WRC Calendar 2018

[GravelBen]

But you haven't made any logical connection to support your claim that focussing less on physical spectators and more on remote spectators would/should result in a smaller championship condensed to areas of higher population density - all you're doing is patronisingly repeating a glaringly obvious fact that travel costs money (so does developing a new generation of car every time they change the rules)

If the manufacturers (encouraged by the promoter) focus on the marketing appeal of 'exotic' locations more than counting feet on the ground beside stages, it should become easier for them to justify the travel cost - they like filming advertisements there after all.

Focussing primarily on physical spectator numbers for justification is more likely to result in your suggestion - small condensed standard-format events in high population areas to make it easy for casual viewers to access, while the more-than-casual fans get bored and grumble on the internet about how much better it used to be.

Reducing the scale, drama and variety of a championship is not a good way to improve its profile and increase support, its more likely to make it less interesting and lose supporters. At the times you refer to when more manufacturers were present, was WRC more or less global? Did they have rallies in places like Africa, Japan, NZ or was it just a European championship?