How MotoGP is changing with Liberty Media and why antitrust won't be an issue

Despite Formula 1 and MotoGP being under the same leadership starting from the next season, there is no intention to merge the two categories and make them mirror each other. This is the perspective of Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei, who, speaking in a meeting with investors, outlined the main changes that the American company intends to make in MotoGP, following the acquisition of 86% of Dorna’s shares, which will pass on the commercial rights after exactly 20 years.

MotoGP, Enter the Liberty Media Era
“We like companies on a scale with interesting premium IP. There are few assets in the world like this, but they reflect strong underlying demand trends. And as in this case, the opportunity for global expansion is extremely interesting.”

“When your fans are your customers, we believe this creates the strongest business relationships. Opportunities like this are hard to find and incredibly attractive. MotoGP is perfect for Liberty Media. As I’ve said before, MotoGP is the most important opportunity in the field of motorcycle racing, combining the best cities in the world with the best bikes.”

Continuing his speech, Greg Maffei made it clear how the top categories with two and four wheels will be treated distinctly: “The only thing we won’t do is negotiate MotoGP and Formula 1 together, both for regulatory issues and for the structure of our agreement with Formula 1 partners and teams.” – he pointed out.

“I like to think that Liberty Media has understood how the media landscape is evolving and how to make the product appealing to media partners outside the traditional base of Italy, Spain, and France, and how to help grow in these other markets. I think we have insights into that.”

Will Antitrust Block the Deal?
Finally, speaking of a possible antitrust intervention to protect competition and monopoly laws, here too the American is confident that this will not be an obstacle as it happened in 2006 with the CVC case.

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“We believe there is a broad market for sports and entertainment properties, of which both Formula 1 and MotoGP are just a small subset, and that the market has continued to change since it was significantly reviewed. We will not treat these properties as a package or try to put them together on the market. They are both separate properties. The things we bring to the table do not exploit the two properties in any way. I think it’s about recognizing the patterns and leveraging some of the lessons we’ve had from F1 and some of the opportunities we see to expose MotoGP to the public, without exploiting the two things in any way. We are very confident about the regulatory part.” – Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei concluded.

Finally, regarding concrete interventions, the number of events on the calendar will not change, so there will still be 22 in the next championship, and no changes to the format are planned, at least for now.

Furthermore, there will be no arrival at city circuits, with Liberty Media intending to expand the market in the United States at the expense of Spain, which currently hosts the most races on the calendar.

F1, Moto GP