Monster To Sponsor Yamaha's MotoGP Team?

By David Emmett | Fri, 21/12/2012 - 18:25

It is looking increasingly likely that energy drink company Monster is to take on a role as co-sponsor of Yamaha's MotoGP team. Spanish website Motocuatro.com is reporting that Yamaha has bought Jorge Lorenzo out of his personal sponsorship by rival energy drink maker Rockstar and that both Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi are to carry Monster sponsorship on their leathers and on the fairings of their Yamaha M1s for 2013 and 2014.

According to Motocuatro, the story started earlier this year, after Lorenzo renewed his contract with Rockstar, and Valentino Rossi announced he would be signing with Yamaha. Both Rockstar and Monster had been in talks with Yamaha to step up their sponsorship of their riders - both men have personal contracts with their respective energy drink brands - to increase exposure for the brand. At first, Motocuatro reports, Monster showed an interest in moving up as co-sponsor on Rossi's bike, gaining the same level of sticker coverage as ENEOS, the Japanese oil brand which also adorns the Yamaha's fairings. In response, Rockstar started negotiations with Yamaha to match Monster's offer, meaning that both Lorenzo and Rossi would have equal levels of energy drink sponsorship on their bikes. Lorenzo would have Rockstar stickers, while Rossi would have Monster badges.

Having two competing brands on the two different bikes was an acceptable solution for all parties, each brand remaining with the rider they are associated with. But according to Motocuatro, at Valencia, Monster decided to make a counter-offer to Yamaha, to assume co-sponsorship for the entire team. Their reasoning, Motocuatro suggests, is that Monster feared being on the least successful of the two factory Yamaha bikes, a reasonable assumption given that Lorenzo has just wrapped up his second world title on the bike, while Rossi returns to Yamaha after two barren years at Ducati.

Accepting the offer left Yamaha facing a problem: if they wanted to have Monster sponsoring both bikes, they would have to invoke the clause in Lorenzo's contract giving them the right to veto his personal sponsor. Such clauses exist in nearly every rider contract; having a competing firm on the cap and leathers of a rider can dissuade companies from sponsoring teams. But getting rid of Rockstar comes at a price for Yamaha. The Japanese factory must buy Lorenzo out of his sponsorship, said to be worth 1 million euros a year. Yamaha would be compensated for their pains, though: Motocuatro reports that Monster upped its offer to Yamaha from 1.5 million euros a season for just space on Rossi's bike, to 4 million euros a year on the bikes of both Rossi and Lorenzo. That, it is believed, is about what Yamaha are paying a year to Rossi to race for them, about a third of the salary he received at Ducati. The Monster sponsorship of the factory Yamaha team would have no effect on the title sponsorship deal with Tech 3, which will continue to remain the Monster Tech 3 Yamaha squad.

Just how reliable these reports are remains to be seen. No confirmation of the details of this story has yet been forthcoming, and even this week, Lorenzo was making public appearances in full Rockstar Energy regalia. The story does confirm rumors of Monster sponsorship of Yamaha which have been doing the rounds of the paddock for some time now. However, in July, Motocuatro reported that Marlboro would switch its backing from Ducati to Yamaha, following Rossi to the Japanese factory. That story turned out to be false; Marlboro - or rather, Phillip Morris, the tobacco giant behind the Marlboro brand - will continue to sponsor Ducati for 2013. Beyond 2013 is uncertain, sources close to Phillip Morris have suggested the tobacco giant is growing tired of the lack of success, and could decide to pull out altogether at the end of next year.

Any sponsorship deal between Yamaha and Monster would be announced in the first week of January, with a press release to follow. The first hint of a new sponsor for Yamaha could come at Jorge Lorenzo's first public appearance. If he is no longer sporting Rockstar Energy caps and clothing, the Motocuatro's reports will have been vindicated.

http://www.motocuatro.com/index.php/motogp/5413-yamaha-compra-el-contra…

MotoGP
Yamaha
Jorge Lorenzo
Valentino Rossi

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Comments

... that MotoGP has gone form type of poison being the dominant sponsor in the sport to another.

