What about the possible takeover of MotoGP by Liberty Media?

For some time, rumours have been circulating that the MotoGP might come into the hands of Liberty Media.

Dorna Sports is still commercial rights holder of the MotoGP, or the premier class of motorcycle racing. The CEO of Dorna Sports, Carmelo Ezpeleta reveals to the Italian Repubblica: “It is indeed true that there are rumors about a possible takeover of Dorna. I can confirm that, but I always wonder who starts these rumors. I get two or three phone calls every day, mainly from banks. However, they don’t want to buy anything, but to take on a role as an intermediary.”

“I can say that nothing has happened for now. Anything can always happen, at any time, but for now it hasn’t. What is certain, however, is that our product is valued,” said Ezpeleta, who logically does not reveal much in his role. The Spaniard himself also owns shares in Dorna Sports and will want to sell his business for the highest possible price in the event of a potential sale. In 2023, Liberty Media was mentioned several times as one of the parties that would be interested in wanting to buy over Dorna Sports and thus automatically MotoGP.

Not an odd idea, given that Liberty Media has been very successful financially in Formula 1 in recent years. After all, if you can be successful in the top class of motorsport, you could become so in the premier class of motorcycles? Yet there still seems to be no talk of selling Dorna Sports. Rumors of the potential takeover have subsided in recent months, so either they are keeping their lips tightly sealed or no talks are currently taking place between the two parties.

Normally in such negotiations there are always people or parties involved who let something be known about the process. So that is not the case for now and so it does not yet appear that we will see a MotoGP race during a F1 weekend in the near future.

Formula 1 & MotoGP in action at the same time?

That provisionally unrealistic idea was once raised by the owner of the COTA circuit, Bobby Epstein. When we asked the American again about that idea in October 2023, he quickly quashed any possibilities.

Indeed, Epstein now thinks it will be difficult to have MotoGP and F1 in action on the same weekend at the same circuit. This is mainly because both classes face different safety measures, these cannot simply be switched around between the sessions of the two classes.

The growth F1 has experienced since Liberty Media’s arrival is, however, a big reason for the Americans to perform the same trick with MotoGP. The top class of motorcycle racing seems to be a sleeping giant at the moment. Despite having grown its ratings and spectator numbers in 2023 compared to 2022 and seen a big increase in revenue, it is still facing a large debt.

As revenue has increased substantially over the past two years and Dorna communicates that the ratings and spectator numbers are growing, it also seems to be interesting for investors to sell their shares if a party…