Davide Brivio: “People don't like to hear it, but MotoGP must entertain” - Exclusive

Davide Brivio believes MotoGP’s long-term future depends not only on the sporting spectacle but embracing its role as entertainment.

The Trackhouse team principal is one of the few senior MotoGP figures with experience across multiple manufacturers and Formula 1.

The Italian oversaw Valentino Rossi’s Yamaha titles, then Joan Mir’s 2020 Suzuki world championship, before spending several years in F1. He returned to two wheels via Trackhouse in 2024.

Speculation over MotoGP’s direction has intensified since Liberty Media acquired majority control of rights holder Dorna last June. 

So far, Brivio says, there’s been little on-the-ground impact, with Liberty leaving the existing Dorna structure to run the sport.

“We know that Liberty became the biggest shareholder of Dorna. But in reality, we continue working with Dorna, with Carmelo, with Carlos Espeleta, with all the same people,” Brivio told Crash.net.

However, there’s no doubt that Liberty/Dorna have ambitious plans for MotoGP, as recently spelt out by chief sporting officer Carlos Ezpeleta in an interview with the Financial Times.

Ezpeleta outlined plans to make MotoGP less Eurocentric, increase riders’ off-track profiles and attract non-motorsport sponsors by taking the sport into “places where people don’t expect us to be”, from fashion and music to airports and supermarkets.

Ezpeleta pointed to the 2027 technical regulations delivering “safer bikes, more entertaining [races], more overtaking”, but stressed that “the bigger growth is going to come from the stuff that happens outside the track”.

“Sport is also an entertainment”

Speaking before Ezpeleta’s comments, Crash.net asked Brivio for his view on how MotoGP should position itself for the future.

“Let's say the sporting side is fine,” Brivio said. “It can always be improved, but it's fine.

“What I think we need to improve is to have a bigger audience. Maybe to penetrate more new countries that are potential targets for MotoGP, improve fan engagement, and attract the public.

“Maybe the pure passionate sports people don't like to hear this, but in reality, in the modern era, sport is also an entertainment.

“So we have to look also from this point of view; what we need to do to make MotoGP entertain more people.”

Brivio insists broadening MotoGP’s appeal does not mean diluting its racing DNA.

“The MotoGP races, for us who are stakeholders or people strongly passionate about motorcycle racing, are fine. You can watch and enjoy the sport,” he said.

“But then we have to open up to more people. People who maybe are not crazy about MotoGP, but could still come to see a MotoGP race, visit the paddock and enjoy the atmosphere.”

“This is how we can survive”

Drawing comparisons with football and the NBA, Brivio continued: “That's what sport is becoming: It's also an entertainment.

“Maybe you go to watch a Champions League football match. You know more or less what's going on in the game, but you also go there to enjoy the atmosphere in the stadium, people cheering for their team. Maybe you even watch from a lounge.

“Or if you go to an NBA match in the US, families are eating and drinking, then they watch the match and go home happy. That's what sport is becoming: It's also an entertainment.

“So we have to build up the entertainment part of MotoGP, which doesn't take away anything from the pure sporting side.

“If you are passionate about motorcycles and know everything about tyres, fuel, and engines, you can still enjoy MotoGP.

“But there will be many more people - family or friends of those who are really passionate about MotoGP, but who like football more, for example - who could still say, ‘OK, let me come to see MotoGP as well’.

“We have to increase this part, which in the past a year or so, Dorna has started to look at much more: More attention on creating interesting entertainment as well as just the sport of motorcycle racing.

“Because this is how we can, I think, survive. This is how we can justify going around the world, racing. This is how the sport can become [economically] sustainable.”

Ducati: “We are an entertainment company”

Brivio’s stance mirrors comments made last year by Claudio Domenicali, CEO of Ducati, following the Liberty takeover.

“It’s a very, very exciting moment,” Domenicali said. “We, as a manufacturer, tend to say we are into entertainment.

“So, we don’t see ourselves as a bike manufacturer, more an entertainment company.

“In the past years, we’ve done a fantastic job of keeping the racing very close and the fans very engaged.

“But still, there is a lot of potential for MotoGP to grow as a sport, to get a much bigger audience.

“Maybe not everything that Formula 1 has done, but if we look at what Formula 1 has done in the US in terms of fanbase for example, the growth in the last few years has been exceptional.

“The potential for all the MotoGP teams to really engage and create a bigger fanbase, if we work together, is fantastic.”