Hamilton has interest in MotoGP, reveals Liberty Media’s Greg Maffei
Liberty Media’s CEO Greg Maffei has revealed that the American company is intent on making MotoGP more popular in the United States of America.bbhbzububugugugu
Having taken control of Formula One in 2017, Liberty Media announced in April that it has purchased the motorbike series from Spanish company Dorna Sports, which has owned MotoGP since 1992.
The deal will see Liberty acquire about 86% of Dorna, with Dorna's management retaining the rest of the business. The acquisition is expected to be completed by year-end 2024 and is subject to the receipt of clearances and approvals by competition and foreign investment law authorities in various jurisdictions.
The transaction reflects an enterprise value for Dorna/MotoGP of €4.2 billion and an equity value of €3.5 billion, with MotoGP's existing debt balance expected to remain in place after close.
The agreement will see Dorna Sports S.L., the exclusive commercial and television rights holder of MotoGP, remain an independently run company attributed to Liberty Media’s Formula One Group tracking stock. Carmelo Ezpeleta, who has been CEO since 1994, will remain in his position and continue to run the business with his management team with the business set to remain based in Madrid.
Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference, Liberty Media’s Greg Maffei has opened up on the reasons why the American company has elected to acquire shares of MotoGP.
“I think MotoGP is … an unbelievably exciting product,” he said. “I don’t know if many of you have seen the racing, but to see people driving motorcycles, 220 miles an hour six inches from each other, it’s wild, and the overtaking there is incredibly impressive.
“It is unfortunately one that is too little known here in the United States and around the world. There’s interest in Asia and other places, but the real heart of it has been in Spain and Italy [and] to some degree France.
“We saw what we were able to do with Formula One by telling the stories, making them humanised, making the story larger than just about the car [and] the technology. But, also about what the drivers were doing, what was going on behind the scenes, telling those stories, making sure the world understood the breadth of what was going on.
“But also we did a lot to improve things like … improving what you can see on the screen, making our fans understand the story better. All of those are things that can be helped here.”
Maffei hopes that Liberty Media will be able to generate more interest in the US while he has also confirmed that Liberty Media’s decision to acquire 84 per cent shares of the MotoGP championship has resulted in interest from many people.
“I think, frankly, growing in the US – [MotoGP] have one race in Austin for which they receive relatively modest revenues from TV and the like,” added Maffei.
“I think there’s an opportunity to improve that. The opportunity perhaps for a second race in the US. All of those … are interesting in ways that look familiar to us from Formula One and hope we can replicate here attractively.”
“When we announced [the acquisition] … we had immediately people call up and say, ‘I want to buy a team’, including people like Lewis Hamilton.”
