The purchase of MotoGP by Formula 1 owner group Liberty Media earlier this year led to quick comparisons and the belief that they will try to make the motorcycling competition grow as much as Formula 1 did during in the last few years, thanks to many transmedia strategies like Netflix show Drive to Survive or the F1 movie. However, MotoGP sporting director Carlos Ezpeleta said that they need to "manage expectations", and pointed to big differences between the two motorsports.
Ezpeleta spoke to Motorsport Italia, and warned that MotoGP doesn't need to try to emulate Formula 1. "It's true that there are similar aspects to the business, but on a different scale. We have a clear understanding of our reality. We've always said that expectations need to be managed, because F1 is a unique case. The expansion and penetration it has achieved, especially in the United States, is something no other sport has accomplished. Not even football, with billions of euros, has achieved it on that scale", Ezpeleta said about F1.
It seems that Ezpeleta is not that optimistic about the potential growth of MotoGP. He's still ambitious, but more realistic: "As an employee and as part of the MotoGP executive team, I am accountable to the strategic vision of Liberty's shareholders. But that doesn't diminish our enormous ambition for growth. We simply need to define the paths and timings and adapt them to our reality.
F1 is a unique and exceptional case in the history of sport; we shouldn't try to emulate it. We see that MotoGP has many advantages in certain areas; in others, it doesn't", he concluded.
Ezpeleta said that "MotoGP is already at a very high level" and there's still a lot of potential business growth: "We are focused on enhancing our strengths instead of copying other disciplines, and that is clear from having managed to captivate 600 million fans worldwide".
Do you think MotoGP can end up becoming as popular as Formula 1 is?