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ESPN bought U.S. MotoGP rights from Liberty Media, which kept global ownership but exited distribution after failing to match F1's American trajectory.
$4.2 billion
in April 2022
20
live race weekends across Europe
115,000
attendees over three days in 2024
180,000
viewers on Peacock in 2024
ESPN secured exclusive U.S. television rights to MotoGP from Liberty Media in a transaction that moves the international motorcycle racing series back to a traditional sports broadcaster after four years under the Formula 1 owner's control. The multi-year agreement covers ABC, ESPN, and ESPN+ distribution starting with the 2026 season. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Liberty Media acquired MotoGP's commercial rights operator, Dorna Sports, for $4.2 billion in April 2022, betting it could replicate the American audience growth Formula 1 delivered through Netflix's Drive to Survive and the Miami Grand Prix. The U.S. rights were previously held by beIN Sports, then moved to Peacock under NBC Universal in a deal that expired after the 2024 season. Liberty handled the 2025 season in-house while shopping the package. ESPN last carried motorcycle racing regularly in the 1990s when it aired AMA Supercross.
The acquisition gives Disney's sports unit 20 live race weekends across Europe, Asia, and the Americas, including the Circuit of the Americas event in Austin that drew 115,000 attendees over three days in 2024. MotoGP's U.S. television audience remains modest—the Austin race delivered approximately 180,000 viewers on Peacock in 2024, a fraction of F1's Miami Grand Prix 3.1 million on ABC the same year. But ESPN is buying optionality on a property Liberty spent four years attempting to Americanize. The series added a second U.S. round at Indianapolis Motor Speedway starting in 2025, and Dorna opened a North American office in Miami in 2023.
The deal matters because it clarifies Liberty Media's portfolio priorities. The company is keeping Formula 1 rights in-house with ESPN (exclusive through 2025, then shared with Turner Sports starting 2026). It is keeping MotoGP's global commercial rights through Dorna. But it is exiting U.S. distribution, signaling either that MotoGP's growth curve is longer than investors will tolerate or that ESPN paid enough to make patience unnecessary. Liberty's stock is up 14% since the Dorna acquisition closed, almost entirely driven by F1 revenue growth in the U.S., where the series added Las Vegas to Austin and Miami.
For ESPN, the addition slots into a sports calendar gap between March Madness and the NBA Finals. MotoGP runs February through November, with most races airing early Sunday mornings U.S. time—graveyard hours for linear television but native inventory for ESPN+, where the network has been stockpiling international motorsports, tennis, and cricket to justify the $11.99 monthly subscription. The company already carries Formula E and IndyCar. Adding MotoGP gives it a three-series motorcycle and open-wheel portfolio aimed at the same millennial male demo that pushed F1's U.S. viewership up 35% between 2021 and 2023.
Sponsor and team economics shift with the deal. Red Bull, Monster Energy, and Estrella Galicia sponsor MotoGP teams and buy hospitality at U.S. rounds. They now have ESPN's sales team pricing activation packages instead of Liberty's in-house group. That typically means lower per-unit costs and wider distribution—ESPN reaches 76 million linear households compared to Peacock's 28 million subscribers—but less flexible deal structures. Ducati, Honda, and Yamaha factory teams will be watching U.S. retail motorcycle sales data over the next 18 months to see if the ESPN audience converts differently than the Peacock audience did.
Liberty Media has not announced what it plans to do with the capital or attention it is freeing up by offloading U.S. distribution. The company's other motorsports asset, Formula 1, is negotiating its next U.S. media rights deal starting in 2026, when the current ESPN exclusive window ends and Turner Sports joins the package. Liberty's president and CEO Greg Maffei told investors in February 2024 that the company sees "significant runway" in F1's U.S. growth. MotoGP was always the side bet.
ESPN will begin airing races in February 2026. Dorna Sports has not yet announced which races will air on ABC versus ESPN versus ESPN+, but the Austin and Indianapolis rounds are expected to receive linear placements. The series currently races at 20 circuits across 13 countries, with an average global television audience of 3.7 million per race, heavily concentrated in Spain, Italy, and Southeast Asia.
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