This transcript has been lightly edited by AI
Sean: Yeah. I was going to ask about the sustainability piece because we're now seeing stadiums taking sustainability more seriously. [00:17:00] You know, with a bit more credibility and actually trying to solve it. But then also you've got customers and fans asking sports about their sustainability and impact on the planet. And I guess that's something that you've already got a green tick for effectively, but it's also a way to attract fans in, to say, Hey, if you want to follow motorsport, this is the one that is going to tick those boxes from the environment.
Mark: Yeah. One of the great things that Formula E's been doing is that we're the first sport to be net zero since inception. So, okay, we only started seven years ago, but because they were taking into consideration all of the logistics and everything we've been doing since the start and applying all the offsets and other things to the sport.
It's great to be able to say that we can say that we're the most efficient engines in the world. They're doing lots of things to do with single use plastics and other things at races. [00:18:00] The way we transport our cars around the world, we try to be the most eco as possible. So the cars, unlike other motor sports, just go on a journey around the world.
They don't come back each time. And given that in sport, most of the CO2 does come from the people coming to the circuits or the logistics going to the races, you have to approach from that point of view also obviously trying to work on everything to do with the renewable energy. So when we're downtown in a city, it's easier for us to have renewable energy, funnily enough, when you race in the middle of a park.
Not many parks have one megawatt of electricity available to a park. So it's often quite difficult from the Formula E to get electricity to a place. If we're racing in a place like London Excel, which is a big center, obviously it has a lot of electricity because it's connected to the grid to run big events.
So there's lots of things that we're doing around the [00:19:00] world and working on for being more and more sustainable.
Sean: And does it let, I mean, the XL is a really good example, but does that lend itself to being, because we're seeing more and more stadiums be built to be multipurpose and have these precincts.
So it really does lend itself to say a new stadiums getting built in this town. Oh, we can have a circuit around that that's going to have restaurants and bars and different viewing platforms already built into the architecture. Is there talks for Formula E to be sort of tapping those stadium developers on the shoulder to say, you've got the infrastructure there, but you can really bring a great event to your stadium and to your precinct.
Mark: I mean, one of the best ones we had recently was in Mexico and the Mexican fans are really crazy about motorsport. They really love motorsport. And there's a stadium where the cars go through, what is normally a baseball stadium. So the cars come into the baseball stadium and do a little sort of, [00:20:00] in the stadium.
And there's like 40,000 fans there. And they go absolutely crazy every time the cars come through that area. And the funny thing is because Formula E cars, you're not deafened by the sound. You can hear the crowd every single time the cars go through that stadium. The crowd's going crazy. And so that element.
I do agree. And when you have a look at what's happening at London Excel, it's quite amazing. I mean, when you just experienced it, sadly, Antonio Felix da Costa, our driver, came into a bit of a fight with one of the Porsche drivers and hit the wall inside the stadium, inside the building.
And so you can imagine when the car hit the concrete barrier, the whole place echoed and there's actually fans in the stands inside the building. It's quite incredible, actually, and so to answer your question, I think it's a great idea, and I think it'd be great if we could go to other events, you know, some of those big stadiums in the U.S. and stuff, if you're able [00:21:00] to go into a baseball stadium or a football stadium and do some small things. Cool. Weaving through it and then go out the other side. I think that'd be really awesome.
Sean: Oh, well, stadium architects, whether it's Oak view or any of the other ones, please drop us a line if you want to have some Formula E cars zooming through your stadium.
I think it's a great idea.
