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In MotoGP, financially, the pot is crying, as evidenced by the Austrian GP at the Red Bull Ring, which in spite of the track's name has no title sponsor.
It might be true that a circuit named Red Bull Ring is quite difficult to sponsor, as NEROGIARDINI, which was title sponsor in the two-year period 2016-2017, can testify, but even after that, the names that appeared were not particularly well known.
EYETIME (2018), My World (2019), a brief appearance for BMW M (2020), which has been present in the championship since 1999, again My WORLD (2020) in the second GP in the Covid year, then BITCI (2021) and in the same year in the second MICHELIN GP, until the controversial CryptoDATA (2022-2023).
To see a Grand Prix without a financial backing name is not normal, but a clear sign probably of the difficulty of selling MotoGP at this time.
The show is there, and there is no doubt about that, but some work needs to be done regarding the protagonists after the exit of Valentino Rossi. In the #46's heyday what attracted was the dualism: Rossi versus Biaggi, Rossi versus Stoner, Rossi versus Lorenzo, Rossi versus Marquez. And here we come to a halt, because after the events of 2015, which are still being embroidered on, and Marc's accident in 2020 to which was added the drama of Covid, we have seen the growth of many young riders, but few have had much of an impact from a media point of view. And while the spectacle has always been highly satisfying, the same cannot be said of the penetration of the top brands in motorcycle racing competition.
That is why the return of Marc Marquez for Dorna has been a boon: no one like the rider from Cervera has been able to divide the crowds, between those who love him and those who simply hate him.
To revitalize his career Marquez made a massive sacrifice, financially speaking, and not only because he had to give up his last, very lucrative contract with Honda (we are talking about 20 million per season). In fact, the move to Ducati Lenovo also meant saying goodbye to many of his historic sponsors.
RED BULL is the first (Ducati has Monster), but also Oakley (eyewear), Samsung (electronics), Alliance (insurance) due to conflicts with the current backers of the Borgo Panigale factory, which - incidentally - is the only one that has a team with a problem of sponsors...on the contrary: it does not know where to put them.
Indeed, in Zeltweg it emerged in the paddock that Estrella Galicia, founded in 1906 by Jose Maria Riveira, is talking to Ducati specifically about a sponsorship deal.
Radio paddock spread a rumor, which has so far turned out to be unfounded, that the Galician beer company would replace Monster on the Desmosedici, leaving the two riders free to 'place' the green and blue-yellow logos, respectively, on their helmets. Thus squaring the circle.
Actually Monster has in place a multi-year contract with Ducati and is Red Bull's direct rival among the so-called energy drinks. And while the latter has been with Marquez for 18 years, the American drink has Lewis Hamilton among its testimonials.
Monster is 17 percent owned by Coca-Cola, and between the two companies there has been a brand swap: Coca-Cola's energy drinks (NOS, Full Throttle, Burn, Mother and Play) have passed to the Hansen Group, which owns the brand, which in turn, has transferred its Peace tea and Hubert's lemonade drinks to Coca-Cola. Basically, they divided the markets.
The three-claw mark, depicting the letter Monster, is basically a scratch created by a monster and the name of the drink is created with a luciferous lettering, Bank Gothic. Stuff to put Red Bull's Rampant Bull to shame, so much so that there had been talk in the U.S. that the three scratches would depict three 'vav's, or the number 6 in Hebrew. In short, the classic 666: the number of Satan. And that was enough to brand the drink as demonic.
That said, it seems more than likely that Monster will remain where it is, but at the moment Ducati is thoroughly analyzing the marks on the fairing to see if there is room for Estrella Galicia, since the two firms are not competitors, although it seems difficult to find the necessary inches for the Galician beer accustomed to leading placements.
