Liberty Live Holdings, Inc. Q3 FY2025 Earnings Call

Thank you, and good morning. Before we begin, we'd like to remind everyone that this call includes certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual events or results could differ materially due to a number of risks and uncertainties, including those mentioned in the most recent Forms 10-K and 10-Q filed by Liberty Media with the SEC. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this call, and Liberty Media expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to disseminate any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statement contained herein to reflect any change in Liberty Media's expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based. On today's call, we will discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures for Liberty Media, including adjusted OIBDA. The required definition and reconciliation for Liberty Media Schedule 1 can be found at the end of the earnings press release issued today, which is available on Liberty Media's website. Speaking on the call today, we have Liberty's President and CEO, Derek Chang; Chief Accounting and Principal Financial Officer, Brian Wendling; Formula One, President and CEO, Stefano Domenicali; MotoGP, CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta, and other members of management will be available for Q&A. With that, I'll turn the call over to Derek.

Thank you, Shane. Good morning. We are entering the end of the year on a high note. It has been an incredibly productive period for Liberty. And we have executed on the priorities we laid out at the beginning of the year. First, on our planned split-off of Liberty Live, we currently expect to complete the split-off on December 15, and the stock is expected to begin trading as a stand-alone asset-backed equity the following day. Our shareholder vote will be on December 5. The split-off is expected to better highlight the value of our attractive position in Live Nation and an asset-backed equity that we believe will benefit from enhanced trading dynamics. Looking now at our operating businesses, we continue to invest behind their sustained growth. These aren't just sports properties, they're global entertainment brands. With this broader evolution comes expanded commercial opportunities to monetize a growing fan base with creativity and innovative leadership. Looking first at Formula One, we continue to build upon the commercial momentum we've seen all year. Just this morning, F1 renewed with their global partner, Heineken, in another multiyear deal. Underlying fundamentals are robust and support strong financial results this quarter and year-to-date despite having one fewer race. They have successfully accelerated renewal cycles across revenue streams, extending media rights agreements and renewing multiple promoter partners on attractive terms. Across sponsorship and licensing, F1 has partnered with an increasing number of high-quality consumer names, including Hello Kitty, Pottery Barn and more as they consistently bring the sport closer to today's multidimensional fan. Additionally, F1 signed a landmark distribution partnership with Apple in the U.S. that seeks to highlight the innovation of both global lifestyle brands and position us well for the next leg of growth in the U.S. market. Stefano will provide more detail on this shortly. Next, on MotoGP, we closed the acquisition on July 3 and have been working diligently with their management team and supporting their strategic plan. We're fortunate to have the involvement of Chase Carey, Stefano Domenicali, and Sean Bratches. Sean, as many of you know, previously led the commercial operations at F1. The top priorities at MotoGP as laid out last quarter remain enhancing the Grand Prix experience, expanding MotoGP's global footprint through capturing new fans and deepening engagement with existing fans and scaling our sponsorship roster. We are also in the early days in identifying areas of partnership between Formula 1 and MotoGP, some of which are more back-end in nature around sharing best practices and some of which we believe will drive commercial upside in the future. We are developing our long-term plans for MotoGP's broader monetization opportunities, many of which will build upon growth initiatives already underway prior to Liberty's ownership. Their adjusted OIBDA performance year-to-date reflects elevated costs as these investments are already being made with the associated revenue growth to come. We don't expect a material change in the investment cycle ahead, but we do anticipate continued growth in the cost base as they scale efforts to build commercial functions, enhance sponsorship capabilities and more. We look forward to continuing to update you on our progress, and we'll have more to share on behalf of Liberty and our portfolio of companies at our Investor Day on November 20, just before the Las Vegas Grand Prix. Before turning it to Brian, I want to also recognize and thank John Malone. I'm sure you all saw our press release last week, noting that John will be stepping down from the Liberty Media Board and assuming the role of Chairman Emeritus and Dob Bennett, Liberty's long-time Board member and former CEO, will be named Chairman. On behalf of Dob and myself as well as the entire Liberty Board and management team, it has been a privilege working with and learning from John for over 3 decades of partnership. His indelible influence on the industry, our company, and us personally goes without saying. And I'm sure I speak on behalf of all of you in saying that we look forward to having John for our annual Q&A at Liberty's Investor Day in a few weeks. Now, I'll turn it over to Brian for more on Liberty's financial results.

