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If we can club together $3.4 billion, we can buy the commercial rights to MotoGP

Liberty might be looking to offload F1. They’ve sent it soaring with reality TV, but underneath it all, F1 is the same boring dysfunction.

Valuation of 3.4B seems rich, but it’s worth what someone is willing to pay for it.

If I owned it, I would emphasize the on-track proceedings. The sport cannot be built on a rotten foundation, and MotoGP still has a chance to retain its sporting credentials. The only way to have true technical competition in motorsport is to filter performance upgrades through humans by increasing their control of the race. If performance is regulated by tech it leads to uniformity and bogus back door performance-balancing. It’s easy to move a rider around to restore intrigue. It’s nearly impossible to pry IP from a corporate fiefdom. Rules must be changed to neutralize IP, and then the shouting and squealing and gaslighting begins, and the fans fracture and walk away.
 
mylexicon said:
Liberty might be looking to offload F1. They’ve sent it soaring with reality TV, but underneath it all, F1 is the same boring dysfunction.
Click to expand...
Makes sense, maybe it's at the peak of DTS interest and with the Red Bull domination, maybe now is the time to sell.
mylexicon said:
Valuation of 3.4B seems rich, but it’s worth what someone is willing to pay for it.

If I owned it, I would emphasize the on-track proceedings. The sport cannot be built on a rotten foundation, and MotoGP still has a chance to retain its sporting credentials. The only way to have true technical competition in motorsport is to filter performance upgrades through humans by increasing their control of the race. If performance is regulated by tech it leads to uniformity and bogus back door performance-balancing. It’s easy to move a rider around to restore intrigue. It’s nearly impossible to pry IP from a corporate fiefdom. Rules must be changed to neutralize IP, and then the shouting and squealing and gaslighting begins, and the fans fracture and walk away.
Click to expand...
Yep, sadly like with F1, what is happening is the manufacturers get too much leverage over the sport and then threaten to leave if they don't get their way.
 
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The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) return on investments in 2023 was just 1.3%, there is pressure on the CPPIB to get a better return on the investments in general going forward. As a Canadian retiree myself I get a pension cheque each month from the CPPIB, as such I want the plan to be healthy and much more profitable of course.

This may be part of the impetus for a sale of MotoGP at this point.

Also, I am wondering if something is coming down the pike in the future, are the Japanese planning to leave the series which might diminish the value of the MotoGP if so ?

Have the owners decided that MotoGP has peaked so to speak, that now is time to sail/sale while the wind blows ??? !!!
 
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#22 said:
Interesting conversation piece, what changes would you make to the sport if you were the commercial rights holder?
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Get that stuff on free-TV so we can get new fans interested.
Stop pursuing new venues in the middle east and get rid of Qatar as the season opener.
Make the technical regulations much more restrictive.
 
DavidSim said:
The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) return on investments in 2023 was just 1.3%, there is pressure on the CPPIB to get a better return on the investments in general going forward. As a Canadian retiree myself I get a pension cheque each month from the CPPIB, as such I want the plan to be healthy and much more profitable of course.

This may be part of the impetus for a sale of MotoGP at this point.

Also, I am wondering if something is coming down the pike in the future, are the Japanese planning to leave the series which might diminish the value of the MotoGP if so ?

Have the owners decided that MotoGP has peaked so to speak, that now is time to sail/sale while the wind blows ??? !!!
Click to expand...

Annual revenue is probably in good shape, but the sport might not be profitable enough. My guess is that Bridgepoint is looking for a buyer who already has the media infrastructure in place, and MotoGP can piggyback off of their existing platform. Liberty Media makes sense from this standpoint, though many people assume the Euro courts will block the deal.

Bridgepoint was looking to bail right before the pandemic, but they ended up transferring Dorna from one fund to another to payoff the original fund.
 
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#22 said:
Interesting conversation piece, what changes would you make to the sport if you were the commercial rights holder?
Click to expand...
Would make an interesting preseason thread tbh.

Probably no major changes. Not a fan of the aero so I would look to minimize that. I have a preference for Bridgestone over Michelin. I think Dorna got it right with control electronics though. I wouldn't want to go back to the days of only 4 bikes being able to fight for the win each week.

Probably increase fuel and engine limits. I like the sprint race as a spectacle but I would need to have a serious think about getting rid of it tbh.
 
