'Liberty wants to invest in MotoGP to bring it to more people'

American media giant Liberty has bought MotoGP rights-holders Dorna. What does this mean for the future of the biggest motorcycling championship? Dan Rossomondo, Dorna Chief Commercial Officer, lays out Liberty's vision

- Report: Mat Oxley Photography: Dorna, Harley-Davidson, HRC, Oxley, Tech3, and Yamaha

IN CASE YOU HAD NOT noticed, sport is big business these days. Huge business. So, it was only a matter of time before big business came for MotoGP.

In fact, top-level sport has always been about business.

Here is Australian MotoGP star “Happy” Jack Ahearn (nicknamed for his grumpy demeanour) recalling his pay-related negotiations with race promoters in the 1950s.

‘Always, if you didn't watch them, they'd try and dud you,' he said. “They used to divide us into first-class and second-class riders. I was always classed with the top blokes, but at this meeting, the secretary wouldn't give me the £100 first-class money; he wanted to give me half that for second class. I said no way, but he wouldn't pay, so I hung him out of the window. I think we were on the second floor.’

And here is Mike Trimby, who did more than anyone to steer MotoGP on to the road of becoming a modern, pan-global sport, recalling doing business with Formula 1 mogul Bernie Ecclestone, who briefly owned MotoGP in the early 1990s.

‘Bernie should hope that I am never diagnosed with terminal cancer because, were that to happen, he would not see the dawn,’ said Trimby.

In other words, big business is dirty business. How could it be otherwise with billions and billions up for grabs?

Last July, the American mass media company, Liberty Media, finalised its acquisition of MotoGP rights-holders Dorna for £3.75 billion (Rs 44,625 crore). Eight years earlier, Liberty bought Formula 1 for slightly less than that, and they recently rejected a £15-billion (Rs 1,78,500 crore) offer for the championship, so they have grown Fr's worth by 500 per cent.

Liberty, now worth £45 billion (Rs 5,35,500 crore), wants to do the same to MotoGP. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? It is neither, really; it is merely inevitable.