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they wanted us back is maybe explainable like this: I imagine that it was Dorna who announced to the FIM that they didn't want to continue managing motocross, and I think it happened only at the last stages of the last year or the beginning of this year. About 10 years ago, the FIM had an agreement for motocross with a company called Consortium, which was composed of big names like Nelson Piquet, Bob De Jong and top people coming from the TV industry. They failed in a year, and that wasn't an easy time for the FIM. About Dorna's MX experience I do not want to say, because I repeat: I have a great relationship with them, and I want to look at the future, and I do not care about the past. To make a long story short, I think that there is a lot of people who recognize our work and what we have done for motocross, and at the FIM they know that, I guess. For them to call us didn't take much. Obviously we discussed a lot because there are many things to do, and motocross needs some restyling in many areas. For example it looks like the MX industry is more interested in the two-moto format than the one-moto format used for the TV. Also, maybe the TV project didn't get the success desired, and the live TV idea should be replaced by an appealing TV program edited right after the GP, with all its best contents, and broadcasted a few hours after it instead of live. This would increase the show potential if the races are boring sometimes. Maybe the local clubs need to have a race that ends at 5 p.m. and not at 3 p.m. Maybe the clubs need to have more room in the advertisement management and so on. So there are many areas where we have to operate, and many of those things we have done already in the past. I do not want to suggest that all we have done is good and all the others have done is bad, not at all. But let me just say that when motocross took its first steps toward increased professionalism, we started that. Before us, facilities were not organized professionally. We arranged the paddocks the way they are now, we brought transponders, the pit lane with live TV and timing monitors for every team like in Formula One, the professional press rooms, the TV productions and so on. People sometimes forget about it, but just go and check out a European GP that's exactly what the World Championship was like before we put our hands on it. Perhaps our mistake was to overevaluate the product by thinking that motocross was bigger than it really is. Can you be more specific? Perhaps an example could be my idea of having the GPs live on the key TV channels in each nation. We had no success even if we had a really good TV coverage. Dorna had no success either, so we should maybe start believing that, businesswise, motocross is not powerful enough to reach that level. And as far as TV productions with Dorna for example, the quality is at the top, no question, and every single production costs around $30-40,000. If you really want to have the best of the best, you have to spend $100,000, and that wouldn't be possible for motocross. So maybe we should try to understand what the real market value of motocross is and keep it healthy. That would maybe mean to have back the two-moto format like before, and that would maybe mean to end the races at 5 p.m. to help the local promoter to have a bigger attendance. We should also try to lower ticket prices or to find new offers for the spectators like we do in Supermoto. In the Supermoto we use some formulas to promote the sport. If tickets are expensive, women and children under 14 do not pay, and entire families come to the races at a reasonable cost. About TV, I repeat that maybe it would be better to focus our energy on a really cool 60-minute TV product to be transmitted two or three hours after the race. This would maybe allow us to get access on the biggest TV channels because our timing wouldn't be in conflict with the one of bigger events like Formula One, soccer, road racing and so on. Those sports have an economic value that is way higher than motocross, and if we try to compete, we've learned that we will lose. By trying to get on air later than them, we would probably be more successful in exposing the sport on the major TVs. It would mean to go prime time at 8 p.m. on the satellite channels and around 10-]] p.m. on the major national channels. If we could do that, I think we would have more TV with a cool, full-action transmission, and the race would not end at 2 p.m. anymore. Plus, the industry would be happy to have back the two motos. I know you do not want to talk about it, but I'll ask anyway, and I would be glad if you could give an answer: What didn't work in the last two years under Dorna's control? What's your opinion? Well, first of all I do not want to judge anyone as I'm not the person in charge of that and I have no reason to get into polemics with Dorna. Let's start from the fact that there is no doubt that Dorna is in the bike industry the most powerful and the most professional company; they have no contenders. They have the best access and power with the TV industry, with the sponsors with politic authorities and so on. Their business and their management in the road racing universe and the MotoGP give them a lot of deserved power. I've been part of them for a while, and I've seen closely their professionalism, their facilities and their resources. Let me also precise this: I sold them Action Group, and that was a good deal, but do not forget that if I sold it, it was because I was interested in selling, and they were interested in buying. So that means nobody was forced, and at that time when they were interested also Octagon was interested, but Dorna really wanted to buy motocross and did it. So I was sure that motocross would have ended on professional people's hands. Which really was what it was. What didn't work then? Well, motocross has two souls, one professional and one amateurial, and you can't split them. I've became aware of that in the last two years as observer from outside, and I've became aware also of some mistakes we did when we where there before. So the teams and the riders in the MX GPs are 50-percent professional and 50-percent not professional. There are good teams really well organized, there are very well paid riders, less paid riders and riders who pay to be there. The same happens with the press and the promoters, 50 percent are professionals and 50 percent are enthusiasts. When I was there I understood well both those souls because I'm a fan myself, too, but I'm a fan who wanted to do business in the motocross industry. So my advantage was and is to come from motocross. And you have to respect the not-professional soul, which is the real base of motocross, because in the motocross industry the income is not high enough to transform it into a fully professional entity. Before we came, there was only one soul, the one of the enthusiasts; then we took care of this sport, and we created the professional soul. In the case of Dorna I think that maybe they just looked at the professional soul of motocross and applied the same plans they did so successfully in road racing. So without getting into details I think that probably they didn't understand that professionalism is important for motocross but without forgetting of the amateurial side, that is really, really important as well. What will happen now? Will you show up at the GPs this year? Well, I do not think so. First I have a really busy schedule for this year, and I wouldn't even have the time, but I also think that it wouldn't be the case I visit the MX GPs this year. We will talk a lot with the teams, the riders, the promoters and the medias to listen what they have to say. We know well already what areas need improvements, but at the same time we want to hear from the key people in the whole industry what they think. I'm sure that the majority of them would like to have back the two-moto format for the GPs, and I think we have to be capable of listening to that. Then the other front regards the number of classes, and there are two theories, one for two classes only (125cc and MXGP) and another for the three classes coming from the European manufacturers that want to keep the 650cc. In this case we have to decide if listening both and find a compromise to maybe move the 650cc on Saturday or to just have two classes. I think the fans would like the two classes, but before making any decision, we have to talk with all the players. After this I think we should create a better atmosphere by improving the relationship with teams and riders. So I do not think we'll go sell them 10 passes or anything like that, but we'll let them feeling more free. Also, the local organizers have to have more control on the advertisement. Despite all the good intentions to make motocross a bigger and more popular game, in the last decade the fans felt betrayed and badly treated. The bottom of popularity is not far, and the crisis should be taken advantage of to operate some resetting and create some stability. Will this eventually be possible? In life there never is stability. Like it or not, I think Motocross needed what happened in the last decade. I love motocross, and I've always tried to do my business here, but before it I wanted to do something for motocross because I love it. So in the beginning I believed motocross could reach high levels of popularity, and I helped by starting this process. We put a lot of energy into this dream, we contracted a lot of TV, and we gave motocross a good popularity. I invested a lot of money in cue I e n e _ s • MAV21, 2003 39