Who's the worlds leading producer of Arsenic? Surely they cold be convinced they need in on this action.

Usually contains around 12 grams of sugar. Fat free chocolate milk contains around 54 grams per 16 ounces! SoBe Green tea has 50 grams of sugar! Snapple flavored Iced tea? 46-54 grams of sugar. A 12 ounce can of coke has 39 grams. My 16 ounce serving of AMP Energy contains 30.

Actually read the labels on what you eat and you will be quite surprised to find out the sugar levels of everyday things that you though were healthy.

Quite honestly I dont really care if you like energy drinks or not. Im just sick of the idea that they are "poison" or somehow the worst inventions of the last 10 years and the greatest threat to public health since second hand smoke became a thing.

Moderation people! Use it!

And A Merry Christmas and Happy Kwanza!

Rossi's presence arleady paying dividends and he's hasn't even raced yet.....shocker.

Poor Lorenzo can't generate the money and sponsors, even as a World Champion. The past 2 years, Yamaha couldn't attain sponsorship to save it's life; NOW, they have so much money they're buying out contracts! Lorenzo is immediately richer...."Thank you Vale!" says Jorge. "You're are the best team mate!"

It will be nice to see a sponsor on the Yamaha bike. The livery the past 2 seasons competes for the worst in the history MotoGP for a factory team.

I agree, the red/white and yellow/black are great liveries! They'd be great if they were the official full season livery but....

.....those unfortunately are "special" only for 2-3 races, they ARE NOT the season "Team Livery". I didn't think it would be necessary to point out, I guess I was wrong.

Monster Energy will hopefully add some color and I agree that Red Bull would be great to have a presence in MotoGP.

cool liveries here:
http://motowrx.com/?page_id=174

You do realize the article states that Monster stepped up the sponsorship package to cover both riders because they were worried Lorenzo would likely finish on top of the pile at seasons end in Rockstar gear. This comes down to Monster outspending Rockstar, not Rossi trumping Lorenzo. Monster doesn't care who is world champion, so long as their logo is on the fairing and leathers. If Rockstar had to $$$ I assure you Rossi would have been wearing their colors and not the other way around.

If this story is correct, then it debunks the myth of Rossi as a sponsor magnet. 4.5 million is peanuts for Monster. The American motocross riders get paid way more than that. The alternative view is that MotoGP just doesn't register as high on the Monster radar if they can get both factory Yamahas and both riders for the same spend they had for Rossi on the Ducati. Or else Yamaha just cannot pull an alternative sponsor - because the sponsors all know Rossi is a spent force...

normgshamarone

10 years 1 month ago

Permalink

re: "The Monster sponsorship of the factory Yamaha team would have no effect on the title sponsorship deal with Tech 3, which will continue to remain the Monster Tech 3 Yamaha squad."

okay but for how long...? though i'm sure they'd like to be, monster's far from the "all singing all dancing" resources of redbull. ponchy will inevitably end up taking it on the chin, same as i predicted for lorenzo. whoever brings sponsorship to the yamaha team will be #1, and here the tide is beginning to turn already. poor lorenzo indeed.

normgshamarone

10 years 1 month ago

Permalink

re: "Beyond 2013 is uncertain, sources close to Phillip Morris have suggested the tobacco giant is growing tired of the lack of success, and could decide to pull out altogether at the end of next year."

what they're specifically growing tired of is lack of ROI. all these years post "tomacco" ban, even if ducati WERE winning all this time it'd mean squat. why...? 'cause with each passing year, there was always going to be less and less awareness of the #1 marlboro brand. no matter what occured, this decision was/is going to be made regardless. i've been saying for years, it was never a question of "if", but "when". the writing's been on the wall for some time, they just made a conscious choice to ignore it while ducati made a conscious choice to depend on this "ignorance". they are going to ride this "gravy train" till i can be ridden no longer.

news flash PM, tobacco advertising was banned from sporting events...! they already knew full well the magistrates had banned it from from general TV long before that. society's BEEN coming for them. observe imperial (west), rj reynolds (camel), and imperial/altidis (fortuna, gauloises) all beat feet back in '05. laymen new to the sport now just think the "orange julius" hue of the D16's mean their color knobs needs adjusting...? or their flat screens are taking a dump...? they don't know from Pallini Red.

so madison avenue asks...