Thank you, Derek, and good morning, everyone. At quarter end, Formula One Group had attributed cash and liquid investments of $1.3 billion, which includes $571 million of cash at Formula One, $176 million of cash at MotoGP and $78 million of cash at Quint. Total Formula One Group attributed principal amount of debt was $5.1 billion at quarter end, which includes $3.4 billion of debt at F1, $1.2 billion of debt at MotoGP, which leaves $523 million at the corporate level. F1's $500 million revolver and MotoGP's EUR 100 million revolver both remain undrawn at quarter end. We refinanced MotoGP's debt in August, shortly after closing. We priced approximately $230 million of new Term Loan A denominated in U.S. dollars, a new EUR 800 million Term Loan B and a new $100 million multicurrency revolver, all at reduced rates, with future reductions in margin expected as the business delevers. This new capital structure reduces interest expense, extends our maturities, and presents a currency mix that better reflects the euro and U.S. dollar exposure of the business. In F1, we obtained an incremental $850 million Term Loan B and an incremental $150 million Term Loan A in July to fund a portion of the MotoGP acquisition. At quarter end, F1 OpCo net leverage was 3.0x, down from the initial 3.3x we gave as of 6/30 pro forma for the MotoGP acquisition. F1's covenant leverage was below the threshold of 3.75x to trigger a permanent reduction in the Term Loan B margin to SOFR plus 175 basis points. Interest will begin accruing at the lower rate promptly after earnings. MotoGP net leverage was 5.6x. In the near term, we very much expect to delever at both Formula 1 and MotoGP. Turning to the F1 business. I'll make a few brief remarks on the third quarter, but we'll focus on the year-to-date comparisons. A reminder that every quarter in 2025, we will have incomparable race count and mix, which will impact quarterly comparisons. And our year-to-date 9/30 figures also have an inconsistent year-over-year race numbers and mix. The majority of the variability in Q3 year-over-year results is due to fewer races held in the third quarter compared to the prior year period. Q3 '25 held 6 races compared to 7 races in Q3 '24 with Singapore being included in the prior year, but not in the current period. Year-to-date through the third quarter, F1 also had one fewer race with Singapore included in the prior year period, but not in the current period. Despite one less race, the business is performing incredibly well with revenue up 9% and adjusted OIBDA up 15% and growth across all revenue streams. Sponsorship revenue continues to benefit from new partners and underlying growth in renewals of existing contracts. Media rights revenue increased due to underlying growth in contracts, strong revenue growth at F1 TV and the one-time benefit of the F1 movie revenue in the second quarter. Race promotion revenue was down slightly as underlying growth in contracts nearly covered the impact of one fewer race in the period. Other revenue grew driven by higher hospitality revenue, including from Grand Prix Plaza licensing revenue and increased freight. Note that we operated the same number of Paddock Clubs in both current and prior year periods, given that the Singapore Paddock Club is operated by the local promoter. Adjusted OIBDA increased on a year-to-date basis as revenue growth continues to outpace increased expenses. Team payments were flat year-to-date as the impact of one fewer race was offset by expected higher team payments for the full year. Team payments as a percentage of pre-team share adjusted OIBDA were 61.5% for the full year 2024 as a reminder, and we continue to expect leverage against that 2024 percentage for the full year of 2025. A reminder that team payments are best analyzed on a full year basis due to quarterly fluctuations in the team payments as a percent of adjusted OIBDA. Turning now quickly to the MotoGP's results. As a reminder, we closed the MotoGP acquisition on July 3 and began consolidating their results effective 7/1/25. Our financial results are presented on a pro forma basis in the release and in MD&A as though the transaction occurred on January 1, 2024, and a trending schedule will be posted to our website after the 10-Q is filed, including the results in U.S. GAAP for the full year 2024 on a pro forma basis. Also note that our U.S. GAAP reported results for Moto GP's revenue streams are more aligned to our current F1 reporting with previously disclosed MotoGP commercial revenue updated to include only sponsorship with hospitality being moved into other revenue. Majority of MotoGP's revenue and costs are euro-denominated and as such are subject to translational impacts from foreign currency movements. In the following discussion of results, I'm going to focus on constant currency results. Similar to F1, I'll make brief remarks on the third quarter, but focus on year-to-date comparisons as we believe that is the most appropriate way to analyze the business. Year-over-year comparisons are impacted by the mix of races and generally, MotoGP flyaway races carry higher costs, including freight, travel, and team fees. MotoGP held 7 races in the third quarter of both this year and the prior year. Revenue declined in the third quarter as increased race promotion fees due to race mix and contractual uplifts were offset primarily by lower proportionate recognition of season-based income with revenue from 7 out of 20 races recognized last year versus 7 out of 22 recognized this year. Year-to-date, MotoGP held 17 races compared to 15 races through the same period last year. Revenue grew across race promotion and media rights, primarily due to the additional events held and contractual fee increases. Sponsorship was relatively flat as contractual uplifts were offset by the impact of race mix on certain sponsorship revenues. Other revenue also increased from growth in World Superbike fees and an increase in hospitality revenue. Adjusted OIBDA declined year-to-date as the revenue increase was more than offset by higher costs of motorsport revenue due to the mix of races, which drove increased freight and travel expenses as well as increased SG&A due to higher personnel costs with strategic headcount increases to grow certain commercial functions, as Derek mentioned. Year-to-date results were also impacted by 2024 benefiting from a bad debt reversal early in the year. Looking briefly at Corporate and Other results year-to-date, revenue was $266 million, which includes Quint results and approximately $19 million of rental income related to the Las Vegas Grand Prix Plaza. Corporate and other adjusted OIBDA loss was $7 million and includes Grand Prix Plaza rental income, Quint results, and corporate expenses. As a reminder, Quint's business is seasonal with the largest and most profitable events taking place in Q2 and Q4. And note that Quint's intergroup revenue from MotoGP beginning in July is now eliminated within our consolidated results. Turning to Liberty Live Group. There's attributed cash of $297 million. And on September 12, the Liberty Live Nation or Live Nation margin loan was amended to extend the maturity date from '26 to '28 and reduce the spread from 2% to 1.875%. $400 million of the margin loan capacity is undrawn at quarter end. And as of November 4, the value of the Live Nation stock held at Liberty Live Group was $10.5 billion, and we have $1.15 billion in principal amount of debt against these holdings. Liberty Formula 1 and MotoGP are all in compliance with their debt covenants at quarter end. And with that, I will turn it over to Stefano to discuss Formula One.

