Lawyers for Formula 1 and Liberty Media are threatening legal action in response to the recent public statements made by FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem, which they define as overstepping his bounds in publicly discussing F1’s value.
In response to a recent Bloomberg report that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund was interested in bidding $20 billion for F1, Sulayem issued a series of tweets in which he called that figure and “inflated price tag” and proceeded to ask potential buyers to “consider the greater good of the sport and come with a clear, sustainable plan — not just a lot of money.”
Sulayem also said that a purchase at that high price could lead to “increased hosting fees and other commercial costs” and have an ”adverse impact” on fans.
According to Sky Sports, the letter said that “Formula 1 has the exclusive right to exploit the commercial rights in the FIA Formula One World Championship” under a 100-year deal, and that Ben Sulayem’s tweets “interfere with those rights in an unacceptable manner.”