Valentino Rossi’s exit from the scene has created many problems for MotoGP on tickets and TV. Manager Carlo Pernat’s analysis.
The farewell of Valentino Rossi caused more problems than Dorna could have anticipated. Entrances to Grands Prix and following on TV have dropped, a debacle that was imaginable but not to similar levels. The decline of champions is a constant in every sport, but every Federation has been able to recover, find other characters or create them. Formula 1 has relied on expert managers and in just a few years it has become a sport of excellence, one of the most followed in the world. There MotoGP instead he is absent after the Doctor’s exit at the end of the 2021 championship.
Example is the case of Mugello. Only 74,078 paying visitors, 65,251 fewer than in the previous Grand Prix in 2019, 90 thousand fewer than in the record year of 2017. Since 2006, the number had never dropped below 100,000, with the exception of 2012 (88,714). But the Misano GP is also feeling the pinch after Valentino Rossi: despite the 101,140 spectators, we are talking about 30% less than in the last few years prior to the pandemic. The collapses also concern TV, with MotoGP which has collapsed by 25%: 1.6 million on average, half compared to F1.
Loss of marketing after Valentino Rossi
Among the factors that have led to the drop in the public at racetracks there is certainly the increase in ticket prices, much more marked in Italy than in other parts of the world. But the absence of Valentino Rossi seems decisive. The manager Charles Pernat was all too clear in his analysis offered to the Corsedimoto.com website and points the finger at the organizers: “Dorna didn’t know how to manage the aftermath of Valentino Rossi… Once the Valentino era is over, you need characters and you have to create them. Fortunately there was Ducati with Pecco Bagnaia who brought some enthusiasm, the media moved But this is not the way to manage“.
Dorna has imposed sprint races from 2023, without asking the riders’ opinion. A move that according to the manager of Aeneas Bastianini and Tony Arbolino it won’t be decisive for reviving MotoGP’s state of health. “It could have been done without them, I don’t see what they can be used for. Of course, to get the fans to come as early as Saturday. But it would be better to oblige the pay-TVs that have bought the TV rights to give them free-to-air. By doing so you promote the Sunday race“.
Finally, Carlo Pernat recalls what happened this year at Mugello, when Valentino Rossi was nominated ‘MotoGP Legend‘, but without creating an adequate marketing framework: “Do you only do it for twenty minutes in the press room? We had to invite all of Rossi’s fans, give them a few rides, organize a parade with the riders… This means not having any marketing“.