Thanks, Brian. What an incredible season we are wrapping up at Formula One with thrilling on-track action and all teams scoring points. 9 drivers from 7 different teams have stood on the podium, highlighting our depth of talent in one of the most competitive seasons of recent time. McLaren claimed the Constructor championship in Singapore, and we are watching the continuing battle for the driver championship as we head into the final stretch of the season. Our global fan base continued to grow with exceptional engagement across the board. We have seen 5.8 million attendees throughout Mexico, up 4% relative to last year's record at this time. Since summer break, Monza welcomed around 370,000 fans over its race weekend, while Austin and Mexico each welcomed over 400,000 fans. We are also seeing a record percentage of female and under 35 attendees, reflecting the growing and broadening appeal of F1 events. The Paddock Club has serviced nearly 36,000 race day guests through the end of the third quarter, up 8% from the same point last year. The Paddock Club remains sold out for the remainder of the season and early partners' requests for 2026 already signal robust demand ahead. Given the consistent sell-out trends at many races, we are looking to add structure in partnership with promoters to increase capacity in some markets in 2026 to accommodate pent-up demand. Engagement and reach across this platform remain robust. We had a strong first half of the season with cumulative viewership up 10% year-over-year across broadcast and digital platforms and performance remained excellent into the third quarter. Nearly all races recorded year-over-year live viewership growth in F1's top 15 markets. The Sprint race format continues to draw fans with each Sprint season showing year-over-year viewership growth. Viewership for YouTube by Lights increased over 20% as of the third quarter, and the majority of the audience is under 35. F1 is still the fastest-growing major sport on social, fueled by both an exciting on-track season and increased cultural relevance globally, highlighted this quarterly with buzz around the F1 movie. Social media followers are up nearly 20% of the third quarter to 111 million, with notable growth on TikTok. Following the F1 movie, we were thrilled to announce that we are deepening our partnership with Apple as F1's new U.S. broadcaster distributor in a 5-year deal beginning in 2026. This is a partnership between two iconic global brands with a shared passion for innovation, entertainment, and technological excellence as well as a very aligned customer demographic. We are working with Apple on an ambitious plan to elevate how the sport is presented to U.S. fans through innovation on the broadcast feed amplified across their vast ecosystem of products and services, whether streaming the race itself or showcasing content on Apple News, Apple Sport, Apple Music, Apple Match, Apple Fitness, and more. As shown by the success of the Apple movie, Apple marketing and activation power, coupled with its integrated ecosystem can have a significant multiplier effect on brand awareness. We look forward to sharing more with Apple in the coming months. Turning to other commercial updates, we continue to see competition for our exclusive rights and IP across revenue streams. We had another active quarter of media rights negotiations. We recently announced that Grupo Televisa has become our official broadcast partner in Mexico throughout 2028, and we are close to finalizing the remaining agreements required for territories where rights expire at the end of the season, including Japan, Latin America, and Pan Asia. We are constantly innovating across both content and distribution to keep the fan engagement. F1 TV is a strategic cornerstone, not only for the flexible and dynamic ways we can distribute race content, but also the direct access it gives us to fan data and insight. We recently announced a new show, Passenger Princess, which aired on YouTube. The first episode featured George Russell and reached 1.5 million views within a week of release. This underscores our original content strategy, embedding F1 deeper into pop culture, reaching new audiences beyond race weekend and strengthening our always-on approach to connect with fans. Turning to race promotion agreements, F1 had an active quarter. We renewed Azerbaijan 2030, Monaco through 2035, and Austin through 2034. We are counting down to another unforgettable Las Vegas Grand Prix and are very pleased with the progress we have made this year. Congrats to the Vegas leadership team on the momentum. With a couple of weeks to go, we are pleased to say we are on track with our ticket sales targets. We have a full week of programming across Las Vegas kicking off on Wednesday and culminating on Saturday night with a very special pre-greet show and post-race entertainment. On F1 sponsorship, we are finalizing an incredibly strong year with sustained momentum and visibility into our 2026 pipeline and beyond. We continue to roll out new dimensions of our partnership with LVMH, including French Bloom and Volcan Tequila. Closer integration between our F1 Global and Vegas Sponsorship team is also benefiting their commercial momentum with strength in Vegas sponsorship coming from both renewal as well as new logos partnering this year. The growth across our other revenue streams is equally impressive, especially in licensing as we continue scaling up our partnership announced early this year. We have also renewed Momentum Group until 2030 to run the F1 authentic website and supply F1 official licensing show cars. We recently announced partnerships with Disney, Pottery Barn Teens, Pottery Barn Kids, and Hello Kitty, all of which should be a long tail benefit into next year. The announcement of our Hello Kitty and F1 Academy product collaboration reached an outstanding 3.7 million fans over the 3-day announcement period and increased our F1 Academy social media followers by 5,000 across all platforms on the day of our announcement. Retail sales have grown over 20% through the third quarter. Looking ahead, we aim to continue growing our retail footprint on the track in key racelocations. We opened a pop-up F1 hub store during race weekend in both Miami and Austin as well as our store activation, where we celebrated F1 75 through historic and new merchandise lines. Strong sales and traffic reinforce the untapped opportunity in fan merchandising in these key locations. Formula One momentum continued to span every part of our business. We have built a powerful platform that has enjoyed tremendous growth, and we are increasingly confident in the continued upside ahead. We believe the groundwork we are laying today will continue to benefit our partners, shareholders, and most importantly, our fans. I look forward to providing more details on our sports and growth momentum at Liberty's Investor Day and the F1 Business Summit in a few weeks. For the moment, avanti tutta, full speed ahead. Now I will turn the call to Carmelo to discuss MotoGP.

