Motorcycling-MotoGP/F1 double header possible not probable, says COTA boss

Liberty Media

18/04/2024 18:12

By Alan Baldwin
       April 18 (Reuters) - U.S. Grand Prix promoter Bobby
Epstein hopes his Austin circuit will be a major beneficiary of
Liberty Media's takeover of MotoGP raising the sport's profile
in the Americas.
    The Texan played down, however, a suggestion MotoGP and
Liberty-owned Formula One might eventually hold races on the
same weekend at his Circuit of the Americas (COTA).
    Austin is MotoGP's only U.S. round but the race draws a much
smaller crowd than the Formula One grand prix there.
    U.S.-based Liberty announced on April 1 a takeover of
MotoGP's parent company Dorna. Formula One currently has three
grands prix in the United States.
    "We're excited by it, probably more than anybody," Epstein
told reporters on Thursday.
    "I think MotoGP has come to the U.S. and really not had a
whole lot of attention paid to it. And once they leave that's
sort of the end of it, that's all you hear for about another 51
weeks.
    "It's just waiting for more people to discover it. I hope
we're one of the biggest beneficiaries of that purchase."
    Epstein said Liberty did not need to change the sport, just 
bring more visibility and shed more light on the series through
broadcast agreements and social media.
    "Right now there's enough fans for one race. Even that's not
a sellout," he added. "Right now, there's not enough fans for
more than one race."
    Asked whether MotoGP and Formula One might one day share a
weekend at the circuit, Epstein saw plenty of complications.
    "They do both bring different sponsors and different
activations and manufacturers. We would be bulging at the seams
from that standpoint," he said. "And also you'd have to do a lot
of changeover of track signage.
    "It's possible, I don't know that it's probable."
    On the Formula One front, Epstein announced COTA was
offering fans the chance to make a profit by selling back their
general admission early bird tickets for $350 in an unusual
promotional ploy.
    More than 10,000 such tickets have been sold already for
some $299 each and Epstein was confident they would be worth far
more once the concert line-up was announced later this month and
that most would hold on to them.
    Headline acts in the past have included Taylor Swift, Bruno
Mars, Pink and Billy Joel.

 (Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Toby Davis)
 ((alan.baldwin@thomsonreuters.com; +442075427933;))