Formula 1’s Red Bull Racing team has formally reintroduced itself as Oracle Red Bull Racing in a reported five-year, $500 million title sponsorship deal with the technology firm.

Oracle Red Bull Racing also unveiled its new car, the RB18, with Max Verstappen behind the wheel once again. 

Teams introduced for the upcoming season have a cost cap of $145 million. Red Bull team principal Christian Horner told The Associated Press that the deal will help the team force efficiency despite the new financial regulations. 

The 2021 World Championship-winning team used Oracle Cloud Infrastructure last year, but the entities are enhancing their relationship to “further improve race strategy, engine development, and projects within Red Bull Advanced Technologies.”

• The team ran 1,000 times more race simulations in 2021 than the previous year using OCI, helping improve accuracy.
• Simulation speed jumped by 10 times, assisting race strategists in making quick decisions.
• OCI also reduced costs of simulations.

Red Bull Gives Oracle Wings

There were a few other initiatives included in the team’s announcement.

The companies launched The Red Bull Racing Paddock last year, a loyalty platform powered by OCI for fans that allows a direct line of communication with the team. More features will be unveiled this year, including the ability to create content.

Oracle is also working with Red Bull Powertrains to develop F1 engines set to debut in 2026, and partnering with Red Bull Advanced Technologies to “develop the next generation of world-class drivers.”

The media rights for one of the most popular sports leagues in the world are coming up for sale, and the bidding is attracting media giants.

The Indian Premier League’s five-year broadcasting deal with Disney-owned Star India is expiring this year, and the Board of Control for Cricket in India is preparing to solicit bids.

The next deal is likely to garner more than double the $2.5 billion gained from the previous pact, which included both linear and streaming rights.

Disney would like to retain the rights after buying Star India and its streaming service Hotstar in 2019 as part of a $71 billion deal with 21st Century Fox. 

• Sony, which is merging its India segment with Zee Entertainment to create a major media conglomerate in the country, is reportedly eyeing the cricket league rights.
• Viacom18, a venture of ViacomCBS and Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries (market cap: $220 billion), is also reportedly likely to explore a bid. 
• Amazon and Netflix have also been speculated as potential bidders, though Netflix has never acquired live sports rights.

Cricket Fever

The cricket league may be the most-watched sports product in the world: Its 2021 season brought in 380 million viewers as of September, despite a four-month suspension due to the pandemic. That figure was higher than any of the last three seasons.

Fox Corp. exceeded expectations in its fiscal second quarter with $4.44 billion in revenue thanks to the growth of its streaming platform Tubi and advertising revenue driven by the NFL. 

The mass-media company surpassed Wall Street estimates of $4.25 billion in revenue for fiscal Q2 2022 but reported a net loss of $73 million during the quarter, primarily due to the change in fair value of its investment in Dublin-based sports betting company Flutter Entertainment. 

The NFL’s media rights deal with Fox fueled growth for the company during the quarter. 

• Its television division posted $2.7 billion in revenue, an 8% increase year-over-year.
• Ad revenue reached $2.4 billion compared to $2.2 billion in fiscal Q2 2021.
• The company pocketed $1.7 billion in affiliate fee revenue, an 11% increase year-over-year. 

In April 2020, Fox acquired Tubi for $440 million, the latter having 25 million monthly active users at the time of the deal. Currently, the platform has 51 million monthly active users who streamed 3.6 billion hours of content in fiscal Q2 2022, a 40% increase year-over-year. 

Running it Back 

Last March, the NFL finalized its media rights deals with CBS, NBC, Disney, Amazon, and Fox with contracts worth $113 billion over 11 seasons, beginning with the 2023 season.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said the league will work with broadcasters to incorporate legal sports betting into the deals.