Good morning, and thank you, Stefano. We are 4 months into our partnership with Liberty Media and are proud to be working together to drive MotoGP forward for the benefit of our fans and partners. We continue to see many ways that we can benefit from Liberty and Formula One's expertise and have started collaboration on ways to work together. We look forward to sharing more of our strategy at Liberty's Investor Day later this month. The 2025 MotoGP season continues to deliver exciting moments on track. Congratulations to Marc Marquez who secured his seventh MotoGP World Championship at the Japanese Grand Prix, capping a remarkable multiyear comeback from injury and securing his place in MotoGP history. Despite Marquez' dominance this year, we have had 13 different riders on the podium across 10 teams and all 5 manufacturers. And in Moto2 and Moto3, we are seeing some of the tightest racing in all motorsports from tomorrow's MotoGP stars. We continue to welcome record crowds across the calendar. This year, we set attendance records at 8 different events. Attendance is up 4% through Malaysia, and we expect another sold-out crowd in Malaysia next week. We are building on the momentum from last year, brand refresh, and our early investments are already yielding success. Social engagement is up nearly 120% through the third quarter, excluding video pass across our digital platforms has increased over 30% year-over-year, and our social reach has grown nearly 30% year-over-year, driven by TikTok. We look forward to hosting our second season launch event next year in Kuala Lumpur, which is another opportunity to provide content for fans outside of race weekend. Average audience tuning into our broadcast grew 17% through the third quarter, and we are seeing great viewership numbers from the Saturday sprint races, which are closing the gap to Sunday's race coverage and demonstrating the value for MotoGP partners across the full race weekend. Subscribers to Video Pass, our direct-to-consumer video service, are up 6% from 2024. We have had positive renewals of a number of promoter relationships this year, including Japan through 2030 and Catalonia, Valencia, France, Germany, and San Marino through 2031. Early this summer, we announced our 2026 calendar, which will see MotoGP Race in Brazil for the first time since 1989 and a return to Buenos Aires in 2027. This will both be fantastic locations for MotoGP in important growth markets in South America as we work towards optimizing both our circuits and race calendar. We are making investments to support our commercial activities with the goal of expanding our exposure to a wider global audience while maintaining the sport's heritage. We have renewed our broadcast agreement with SuperSport. Additionally, we have seen a resultant multiyear partnership as the official lubricant supplier of Moto2 and Moto3 and successfully renewed our LIQUI MOLY partnership. Sponsorship remains a large growth opportunity for us, but we expect that it will take time to build our pipeline. We look forward to continuing to update the investor community on our progress. Now I will turn the call back over to Derek.

Thank you, Brian, Stefano, and Carmelo. For those of you on the call, we look forward to seeing you in a few weeks at this year's Liberty Media Investor Day. We will be hosting our Investor Day alongside the F1 Business Summit in Las Vegas on Thursday, November 20, in advance of the Grand Prix. We hope to see you there. We will have limited in-person attendance for the Investor Day, but all presentations will be webcast. Tickets are available for purchase for the F1 Business Summit. Please check out their website and e-mail our IR team once purchased, so we can confirm their attendance. Before we open for Q&A, I want to take a moment to recognize Shane Kleinstein, our Head of Investor Relations, on her last earnings call with us. She has been instrumental in our Investor Relations and broader communications functions at Liberty and has left an indelible mark on our company. On behalf of the entire Liberty Media team, thank you, Shane, and we wish you the best in your future endeavors. We will have a new Head of Investor Relations joining us and look forward to sharing that update in the future. In the meantime, we encourage you to please continue to reach out to the rest of the IR team, our email investor@libertymedia.com with questions. We appreciate your continued interest in Liberty Media. And with that, we'll open the call up for Q&A.

The first question today comes from David Karnovsky with JPMorgan.

Maybe for Derek and Stefano, on the U.S. rights agreement, I think the dollar figures are fairly straightforward, but I wanted to see if you could speak a bit to how you're looking at this agreement specifically from an engagement perspective and how investors should perceive any risk regarding a move away from linear or ESPN? And what gives you comfort that you can continue to grow the U.S. media audience?

Stefano, do you want to take that?

