If you've been living under a rock, you may not have heard that Formula 1's parent company, Liberty Media, struck a deal with MotoGP's Dorna to purchase the two-wheeled racing series for a cool $4.5 billion this April. The news broke in April and, you'd likely assume that everything was said and done given how both groups, riders, drivers, and personalities have been discussing it ever since.
You'd, however, be wrong, as the deal isn't yet done.
While Dorna and Liberty Media have finalized the price of the controlling purchase, Liberty Media didn't have the cash on hand to fund the buyout. That's only recently come with securing new loans, leveraging old debts, spinning off Sirius XM, and issuing new common stock to the tune of nearly $1 billion. That's all well and good, but Liberty Media still has to clear one last hurdle.
The European Commission, i.e. whether or not the purchase violates antitrust laws.
According to Liberty Media's Q3 call, the group's CEO Greg Maffei stated, "Let me turn briefly and give you a MotoGP transaction update. We are making progress with the European Commission which is our only remaining regulatory jurisdictional hurdle and we continue to expect a year-end close.” That progress is one where, in the past, the European Commission has argued that a company owning both series' may have too strong of bargaining power over TV rights, as happened prior when CVC Capital Partners bought both in the mid-aughts.
The Commissions actually made CVC divest from MotoGP at the time, but apparently, things are different now.
According to Reuters, "Law experts agree that, at worst, Liberty Media may be asked to make small concessions such as not tailoring the length of the rights contracts for the two motorsport circuits so that there is no overlap in the auctioning process. Much like three-time F1 world champion Max Verstappen’s near-perfect 2023 racing season, the risk of a possible antitrust engine failure appears minimal." That's largely thanks to how diverse the media landscape is compared to CVC's time attempting to purchase the two.
So, at present, it looks like the two great houses will become one in the near future. What that looks like for you and me, fans of both, that's yet to be seen. Likely higher ticket prices, sure, but maybe we get a Drive to Survive-style series for MotoGP.
I'd be up for that even though it'd be hard as hell to understand half the fields' accents. It'd be funny, though.
