MotoGP Grandstand Crisis

The number of participants in Portimao and Jerez was small, but the great success at Le Mans somehow made them forget. However, the crash in Mugello last weekend confirmed that the crisis was a reality. At least among those who went to the circuit to watch the race live, interest in MotoGP is low.

The numbers speak clearly. This is a 2019/2022 comparison of the number of spectators in Jerez, Le Mans and Mugello.

Audience comparison

Audience Race Day 2019/2022
Total viewership for the weekend of 2019/2022
GP Spain
75,000 / 58,000
151,000 / 123,000
French GP
104,000 / 110,000
206,000 / 225,000
Italian GP
83,000 / 43,600
139,000 / 74,000

Portugal, the first European Grand Prix of the season, has few participants and expectations for Sunday in Montmero seem to be the same.

The question is automatically asked: what’s happening? … what is behind the decline in spectators on the circuit? … is the beginning of this European season an exceptional case, or is it the dynamics of the 2022 World Cup?

A question that is certainly asked even in Dorna. So they will have more data and more information to assess the situation, but what is clear is that MotoGP is in full “hangover” 2020.

The World Championships, like many other activities, have been affected by this year’s shockwaves that have changed everything. While we lived in exceptional conditions, that is, without an audience, all energies were focused on continuing to navigate, but when we return to normal, ancillary effects are becoming apparent. .. Inevitably, we have to add some situations and our sins to these.

Situation and my sin

An analysis of why Valentino Rossi’s withdrawal pops up quickly in an analysis of why he lost spectators on the circuit. There is no doubt that his absence was one of the factors in Italy’s blunder. Due to Rossi’s absence, the hills of the yellow line disappeared, the flares of the same color and the tide of Tifosi, which blocked access to the circuit very early on Sunday.

Also added “disappearance” Marc Marquez -All Winners-And suddenly MotoGP became isolated from the reference. Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, Andrea Dovizioso, Marc Marquez … The sport’s franchise driver who dragged the crowd to the circuit before 2020 is no longer here. And those who don’t currently have the cash to summon fans. The exception, and in this case, it really confirmed the rules, the French Grand Prix where Fabio Quartararo and, to a lesser extent, Johann Zarco created a knock-on effect and excited the masses.

Obviously, there are other non-sport factors that have had a significant impact, such as ticket prices at Le Mans and Mugello, and the Portuguese Grand Prix a week before the Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez.

In Italy, the cheapest ticket to access the circuit on weekends was € 150, twice as much as in France. In other words, a family with two children costs 600 euros for a ticket alone to participate in the GP.

Friday in France had more spectators than Sunday in Italy. In this sense, the Le Mans organizer is one example. Activities and events within the boundaries of the circuit are constant throughout the weekend … The straight stand on Friday after practice is night by the audience, an old race “given” motorcycle exhibition piloted by pilots of the time. Packed until 9 o’clock, jump on a dirt bike with a ramp specially set up for this purpose, the most powerful stunt performance of the moment, or the “backpack man” flight across the straight … And the masses bark.

There are concerts at night, and on weekends all MotoGP riders pass the same stage and fans can ask questions. In other words, the added value of the entry is the beast. For all. As an example, let’s take the difference in billing for one of the tents that DORNA rents to a merchant. At Le Mans, on Friday he charged 43,000 euros. On the same day, 3,000 people in Mugello.

Dorna is clearly not strange to this situation, and I know they are taking steps to reverse the current dynamics. F1 is one of the mirrors they are looking at themselves, as reflected by the presence of some of their executives in their event “to see what they do and how” .. One example is the introduction of a new pre-race ceremony to play the national anthem.

I wanted a hero

But like any other show, the main attraction of this is based on actors, and in MotoGP these are riders. Equality in MotoGP today is spectacular, on the one hand very good and what DORNA has been working on for many years, but on the other hand it conveys the impression that “almost anyone can win”. Courage to victory … That is my impression.

All sports require a reference. If you have two or three duels, that’s fine. And if they don’t get along like brothers, it gets even better. And I’m not defending the controversy, but the essence of the competition. MotoGP requires a return to Verstappen / Leclerc, Nadal / Djokovic, Lorenzo / Rossi, Marquez / Dovizioso …

And you also need a hero out of orbit. Well, heroes are not the most appropriate word, the fairest word would be “famous”. Like F1, the desire to participate in the GP must surpass driver supporters and enthusiastic fans. The GP must be an event that even people who have nothing to do with sports want to attend. And that is achieved by associating it with references from other disciplines and other activities, just as F1 is doing well.

Sure, the F1 public profile is very different from the MotoGP profile, but it wasn’t long ago that MotoGP tried to eat F1 as a show. But in F1, they knew how to react and turn around products that had lost their appeal. That seems to be what MotoGP has to do now.