Thank you for the question, David. The U.S. market is crucial for our growth, and our partnership with Apple reflects our belief that we have the right elements for this growth. We can rely on a strong brand that holds social significance. Our fan base is young, dynamic, and multitasking, which made this decision a sound one. We are fully committed to providing content and platforms within the Apple ecosystem and plan to further enhance our current offerings. As always, decisions in business involve weighing risks against opportunities, and in this case, the risks seem minimal while the opportunities are substantial. We are excited to enter this new chapter with Apple, knowing they will bring innovative ideas that will enhance the social relevance of our sport. This multiyear deal emphasizes our commitment to this approach, and we are confident that this partnership will strengthen over time.

Yes. Thanks, Stefano. I think I would add that the way we look at it now, and I think a lot of folks are looking at it this way, is sort of the definition of reach, which historically has really revolved around sort of the broadcast window on television. And I think that's, in our minds, is an antiquated definition of reach at this point in the way a company like Apple and a partner like Apple can touch many different demographics in many different ways. And so I think that's an important thing to understand in terms of how we're thinking about it. I think Stefano's other point about this being a longer-term deal is important because when you're thinking about a company like Apple and the way that they invest behind the product, it's not like the product in the fifth year is going to look much different, I guarantee you, than what you see in the first year. And that's going to be through years of investment in what they do. And I think we are at a great sort of point in time in the U.S. with the races that we've had here with the support that we've received and the new fans that we brought in with the new sponsors we brought in to really take all of this and sort of move it forward in a whole different way with a partner like Apple. And I think we'll see the fruits of this over the next several years.

Maybe just as a follow-on, it would seem to us that with Apple TV, you have an agreement now with a partner that has reach across most of your territories, and they have rights to the F1 movie. And logically, they could be a bidder in more regions. So I just wanted to get your view on that and whether that global factor was something you considered in your decision to partner here.

Yes, I think it's important. Go ahead, Stefano, I'll let you start.

Sorry for that. Well, I think that what I can say is that, as you know, we are a worldwide sport where the fragmentation of different deals is crucial to be in the right market with the right partner. And what I can say straightaway is that the fact that we signed with Apple immediately has been a sort of a wake-up call from the actual partners around the world to say, hey, we want to stay with you, we want to invest. So what's next? I think that vitally, it's great because it will attract the fact that Apple is a global partnership. And for sure, if we have countries where we can see different kinds of potential where we can work together, we will discuss with Apple too. But this doesn't mean that we will cover the entire world with only one Apple deal because we do believe that at this time, we are much stronger the way we have structured all our deals around the world on the broadcast side. But for sure, the effect of having said the deal with Apple has been already big around the world.

Yes. And I would add, just in all of these markets globally, you almost have to still take it market by market. The dynamics within these markets have been shifting. And in some places, you have new entrants; in other places, there's consolidation, and sort of depending on when your deals turn out, those competitive dynamics can come into play. And I think having someone like Apple, and we're in early discussions or early stages of this relationship. And so where their interest is in other locations globally, I think we will see over time. But I think we all understand on the call that any time you have a more competitive environment, you're better off. So we'll leave it there.

The next question is from Bryan Kraft with Deutsche Bank.

I have two questions, if I may. First, regarding Vegas, it seems you're on track with your budgeted ticket sales. Can you share how you are managing your cost budget for the event? Additionally, about U.S. media rights, should we anticipate a significant increase in media rights revenue in the U.S. next year, considering both the Apple rights agreement and the loss of F1 TV subscription revenue, as Apple will be taking that over in the U.S.?

If I may start, Derek, Yes. Thanks, Bryan, for the question. I mean, first of all, Vegas is one of our priorities. As I said, ticket sales are on target. But you correctly take one point that for sure, what we have experienced was a big attention on the cost side of the organization. And after the first years, I would say that we are on track in minimizing the right way the cost because at the beginning, you try to cover new investment in the right way. And now, with all the new partners and the fact that we have renewed for big deals for the next couple of years, we are definitely on track also in controlling the cost of it. I have to say that we have seen a big shift in the community perception of what the Vegas race represents for them. Therefore, working together with them, I think, is beneficial and has already an impact this year with regard to the fact that the cost will be reduced definitely. And this will have, of course, a positive impact at the end on the P&L of the race. Of course, as you know, we are working very hard to make sure that the event will be great, as always has been. We have, as you know, shifted the starting time of the race to 8:00 p.m. on Saturday night. And this is, for sure, very important, the fact that the community is really embracing, as I said before, this event. So costs are definitely one lever that we want to make under the control of it, and we are on track also on that. Then with regard to the second question, you asked me, you're right, if we can expect more money. As you know, we cannot give any guidance on that. But I would say what is important to say is that the F1 subscription on F1 TV is a great asset also for Apple. We have a great community that will connect through the Apple platform with our popular F1 TV. So I don't expect that this will have a negative effect. Actually, it will be the opposite because I think that this community is quite solid, and the fact that it will be embraced on the Apple platform will increase the value globally for the future of both of them together.

