In its quest to rebuild and relaunch the championship, MotoGP brought in Dan Rossomondo (Red Bank, New Jersey; 51 years old) a little over a year ago, an American executive from the NBA. The new commercial director (CCO) of Dorna, the Spanish promoter of the championship since 1991, arrived with the mission of leading a revolution behind the scenes. Some results can already be seen now, although they will be much more evident after the Valencia GP, where the World Championship and the company will present a complete facelift.
“Everything will be new. We are renewing our corporate identity: who we are, what we represent and how we treat our fans. And we are going to launch it in Valencia,” the director revealed in conversation with EL PAÍS. There will be a new logo and motto, among many other new features. There are three priorities on the horizon: to tell the stories of the sport and its heroes, the drivers, better than anyone else; to turn the competition into the best possible partner for the big brands; and, finally, to appear in places where they have never been before. In his mobile office on the circuit, Rossomondo exudes confidence and courage, with very clear ideas and direct and transparent communication with the interlocutor.
“He has a reputation as an aggressive, very American executive,” a former NBA employee in Europe told this newspaper. “Everyone there has to be like that,” he added. Rossomondo spent more than 13 years working in the American basketball league, where he was vice president of global alliances and media. Previously, he had worked for other renowned companies such as Madison Square Garden, IMG and Time Warner. His inclusion in the equation at Dorna, an eminently family-run company, was a declaration of intent. “Dan makes us more global. He brings a new perspective, fresh ideas, and is part of a truly new era on and off the court,” said Carmelo Ezpeleta, CEO of the company at the time.
Within a year, Liberty Media, the American giant that owns Formula 1, announced the purchase of Dorna and the commercial rights to MotoGP, a deal that must be ratified by European antitrust authorities before the end of the year. “This started when I had been in office for six months. My hiring had nothing to do with it. For them, perhaps it was attractive to know that there was an American they could rely on to understand some of the details of the purchase,” says Rossomondo about the new owners. “They are experts in scaling global businesses, and they see this as a long-term investment. They have knowledge and connections that will allow us to learn how to do things better,” he says about the benefits of the sale.
The latest movements behind the scenes in MotoGP are evidence of the American dream of the category. “The big priority is the United States. We want to gain relevance there, although it is not a mission that can be met in a year,” admits the executive. Despite Brexit, the United Kingdom remains a market that wants to be strengthened in the category. Other regions in the spotlight are Africa and South America, although in the longer term, as well as continuing to work to develop the impact in Asia after the recent disappointments in Kazakhstan or India, events suspended or postponed, such as this last one for 2025, when they were already included in the calendar.
The acquisition of Liberty once again doubles down on the eternal comparison with F1, which Rossomondo quickly dismisses. “It’s an easy comparison, but I don’t waste much time on it. I don’t think that MotoGP competes only with F1, but with going for a walk with the dog, with the Sunday movie, with football… we compete with the whole range of possibilities that there are for the fans, and we must become a ‘must-watch’ for them,” he explains. He himself came to the sport without any knowledge of it, but he says that he was immediately captivated: “The nature of this sport immediately captivated me. For me it was something exciting, something new, something different.”
Despite defining MotoGP as “the best motor sport”, the American recognises that the great task at hand is far from the asphalt. “Our team is excellent at explaining the sporting story, but people today want to know what happens to the teams and the riders when they leave the track and return home. We have to address that demand and feed the new audiences”, he emphasises.
Rossomondo wants to increase the familiarity with the sport beyond Spain and Italy, its main markets. In the same way, he highlights the need to find heroes, the drivers, from other countries. “We must transcend the world of motorsport and sport, become part of the culture. The great sporting success stories are thanks to the protagonists doing things outside their own environment. Football and basketball players are famous when they are not wearing the uniform. F1 drivers without the uniform are in a lot of important places, and that is where we want to include our protagonists,” he explains.
In the face of a MotoGP that is more equal than ever, although with overwhelming dominance by Ducatis, Rossomondo is also eloquent in dismissing criticism of the pre-eminence of the Italian machines. “The NBA wasn’t worried when the Bulls won six rings. Nor when the Celtics and the Lakers shared the titles in the eighties. There are usual discussions about parity and stardom. For me you have to go for both. Now, although Ducati dominates, they are competing a lot with each other and the races are very nice. They are fighting for a second, for tenths. Whoever is having a hard time today is only a second behind the best, it’s absolutely crazy. Maybe we should explain this more and better,” he underlines, enthusiastic about the present and future of MotoGP, which will undoubtedly have an American accent.
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