Liberty Media can’t follow its F1 play to boost MotoGP’s popularity

MotoGP’s chief commercial officer Dan Rossomondo believes Liberty Media’s arrival will boost the championship’s global reach without compromising its essence.

Just under a month ago, Liberty Media completed the acquisition of 84% of Dorna, the rights holder of MotoGP, after the European Commission finally gave the green light to a deal that dragged on much longer than both parties had initially expected.

In the four weeks since, internal movement within Dorna has accelerated, especially in the commercial and marketing areas, two divisions that are a key focus for Liberty during this initial stage.

At the helm of the commercial department is Rossomondo, who took up the role just over two years ago after being recruited directly from the NBA.

The investigation launched by Brussels to assess whether the acquisition of Dorna complied with antitrust laws had forced both parties into silence, but as MotoGP enters a new phase, one of the first questions is how the championship will change under Liberty – and if it will adopt some of the strategies used in Formula 1.

“Liberty and I both understand that the same strategy doesn’t necessarily work twice. It has to be unique to our sport. We have a set of characteristics that are different from theirs [F1],” Rossomondo explained in an interview with Blackbook Motorsport.

Dan Rossomondo

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images

“The people at Liberty are very smart; they know they have something unique and don’t want to ruin it. I believe they’re going to spend a lot of time understanding the business and who we are. I don’t think they’re going to try to overly commercialise the sport. They recognise certain patterns across both properties that might make sense and that we could take advantage of, but they can’t be the same.”

On a personal note, Rossomondo acknowledges that Liberty’s support - particularly its F1 experience - can be of great help in his ambition to expand MotoGP, a goal set to go hand in hand with a push to raise popularity, which would inevitably lead to greater interest from sponsors. Ultimately, that would translate into an increase in overall revenue.

“We need to focus on non-endemic partnerships. We’re doing very well, but we have to get brands to say: ‘I want to use MotoGP to market my product.’ [Liberty] can help us open doors and provide strong case studies based on what they’ve done with other properties, but we are the ones who really have to do the work,” Rossomondo emphasised.

The globalisation F1 has undergone over the past five years has taken the championship to new destinations, and, unsurprisingly, Rossomondo is enthusiastic about the possibility of replicating that trend in MotoGP.

“We’re always looking to expand our presence outside of Europe, but we also have to feed the beast,” he added. “We go to Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and next year we’ll also go to Brazil.

“But when we arrive in Europe, the perception is different. Would we like to have more markets to compete in? Absolutely. But we also need to make sure we’re getting the most out of the circuits we already have.”