According to today's Herald Sun newspaper, the Victorian state government has recently come to a verbal agreement to extend the race's contract for a further five years, securing the future of the event for Melbourne and Australia.
A senior government source confirmed to the newspaper the race would remain in Melbourne, saying an announcement was 'imminent': "We haven't signed the deal, but we're going to quite soon."
The deal would end recent speculation over the future of the event, which has come under pressure following mounting losses in recent years, as well as a desire to cater for European viewing audiences, which included speculation about the possibility of the race being held at night.
The source confirmed that the Victorian Premier and Bernie Ecclestone had come to an agreement which would not see the event held at night.
However, the race's start time may be moved to later in the day as a compromise between the two parties, with next year's race expected to start at 5pm.
No comments:
Post a Comment