MotoGP Makes More Leadership Changes
· Yahoo Sports
Boardroom draws from F1, the NFL, UFC and the Premier League
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Liberty Media continues to reshape MotoGP's front office, appointing new executives with backgrounds from a diverse range of sports and entertainment properties such as Formula 1, the NFL, the Premier League, and UFC. The series announced four senior appointments this week, coming after Carlos Ezpeleta stepped up to Deputy CEO in August, and Liberty's own CEO Derek Chang was appointed President of the MotoGP Group earlier this month.
Ryan Norys takes the Chief Commercial Officer chair after serving four years as the Chief Revenue Officer of English Premier League team Tottenham Hotspur. Before that, he worked for several professional sports teams on both sides of the Atlantic, including Italian football team AS Roma, MLB's Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees, the NFL's Miami Dolphins, and the NHL's New Jersey Devils and Los Angeles Kings. At MotoGP he'll run the full commercial operation: sponsorship deals, licensing, hospitality and the digital side included.
Sameer Pabari steps up to the role of Chief Media Officer after serving in a strategic advisory for MotoGP since June. His resume includes two decades of experience in sports, media and technology, with prior stops at the NFL, Warner Bros. Discovery and Manchester United. He'll handle live broadcast production, long-form output, media rights deals and, crucially, growing the paying subscriber base on MotoGP's own streaming platform.
Louise Young joins as Chief Operating Officer after eight years in various roles with Formula 1. After joining F1 in senior legal roles, she was named director of race promotion in 2023, before getting promoted to Chief Race Promotion Officer in early 2025. At MotoGP Young will direct race promotion along with events, and operations. Young's experience dealing with race organizers, circuits and governments during F1's boom will be vital if MotoGP is serious about expanding its calendar.
Rounding out the group is Denitza Batchvarova, who joined earlier in September as Chief Strategy Officer. Batchvarova joined UFC in 2012 as a director of strategy before being promoted to senior vice president of strategy in 2016. After UFC's parent company merged with the WWE to form TKO Group Holdings, Batchvarova served as executive vice president of strategy and corporate finance. Her new role will see her shaping MotoGP's long-term strategy and growth objectives.
"These appointments are an important step in building the team that will help shape MotoGP's future," said Ezpeleta. "Ryan, Sameer, Louise and Denitza bring hugely valuable experience from leading sports and entertainment organisations that will strengthen our commercial, media, operations and strategy capabilities. Together with our existing team, they will help us deepen our connection with our fans, reach new audiences and create new opportunities for our existing and new commercial partners, building on the strong foundations of the sport."
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