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Why Does Dorna Hate US MotoGP Fans So Much?

Is it just a cynical attempt to get us all to buy VideoPass year after year?

MotoGP New Logo
Photo by: MotoGP

It's hard to believe, but the 2025 MotoGP season opener already took place over the weekend in Buriram, Thailand. As Dorna keeps filling out the calendar with seemingly more and more race weekends each year, the starting weekend gets closer and closer to the winter testing dates, seemingly with every season.

But to kick off 2025 on a bad note, Dorna once again showed US fans how little it thinks of us.

See, for years now, it's done this thing where it doesn't announce where the official US broadcast license will land until just a couple of days before the season opener. That, naturally, left US MotoGP fans scrambling, as we had to figure out if we already had subscriptions to whatever service Dorna had seen fit to sign a contract with this year, or if we needed to go add yet another subscription to the seemingly neverending list if we just can't live without our MotoGP fix. 

For the record, it's on Fox Sports in 2025. But US fans didn't find out about that until the teams had already touched down in Thailand for the season opener, and I'm not kidding.

And of course, there's Dorna's own subscription service, MotoGP VideoPass, which will guarantee seamless, uninterrupted viewing to meet all your MotoGP streaming (and behind-the-scenes) needs. Can't blame them for wanting folks to subscribe to it, of course. But at the same time, a LOT of people already have too many subscriptions to too many other things. Those things, they cost money, and you've seen what eggs cost these days.

For a sporting promotional organization, they sure don't seem to want to make it easy for US-based MotoGP fans to actually watch the sport, which is supposedly the closest thing the motorcycle world has to Formula One. It's not just me who's annoyed by this, either; you can delve into US-based MotoGP Reddit threads every time a season starts and find similar complaints. 

Because, quite frankly, it sucks.

I'm not sure how Dorna handles broadcast rights in other countries, but this seems calculatedly ham-handed and sloppy. Maybe it isn't; maybe they're just really bad at promoting the sport here? Honestly, I'm not sure. 

By contrast, look at how nice Formula One has its international broadcast page for fans laid out. Listen, there are plenty of antitrust arguments to make about Liberty Media's proposed takeover of Dorna (and thus, MotoGP), and indeed the European Commission is currently in the process of making them.

But it's hard to deny that some things seem to be working more smoothly over on that side of the motorsport pond, and equally hard to deny that Dorna seems to want to regularly shoot itself in the foot with regard to growing its already ardent international MotoGP fanbase.

Something needs to change. I wrote about how HBO Max's deal to stream MotoGP in the US last year started out rockily, but then improved pretty quickly once the season got going. By the end of the 2024 season, it was actually pretty good! 

But apparently, that was only good for a single year, and who knows if access to even that single year will soon disappear because of however long the license agreement was signed for. As a longtime motorsport fan who's been following series that aren't NASCAR or IndyCar for decades now, I'm very familiar with the broadcast channel chase game. And I'm tired of it. Aren't you?

Fans deserve better. Period.

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Top comments
lowryrides
lowryrides 4 months ago
I have purchased the coverage for years however the real crime this year, if the Thai GP is any indication, is the horrible video. Jumpy, missing frames, out of focus frequently, truly beyond amateurish, my wife had a headache and i was sick to my stomach from the awful video. I will give it another race to see if it improves, otherwise I will be fighting for a refund and not watching MotoGP for the first time in 20 years, because it is just unpleasant rather than fun. What a shame.
Kevin Webb
Kevin Webb 4 months ago
No idea what you're talking about. The race video was fine. Resolution stayed high. Other than a few bad decisions on who to highlight on track there were no issues in Burriram.
Justin Wolfe
Justin Wolfe 4 months ago
This is so accurate. We've all been feeling this way. I did enjoy it on MAX while it lasted. I don't know if it will be on demand for Fox sports though and most races are super earlier in the morning for me here in Cleveland. We need better options. May go half's with a buddy for the MotoGP package but even splitting that will still be 15 bux a month for races every other week or so. Yikes.
Mark Austin
Mark Austin 4 months ago
I live in Arkansas, US, and I’ve been three times to COTA over the years for MOTOGP. In rough numbers, the weekend costs around $800 including the $150 ticket. And I go on the cheap. So, I very cheerfully re-up for the App every year because it is a stone cold bargain for a real fan like me who will watch everything all season. The downside is trying to share my passion with the uninitiated. “Oh cool, how do I watch it?” The answer changes all the time.
Kevin Webb
Kevin Webb 4 months ago
Get this guy a blanket and pacifier. The app is how you consume MotoGP in the US though I chuckled when I read "seamless, uninterrupted viewing". This year it is better. They finally figured out subscribers want to watch the start of the coverage if it isn't viewed live, instead of starting where the live race is and then reversing to the start. Anyway, what a fn crybaby. Pony up. Get the app, pay your sheckles and STFU.
MalcNZ
MalcNZ 4 months ago
Join the club. Down here in NZ we have had years where the racing has started and still no coverage available. Currently it is being handled by Three which is a Warner owned channel and guess what coverage we get? TNT from the UK which is also a Warner owned organisation. The previous coverage used the Dorna footage which at least had some knowledgeable presenters whereas the current batch are ex Superbike and BSB lead by a motorsports head.
With the Thai GP we tuned in at the listed time to view only to find a swirling MotoGP logo. Yes the local channel had listed the time in Thailand for some reason, That is about 5 hrs out of wack. They use the excuse that you can see it again on their weekly motorsports channel the following weekend but that is basically editted highlights only.
I would have thought that with Dorna being sold to a US group that the US would actually get better coverage but that isnt the way of media today.
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