Liberty Media MotoGP takeover filed to European Commission for clearance

Outgoing president Greg Maffei confirmed Liberty Media filed with the European Commission on Thursday morning to gain regulatory approval for the takeover of MotoGP.

With Formula 1 already in its portfolio, Liberty earlier this year set about a purchase of MotoGP and it was confirmed last week that the deal could be completed by the end of the year.

Liberty announced in August that it was selling a $825million stake in F1 to fund the purchase of the motorcycling championship and has now said last week during its quarterly results that it has “secured all funding for [the] MotoGP transaction”.

That left the need for the takeover to be cleared by the European Commission as the only real stumbling block to overcome, given criticism from some areas of Liberty creating a monopoly by owning both F1 and MotoGP.

Speaking at Liberty’s Investor Day, just 24 hours removed from the announcement he would be leaving his role as president and CEO of the company when his contract expires at the end of the year, Maffei confirmed an application has now been lodged with the commission.

“Just on MotoGP for a moment we did file this morning with the EC for regulatory approval and we expect to be on track to receive that by year-end,” he said.

Later in his speech, Maffei turned back to MotoGP and explained the reasoning behind its attraction to Liberty investment.

“Let me turn briefly to what I hope will be our newest motorsport action in MotoGP – it is a great sport, truly compelling,” he added.

“Over 60-degree lean angles on the bikes, more than 220 miles an hour speed – these riders are crazy. There are an enormous number of overtakes, almost too many to count, and these are action-packed, 45-minute races. Which is well-suited for a younger audience, which this has.

“When you look at the weekend, at MotoGP, we really have a progression of sprint events, Moto2, Moto3 and then obviously MotoGP itself. Those very successful feeder series are not only important for building fan engagement, but they also provide broadcasters with up to 25 hours of content that they can use over the weekend.

“This is a great business; it is a rare opportunity to acquire a global league-level asset with centralised commercial rights and diversified revenue stream and quite high profitability.

“The fanbase has been growing already before Liberty’s involvement. Year to date, attendance is up about 9% on a like for like basis, and they’re maintaining the record levels that they saw in 2023.

F1 paddock inside the Hard Rock stadium

“The French Grand Prix set an all-time record for MotoGP attendance at 297,000 fans. The average audience on TV remains growing, and our digital audience is up about 5% as well. The current fans are highly engaged. 92% identify as avid and 82% say they watch over 75% of all the races – but there’s also an opportunity to monetise those fans better and expand to new fans.”

Liberty’s ability to grow F1 was largely down to increasing interest in the United States, where three grands prix now take place and fandom has been growing since the introduction of the Netflix series Drive to Survive.

With Maffei talking of “expanding” to new fans within MotoGP, it is clear that building on the one race and one team currently based in the US will be part of the plan – even if he will no longer be at the helm to deliver on it.

“Obviously, the US has been an enormous part of our story at F1 and there’s a potential we think to do much of the same in MotoGP,” he added.

“There is an opportunity to engage our lifestyle fans, especially in the US, and leverage some of the storytelling and the marketing success we’ve had in the F1 brand we believe here in the US to be quite effective.

“Looking at the US a little more. We have one US race already in Austin. We have one US team in Trackhouse Racing and we do have involvement from OEMs like Harley Davidson.

“But we expect more interest from OEMs. We expect more interest from US partners, and that will be part of what drives us. All of this leads to a great opportunity for the US and for the US and MotoGP.”