It’s not a sponsorship but a partnership. The commitment of SKY, the Italian TV and media company which broadcasts MotoGP in Italy, is an example of how a TV firm can invest in the MotoGP championship by not only shelling out for the rights to an event but also with a team.

Since 2014, the first season that SKY bought the rights, they invested also in supporting the growth of young Italian talents and linking their name with Valentino Rossi, bike racing’s number one ambassador,  launching the SKY VR46 Racing Team.

The project is in line with the policy of the company that invests in growing talents in all the category: from Masterchef in the kitchen to X-Factor in music. Motorsport was missing something and here the SKY VR46 Racing Team that combines the VR46 Academy - Valentino Rossi’s 20 years of racing experience built with scientific precision and delivered as pure passion and fun – with the professionalism and the vision of SKY TV.

The project started with a Moto3 team - entry level for MotoGP. After three seasons, six wins and 15 podiums, the commitment doubles in 2017 with a team in Moto3 featuring Nicolò Bulega and Andrea Migno and a squad in Moto2 with Stefano Manzi and Francesco Bagnaia.

“We believe in this mission”, underlines Elena Sacchi, responsible for the SKY VR46 Racing Team project. “Since the beginning the idea was to give the opportunity to young talents to grow, supported by the experience of a professional team. It’s not a sponsorship, but a partnership because SKY is involved in first person in the project. As a company we invest on young Italian riders. It’s an investment also in the championship, because we not only grow the champions of the future but we make them known to the audience.  

“Italy used to be the reference for road racing, then there was a period of supremacy of the Spanish school from Moto3 to MotoGP. Finally we are back with an important presence of  Italian riders:  ten in Moto3, nine in Moto2 and they are all strong riders. This has been possible thanks to the work of everybody: our team with Valentino Rossi, Fausto Gresini who has a squad in Moto3, Moto2 and MotoGP, the Italian Motorcycle Federation and this year also with the arrival of the SIC 58 Racing Team of Paolo Simoncelli. All together we make our talents grow and we contribute to the success of the championship.”

The investment pays, not only in terms of the presence of Italian riders in the three classes of the world championship, but also as a fidelity program for the SKY subscribers. “This project has been welcomed very positively by the SKY subscribers. The return in terms of customer care and satisfaction is a success”, continues Sacchi. “The spectators start to know and care about the riders since they are in Moto3 and they will continue to follow them also in the future as they switch from one class to another.  

“The TV viewers follow and support our riders and this has a result in terms of subscription to the pay TV a but also in terms of audience of the Moto2 and Moto3 classes in the digital TV (unencoded) Cielo the audience has progressively grown.  Not only, thanks to several contest, TV subscribers win a participation to a Grand Prix where – from Friday to Sunday – they can do a full immersion of the  paddock life. They share the experience with the mechanics, they eat with the team, they see the riders and with us as SKY TV. It’s an experience you cannot buy and this makes us unique.”      

The importance of strong riders for each nationality is crucial for the popularity of a sport and SKY has had a long vision to prepare the post Valentino Rossi era starting from 2014 and using a double channel: linking  the partnership with Valentino Rossi and the VR46 Academy and making the future Valentino Rossis grow so that the inevitable generation change becomes a value.

The Italian example is not the only one, although its unique in its formula. Spanish TV Movistar is supporting the championship by broadcasting the racing and sponsoring the Yamaha Team with Valentino Rossi and Maverick Vinales. What about the BBC? SKY can be a pioneering example of sustainable sponsorship.