Opinion: Have British Fans Fallen Out of Love With MotoGP?

Sunday saw MotoGP’s twelfth round of the season from Silverstone. It proved to be another classic MotoGP race as Alex Rins hunted down Marc Marquez for a tactical final corner drag to the line, beating the Honda rider by 0.013 seconds.

In total 50,245 fans would witness the historic event, but with this figure far off Silverstone’s capacity and only 114,607 over the three days, where has the love for the premier series gone?

Motorsport Radio’s Lead Bike Editor Liam Hodgins believes the dip is only temporary, as Lead Editor Connor Jackson argues this is indicative of a larger trend.

Major Factors

Liam Hodgins: I don’t necessary believe that the British fans have fallen out of love with MotoGP. I feel that this years drop in attendance figures is down to a number of factors.

Most notably the cancellation of the race 12 months prior when rain affected the track. There was standing water and even when the rain stopped, the water didn’t dispense quickly enough. Many fans were outraged that the event wasn’t postponed or moved to the Monday. Others weren’t happy with the amount of time it took for a decision to be made to cancel the event.

Unlike the previous years where the MotoGP championship was still tightly contested, this years championship has been dominated by Marc Marquez. The lack of a title battle will have an affect on attendance figures, particularly on one where a local rider has had a tough season. Since 2015, the MotoGP title battle had been highly fought going into the British Grand Prix. 2015 had Rossi leading the championship. 2016 was a very unpredictable season with many riders winning races. 2017 had Andrea Dovizioso and Ducati taking the fight to Marquez and Honda, with Yamaha very close behind.

Championship battles draw in crowds and entering the weekend in 2019, Marquez’s lead was 58 points over Dovizioso. With that sort of a lead, many people had already seen it as a foregone conclusion that Marquez would be champion in 2019 even before the events of Sunday unfolded.

Connor Jackson: MotoGP’s half empty grandstands was not what I expected to see when I tuned in to the action on Sunday, especially as we watched Alex Rins deny Marc Marquez the win in the final corner. But as the Spanish national anthem played out, it was perhaps unsurprising.

Considering Britain’s omnipresence in motorsport, the fact we have just one rider in the top series seems almost odd. The Marquez, Rossi, Dovisioso, Lorenzo domination of recent years may have helped Spanish and Italian audiences, but gives nothing for British fans to cheer about. Cal Crutchlow is hardly the Lewis Hamilton or Colin McRae of his sport and with the ever-present Rossi now aging, the British fans have little to cheer for, little to justify the ticket cost.

We’ve seen similar dips in audience in WRC when the UK was no longer a major factor in the series, while we often see upward trends in interests for new nations into these top sports. In single seaters, Indonesia famously saw a surge in F1 fans when Rio Haryanto entered the series, losing its TV deal the race after Haryanto was dropped mid-season. British bike riders have instead found homes in other championships.

The Venue

LH: Looking at the venue itself, ticket prices have an affect on attendance. The British Grand Prix at Silverstone isn’t the cheapest race to attend on the calendar, it leans towards being one of the more expensive races. The cheapest ticket I found was a Sunday ticket for a child, which would cost £84 and a weekend ticket would be nearly £96. That was only at certain sections of the circuit. A Sunday ticket for an adult would set you back £168 and for the entire weekend £193. This was on an outsourced website but still, that is very expensive.

Lets compare that to the final round at Valencia, an event that myself and my family have attended in previous years. 86 euros (£77) buys you a weekend ticket, add onto that £148 return flights (there are cheaper) and you can find cheap shared accommodation for 4-6 people at between 200-300 euros. Valencia is a round with a spectacular atmosphere and most of the circuit can be seen from anywhere. You can treat it as a holiday and stay for longer than just the Grand Prix weekend.

Many fans take this option of going abroad and attending the races in Valencia or other popular circuits such as; Mugello, Assen, Jerez and more recently the Red Bull Ring.

Silverstone is a brilliant racing circuit, it provides incredible action and it’s a favourite among riders but it’s difficult to see this action, which is another thing that goes against the venue. The runoff areas are so vast that it feels as though a football stadium could fit into one, at certain corners. This makes the action very difficult to be close to. The track is very flat and extremely big, this adds to the problem of not being able to see much of the circuit. A 20 lap race means that in total you might only see the bikes for a maximum of 10 minutes, while at other circuits, you pay less and see so much more.

CJ: It’s no secret that a lack of championship battle will drain the excitement from any racing meeting, it’s why Touring Car and GT series have introduced BoP with similar systems used in anything from Karting to Super Formula. Though as a manufacture heavy, top class championship to introduce a similar system to MotoGP would seem against the sports nature.

Its main motorsport rival; Formula 1, famously does not implement such a system and as a result, we’ve seen the recent Mercedes domination that is reminiscent of MotoGP. However, this year’s F1 British Grand Prix saw a record crowd of 122,000 fans crammed into the circuit on Sunday, with 351,000 over the weekend. Not only did this make F1 over twice as popular as MotoGP on Sunday, but more fans attended Friday practice, than the MotoGP main event.

It could hardly be put down to prices between the two either. Just looking at speculative entry prices for 2020, F1 fans are expected to pay £185 for weekend General Admission, roughly the same price as Liam quoted in his section, while the cheapest grandstands start at £260.

This is even before adding on other “optional” costs which are anything but. Want to drive in – Buy a parking space; Want to camp – Buy a camp slot; Ride the Bus – Guess what! Though admittedly, both sides also have the added cost aspect with anything from Food to Hotels setting you back.

WSBK and BSB still popular

CJ: Maybe it’s wrong to compare MotoGP to F1 though. A more comparable example would be another bike series. I mentioned earlier about how MotoGP has no British riders, while World Superbikes has two in the top three. As Jonathan Rea fights for his fifth WSBK title, fans have far more to be excited about.

WSBK’s British round took place at Donington Park last month, with a 5k increase in attendance. MotoGP meanwhile lost 5k for 2019. Fans had already made up their mind about which series they preferred. To add onto that, the WSBK paddock is far more open for fan interaction.

Add onto that the continued excitement of BSB with its varied calendar, visiting all corners of the country and motorcycling fans have voted with their wallet.