MotoGP 2027-2031 Agreement: Manufacturers Sign First Unified Deal Under Liberty Media

MotoGP has just taken one of the biggest structural steps in its modern history. MotoGP Group and all five manufacturers on the grid, Aprilia, Ducati, Honda, KTM and Yamaha, have signed the MotoGP 2027-2031 Agreement, a single framework covering the sport from 2027 to 2031. It is the first time every manufacturer has signed one unified document rather than separate individual deals. With Liberty Media now in charge at ownership level, the shape of this deal feels familiar to anyone who has watched Formula 1’s commercial model up close.

Key Points

• All five manufacturers, Aprilia, Ducati, Honda, KTM and Yamaha, have signed one combined agreement for 2027 to 2031
• First time in MotoGP’s history that every manufacturer has signed one shared framework rather than separate individual deals
• MotoGP and the 11 Teams have separately agreed principal terms for the same period, with that announcement still to come
• Ducati will reach at least 29 consecutive MotoGP seasons across this period, with 430 race starts, 126 wins, 121 poles, 127 fastest laps and 365 podiums to date
• MotoGP’s partnership with the FIM already runs through to 2060
• This is the first all-manufacturer agreement signed since Liberty Media took ownership of MotoGP, and it follows a structural pattern Liberty already uses in Formula 1

One Document, Five Manufacturers, A First

MotoGP Group and the five manufacturers within the MSMA, the Motorcycle Sports Manufacturers’ Association, confirmed today that the agreement defining the sport’s framework from 2027 to 2031 has been signed. Aprilia, Ducati, Honda, KTM and Yamaha all put their name to the same document. That has never happened before in the championship’s history. Previous cycles have run on individual manufacturer deals rather than one shared framework.

MotoGP Group sold the deal around competitiveness, technology and the championship’s global reach. The Teams side of the picture is separate. MotoGP and the 11 Teams have agreed principal terms for the same 2027 to 2031 period, with that announcement coming later. So the manufacturer deal is locked first, the team deal follows.

Ezpeleta’s framing leans on the FIM partnership running to 2060 as the backdrop. That is a 35-year regulatory relationship sitting behind a five-year sporting and commercial cycle. The manufacturer deal slots inside that longer structure rather than replacing it.

What the Manufacturers Said

Every manufacturer statement points the same direction, but the emphasis shifts depending on who is speaking. Massimo Rivola, Aprilia Racing CEO and MSMA chairman, talked unity, calling it the first time in the sport’s history that all manufacturers have reached a unanimous position with MotoGP. Koji Watanabe at Honda HRC talked continuity, confirming the brand’s commitment to Grand Prix racing “remains unchanged.” Pit Beirer at KTM talked competitiveness, pointing to a “solid foundation to keep improving, challenging ourselves, and fighting at the front.” Ducati talked numbers.

Ducati issued its own version of the release, and theirs is worth separating out. Where the joint MotoGP Group release stays general, Ducati’s statement runs its own numbers. With this agreement, Ducati will reach at least 29 consecutive seasons in MotoGP, with the Desmosedici GP accumulating 430 race starts, 126 victories, 121 pole positions, 127 fastest laps and 365 podiums to date.

Domenicali’s quote is doing two jobs at once. It signs off on the collective agreement and it reminds everyone reading exactly why Ducati had the most leverage in the room. Dall’Igna’s quote, used by both MotoGP Group and Ducati, is the interesting part: “while we fight fiercely on the track, we are fully aligned on securing a bright and prosperous future for MotoGP.” Ducati is saying the competitive fight and the commercial settlement are two different conversations. One happens on track. The other has now been closed off behind the scenes.

The Liberty Media Thread

This is the first all-manufacturer MotoGP agreement signed since MotoGP came under Liberty Media ownership. Liberty already owns Formula 1, and F1 has its own binding framework through the Concorde Agreement, which sets the commercial and governance terms between the teams, the FIA and the commercial rights holder. MotoGP has never worked that way. Manufacturer deals were separate, negotiated individually, on different timelines.

MotoGP’s manufacturers have now signed one document, for one cycle, with the teams expected to follow into the same 2027 to 2031 window. That pulls the championship closer to the shape of F1’s Concorde model than anything MotoGP has done before. Whether that was Liberty’s doing directly or simply where the negotiation landed isn’t stated in either release. But the shape of the outcome matches the shape Liberty already runs in F1, and that does not feel accidental.

None of the releases mention prize money, cost caps, revenue distribution or any of the commercial detail that actually defines a Concorde-style agreement in F1. So the comparison has to stop at structure for now. A single signed framework, all manufacturers locked to the same period, a teams agreement running in parallel. For now, that is as far as the comparison can honestly go.

What It Means Commercially

Locking all five manufacturers to the same five-year cycle gives MotoGP Group something it has not had before: a single negotiating position to sell against when it talks to broadcasters, sponsors and new markets. Ezpeleta’s release points directly at that, MotoGP will “continue to invest in its global platform, including promotion, fan engagement and commercial development,” language that reads like the opening move on expansion talks rather than a closing statement on this one.

Liberty’s F1 playbook has always been built around scale: more valuable races, stronger broadcast markets, bigger digital reach, and a championship that can be packaged cleanly for sponsors. A guaranteed five-year manufacturer base removes one of the biggest risks to that kind of investment, the possibility a major manufacturer walks mid-cycle. With Aprilia, Ducati, Honda, KTM and Yamaha all committed through 2031 under one document, MotoGP Group can make longer-term promotional and commercial decisions without that uncertainty sitting over them.

Yamaha’s Paolo Pavesio described the negotiation as “long and sometimes complex,” which suggests this unified outcome wasn’t the easy option for everyone at the table. Getting from individual deals to one shared framework typically means someone gives ground they wouldn’t have given in a one-to-one negotiation. That is usually where the rights holder gains leverage.

Coffee Corner Take

Five manufacturers signing one document for the first time in MotoGP’s history is the headline. The real story is what that structure allows MotoGP to do next.

F1 has run on a single binding framework for decades. MotoGP never has. That changes from 2027, and it changes under the same ownership group that already runs F1 that way. I don’t think that’s an accident of timing. A unified manufacturer base on a fixed cycle is exactly the kind of structure Liberty needs in place before it can sell MotoGP the way it has sold F1, new races, new broadcast deals, new audiences, without the risk of a manufacturer walking away mid-negotiation and undermining the pitch.

What I can’t tell you yet is whether this becomes MotoGP’s actual Concorde Agreement in substance, not just in shape. The releases say nothing about revenue split, cost control or prize structure. Until that detail surfaces, this is a governance story, not a financial one. But governance comes first. It always does. The money conversation only works once everyone is sitting at the same table on the same terms, and that’s what got signed today.

Ducati using its own release to remind everyone of 430 starts and 126 wins fits the same pattern. The collective agreement is signed, but the pecking order hasn’t disappeared. MotoGP may now have one framework. It still has one manufacturer carrying the biggest competitive shadow into the next era.