I want to acknowledge our team in Vegas for their incredible work as we approach the final stages of this project. We are feeling optimistic about Vegas this year. More importantly, as Stefano mentioned, we are focused on fostering long-term relationships in the market. After the first two years and my interactions with the team in Vegas, the positive atmosphere surrounding the race and its future potential continues to show significant opportunities. This is likely the most important takeaway from the first three years of hosting this race.

Our next question is from Kutgun Maral with Evercore ISI.

Two, if I could, around sponsorship. So first, it seems like every other day, you're inking new and attractive deals. Looking at the year-to-date team payment trends, it seems like the full year budget is tracking exactly in line relative to the first 2 quarters of the year. So should we take this to mean that these new sponsorship and maybe licensing opportunities primarily fall in 2026? Or are there other offsets that we should be mindful of? And second, I was hoping to dig into licensing a little bit more specifically. Licensing is still a relatively small contributor to the business, but it seems like the team has really focused on expanding your efforts there. So maybe you could talk about the strategy and long-term opportunity you see ahead? And are you able to accelerate the momentum next year under the new Concorde?

Well, thanks. Please, go ahead, Brian.

Yes, Stefano, I was just going to start on the sponsorship and then please add color. But yes, I mean, I think the team is feeling good about where we sit with sponsorship for '26, and a lot of these are long-term agreements, multiyear agreements that accrue to the future years. So as you sign them later in the year, they're going to have less of an impact, obviously, on the current guide.

Yes, I believe our strategy focuses on actions rather than words. We have consistently demonstrated resilience in our growth every few months, which reflects our core business philosophy and the strong foundation we have established. The long-term commitment from both new and long-standing partners highlights the credibility of our platform and strategy, which continues to enhance their value alongside ours. We see the potential for significant collaboration with major partners to further elevate our business and sports offerings. Our current deals with companies like LEGO, Disney, and Hello Kitty exemplify our goal of building a long-term community that actively engages with our platform. While delivering the promised results to our shareholders and stakeholders remains our priority, we also recognize the broader opportunities ahead. We are confident in our strong fundamentals as we navigate the challenges moving forward.

Our next question is from the line of Stephen Laszczyk with Goldman Sachs.

Maybe another one on the global media rights opportunity for F1. I'm just curious, as you look out across the globe, where you see the most opportunity up next in terms of increasing monetization? What contracts, what regions, what types of partners do you feel like you could bring in to increase the value either on a monetary basis or along the lines of the holistic partnership where that could be improved? And then maybe secondly, on hospitality, you called out some of the strength in hospitality in the quarter, Paddock Club at F1. Just curious if you could elaborate a little bit more on the drivers of that growth, whether it's strong pricing, whether you've seen more capacity come into the system this year on the back of some race promotion renewals or if most of that is still ahead of us given the renewal calendar when some of those contracts and an expansion of the Paddock Club kick in perhaps next year?

Thanks. I mean if I may, Derek, I will start. So we have other deals on which we are working on. So I would say stay tuned because there will be some other information going around the media deal in the future. As you know, and I don't want to undervalue what is the value for us to be a global sport. We have a global sport with global deals, and the nature of the business is growing everywhere. So I think that we need to have a sort of mixed situation around the world. Some of them will be linear in the future; some others will move to a different platform because what we need to do is to make sure that we see the relevancy and the opportunity monetizing as much as we can every market, but also checking what is the trend that every market is offering to us. So I think that this deal, as I said before, has had an effect of accelerating the fact that the long-term deal wants to be even longer with the part that we have. So it's up to us to make sure that we need to do the right choices for the future, but the dynamic in this stream of revenue will be very important in the future. And even if some people will say that the shift between linear or pay TV versus digital will have a sort of drop in dollars optimization, I do believe that the nature of the business that is global will cover that for us in the future because the competition is very high in the different platforms. Then with regard to the hospitality, I think that the reason why we feel confident in the future, this is another asset that despite a long-term deal with a lot of partners, some people can say where is the gain that you can have with them. Actually, it's the other way around because we know that the hospitality hand side is a limiting factor in terms of capacity for us. And the only way that we can have with the promoters to make sure that also this asset will be even stronger is to give them the chance to invest long-term. Therefore, that's the strategy we're going to do in a lot of markets because we don't have to forget that we want to increase the quantity of availability, but we cannot lose the quality approach of what we are offering to our customers. And this is not negotiable. We have some examples this year. Look at what Hungary did in terms of renovation of the infrastructure, what they're going to still doing in the future. This has an effect that, for example, you have seen what will happen in Austin in terms of new facilities that will be beneficial to our hospitality plan. So everything has an effect in a constructive way with everyone that is part of our ecosystem.

Yes. I want to highlight Stefano's earlier comments regarding our recent deal with Televisa in Mexico and the previous agreement with Globo in Brazil. As he mentioned, there are additional deals in progress related to media rights. This indicates a positive environment moving forward. We have the right partners in key markets, which will help boost engagement and awareness of the sport.

Our next question is from Joe Stauff with Susquehanna.

The first question is about Vegas. Is it accurate to say that most of this year's growth will come from the higher end? Could you also provide more details on what you're observing from the lower end? The second question pertains to MotoGP and race renewals. Since Liberty took over Moto, I understand there have been about 9 renewals. I believe there are another 6 to 7 that will expire at the end of 2026.

