Liberty Media told to look for clues in Sachsenring MotoGP success

In 2024, the German Grand Prix attracted over 250,000 spectators, making it MotoGP’s second-biggest weekend crowd of the season, behind only Le Mans.

But unlike the French round - which benefits from local stars Fabio Quartararo and Johann Zarco - Sachsenring pulled in those numbers without a full-time German MotoGP rider on the grid.

In fact, Stefan Bradl’s wild-card appearance for HRC saw him finish last. Bradl retired as a full-time rider at the end of 2016 and this year there’s no German rider on the MotoGP entry list at all.

“The Liberty news was followed by a massive sell-out crowd for the British F1 Grand Prix, with a lot of home drivers for the British fans,” said Crash.net MotoGP Podcast host Jordan Moreland.

“And now we're going to Germany, where there's no German MotoGP rider - but the fans still turn up.”

“You’re going to want more Sachsenrings”

As MotoGP grapples with patchy attendance in some key markets, Sachsenring offers an interesting ‘case study’.

“It’s a good comparison, isn’t it?” said Crash.net MotoGP editor Pete McLaren. “We’ve just seen Silverstone bulging at the seams for Formula 1, and MotoGP struggling to get spectators in at the same venue.

 “Most people believe that not having a home rider is a big part of that, and it surely plays a role. But yet here we are going to the German Grand Prix, where they haven’t had a full-time MotoGP rider for years now.

“So if you’re Liberty, you’re going to want more Sachsenrings - events with big crowds, even if they don’t have a home rider. Sachsenring does a great job of getting the fans in year after year, so it’d make a great case study for Liberty.”

No rebrand needed - but weekend format could be improved

Moreland noted that MotoGP’s branding already had a major overhaul at the start of 2024, so Liberty doesn’t need to reinvent the visual identity.

But McLaren believes there’s room to enhance the weekend experience, particularly Sunday mornings, which feel "flat" after the intensity of Saturday’s qualifying and Sprint race.

“I’d make warm-up longer, maybe give teams with concessions an extra ten minutes and maybe another ten minutes for those starting outside the top ten,” McLaren suggested.

“That way, the riders further back would have time to try different set-ups, perhaps find more performance, and potentially improve the racing in the GP.

 “A 30-minute warm-up followed by a 45-minute race would be 1 hour and 15 minutes of MotoGP track action on a Sunday. That would roughly match the Saturday total of Free Practice, Qualifying and Sprint.

“But it would still be below the 1 hour 37 minutes of the British F1 Grand Prix race, for example."

Cross-Promotion with F1

Perhaps the biggest opportunity Liberty brings is the potential for cross-promotion with Formula 1.

“The easiest way for MotoGP to grow is to attract fans from other motorsports,” McLaren said.

“Showing F1 fans some MotoGP clips on the big screens during a race weekend, or having more MotoGP riders at F1, would make more people aware of the sport.”

He also floated joint ticket incentives as a way to build crossover attendance:

“Getting more people to attend both their home F1 and MotoGP rounds each season would be a realistic target - helped by things like a discount for MotoGP on the more expensive F1 ticket.”