RIO DE JANEIRO – Enthusiastic Brazilian fans, strong support from local authorities and a growing relationship with Brazilian television could help make Rio de Janeiro an annual fixture, Red Bull Air Race GmbH CEO Bernd Loidl said.
“Absolutely,” Loidl said when asked by journalists from Brazilian financial newspaper Brasil Economico if the race could be held here every year. “There’s always the option of staging a race on an annual basis in Rio de Janeiro -- or in Brazil -- because there is a terrific fan base here that we’re building with our host broadcasting cooperation with Globo and Globo Sat. That shows the fan base is growing fast and we want to contribute to that and give the people the chance to see the race not only on TV but with their own eyes, ears and senses at the race track. That’s what we’re hoping for.”
Loidl, who said he was looking forward to another huge crowd in Rio after a record 1 million watched the first race in Rio in 2007, said there is a growing list of host cities that are eager to stage Red Bull Air Races – in part because the world championship races watched by enormous crowds have had a powerful economic impact on entire host regions. But he said Brazil brings many of the right ingredients and is a top candidate for more races in the years ahead.
GREAT ASSETS
“With such strong assets that Rio brings it’s clear that it is rising higher and higher on the list of candidate cities,” Loidl said of the vibrant Brazilian metropolis that will be hosting both the Olympic Games in 2016 and World Cup in 2014. “Rio de Janeiro is one of the world’s top locations and it’s got just an outstanding setting. It’s simply perfect for staging a Red Bull Air Race.”
When asked by the Brazilian daily what the criteria are that go into picking host cities, Loidl said: “It’s a combination of several different parameters. First of all, what’s very important is the staging of the rae course. We go to the heart of the city, we go to where the people are. We go to where it’s uncommon and unusual for planes to fly. And we give the people the chance to watch the entire race course and access the race course with public transportation. We don’t want to stage races in the middle of nowhere.”
ICONIC IMAGES OF RIO
Loidl said what is absolutely essential is that a host city have an iconic setting instantly recognisable worldwide -- and it is hard for any location to top Rio on that score.
“The race backdrop is obviously very important, too, so that people around the world who see images of the race have an instant and clear understanding of where the race is taking place. Also important is that the local authorities share the vision with us, and work strongly with us to make it possible.”
The Red Bull Air Race CEO, who has called staging a race on the Hudson River in front of New York City this year for the first time a highlight of the 2010 calendar, said the race and its partners are investing heavily each year on improving the world championship – in particular with state-of-the-art technology to get the best-possible images beamed to networks in countries around the world.
PROUD ABOUT SECOND EMMY
The Red Bull Air Race recently won a second consecutive Emmy Award for sports broadcasting, which Loidl proudly displayed to the crew in Rio ahead of the weekend’s race.
“There are considerable investments that go into all that,” Loidl said. When asked by the financial daily newspaper be more specific, he said that about 10 million euros are invested by Red Bull Air Race to bring the event – including some 400 tonnes of infrastructure material and a crew of 400 – to a location.
“The research we’ve done shows that there’s a minimum of about 30 million euros in economic impact for a host city,” he said. “The economic return for a city an be even higher – for example in Windsor, Canada last year the city estimated that the race had generated an economic impact of 100 million Canadian dollars. The media value of each race on top of all that goes to about the 40 million euro level.”
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