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#22 said:
Arguably, from a commercial point of view, MotoGP peaked while Rossi was still a factory Yamaha rider
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Yes, 2009 was probably the peak in terms of fan numbers.

The monopoly laws seem strange, if Dorna was allowed to acquire WSBK.

I am not sure motogp and F1 really compete overly in any case, and Dorna mostly seem to ape what F1 does anyway. To me they have gone overboard with the sprint races however, the F1 approach of a sprint race at selected rounds rather than every round seems better to me, particularly for rider attrition..

I can’t see any future owner going back to free to air however good an idea that might be to grow the sport. I am not keen on midfle eastern rounds either, but they are probably the best and most reliable payers of the sanction fees.
 
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I see less reason to watch practice than in the past and if that's the world trend then there is less money in televising practice but a second race I mean sprint gives reason to watch and therefor more revenue making it more attractive to a buyer
 
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From the article:
  • The owners of MotoGP are in talks to sell up for £3.4 billion.
  • The price could deviate from €4 billion, however.
  • Formula 1 was sold again to Liberty Media in 2017, valuing the series at $8 billion.
Quick conversion math is €4 billion is equivalent to $4.35 billion... or for simplicity, half the value of what Formula 1 was sold for back in 2017...

I think we all can agree Formula 1 is worth more now, compared to 2017. From a recent Forbes valuation model:
  • Formula 1 is the "most valuable sports empire"
  • Formula 1 is valued at $17.1 billion (£13.8bn)
  • Liberty Media is valued at $21 billion (£16.8bn)
So then I ponder:
  1. For 2024 valuations, is MotoGP worth about 25% of Formula 1's value?
  2. Is MotoGP in 2024 worth about half of what Formula 1 was back in 2017?
  3. And I cannot wrap my head around valuation models for the individual teams... Forbes ranked the most valuable Formula 1 teams, but I have never seen anything about MotoGP team valuations?
 
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DavidSim said:
The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) return on investments in 2023 was just 1.3%, there is pressure on the CPPIB to get a better return on the investments in general going forward. As a Canadian retiree myself I get a pension cheque each month from the CPPIB, as such I want the plan to be healthy and much more profitable of course.

This may be part of the impetus for a sale of MotoGP at this point.

Also, I am wondering if something is coming down the pike in the future, are the Japanese planning to leave the series which might diminish the value of the MotoGP if so ?

Have the owners decided that MotoGP has peaked so to speak, that now is time to sail/sale while the wind blows ??? !!!
Click to expand...
Being a Canuck pensioner also I look at the return from MGP in totality. They have done VERY well with the MGP investment. Other investments, don't know, don't care, I am self-funded in retirement.
 
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If Liberty Media acquire Dorna, it's difficult to guess MotoGP's new tack. Like F1, MotoGP has lost relevance in social media and content creation. They will surely harvest this low-hanging fruit with tortured reality-TV and nonsensical interpersonal social media chatter. MotoGP's Iberia-centricity would also be a casualty if Liberty Media takes over.

But what about the formula? Liberty Media tried to make improvements to F1, but the level of racketeering within the working groups and the teams associations is too high for real change. I wonder what they have planned for MotoGP, and if their purchase of Dorna will impact the negotiations for 2027.
 
F1 was in the toilet when Liberty took over, MotoGP is in better shape then F1 was at the time but has different problems. F1 was able to grow with street races in a few cities, MotoGP can not do that, the series needs actual race tracks that meet a certain standard. To really grow the series, someone will need to build a tracks, and they will probably be in the middle east. Indy is an option, but they havent seemed interested.
 
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mylexicon said:
If Liberty Media acquire Dorna, it's difficult to guess MotoGP's new tack. Like F1, MotoGP has lost relevance in social media and content creation. They will surely harvest this low-hanging fruit with tortured reality-TV and nonsensical interpersonal social media chatter. MotoGP's Iberia-centricity would also be a casualty if Liberty Media takes over.

But what about the formula? Liberty Media tried to make improvements to F1, but the level of racketeering within the working groups and the teams associations is too high for real change. I wonder what they have planned for MotoGP, and if their purchase of Dorna will impact the negotiations for 2027.
Click to expand...
So we might end up being nostalgic for Dorna and Carmelo ?. Who would ever have thought that ?.

I would rather have some actual motor racing guys running the sport than those who own WWE though.
 
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