{"id":399873,"date":"2026-01-08T14:20:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T14:20:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/399873\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T14:20:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T14:20:07","slug":"ezpeleta-on-motogps-next-phase-the-bigger-growth-is-outside-the-track","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/399873\/","title":{"rendered":"Ezpeleta on MotoGP\u2019s next phase: \u201cThe bigger growth is outside the track\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Speaking to the Financial Times, Dorna\u2019s chief sporting officer Carlos Ezpeleta has spelt out the future \u2018global\u2019 direction of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crash.net\/motogp\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">MotoGP<\/a> following last year\u2019s \u20ac4.3bn takeover by F1 owner Liberty Media<\/p>\n<p>Here are some of the key points&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>MotoGP is too Eurocentric<\/p>\n<p>Carlos Ezpeleta: \u201cWe are aware and conscious that for example our race count is pretty Europe heavy right now, nearly two-thirds, and we do see that becoming more global in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>14 of the current 22 races are in Europe.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>83% of media rights revenue came from Europe in 2024. Asia, although growing, generated just 9%, but is much closer to Europe in terms of income from race fees, at 23%.<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>Growth in the US is now the \u2018main priority\u2019. The Americas contributed just 4 per cent of media rights revenue in 2024, and 7 per cent of race fees.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Superhero&#8221; riders<\/p>\n<p>MotoGP believes its riders are &#8220;superheroes&#8221; but under-marketed.<\/p>\n<p>Ezpeleta: \u201cOur riders are more gladiatorial than any other athletes, and I think it\u2019s about telling the story about how superheroes come in all shapes and forms\u2026 People have to get to know them outside the bike, with their helmets off.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ezpeleta admits MotoGP has not exploited short-form video and behind-the-scenes content as well as rival sports.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Non-endemic\u2019 sponsors a priority<\/p>\n<p>MotoGP wants to reduce its reliance on traditional motorsport sponsors (\u2018endemic\u2019).<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>Around three-quarters of MotoGP sponsorship currently comes from endemic categories. Future target sectors include \u2018financial services, personal care products and tech\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>Ezpeleta told the FT MotoGP wants to take the brand into, \u201cPlaces where people don\u2019t expect us to be,\u201d from fashion and music to airports and supermarkets.<\/p>\n<p>2027 team contracts will not follow F1\u2019s revenue-sharing model<\/p>\n<p>MotoGP is currently negotiating team agreements for the next five-year contract cycle, starting in 2027.<\/p>\n<p>While manufacturers are rumoured to be pushing for an F1-style system of revenue sharing, Ezpeleta told the FT that MotoGP\u2019s fixed-fee model is unlikely to change.<\/p>\n<p>He warned that performance-based payments could \u201caggravate problems\u201d by prioritising on-track results over global growth.<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>However, rising team valuations are attracting investment funds, which may push for longer guarantees than the usual five years.<\/p>\n<p>2027 rules are significant, but \u201cbigger growth\u201d off track<\/p>\n<p>MotoGP will introduce range of new technical regulations in 2027, designed to lower top speeds and improve overtaking.<\/p>\n<p>Ezpeleta said 2027 will bring \u201cSafer bikes, more entertaining, more overtaking.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;But the bigger growth is going to come from the stuff that happens outside the track.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Subscribe to our MotoGP Newsletter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Speaking to the Financial Times, Dorna\u2019s chief sporting officer Carlos Ezpeleta has spelt out the future \u2018global\u2019 direction&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":399874,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,4280,5745,806,805,803,804,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-399873","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-motosport","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-marc-marquez","11":"tag-motogp","12":"tag-motor","13":"tag-motor-sports","14":"tag-motosport","15":"tag-motosports","16":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=399873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399873\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}