Joe, I think we got your second one, but we missed your first. So why don't we have Carlos take the second? And then if you could just repeat your first question after, please.

Yes, we have seen a lot of traction on a number of fronts since the announcement of Liberty Media. One of those has definitely been promoters where we see a lot of interest, of course, with a limited number of races. And we do see a lot of increases in the renewals. The total number was higher than that actually, but a number of those have already been renewed. We still have 8 events to be renewed for the 2027 season, and 8 of which have already been renewed or announced in the past 12 months. And we continue to see a lot of interest from both new locations, but also interest in expanding the current events in Europe and outside with increases.

Understood. I'll repeat my first question. I apologize for the background noise. In Vegas, is it fair to assume most of the growth you'll see this year is coming largely from the higher end? And just wondering if you could comment on what demand looks like at the lower end of demand.

Thank you, Joe. I can share two relevant points regarding our expectations for this year's performance. Firstly, we've made significant changes to our ticket pricing strategy. In previous years, there was typically a price drop in the last few weeks, but this year we have adopted the opposite approach. We introduced a different package offer and communicated that our strategy has changed, so we don't expect prices to decrease; in fact, they aren't. Secondly, demand is very strong across all areas. We also created general admission packages to help the community feel more connected to the event. This aligns with our decision to include a daily ticket in the package. Since our first day in Vegas, we've learned how to adapt to being in a new community for F1. Emily and her team's incredible work is helping us improve in all aspects of the business. I believe this will lead to great success, as Vegas is starting to recognize the value of what we bring. This recognition is very important for them as well.

The next question is from the line of Peter Supino with Wolfe Research.

Shane, thank you, and best of luck; you'll be missed. I wanted to ask about operating leverage generally and the Concorde agreement specifically. I think your last comment on the Concorde agreement in '26 is that it provides for modest operating leverage, assuming the business is on track. I wonder if you could give a perspective on refreshing that and then talk about the possibilities beyond 2026.

Yes, Stefano, I can start with that and feel free to add any color. But yes, with the new agreement, we would expect some modest leverage. We can't really say much more than that into 2026, similar to what you've seen over the last few years. And then beyond that time, the percentage we would expect to be fixed, and then you'd hope to see leverage in the underlying base business.

Yes. I mean, Brian, you are very clear. And I would say, for me, what we can add is really the fact that we can see a great stability in the sport in the future with regard to the governance to the fact that we are solid looking into the next 5 years in a condition where we really think that everything will be done, understanding that the team are part of the growth. And their financial strength is the strength of the business. And this is very, very important to recognize that. Therefore, on everything, I do believe that now we are finalizing the details. I want to thank not only the team, but also the President of FIA, Mohammed Ben Sulayem because we are sharing a great future together that is great because in this moment, we just need to make sure that all the conditions are stable to keep growing together.

The next question is from the line of Steven Cahall with Wells Fargo.

First, Stefano, I just wanted to ask you on competitive balance. We've seen some good racing this year between some of the top drivers and the top teams. I think we still have about 6 out of 10 teams that don't race for podiums most weekends. And I was wondering if there's anything that you might be implementing in the next couple of years that could improve that since it can tie to future growth in the value of the sport. And then, Derek, I think you said you expect some continued growth in the cost base this year as you invest into growth strategies. I was wondering if you could just expand on what those elements are and what the return on investment for some of those things look like?

Steven, regarding competitive balance, we've never experienced such strong competition over the past couple of years. There are many teams now competing that previously struggled to score points, which highlights how close the cars and drivers are in performance. This unique situation is something we take pride in. All teams are willing to invest in their future due to the budget cap, the engaging races, and the solid business environment. It's important to remember that without this competitive landscape, manufacturers like Audi, Honda, Ford, and Cadillac might not be entering our sport next year with even greater investment. As we've always emphasized, the sport is central to our platform. Next year, we will implement changes to keep pace with the ongoing relevance of technology in F1, including the use of sustainable fuel in our new powertrain. While significant regulatory changes can create initial disparities, the regulations are designed to allow gaps to be closed more quickly than usual. Maintaining the dynamics of our sport is crucial, and without this environment of competition, interest from new entrants would wane. Thus, as I mentioned, this remains a key focus for our business, with the sport and racing at the forefront.

Thank you, Stefano. And exciting off-the-track news, Charlotte was engaged yesterday. On the question of incremental costs, I think that was related to MotoGP. And I think we've made this comment in the past, and it's not dissimilar to sort of coming into a new business, trying to ultimately drive growth and drive revenue growth long term, but making upfront investments that will lead us to that point. I think as we've talked about previously, some of the investment in sort of expertise, personnel with the right expertise to drive the commercial side of the business, but also even revenue-generating assets, including things like the track, signage, investments into the video pass product, enhancements, all that sort of stuff is sort of ongoing and had already been ongoing prior to us closing the deal. But I'll let Dan give some more detail on that.

Thanks, Derek, and thanks, Stephen. I think Derek highlighted some key areas of investment that we started as early as last year, particularly in marketing through new hires and enhancing our storytelling to engage new fans. It's important to tailor our content to different geographies, which requires significant time and investment. Derek also noted our efforts to enhance the appearance of both the racetracks and The Paddock, which involved investment as well. Lastly, we continue to innovate and improve our digital offerings, especially the video pass, to ensure our digital services align with the innovations we have on the track.

