In response to Fabio Quartararo<\/a>\u2019s move to Honda, Yamaha has secured Jorge Martin<\/a>, while discussions continue over who will partner the 2024 world champion. KTM, meanwhile, has already agreed to promote Maverick Vinales from its satellite outfit, Tech3, and he will share the factory garage with Alex Marquez<\/a>.<\/p>\n The pieces involving independent teams will fall into place after the factory seats are formally confirmed, although nearly half the grid already knows which colours it will represent at the dawn of the 850cc era. Yet only one move\u00a0\u2013 Bezzecchi\u2019s\u00a0\u2013 has been communicated publicly. That is far from accidental.<\/p>\n Read Also:<\/p>\n Behind this quiet approach lies a strategy agreed upon by members of the MSMA [Motorcycle Sports Manufacturers Association], which for nearly a year has been negotiating with MotoGP Sports Entertainment (formerly known as Dorna) over what would effectively be MotoGP\u2019s equivalent of Formula 1\u2019s Concorde Agreement; in other words, the contract that governs how revenue from the championship\u2019s commercial rights\u00a0\u2013 primarily television\u00a0\u2013 is distributed.<\/p>\n The current agreement between the promoter and the participants expires at the end of this season, and negotiations over the new deal, which must cover the 2027\u20132031 cycle, remain unresolved. In this context, teams are reluctant to publicly confirm their 2027 riders because, as things stand, there is no binding document securing their participation in the championship for that period.<\/p>\n Autosport has learned that several announcements which were ready to be released have been put on hold pending progress in the talks.<\/p>\n The two parties\u00a0\u2013 MotoGP Sports Entertainment and the manufacturers\u00a0\u2013 have met several times in recent weeks. One of the most recent gatherings took place on the evening of 4 February at the Sama Sama Hotel in Sepang, where much of the paddock personnel stay during winter testing in Malaysia.<\/p>\n Present were Lin Jarvis, appointed by the MSMA to lead negotiations with MotoGP Sports Entertainment, along with Paolo Pavesio (Yamaha), Massimo Rivola (Aprilia) and Pit Beirer (KTM). The following day, the same group reconvened in Ducati\u2019s hospitality unit at Sepang, this time joined by Gigi Dall\u2019Igna, ahead of a subsequent meeting with Carmelo Ezpeleta, CEO of MotoGP Sports Entertainment, in Kuala Lumpur on the eve of the season launch event.<\/p>\n Carmelo Ezpeleta, Dorna CEO<\/p>\n Photo by: Marc Fleury<\/p>\n Positions are gradually converging, but it remains unclear when an agreement will be finalised. The next MSMA meeting is scheduled for Tuesday in Buriram, where the season gets underway on Sunday, and it would not be surprising if a breakthrough were achieved there.<\/p>\n Ultimately, both sides are bound to reach an understanding for obvious reasons: all stakeholders want a championship in 2027.<\/p>\n The central sticking point concerns the distribution of the championship\u2019s revenue, the bulk of which come from television rights. MotoGP Sports Entertainment\u2019s current proposal reportedly guarantees a fixed payment of around \u20ac8million per team.<\/p>\n The manufacturers, however, are pushing for a percentage-based model tied to overall revenue.\u00a0That is the system used in Formula 1, which, like MotoGP, is owned by Liberty Media.<\/p>\n Teams believe that Liberty\u2019s involvement will be key to MotoGP\u2019s growth and argue that sharing revenue directly would provide the strongest possible incentive. MotoGP Sports Entertainment, by contrast, prefers to maintain the existing structure, albeit with improved financial terms.<\/p>\n It is within this broader negotiation that manufacturers have opted to withhold any official confirmation of their 2027 rider line-ups. The silence has been adopted as a form of leverage\u00a0\u2013 though its effectiveness remains to be seen.<\/p>\n After all, as noted above, the factories themselves are among the most invested stakeholders in the MotoGP project, having already committed millions of euros to the development of the new 850cc machines set to debut in 2027.<\/p>\n We want to hear from you!<\/p>\n Let us know what you would like to see from us in the future.<\/p>\n![\"Carmelo](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/carmelo-ezpeleta-dorna-ceo.jpg\")
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