F1 owner Liberty Media free to acquire MotoGP, deal approved by European Commission

Liberty Media, the American holding owner of Formula One, will also become owner of MotoGP. On Monday, all parties involved (Liberty Media and current rights owners Dorna Sports) released a statement saying that the European Commission has given "unconditional approval" to complete the acquisition, which will close no later than July 3, 2025.

The deal was announced back in March 2024, but understandably, given the magnitude of the transaction ($4.2 billion, €3.64 billion) it raised concerns from market regulators, given that Liberty Media would own two of the largest motorsport competitions in the world, which could give them unfair advantage regarding the broadcast rights.

However, "under the EU Merger Regulation, the Commission concluded that the transaction will not raise competition concerns in the European Economic Area", the EU governing body said. Liberty Media will acquire 84% of shares from Dorna Sports, the Spanish company owner of MotoGP. Dorna's management will retain 16% of the business.

"We believe the sport and brand have significant growth potential", said Derek Chang, Liberty Media President and CEO. In the future, we can expect steps expand the MotoGP appeal to a wider global audience. "MotoGP is one of the most thrilling sports on Earth, and we look forward to accelerating the sport's growth and expanding its reach to even more fans around the world", said Carmelo Ezpeleta, Dorna Sports CEO.

Bringing out MotoGP's true potential and turning it into a worldwide sport

Liberty Media hopes to do the same they did with Formula One: turn a relatively niche competition into a worldwide phenomenon. In the case of F1, the Netflix series Drive to Survive, released during the pandemic, helped increase F1's popularity in other markets, particularly the United States, which will return to the competition next year with a new team, Cadillac. The F1 movie with Brad Pitt releasing this week is another step towards making F1 more universal.

MotoGP is even more niche, pretty popular the south of Europe, but mostly ignored everywhere else, with most top teams and drivers coming from Italy and Spain. With a more aggressive marketing campaign, turning the drivers into celebrities and probably some strategies in other mediums like movies or TV shows, MotoGP could really become a worldwide competition.