MotoGP Tipped for 'Huge' Growth After Liberty Media's US$4.2bn Takeover

MotoGP is being positioned as one of the most compelling growth opportunities in motorsport following Liberty Media's US$4.2bn acquisition of the championship from Dorna Sports.

Speaking at the BlackBook Motorsport Forum, former Goldman Sachs executive and industry analyst Elis Jones described the current buying price in MotoGP as still relatively low against the sport's potential. "One in ten people around the world still ride a motorbike," he noted. "The addressable market is large and we're going to see more people looking at it and saying, 'I want to be part of that story.'"

Team-level activity supports that view. Ex-Haas F1 boss Gunther Steiner has led a consortium backed by David Blitzer's Bolt Ventures, Main Street Advisors and Ikon Capital to acquire the Tech3 MotoGP outfit for around US$50m.

Reports have also linked Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen with interest in purchasing teams, suggesting that MotoGP's ownership market is gathering pace in much the same way Formula One's did following its own Liberty acquisition.

Jones was clear, however, that the opportunity comes with conditions. Cost management, he argued, remains the fundamental discipline in sports investing. "If you can get cost management right and be really thoughtful about where you are spending the money, what you can do around the storytelling, the marketing and your revenues, there is a place to make a return."

He was also bullish on Nascar, V8 Supercars - which draw around 250,000 fans across the Bathurst weekend - and the World Endurance Championship as further motorsport properties attracting investor attention.