The Illusion of Glory

Infront Moto Racing digging it’s own grave

The gate drops, the engines roar, but the echo in the emptiness is deafening. Anyone who watched last season’s overseas final rounds of the FIM MXGP World Championship in Shanghai and Darwin saw a sport in deep structural crisis. Fifteen permanent riders at the start. Fifteen! On paper, we’re talking about the absolute premier class of global motocross, the most competitive championship in the world. In reality, we’re looking at a rickety house of cards collapsing due to a megalomaniac calendar and pure financial mismanagement. The calf might not have fully drowned yet, but it’s already flailing wildly in the deep water.

The core of the problem is as simple as it is painful: the gap between promotor Infront Moto Racing’s commercial dream and the teams’ economic reality has become insurmountable. Infront dreams of a Formula 1-model: a global calendar with twenty GP’s, spread across all continents, to put the sport “on the map worldwide”. But motocross is not Formula 1. While teams in the car industry are flooded with TV money, Infront does the exact opposite. Qualifying fee? Axed. Prize money per race? Practically non-existent. The teams bear all the risks and sky-high travel costs, while the promotor collects the TV rights and sponsor revenue. That the system is broken is something you hear everywhere in the paddock by now. Four-time world champion Jorge Prado opened Pandora's box after moving to the United States in the Gypsy Tales-podcast: “Congratulations! Here is zero dollars!” Prado looked back cynically on winning his MXGP-worldtitles. He painfully summed up the European reality: “You risk your life on tracks that are sometimes life-threatening, travel all around the world, and if you win, you get absolutely nothing from the promotor. In America, at least, you get rewarded for your performance.” 

Even Jeffrey Herlings, the man who stayed loyal to the GP’s, spoke out incredibly strongly last year about the flyaway races. After seeing how satellite teams massively stayed home for the long trips because they simply couldn’t afford the travel, 'The Bullet' concluded what everyone was thinking: a starting grid with fifteen riders isn’t worthy of a GP and damages the credibility of the sport. And what about the Belgian Coenen brothers? The young guns who represent the future of the sport are racing on a brutal schedule.

A calendar with twenty GPs, plus qualifying races on Saturday that also count for points, takes an absurd physical toll. The brothers have often experienced firsthand how that kind of exploitation leads to injuries. Young talents get burned out in this system before they even reach their peak. No wonder every European top talent's eyes immediately turn to the American AMA and the massive prize pool of the SMX Playoffs, where a sixteenth-place finish in the final can sometimes earn more than surviving an entire season in MXGP. Even the Motocross des Nations, for decades the undisputed “high mass” of the sport, is starting to show scars. Top teams pull out at the last minute, American stars drop out more often due to the grueling calendar, and top countries are forced to travel with B-riders. The shine fades very quickly.

The Rescue Plan 

I see three concrete solutions that are necessary.

If Infront doesn’t take action, the arrival of Chinese brands like KOVE or ZXMOTO in 2027 won’t be a rescue, but just a band-aid on an arterial bleed. New brands might temporarily fill the starting gates, but they won't fix the rotten foundation. More radical choices are needed. 

No vague promises, but hard reformations and restructuring: 

1. Shrink the calendar and cut Saturday races: bring the number of GPs back down to a manageable 15 to 16 events. Focus on the European heartland (where the fans actually show up) and limit overseas trips to a maximum of two to four logistically feasible locations. Also, get rid of the mandatory Saturday qualifying races for championship points. A single race day drastically reduces the physical toll on the riders and saves teams huge costs.
2. Split the cake: implement a guaranteed prize system immediately. A promotor can't be making millions from licensing and marketing without paying the main players. At least 35% of TV and sponsorship income should flow directly into a prize pool for the top 20 per round, so privateers and satellite teams can cover their travel expenses and simply stay afloat.
3. Transport subsidies for overseas GP's: if Infront really wants to fly to Argentina, China or Australia, they have to cover the logistical costs. Any team that is in the top 20 of the championship is entitled to a fully funded transport container for the bike and equipment. Whoever claims the show has to pay the artists' travel expenses, simple as that.

MXGP has the potential to remain the most beautiful motorsport discipline in the world. But if the promotor keeps refusing to invest in the basics, the riders and the teams, soon we'll be looking at an empty arena in Europe. The arrival of the Chinese manufacturers offers a unique, perhaps last chance for a restart. Let it be a wake-up call to make radical changes before the MX2 and the premier class, MXGP, permanently degrade into an unaffordable amateur spectacle.