HAMILTON WANTS TO BUY A MOTOGP TEAM!

Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei claims that seven-time Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton has shown interest in purchasing a team in MotoGP.

In April, it was announced that Liberty would acquire 86% of the shares of the Spanish company Dorna Sports, which has owned MotoGP since 1992. In August, Liberty confirmed that it had sold $825 million of its shares in Formula 1 to finance the acquisition.

At the Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference, Maffei said: “When we announced the acquisition of MotoGP, people like Lewis Hamilton immediately called, saying ‘I want to buy a team.'”

“Why? Because they saw what happened in Formula 1. Unfortunately, I had to tell them that we couldn’t talk about it until we received EU approval, but after we get the approval, we’d be happy to talk.”

Owning the league-level rights to Formula 1 has certainly given Liberty the opportunity to drive change and introduce the sport to a new fan base, especially in the United States.

Maffei added: “I think MotoGP is an incredibly exciting place to start.”

“I don’t know if many of you have watched the races, but it’s crazy to see people riding motorcycles at 220 mph, just 6 inches apart from each other. The overtakes are also incredibly impressive.”

“Unfortunately, it’s a race that’s not very well known here in the United States and globally. There’s interest in Asia and other places, but its main heart is in Spain, Italy, and a bit in France.”

“In Formula 1, we saw how popular it became when we told the stories, humanized them, and made the narrative more than just about cars and technology—showing what the drivers were doing and what was happening behind the scenes.”

“I think there’s an opportunity to develop this. Maybe there’s an opportunity for a second race in the US. I think all of these are interesting aspects that are familiar to us from Formula 1 and that we hope to replicate here,” he said.