With MotoGP™'s trip to the iconic Circuit of the Americas now only a month away, it's easy to understand why Stateside fans were excited for the opening weekend of 2024 under the Qatar lights. After proudly having our most-attended season in history last year, with over three million fans coming to a Grand Prix, now we have a new broadcast partner in the US with TNT Sports, a new premier class squad in the form of Nashville-based Trackhouse Racing and a plethora of gripping storylines ready to unfold.
As MotoGP™ Chief Commercial Officer Dan Rossomondo points out in an interview with CNN, it's a great time to be an American fan of the most exhilarating show in motorsport: "This sport is primed for growth. It’s a little bit of a sleeping giant, and what we want to do as we approach this 75th anniversary is innovate and do different things on the circuit, and also do different things in terms of fan engagement, in terms of delivering products to fans.
"Our business is one where we want our core audience to feel like they’ve seen something special every day, but also to attract that new audience and get that new audience to be loyal fans.
"[The new TV deal] is hugely significant for us. For us, what makes it so special is that this sport is custom made for the American audience, so we’re thrilled about that. I have three children of my own – 14, 16 and 18 – and I know their attention spans. Both of our products, our 45-minute race on Sunday and our 24-minute race on Saturday, are custom made for today’s generation of entertainment and sports consumers."
Rossomondo also went on to cover how Artificial Intelligence is helping bring MotoGP™ into a new era: "I say all the time, we have two gladiatorial figures – we have the riders and the teams – and they’re both pushing towards the limit.
"Now, we’ve done a lot and we continue to do a lot to ensure safety, and AI is useful in that space, so we’re constantly tracking where these guys are on the circuit, how the bikes are performing, all of our on-air graphics are generated by AI in a lot of ways.
"Things on the bike are ultimately going to make their way onto the street, but also for tech companies to just look at what we do in terms of delivering our races in a really technologically advanced way. AI is at the forefront of what we’re doing right now to try to figure out a way to make this sport even more attractive."