Organizers of next month’s ‘All-Star’ rallycross Magic Weekend have unveiled details of the ‘crowdfunded’ pay-per-view package being offered to fans.
The event will be broadcast by Swedish streaming platform StayLive as the first championship rallycross meeting of 2020 following the outbreak of the COVID-19 coronavirus.
Olsbergs MSE ran a test event at Höljes last month, dubbed the ‘RX Quarantine Shootout’, streaming the action with mobile phones as a proof of concept for rallycross’ proper return to action.
StayLive’s pay-per-view offerings for the Magic Weekend are being released in two phases: ‘early bird’ subscriptions will be available for €19.99 until Thursday June 25, then increasing to €24.99 thereafter.
Details of how to sign-up for the pay-per-view coverage will be released by RallyX Nordic and Finnskoga Motor Klub next week.
Money from the ‘crowdfunded’ pay-per-view subscriptions is going to Finnskoga Motor Klub, which runs the Höljes circuit.
Broadcasting company NEP, who are also behind the World Rally Championship’s All-Live streaming service, will produce the television output for the weekend, which will also feature a media-only day on Friday July 3.
Co-organizers RX Promotion and Finnskoga Motor Klub also confirmed that coverage will be in English and that no geo-blocking will be in place, meaning streaming coverage will be available worldwide without restriction.
Creative Director at NEP Sweden Karl Drakenberg said: “The premise of this event is to ‘stay home and stay safe’ in the current circumstances, we knew that we needed to turn it into something extraordinary!
“Since we want everyone to be able to enjoy this broadcast from anywhere around the globe. As the event will be streamed via pay-per-view in a crowdfunding fashion, we decided early on that no geo-blocking or commercial interruptions would be present, so when you tune in for this magical weekend, we want you to truly feel that you are a part of making the whole event possible.”
Drakenberg also revealed specific broadcasting operations for the Magic Weekend, which he said would be vastly more sophisticated than a regular RallyX Nordic meeting.
Twice as many cameras will be used throughout the event, with drones offering more aerial footage.
The event will be complemented by NEP Sweden’s UHD1 OB truck, normally reserved for high profile occasions such as the Olympic Games, FIFA World Cup and the Eurovision Song Contest.
Double World Rallycross Champion Johan Kristoffersson currently leads the line-up of drivers set to take part in the meeting, joined so far by two-time RX Series Champion Oliver Eriksson and RallyX Nordic Supercar Lites Champion Ben-Philip Gundersen among others.
Action begins on Thursday July 2 with the opening rounds of the RallyX Nordic and Swedish National championships, with the ‘All-Star’ element taking place over Saturday and Sunday in addition to second rounds for the RallyX Nordic and Swedish series.
