The Power of Now
The light's going, the race isn't over, and every one of them chose to be there.
Something interesting is happening. We’ve made it possible to experience almost anything without leaving home, yet people are spending more money and making more effort to be in the place where it happens. Paul Pfanner has been thinking about what that tells us about racing and entertainment, and about the way we connect with one another. He suspects it has a lot to do with five words he’s carried with him for most of my life.
I’ve spent much of my life at racetracks, and most of my working life in media. I know how much a good story, photograph or broadcast can convey. I also know there’s something about being there that none of them can quite capture.
Lately, I’ve been thinking about that difference, especially as more and more of our lives come to us through a screen. We have access to almost everything, almost instantly. Yet people seem more willing than ever to make the effort, and spend the money, to experience something in person.
We Still Want to Be There
The numbers are interesting. In 2025, Live Nation hosted 159 million concert attendances worldwide, a record. Formula 1 reported 6.7 million in cumulative race-weekend attendance, also a record. Broadway drew another 14.6 million theatergoers during its 2025–26 season.
With so much entertainment available on demand, people are still getting off the couch. I think we’re looking for something real.
There’s something wonderful about a crowd reacting together without anybody telling them what to feel. I’ve experienced it at racetracks all over the world. People who arrived as strangers suddenly have something in common. A concert or a great theatrical performance can do much the same thing.
For that moment, everybody is part of what’s happening right in front of them. Nobody knows how it’s going to turn out, and that’s a big part of the attraction.
The Laps We Have
Motorsport makes it about as plain as it gets. It’s fast and it’s dangerous, a race can change in a heartbeat, and whatever happens the clock keeps running.
I’ve always thought racing was a pretty good metaphor for life. There are only so many laps to get things done, and none of us knows exactly how many we have left.
My father left me five words shortly before he died in 1973.
“All you have is now.”
I was 19 when he said them. I’ve spent more than half a century learning just how much they mean.
Maybe that’s what a lot of us are starting to figure out. For all our fascination with what comes next, there’s a lot of value in what’s happening right now, especially when we get to share it with other people.
There’s a big business story here, too. If people will go further and pay more to be there together, that changes the math for sports, entertainment, media and the businesses that support them. We’ll explore those opportunities in the weeks ahead.
For now, I just like the irony. After everything we’ve invented to bring the world onto our screens, people still want to go out and see it for themselves, and I’m glad they do.
Pfanner Advantage works with clients to turn change into advantage at the intersection of mobility, motorsport, media, technology, and marketing. Learn more or start a conversation: contact us today.
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