🏎 F1 Sets New Bar For Sports Innovation

Every league looks at how to spruce things up for the modern fan, and F1 is showing that it works. [View in browser]( [FOX SPORTS INSIDER WITH MARTIN ROGERS] In today’s FOX Sports Insider with Martin Rogers: With a little help from Netflix, F1 made a huge splash stateside with the Miami Grand Prix ... the Red Sox struggle to get their offense going ... and more! Sports, for the most part, are listening to you. They’re trying to get your attention and keep your attention — and they’re not afraid to change in order to do it. In 2022, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a sports league that isn’t trying to innovate, at least on some level, with a view to expanding its audience and keeping its current fan base happy. Maintaining the status quo doesn’t really cut it anymore, unless, perhaps, you’re The Masters or Wimbledon. More and more, the leaders of the games we watch are unafraid to tinker with their structure and rulebook, if it means an opportunity to capture a slightly larger piece of the overall sporting pie. All of which is why the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Miami last weekend was so fascinating. Because F1, currently experiencing a dramatic boom period in the U.S., has actually done far less tinkering to the way its sport works than others. However, it has enjoyed remarkable growth and is unmistakably cool right now, highlighted by the sparkling array of celebrities that turned up in South Florida for the race, won by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, on a circuit that sped around the outside of the Miami Dolphins’ Hard Rock Stadium. [STORY IMAGE 1] Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, Serena and Venus Williams, Patrick Mahomes, and David Beckham headed up the sporting A-listers. Michelle Obama visited seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes garage, while countless performing artists and supermodels milled around. And it seems that this is all the result of an F1 reimagining that took place with the help of a groundbreaking documentary series and some slick marketing that highlighted motor racing’s innate glamor. More on that later. What is clear is that every sport would love to take an F1-style leap, because such rapid growth is incredibly tough to pull off and monumentally lucrative. Every organization has its own way of trying to spruce things up, but many methods involve changing the details of how the specific sport is played. [STORY IMAGE 2] Major League Baseball might be America’s oldest pro sports league, but appears committed to innovation, using the Atlantic League as a testing ground for potential future changes, such as robo-umpires, bigger bases, pitch clocks and moving the mound back. Every year the NFL takes a close look at its rulebook, but as well as finetuning the playoff overtime section for next season an increased emphasis in recent years has been placed on protecting the quarterback, with the dual effect of safeguarding the biggest stars in the sport and also increasing the likelihood of big receiving plays. As a startup, the USFL was unencumbered by convention and fans have enjoyed enterprising changes such as three-point conversions and additional forward passes, all designed with the overarching goal of entertainment firmly in mind. Tennis has cut the potential length of the fifth set at its Grand Slams and instituted a first-to-10 “super-tiebreak” for the next year, upon when the shift will be reviewed. Basketball has wrestled with how to overcome the mind-numbing ending of games that conclude with incessant fouling and free throws. The Elam Ending, a system that involves setting a target score – has already been used in the All-Star Game and it is far from impossible that it sees greater use in the future. [STORY IMAGE 3] Smaller sports have even more flexibility. Modern pentathlon – derived from activities held at the ancient Olympics and part of the Games since 1912 – is a traditional sport currently doing everything it can to stay relevant. Under pressure from the International Olympic Committee due to low television ratings, sweeping changes have come in. In recent years, the shooting event was combined with the cross-country run and altered from using pistols to guns that look like they were borrowed from the local laser-tag arcade. Remember the biathlon from the Winter Olympics? Just like that, except the summer version. Last week, modern pentathlon’s international governing body announced that its historic horse-riding discipline will be scrapped altogether, in favor of an obstacle course run that might look like something from American Ninja Warrior, and is sure to be far more appealing to a younger audience. [STORY IMAGE 4] In the case of F1, revolution came about in the form of a cinematic unicorn. Netflix’s “Drive to Survive” catapulted the sport into the American consciousness, playing up the intoxicating combination of good-looking drivers racing gleaming vehicles around stunning locations, under the approving gaze of high society. That’s one way of going about it but it’s not a blueprint, for not every sport lends itself so well to the camera’s lens, nor necessarily has the ability to go down that route. Either way, whether you are an avowed traditionalist or an embracer of change, know this – it’s all for you. The powers that be are betting on the data that tells them what you want, how you want it, for how much money and for how long. The fight is on, with sports battling harder than ever to build and retain their position. Whether you like it or not, more change is coming. [STORY IMAGE 5] [IN OTHER WORDS] - Trevor Story's struggles are representative of Boston's entire offense, putting the team in a deep hole. [Jordan Schusterman examines]( what it will take for the Red Sox to get their bats going. - With Tyler Reddick and Austin Dillon both in the top 10 on Sunday, Richard Childress Racing is beginning to see improvement this season, [Bob Pockrass writes.]( - USFL: The New Orleans Breakers struggled against the Houston Gamblers in Week 4, but Jonathan Adams' late heroics saved the day. [Eric D. Williams has the story.]( [VIEWER'S GUIDE] Game 4: Boston Celtics vs. Milwaukee Bucks (TNT, 7:30 p.m. ET) Giannis and the Bucks look to take a 3-1 series lead over Jayson Tatum and the Celtics. Game 4: Memphis Grizzlies vs. Golden State Warriors (TNT, 10 p.m. ET) With Ja Morant injured, Memphis faces a tough assignment down 2-1 to Golden State. [BET OF THE DAY] [BET OF THE DAY] Odds provided by [FOX Bet]( Broncos to win the Super Bowl (+1500) From FOX Sports Betting Analyst Geoff Schwartz: If you take everything into account, including the intangible value that Russell Wilson brings, the pieces are in place for the Broncos to make a run. There is a small question mark surrounding first-year coach Nathaniel Hackett. But, in Hackett's defense, the coach looks like he is all in on letting Russ cook. And of course, the Broncos play in the rugged AFC where — according to FOX Bet's Super Bowl futures — seven of the Top 12 Super Bowl contenders loom. That includes Buffalo, the favorite to win it all (+650 at FOX Bet). Wilson played 10 seasons in Seattle and last year was the only year he finished with a record under .500. The only two games he missed his entire career were also last season. How soon we forget that in 2020, Wilson threw 40 touchdown passes and the Seahawks were 12-4. Now, he’ll be backed by a better defense and will drop back behind an offensive line that should protect better than the 47 plus times he was sacked during three of the last four seasons. Let’s remember what happened the last time the Broncos landed a franchise QB. Peyton Manning took them to a Super Bowl appearance in his second year and rode an awesome defense to a Super Bowl win in year four. Russell Wilson’s going to get one in Denver. 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