Inside the impossible job of building MotoGP’s calendar

Last weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix at Honda’s Motegi circuit drew a hefty 121,997 attendees across the three days. It was the biggest attendance at the site 90 miles northeast of Tokyo for at least 20 years and represented a fifth consecutive season of growth for the fixture in the wake of the pandemic-induced cancellations in 2020 and 2021.

Round 16 of the current campaign came swiftly after confirmation by MotoGP Sport Entertainment Group that Valencia will retain its customary status as the championship closer in 2027, and then publication of next year’s 22-date series itself; with the Autódromo Oscar y Juan Gálvez in Buenos Aires appearing for the first time this century, the shift to the new Adelaide circuit for the Australian Grand Prix and then the removal of the maligned Balaton Park after two seasons, leaving the Hungarian GP in limbo, pending upgrades to the Hungaroring to fit homologation for bikes.

MotoGP’s typical delectation for grands prix on the Iberian Peninsula and Italy remains (seven of the 22) but the series is a mainstream consideration in those territories and races in Jerez, Barcelona and Valencia are almost sold out (and the championship will embrace those venues until 2031 at least).

MotoGP Group’s finalised contract with the manufacturers (the MSMA) and the teams (six of the 11 on the grid are independent) has MotoGP fixed at 22 grands prix, with a commitment to sprints each weekend of activity for the near future.

For 2027, nine of the 22 will take place overseas and the first European GP won’t occur until round six in Spain in May. MotoGP Group, under the auspices of Liberty Media ownership, wants to tip this balance even more towards a global spread. Right now, the biggest question marks – or the shortest contracts as most other deals run to 2031 – hover over Britain (until 2028), Portugal (2029) and Austria (2030), while nothing has been signed with the US beyond 2027.

MotoGP is expected to slice away a little of the Spanish flab for 2028 when Aragon shifts to ‘back-up’ status, freeing a slot which could see the series back in China and at the Shanghai International Circuit for the first time in two decades. World Superbikes will test the waters in the rapidly evolving Chinese motorcycle market in 2027, with its final races of 12 taking place in the country in October.

Plotting a year of MotoGP involves a complex weave of considerations. Twenty-two GPs means 22 promoters with varying levels of resources, experience and backing from sources like governments, funds or local council cash. MotoGP also wants to avoid clashing too many times with F1 (at 24 dates for 2027) for broadcast space and has to be aware of local climates, holiday periods and other massive events in the territories. As an example, the F1 British Grand Prix was the largest sporting spectacle in Europe in 2026; the record-busting 564,000 throng picked up 16,000 more spectators than Wimbledon tennis and over 200,000 more than Le Mans. In 2027, MotoGP will go to Silverstone a month-and-a-half after the F1 bonanza in early July.

Moulding the clay outline of the championship largely falls into the hands of deputy CEO Carlos Ezpeleta and it is a process that takes place over a course of months. “It starts fairly soon [for the following season],” he revealed to Motor Sport. “The first thing you need to know is where you are going. There might be 6-7 versions of the calendar with different events that are coming on or moving off. There might also be combinations of those 6 or 7! There are consequences to moving [a GP]. There are often other sporting events going on each country and if you change it, then there are not many two-week gaps to choose from. Everything has to fit, and you might compromise on some dates with some promoters. It’s not easy to fit all 22.”

MotoGP has a few ‘signature’ grands prix, such as the Spanish round at Jerez traditionally in late April or May (while avoiding the massive horse fair in the town), Le Mans in May (and well before the 24-hour car race), Valencia (normally still hospitable in late European autumn), to name but three.

“We have a couple, as well as ‘windows’ of where races can go,” Ezpeleta adds. “We have a contract with Valencia as the last race of the year and have done for quite a while and then Qatar at the start…but it hasn’t been possible because of Ramadan for the last couple of years. So, that’s where you start, and then begin building the rest of the calendar. You take into consideration when you can be in Europe because of the weather for countries like Japan. It might be by week ‘X’ we have to leave Europe. We already announced we’ll start in Thailand in ’27 and you always try to get a few overseas for the beginning of the season because of the European climate. You also need to build overseas [races] in tranches.

“Assen at the last week of June is not set in stone but it is almost traditional and we try to respect that,” he continues. “The weather also comes into play for the UK, Sachsenring, Czechia and Austria. The window is quite small…and we try to separate the Spanish events and the Italian events. Then, when we get the F1 calendar, we try to make sure we are not starting on the same week. They have 24 races and we have 22 and that means a 40-week span, and we know we’ll clash a number of times.”

