WRC future

[AnttiL]

But we're led to believe that WRC rallies are too long, people's attention spans are too short nowadays to follow such an event... Yet many tens, even hundreds of thousands of people make the effort to line the routes of major tours to catch just a brief glimpse of these events. Sound familiar? The stages last and are broadcast for hours, for many hours of which very little is happening. Some events are one long day, the Grand Tours go on for WEEKS!

I'm pretty sure rallies would be made longer if someone saw it as an investment worth the return. Also when you talk about cycling, think about how "cheap" it is for an athlete to run for one day longer, compared to a rally driver. Week-long rallies would sure mean the end of privateers.

And mainly is perfect for tv. people can follow only the finish of every stage more or less same time every day, instantly know the winner, and the drama always happens near the finish, mountains are on route to being televised, and almost nothing happens till the end of the stage. following 30mins is enough to get the best easily also as a casual viewer.
on the events side, to spectate live you can see almost everything in 30min, if u don't go near the end of the stage for the show.

Maybe we should have embraced Jost Capito's suggestion having the power stage decide positions to add more television viewers? But in addition, do it at the end of every day?

Again, you could also play the F1 argument here and say rallies would become popular if they were run in two hours on Sunday afternoon.

I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm a route enthusiast, I would love the rallies to be longer, but I know that in practice it's not possible today. (I also wouldn't definitely want Jost Capito's idea or a F1 format rally.)