Kansas City Chiefs general manager Brett Veach is one NFL executive who has expressed interest in F1. Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports

NFL execs, coaches curious about Formula One racing?

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports | By Larry Brown | Last updated 3/30/22

There was tons of football talk going on at the NFL Annual Meetings this week, which were highlighted by a change to the overtime rules. But there was one other item that was a hot topic of conversation at the meetings, according to one reporter.

Kevin Clark, who covers football as well as Formula One racing for The Ringer, said he kept getting questions about F1. NFL executives, GMs and coaches asked him about it, for various reasons, and wondering how it became so big.

The one GM I've talked with about F1 on the record is Brett Veach, in the second half of this column, when I sat down with him and Mahomes in the same day last season. He makes a Mahomes/Verstappen comp (!). https://t.co/Myz2NChUwV

— Kevin Clark (@bykevinclark) March 30, 2022

Formula One open-wheel racing has been around for 70 years. It has long been extremely popular internationally, though it never caught on quite the same way in America.

But recently it’s picked up a lot of steam. In fact, like Clark, I have received a few inquiries recently about whether Larry Brown Sports plans to cover more F1.

So, what can be attributed to the increase in interest in the sport suddenly? A large part of the interest domestically can probably be pointed back to the Netflix series “Drive to Survive.” Formula One and Netflix combined to put together a 10-episode show that gives viewers a behind-the-scenes look at F1. The fourth season of the show premiered on Netflix on March 11, which could explain the sudden explosion in interest in F1.

Formula One has become trendy, and even those in the NFL world want to know more about it — or at least they want to find out why it’s become popular.

This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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