Want to watch World Superbike, or MotoGP? For the foreseeable future, Dorna Sports will continue to hold promotional rights for both these international roadracing series, thanks to a new deal with the FIM.
The FIM is the world’s largest certifier of motorcycle racing. Its website says “FIM is the supreme and sole international authority empowered to control international motorcycling events organised under its jurisdiction throughout the world. It is recognised by the IOC as the sole competent authority in motorcycle sport.” The FIM controls World Superbike and MotoGP competition, sanctioning racers and race series and generally holding everyone accountable—but it doesn’t run the races themselves.
For decades now (since 1992), that job has fell to Dorna, the Spanish TV broadcaster with the television rights to GP/WSB races in Europe, and also the hands-on organizer of the series themselves. And now, that deal has been extended until 2060.
That’s a long time off in the future, and it means that, realistically speaking, international roadracing will be controlled by Dorna for the rest of the lifetimes of a lot of readers, as well half their childrens’ lives.
Is this good news? There is no doubt that MotoGP has grown greatly under Dorna, and as the sport of roadracing evolves rapidly, Dorna is behind many of the current changes. As their PR says:
“In addition to its successes in driving the global growth of MotoGP, the partnership has also expanded the popularity and reach of motorcycle racing around the world – from grassroots to the highest levels of professional competition. FIM World Championships considered under this agreement, including the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship since 2015, the FIM Enel MotoE World Championship since 2019, the FIM JuniorGP World Championship since 2019 and the FIM Women’s Circuit Racing World Championship since 2023, can now look forward to many more years of success thanks to this extension.”
Some roadracing fans may look at issues from recent years such as Marc Marquez’ constant evasion of serious discipline during the “Basher Bart” stage of his career as evidence that Dorna had a bad habit of playing favorites with Spanish riders. Perhaps that was the case, but the FIM stewards are responsible for handling this sort of thing, so are the TV team really to blame? And what other options are there, really?
Here’s what Jorge Viegas, FIM president, said after the deal was inked:
“The ongoing and ever closer collaboration between the FIM, Dorna Sports and the other key stakeholders is something that has been built over many years, the trust and co-operation that now exists alongside this long-term agreement offer great foundations for the future development of MotoGP plus all the related championships.”
That’s probably the best way to view this: The deal will see Dorna maintain stability, and despite the frustrations they might bring to the table, it is good to see the series have a chance to grow further, instead of being mired in some sort of silly bidding war or other instability.
