing a tough round of cost-cutting ordered by Archer".
"It is understood the revenue for the V8s will be about $180 million this year, with profits of at least $20 million to $25 million," he said.
Stensholt said those figures were "understood to be less than the $30-35 million recorded in 2011, when Archer paid $160 million to former owners Sport & Entertainment Ltd for a 60 per cent stake in the sport, the remainder of which is owned by the team owners and Tony Cochrane".
The $180 million estimate looks exceedingly bullish and would mean that the latest TV deal only accounts for 10 per cent of the organisation's income. A profit of $20-25 million also would be in stark contrast to the zero dividend teams now receive from "V8 Central".
The $18 million from Seven will be largely offset by telecast production costs, perhaps amounting to two-thirds of that amount – or $12 million.
Stensholt's report also highlighted that V8 Supercars is facing "crucial negotiations" with the NSW and Queensland governments over the extension of contracts involving public funds for the Sydney 500 at Homebush and the Gold Coast 600 and Townsville and Ipswich rounds of the championship.
Picture courtesy V8 Supercars
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Written byGeoffrey Harris
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