It’s hard to imagine now, but there was a time, not all that long ago, when Formula One was not the darling of the motorsport world that it is today.
Video content was largely restricted on social media, making viral moments nothing more than a marketer’s fantasy. In-person attendance in 2016 was 65% of what it was in 2022, and in the United States in particular, it was half. Television ratings in the U.S. that year were 38% of what they were last year.
Then along came Liberty Media, which completed its purchase of F1 in January 2017. Two years later, “Drive to Survive” debuted on Netflix — part of the new owners’ comprehensive approach to holistically promote storytelling around the series — and not long after that, the sport became the star-studded pop-culture sensation that millions watch each Sunday on ESPN.
In MotoGP, the calendar may as well have just turned to 2017.
Last week, Liberty announced a takeover of MotoGP parent company Dorna Sports, acquiring approximately 86% of the company, which will remain independently operated under Liberty’s Formula One Group. The takeover could attract regulatory scrutiny, but the deal is expected to be completed by the end of 2024.
It has been less than two weeks, but so far, the new owners have been clear: the product is good.
“Fans will only have things to look forward to and more people to share their fandom with,” Dorna Sports chief sporting officer Carlos Ezpeleta said during a news conference on Thursday at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas ahead of this weekend’s Grand Prix of the Americas. “Liberty does not think that the sport needs fixing, and we agree with that. We think that we have an amazing sport that we have built together with all the stakeholders in the paddock.”
The goal for Liberty is simple: get MotoGP in front of a larger audience. But how will it accomplish that?
MotoGP’s growth opportunities
Making MotoGP an international success story won’t be as simple as pulling pages out of Liberty’s “How We Made F1 Into a Season Full of Super Bowls” playbook.
Formula One has long traded on the extravagance of destinations like Monaco and nine-figure team budgets, creating a sense of luxury and exclusivity that goes hand in hand with the celebrity culture that has…
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