Formula E boss emphasizes importance of sport in these difficult times

The whole sports world is at a standstill. Tuesday evening it was announced that the Dutch Grand Prix will not be able to take place until September due to government measures. According to Formula E boss Alejandro Agag, however, something has to be done.

The coming months offer a bleak prospect. Apart from the fact that people will only be able to go out to a limited extent, there will also be little to do for sports fans at home. According to Agag, it is therefore necessary to find solutions that will enable the various sports to organise competitions without an audience.

“Even if it’s behind closed doors, and I think we’ll have to be behind closed doors, people need entertainment while they’re at home. If you give them football, if you give them motorsport, if you give them reasons to stay at home, they will stay more happier at home. If you don’t give them anything, if you don’t entertain them, the risk of people breaking the confinement is higher.”

Events without spectators for the time being

“I think sports behind closed doors hopefully is not the future because that will be a sad future,” said Agag to Reuters. “But for the short term, it’s the only way and it looks like it’s going to be the only way still for some time.”

However, for events such as the Dutch Grand Prix, a race without an audience will not be an option in the short term. The circuit has just been rebuilt for a lot of money and also the payments to the F1 organisation are not soft. It has always been the intention to recoup most of this through ticket sales.