Uphill negotiations
There is a reason why, despite some negotiations having been closed and finalized for several weeks, no MotoGP team has yet announced its new rider signings for next season. According to the current situation at the moment, in fact, there would be no 2027 MotoGP World Championship. It is clear that the situation is naturally destined to change, but at this moment the organization of the Manufacturers competing in the premier class of the World Championship – the MSMA – and what was once Dorna, now renamed MotoGP Sports Entertainment Group, have not yet found an agreement for what would essentially be the MotoGP equivalent of the Concorde Agreement that regulates F1.
As well explained in an article published on the Motorsport.com website by Spanish journalist Oriol Puigdemont, the parties are in a stalemate and the Texan weekend in Austin, which was supposed to help untangle the knot, has instead further complicated things. The issue – and this is no surprise – is almost exclusively economic. The teams’ goal is to obtain an ‘F1-style’ agreement, which would allow them to receive a percentage of the profits generated by the championship. MGPEG, on the other hand, wants to maintain the current system, which provides for a fixed amount for the teams, independent of overall profits. The latest proposal made by the former Dorna would be around eight million euros, distributed according to various variables. According to what Puigdemont wrote, this would be an increase of about one million euros compared to the conditions of the current agreement, which expires at the end of the year.
Who gives in first
The teams, however, are not giving in for the moment, aware that the expiration of the current agreement at the end of 2026, the advent of Liberty Media, and the new technical regulations to be introduced in MotoGP next year represent a combination unique useful for asserting their demands. Furthermore, in the agreements in force, there are some clauses that the teams would like to see removed related to the ownership of grid spots. Everything would also be linked to the entry of potential new investors into the teams.
Read more Mercedes Derby, Wolff recalls 2016: “I had fired both Hamilton and Rosberg”
On the other hand, MotoGP Entertainment would like to see from the teams a strengthening of the departments dedicated to communication and marketing within the teams. All of this is obviously aimed at the commercial expansion of the category. The creation of special events to be organized outside of the Grands Prix is also being evaluated, along the lines of what happens in Formula 1, to try to increasingly grow the popularity of the championship. Naturally, reaching an agreement is in everyone’s interest, but someone will have to take a step back from their current positions and it is difficult at the moment to imagine who will give in first.
Read more Zak Brown celebrates Lambiase and locks down Stella: “They will work together”
