Liberty Media — Business Overview

What does Liberty Media do?

Liberty Media, through its two main subsidiaries, owns and commercially operates the two most-watched motorsport championships in the world. After a multi-year restructuring that spun off the Atlanta Braves baseball team (2023), Sirius XM (2024), and a Live Nation stake (2025), the company is now a focused motorsport and live entertainment business. Its headquarters are primarily in the United Kingdom and Spain.

The company also holds a small portfolio of minority stakes in private companies, which it may sell over time.

How does Liberty Media make money?

Both Formula 1 and MotoGP generate revenue through three core commercial streams: selling broadcast rights to TV and streaming platforms, charging race promoters (circuit owners, governments, event organizers) to host races, and selling sponsorship packages to global brands. Formula 1 held 24 races across 21 countries in 2025; MotoGP held 22 races across 18 countries. The Las Vegas Grand Prix is the one race Formula 1 self-promotes, meaning it captures ticket and hospitality revenue directly rather than receiving a flat fee from a third-party promoter.

Both businesses benefit from long-term, escalating contracts that lock in predictable, growing revenue. Race promotion deals run three to ten years and typically include annual fee escalators of up to 5% or tied to a consumer price index. Broadcast agreements run three to five years, often with annual step-ups. This gives the business a high degree of revenue visibility. A meaningful share of costs flows back to the racing teams as prize money — for Formula 1, this is defined as a fixed percentage of what the company calls "Prize Fund Adjusted EBIT" (essentially operating profit with certain non-cash items stripped out), governed by the Concorde Agreement signed through the 2030 season.

Both businesses also earn smaller but growing revenue from direct-to-consumer streaming products. Formula 1 offers F1 TV, and MotoGP offers VideoPass, both subscription-based over-the-top services that let fans watch races directly, supplementing traditional broadcaster deals.

What market does Liberty Media operate in?

Formula 1 and MotoGP both sit at the premium end of global live sports and entertainment, competing for fan attention, broadcast budgets, and sponsorship dollars alongside the biggest sports properties in the world. Formula 1 was watched by hundreds of millions of viewers across approximately 200 territories in 2025, with race weekend live attendance exceeding 450,000 at the largest events. MotoGP drew cumulative live audiences of over 3.6 million across the 2025 season.

The global sports media rights market has been a strong secular growth story, driven by streaming platforms hungry for live content, international expansion of fan bases, and increasing sponsor interest in properties with young, global audiences. Formula 1, in particular, has benefited from surging popularity in the United States — aided in part by the Netflix documentary series Drive to Survive — opening up a large, previously underpenetrated market. MotoGP is still in earlier stages of a similar growth push, especially in markets outside its traditional strongholds of Spain and Italy.

Who are Liberty Media's main competitors?

Formula 1 and MotoGP do not compete directly with each other in the same way consumer brands do — instead, they compete for the same pool of broadcast rights budgets, sponsorship dollars, and fan attention as other major global sports properties. Named competitors for media and sponsorship spending include the Olympic Games, FIFA World Cup, UEFA Champions League, La Liga, and the Premier League. For live event attendance, they compete against any form of live entertainment.

Formula 1's most significant structural advantage is its long-term lock on the commercial rights to one of the most recognized sports brands in the world, secured until 2110 under the "100-Year Agreements" with the FIA. No competitor can replicate the F1 Championship. The barrier to entry for a new rival open-wheel series at that level is effectively insurmountable. Similarly, MotoGP holds exclusive commercial rights to the premier global motorcycle racing championship through 2060 under its agreement with the FIM.

Both businesses operate in a largely consolidated structure at the top tier of their respective sports, though they share the economics with the teams and governing bodies through mandatory prize fund and participation payments. The competitive tension that does exist is primarily at the level of attracting sponsors, broadcasters, and race host venues — where Formula 1, in particular, notes positive "competitive tension" among potential host cities and countries seeking to land a Grand Prix.

Where does Liberty Media operate?

Both Formula 1 and MotoGP are genuinely global businesses, with races spread across Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and the Americas. Formula 1 ran 24 events across 21 countries in 2025; MotoGP ran 22 events across 18 countries. The company's operations are primarily headquartered in the United Kingdom (Formula 1) and Spain (MotoGP).

No single country dominates revenue, though Europe remains the heartland of both sports for both broadcast and race hosting. Key broadcast markets for Formula 1 include the U.K. (Sky), Germany and Italy (Sky), France (Canal+), the U.S. (ESPN), and Spain (DAZN/Canal+). For MotoGP, Italy (Sky Italia), Spain (DAZN), France (Canal+), and Indonesia (SPOTV/Trans7) are among the most important. The U.S. represents a significant growth opportunity for Formula 1 specifically, and Las Vegas is the one race Formula 1 directly operates and promotes. The filing does not flag specific geopolitical risks related to individual race host countries, but the diversity of the race calendar across dozens of jurisdictions means the business depends on obtaining local permits and regulatory approvals in each host country each season.