Liberty Media President and CEO Greg Maffei has announced that the organisation is “not planning to change” MotoGP once it completes its full takeover of the sport.
It was confirmed this week that Liberty Media has acquired 86% ownership in Dorna Sports in a deal worth €4.2 billion, which is set to be completed at the end of 2024.
When asked about the plans to grow MotoGP against the need to bring in revenue, Maffei said in an investors call that the series will not undergo widespread changes.
“On monetisation versus growing the support, I think that’s kind of a false dichotomy in some respects; I think they go hand in hand,” he said via Autosport.
“What we really saw in F1 was, as we grew the fanbase your monetisation became easier because your partners – whether they be broadcast partners, promoter partners or sponsor partners, and whether they’re looking at branding or activation, and more and more at activation – it’s all part and parcel.
“As that excitement grows, as that demand grows, as that audience grows, everything kind of flows together and there’s a sort of positive flywheel.
“And that’s what we felt in Formula 1, those all came together. And I like to believe that’s the potential here.
“This is an unbelievable product, we are not planning to change this sport.
“This is a great sport with a great fanbase that has unbelievable competition and unbelievable excitement.
“Our goal is to open that up to a broader audience and open it up to a broader set of commercial partners of all flavours. And I think those go hand in hand.”
This takeover initially provided fears and unrest amongst the MotoGP fanbase that the series itself could experience a series of big changes over the coming seasons.
Concerns had arisen that Liberty Media would strive to introduce street circuit venues to MotoGP in the same manner that it has with Formula 1 since its takeover in 2017.
However, Dorna CEO Carlos Ezpeleta, who will remain in his current position, has reiterated that MotoGP doesn’t have the platform to accommodate street circuits.