The next question is from the line of David Joyce with Seaport Research.

Another MotoGP question. You mentioned that new races are coming in Brazil and Argentina, but you've also had a number of other renewals. So as you go through these renewals, do they allow for some rotating races given that you're already maxed out at 22 per year given your agreement with the teams? And does that somehow impact your media rights renewals cadence? If you could provide some color on that.

Sure. This is Derek. Right now, we have some capacity because certain races are coming up for renewal, and if we decide to move to a different location, we can do that. So, the idea of rotating races is probably not something we will consider in the near term. Carlos, if you want to add to that, please go ahead.

Yes, thank you, Derek. I would completely agree. We don't see sort of the short-term need to have rotating races. We think it's important. One of our main goals that's been sort of confirmed also in these first months of Liberty Media is one of our key priorities and targets is to invest in our events and turn our races into more and more of entertainment events globally. And a part of that is, of course, improving the events itself and where possible, also the event locations. We have Brazil coming in already in 5 months from now after more than 25 years, and Buenos Aires, which will be another city where we race. So all these events are a key focus for us in entering new markets. We do see that we still have capacity to bring in new events probably outside Europe, and there's no need to sort of rotate on current events in the short term. We don't see this impacting our media rights at all. We continue to have 22 events. All 22 events have sprints, and that's been a part of the investment of making these events more of entertainment events, having more action, more notorious action on track around the whole weekend. And that's something that we've also leveraged together with other assets to increase on our media audiences. So we don't see that the race mix will affect our media rights.

The whole concept here is to improve sort of the quality of the product across the board, including where we have races, who our local promoter partners are that help us drive promotion of the sport and all that, which will ultimately lead to deeper and broader engagement, which in theory will drive media coverage and media rights.

Next question is from the line of Ryan Gravett with UBS.

Just in terms of the upcoming split-off, does anything change in terms of your capital allocation plans or priorities at Formula One Group? And along those lines, any expected changes to operations or the commercial relationship between Quint and Formula One after the split occurs?

I'll take that. So that would be probably no on both, and we'll leave it there.

Okay, fair. Just maybe just a follow-up on MotoGP then in terms of the hospitality offering for that business. I was wondering if you could talk to the opportunity there and when some of the benefits of the integration could start to materialize?

Yes, we see significant opportunities in the hospitality sector of Moto. Attending a motor race is an exhilarating experience. We believe there is potential to enhance the experience at the track, extending beyond just watching and feeling the race. Similar to F1, our team, particularly Dan and his group, are focused on upgrading different aspects of our hospitality offerings and collaborating with Quint on this initiative. Dan, if you would like to elaborate further, please go ahead.

Yes, thanks, Derek. I think what he mentioned is accurate. We have made significant improvements in our MotoGP hospitality offerings in terms of both service and experience. Now, we need to implement a strategy to engage our current customers more actively throughout the weekend while also attracting a new fan base to purchase hospitality, especially at races where we perform well but still have additional capacity. Working with Quint, we aim to not only analyze pricing but also to create a diverse product ladder that allows us to offer various options at different price points, enabling us to upsell experiences. MotoGP is an incredibly accessible sport, and we have the potential to provide wonderful experiences alongside our basic hospitality program, which I believe stands out in the sports industry. We are optimistic about the potential here; it just requires effective execution, and we look forward to collaborating with Quint on this initiative.

The last question will be coming from the line of Matthew Harrigan with Benchmark Company.

Actually, first of all, thanks to Shane for all the classic Investor Day schedules, which I hope are going to be available on an archival basis because they were really, really great. Obviously, other people at Liberty were involved, too. I think Shane was a main architect. I think my questions are partially answered, but are you seeing all the teams be able to adequately cope with the new 26 engine regs? And do you see anything commercial and tangible coming out of the Saudi Aramco Synfuels venture? I know you touched on those questions to some extent, but if you could amplify a little more, that would be great.

I definitely think the perception among everyone at The Paddock is that it's faster than the others. This means there are numerous variables that many believe contribute to the competitive edge. I believe that the necessary level of technology and knowledge extends beyond just the power unit. It's important to remember that this is a new car, which brings a completely different dynamic in terms of driving style, aerodynamics, tire management, and energy management, all of which have changed with the new regulations. Everyone is highly focused on these aspects. The exciting part is that we have teams still battling for points, which will translate to financial rewards at the end of the season for the championship. There are ongoing developments in the last few races because no team is willing to concede. It's all very intriguing, and I think all the elements of adventure are present, which is something we should take great pride in.

Great. Thank you, Stefano. I think with that, we're going to wrap it up. Again, thank you, Shane, for all of your great work over the years. We look forward to seeing where you go next.

Thank you, Shane, from the F1 side all together, one family.

Thanks, Stefano. With that, we'll wrap it up. And again, just finally, Investor Day on the 20th, followed by the F1 Business Summit in Vegas for those of you who can make it. See you there.

This will conclude today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation. Have a wonderful day.