MotoGP has grouped Australia, Malaysia, and Japan together for at least 25 years for a sapping (and in some cases ‘dreaded’) overseas triple. The current schedule is demanding but MotoGP Group is shifting over 300 people per race around the world, so it is fully aware of the financial and humanistic drain. That’s why the mini summer break has also become more prominent since the jumbled post-pandemic years. “Logistically, the calendar must make sense in terms of sustainability but also for making life easier,” Ezpeleta states. “These last couple of years we have avoided trying to do too many triple headers and back-to-backs as well. The final [element] is that three-week break in the summer. There are conditions to meet.”

According to a 2025 business report, MotoGP Group gathered nearly 30% of its annual income from event sanctioning fees and the intricacies attached to advertising, ticketing, hospitality and commercial opportunities in 2024. It gained a further 45% in media rights but also paid a large slice of their nearly half-a-billion tally to teams, to the FIM and for costs of organisation (TV production, etc.). These figures will have altered under the terms of the new agreement starting 2027, while Liberty Media feels there is more to be gained from commercial, hospitality and media exposure in the short term. The high value of race promotion revenue, especially with partners like Qatar, explains the topical deliberation over the Grand Prix at Lusail, and the cost consequences for whichever party decides on cancellation.

A roadmap for a series has 22 carefully negotiated stops, therefore 22 sets of discourse or meetings. “Some promoters get the deal they want and it goes very quickly,” Ezpeleta says. “If there is a change of date [from one year to the next] then these conversations can take a bit longer. In almost every case there is one single contact or spokesperson. In some cases, however, there are multiple parties: government, circuit, promoter. Normally we are fortunate enough to have one channel though.

“Obviously,” he replies slowly when we asked if some GPs are more lucrative than others. “But that doesn’t affect how we design the calendar. The biggest component is ‘what is going to be better for the fans at that location?’. This is what really drives the calendar: the fan experience.”

MotoGP 2027 will return to Brazil’s Goiania after a rough reintroduction in 2026. The vibrancy and the support of the Brazilian public was offset by an unfinished and rain-lashed circuit where the asphalt began to disintegrate, and an infamous sinkhole appeared on the main straight during the grand prix. MotoGP Group usually insists that circuits pass strict checks and verifications by the FIM and the International Racing Teams Association. Brazil was a learning experience with a new national promoter; an unpredictable oddity and a victim of the climate. It will happen two weeks later in 2027. Ezpeleta says there is very careful due diligence made for both new and current tracks.

“We do a lot [of checks] and we do an extensive post-race report that focuses on all areas, like the operational side, with things like bathrooms, to access with traffic, to fan zones, ticketing strategy and commercial hospitality. It’s all-encompassing, and we deliver that to the promoter. They are part of it [the process]. You are always questioning yourself to some extent [with calendar dates] but the reality is that most races are happening at the right date. We’ve tried others: we tried Silverstone last year in May and it didn’t work and Austria in September this year and that didn’t really work. We are not that proud that we won’t revert to previous dates.”

For all its strength and burgeoning potential for growth, MotoGP has had a few non-starters in the last 20 years. The notorious Circuit of Wales initially carried much momentum and projects in Finland and Kazakhstan were also outlined but never came to fruition either due to a breakdown in the development cycle and therefore the nullification of contracts. A promising first ever Grand Prix of India in 2023 soon befell (allegedly) broken promises, problems with the promoter and then inactivity, despite resounding enthusiasm from the central government in Uttar Pradesh.

Grand prix promotion and the agreements for new ventures seem to require a degree of speculation and hope. MotoGP Group has its bottom line also. “You can build more and more reassurance, which is what we do now,” Ezpeleta says in response to the calendar gambles that didn’t work out. “In those cases [mentioned], contracts were signed and government support was in place. We held a number of Welsh Grand Prix in Silverstone! And Kazakhstan had a circuit built and 99% finalised. Anyway, we learn from everything, and we did all we could. It becomes water under the bridge, and we are not in need of new circuits because the demand is so high.”

What’s the biggest headache in clicking a MotoGP calendar together? “Telling everyone that I cannot send it to them!” Ezpeleta smiles, in reference to the confidentiality and fluid state of the provisional schedule (which also has to be presented to the FIM before publication). “It is time wasted, not time invested, and that’s why it is more frustrating. Overall, doing the calendar takes quite a lot of time, and bringing quite a lot of new people into the organisation will probably help me with that,” he adds in reference to the recent raft of directors that MotoGP Group have hired from organisations like the EPL, UFC, F1 and more.