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Two Enthusiasts Podcast #51 – Coda

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Episode 51 of the Two Enthusiasts Podcast is out, and covers a variety of interesting subjects for your two-wheeled lifestyle. First up, we talk shop about going to track days, such as the benefits of using tire-warmers and how to slide a motorcycle in and out of a corner.

The conversation then gets more serious, and focuses on the recent financial news about Dorna Sports (media rights holder to MotoGP and WorldSBK), and how its investors are using the media company as a piggy bank.

We finish the show discussing some movements by GoPro in the action camera sector, as the behemoth video company tries to deal with its product increasingly becoming a commodity.

It’s worth pointing out that this show was recorded before our trip to the Circuit of the Americas, so we will be trickling out that content going forward…there’s a lot of it.

You can listen to the show via the embedded SoundCloud player, after the jump, or you can find the show on iTunes (please leave a review) or this RSS feed. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter as well. Enjoy the show!

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MotoGP

Investors Leveraging MotoGP for Sizable Payout

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According to several reports in the financial sector, the investors behind Dorna Sports S.L. are readying themselves for another sizable payout from the media rights holder for the MotoGP and WorldSBK Championships.

Using a bit of financial finesse, the move would see Bridgepoint Capital and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) – the two major investors in Dorna Sports – taking roughly €889 million off the books of the Spanish media company, according to Reuters.

As such, today’s news would make this the third time that Bridgepoint and the CPPIB have raided the piggy bank for motorcycling’s premier racing series, having done similar deals in 2011 (€420 million) and 2014 (€715 million).

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A&R Pro

The Curious Case of Female Spectators in MotoGP

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Last week during International Women's Day, my colleague Tammy Gorali - the first female commentator ever in the MotoGP paddock, I should point out - tweeted some timely statistics about female attendance at MotoGP races.

In short, here tweets showed that over the past four years, the number of female spectators has declined an astonishing 19%. That's no small drop, and the timeliness of that revelation should be noted.

On its face, this tweet showed that MotoGP was seemingly hemorrhaging female fans. But, the reality isn't as clearcut, and this is also where things get weird.

Intrigued by Gorali's info, I dug into the numbers a bit further to see what was behind this startling statistic. What I found was that if you pulled the scope back further by just one more year, then over the past five years female attendance at MotoGP races has actually increased by 33%.

If your brain is hurting right now, that's ok, but it is difficult to understand how the number of women attending MotoGP races declined by 19% over the past four years, but increased somehow also increased 33% over the last five?

Keep on reading, and I will try and shed some light on this curious case of female MotoGP attendance.

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Racing

Dorna Starting An Electric Motorcycle Race Series

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Dorna Sports, the media rights holder to the MotoGP and World Superbike Championships, wants to start its own race series for electric motorcycles, so said Carmelo Ezpeleta while talking to Spain’s respected AS publication.

Hoping to begin racing by 2019, Dorna’s electric motorcycle racing series would pick up where the now defunct FIM e-Power Championship left off, though it would come with some major differences from its predecessor.

As such, Ezpeleta outlined a plan that would see a five-round format, which piggybacks off existing rounds on the Grand Prix calendar, and operates as a support class to the usual Grand Prix weekend.

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MotoGP

Dorna Sports Fined For Tax Evasion

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The Spanish Supreme Court has imposed multi-million dollar fines on Dorna Sports and its executives for tax offenses arising out of the sale of shares in 2003 and 2004.

The court found that Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta and COO & CFO Enrique Aldama had simulated the sale of shares in order to avoid paying income tax and to receive undeclared dividends from the shares the two men hold.

The ruling of the Division of Administrative Litigation of the Supreme Court was that Dorna Sports S.L. sold shares to a separate company owned by the same partners (including Ezpeleta and Aldama) who were selling the shares.

The share purchase was financed using debt held in part by the partners who owned the company buying the shares. Dorna claimed that this was a form of leveraged recapitalization, but the Supreme court disagreed with that assessment.

In reality, the Supreme Court ruled, Dorna and its executives were pursuing a means of receiving hidden dividends.

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Racing

Dorna Will Manage TV Rights for Other FIM Championships

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Dorna Sports is starting to consolidate its position as the TV right holder for all international motorcycle championships, as the Spanish media giant has signed an agreement with the FIM to manage the television rights for a number of less-popular FIM Championships.

