The CEO of new MotoGP owner Liberty Media has acknowledged that the series is in talks about holding a round of the motorcycle racing championship at the Miami circuit that already hosts Formula 1.
Speaking on an investor call on Thursday, Liberty CEO Derek Chang admitted that the company was speaking to Miami event organiser South Florida Motorsports about what the future could hold for MotoGP in the US.
“Miami would seem to be a logical spot,” he explained when asked about rumours started by MotoGP boss Carlos Ezpeleta’s presence at last weekend’s F1 race, “because there’s already a track there.
“There’s a lot of things that have to get worked out, whether it’s Miami or any other track, in terms of whether or not it works for MotoGP – and sort of the safety concerns and stuff like that, where you’ve got different requirements than Formula 1 as well as what markets, frankly, make sense from a commercial standpoint.
“But those are conversations that we will have with Miami, with other folks also, trying to scope out what the right locations would be for US expansion.”
The current USA MotoGP round at Texas’ Circuit of the Americas is believed to be one of the worst-attended races of the year following significant contraction of the American market in recent seasons. It is the only round on the 22-race calendar which does not routinely publish attendance figures.
Adding a second US race would, according to Chang, therefore become a long-term project rather than something likely to happen in the near future, with Liberty keen to instead first focus on growing the sport in its home market.
“We said it – and we’re going to continue to say – that the US is an important market for MotoGP, and so we are looking at all avenues to grow our business here,” Chang said.
“It’s going to take time, just like it did with F1, but we do see that there’s an appetite, and that there’s going to be a market here. We do have interest in adding races in the US.”
A Miami race would mark a second step in a pivot away from traditional circuits and towards street races for MotoGP – following the controversial decision to move the Australian Grand Prix away from its iconic Phillip Island venue and onto a modified version of the Adelaide street circuit, used by Australian Supercars, for 2027.
Chief to any such plans is a desire to move races closer to the paying audience – something Liberty has already heavily pursued since taking over F1, with street tracks in cities like Las Vegas, Miami, and Madrid superseding traditional venues and forcing some of them into rotational slots.
“I do think that our stated objective is to get some of these races closer to cities where we can leverage off of the infrastructure,” said Chang.
“Whether it’s the airport and long-distance travel, or for both ourselves as well as for the fans who are coming in internationally, and the hotels and the restaurants and sort of ease of access, I think it’s important – and you’re seeing this with sort of the races we announced for next year, both in Buenos Aires [at a permanent facility under renovation] and Adelaide.
“So we’re already starting to make progress on that.”
Despite a not-insignificant pushback from sections of its hardcore fanbase, such moves have by most accounts paid off for F1 as part of the championship’s meteoric success since Liberty’s takeover.
For MotoGP, however, a prioritisation of street circuits would appear to be deeply at odds with its safety culture – given safety was the reason why the series abandoned street and road circuits in the 1970s and 1980s.
It had prior raced at venues like Imatra (pictured below), Brno, the Nürburgring, and, most famously, the Isle of Man TT. But those events were phased out due the the deaths and serious injuries caused by fallen riders striking trackside structures and fixtures – a hurdle that grand prix racing will once again need to think about if races like Miami do come on the schedule.
While it is true the Miami circuit is less of a street circuit and more of a purpose-built temporary facility located on the grounds of the city’s Hard Rock Stadium, it’s far from clear how organisers propose making it safe enough for MotoGP use, given the extensive concrete walls lining the track and very limited run-off areas.
Buildings and bridges around the track offer limited opportunities to push the walls further back, so at first glance it presents an even more significant challenge than modifying the Adelaide circuit to meet safety standards (a project that has also not yet been fully explained by MotoGP bosses).
Chang stressed, meanwhile, that Liberty is not pursuing “a wholesale change-out” of the calendar.
“We have a long heritage here of races and in many compelling locations where it makes a lot of sense to keep them there, and they’ve been fixtures on the race calendar and they bring a lot to the sport and a lot to the identity of the sport.
“I have been, you know, this year already in Austin, I’ve been to Jerez, heading to Mugello and Assen later this year. I really want to get a good sense of what it feels like in the different locations, because what we want to do is create a fan experience that is engaging, exciting, entertaining, accessible wherever we do it.
“So there’s a lot to be learned even on locations where we may not move [away from] but how to improve those. So it’s a mix of all of that as we think about our calendar moving forward.”