Starting this year, Dorna will handle the TV rights for Championships that the FIM manages, namely the the FIM Trial, X-Trial, MOTUL Ice Speedway, Speedway GP Challenge, Sidecar and Cross-Country Rallies World Championships, and the FIM International Six Days Enduro.

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MotoGP

Dorna Eyeing a North American Championship?

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The discourse in AMA paddock is palpable. From 2013’s surprise revelation that AMA Pro Road Racing’s TV package would not cover all the events, to 2014’s complete lack of television coverage, there have been serious questions raised about DMG’s ability to market the premier road racing series in the United States.

A constantly dwindling calendar of events has caused many to wonder about DMG’s ability to organize race weekends, as this year’s provisional five-event calendar was marked with the absence of any races west of The Rockies (the motorcycle industry’s sweet spot), a move that would cause John Ulrich of Roadracing World to start his own three-event “Superbike Shootout” series (Laguna Seca would later be added to the AMA calendar as a sixth event).

This year was also marked by an exodus of top-level teams (Michael Jordan Motorsports and Erik Buell Racing), as well as marquee sponsors (The Army National Guard and GEICO).

Just recently torrential rain, a field of Superbikes on slicks, and not a red flag in sight caused a dust-up just a few weeks ago at Road America, resulting in a modest investment in publication ink regarding the officiating at AMA Pro Road Racing events, especially in regards to rider safety.

American road racing has long been in decline, but never before has the frustration with the series been so evident across the series’ stakeholders of riders, teams, sponsors, fans, and journalists. The malcontent is evident whenever the subject is broached.

No one can say for certain what form American road racing will take for the 2015 season, but things do not seem to be taking a positive direction with DMG’s ownership of AMA Pro Racing.

American road racing is in serious danger of fracturing if the Superbike Shootout continues, and it could legitimately collapse altogether if DMG continues operating the way it has to date. As if that wasn’t enough, a third option is waiting in the wings: Dorna.

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Racing

MotoGP: BT Sport Gets UK Broadcast Rights for 2014-2018

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Dorna Sports issued the following press release on the acquisition of the broadcast rights for MotoGP in the United Kingdom for the next five years. More information and full commentary will be released soon, but there are a few key details which are already known.

Firstly, for details on how to receive BT Sport, see the BT Sport website. Secondly, although the commentary team is as yet unknown, the names of Julian Ryder and Keith Huewen are circulating, though this could of course be wishful thinking.

Thirdly, it seems almost certain that British Eurosport will no longer provided delayed broadcast of the MotoGP races, as that deal was tied up with the BBC contract. After the jump is the press release from Dorna:

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Racing

MotoGP And World Superbike To Be “Brought Together”

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Bridgepoint has announced today that it has brought MotoGP and World Superbike, the two motorcycle racing series it owns, under a single umbrella organization. The reorganization will see Dorna Sports become the parent organization for both series, though Infront will operate as an independent entity and continue to organize World Superbike under its own banner. Infront has also been named as “marketing advisor and global advisor” for both MotoGP and WSBK.

The implications of this announcement are huge, but not immediately clear. The logic behind the move is impeccable: the two series are spending too much of their time competing against each other instead of working together to promote the sport of motorcycle racing. By combining their marketing efforts, the hope is that both series will be made stronger.

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News

Dorna Sports Declared “Best Spanish Business”…in Italy

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File this one under stuff we couldn’t make up if we tried (although the fake press release would be awesome). Dorna Sports, media rights holder to our one and only MotoGP World Championship racing series, has been declared the “Best Spanish Business”…in Italy…by the Spanish Chamber of Commerce…in Italy…yeah it just got that weird.

Apparently the Spanish Chamber of Commerce, which operates in Italy and helps facilitate business operations between the two countries, has made it a habit to recognize Spanish businesses that have a substantial amount of their business in Italy, and promote the economies of both countries, which is great, if not slightly strange.

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Racing

Kawasaki Secretly Signed on as Sole Motor Provider for Moto2?

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Visordown is reporting that they have a source who has uncovered an unofficial report that Kawasaki has been chosen as the sole motor supplier for the new Moto2 race series. The source goes on to allege that a deal has already been signed for Kawasaki to supply the one-make motors for the class, despite . Apparently, the deal has been done on down-low in order to keep Kawasaki involved in the MotoGP racing series.

 

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