Q: what future stealth advertising...?

A: none.

..perhaps Yamaha would have been more prudent to encourage Vale to buy his ride.
Works at other levels in the paddock encouraging a sense of personal responsibility for your efforts as all breakages must be paid for..
Surely he picked up enough Ducati/Marly money in the last two years to kick the tin along a bit?
Then it could be all yellow with funny stickers and cartoons of his own choosing.

Monster Tech 3 bikes were the meanest looking bikes all year, love their look.

Chad left Kawi to run his own team, not pay his own way. The fact that Chad is one of the top MX racers in the world pretty much ensured that he might have to fund 1 or 2 race weekends on his own, but thats doubtful at best. He was fully funded from the beginning of the venture. The only money he "spent" was the money he gave up leaving Monster Kawi.

The team is currently TwoTwo Motorsports HONDA. Which means that Honda pays or supplies him. He wouldnt be putting their name in the title if he was paying them.

You are right in saying Reed didn't leave with the aim to pay his own way but in running his own team that is what he had to do, at least initially in 2011. Whilst he had sponsorship from Bel Ray and Pro Circuit, they were more like Eneos to Yamaha than Repsol to Honda and he had to play the role of the factory topping up the rest of the cost. Honda gave him little if any support, his bike was a privateer effort largely built with off the shelf parts available to all albeit that because of who he is he got looked after for a handful of parts (Pro Circuit gear, Showa suspension) not available to the everyman. He only got a factory bike for the final three rounds when Trey Canard went down with a busted femur. Since then, he signed a two year agreement with American Honda to be a factory supported rider (working out of American Honda's workshop) but not for his first season.

As for the team name, ask Lucio Pedercini about the factory support he gets for Pedercini Kawasaki. Or Crescent Suzuki for that matter!

I was also surprised that Yamaha (or Honda) didn't want to lease a factory bike to Valentino for several million Euro, they could have if they wanted!
I'm sure they would have bent the rules for this to happen, Espaleta gets Vale on a competitive bike, a factory gets much needed income, the public get to see 5 bikes in with the chance of a win, what's not to like?

Though he is not paying for his ride, the fact that Monster has upped their level to 4M euros covers Vale salary.

-Yamaha gets a major win in that Vale now retires under their marque.
-Yamaha wins in that they get the same possible 1-2 punch against honda that served them so well as Jorge stepped up.

-Yamaha wins in that a Jorge-Vale combo will be stronger than a Pedrosa-Marquez.

I don't think that there is any debate that Vale on the Yamaha will give better results than Spies or Dov did.

Stoner's retirement, Jorge's thinking about jumping ship opened the door for Vale to return.

My hope is that Ducati gets it right and Dovi and Nicky are in the mix. THAT would make for some exciting racing.

6 to7 people with a shot at the podium. Yes Please.

Funny to see how history repeats itself. The battle between the tobacco brands, the personal sponsorhip problems and how dependable motorcycle racing became on Energy Drinks as a whole.
I predict the health issues that already killed tobacco advertising will take exactly the same route in Energy Drinks. They are both not used by the sporters itself because they are not healthy, they are both supposed to be 'killing our youngsters' and both contain dangerous and unknown ingredients. So I hope the racing teams understand Energy Drinks will only be here for a short time and new sponsors will have to be sought before they are banned too.

"Energy drinks have no therapeutic benefit, and many ingredients are understudied and not regulated. The known and unknown pharmacology of agents included in such drinks, combined with reports of toxicity, raises concern for potentially serious adverse effects in association with energy drink use. In the short-term, pediatricians need to be aware of the possible effects of energy drinks in vulnerable populations and screen for consumption to educate families. Long-term research should aim to understand the effects in at-risk populations. Toxicity surveillance should be improved, and regulations of energy drink sales and consumption should be based on appropriate research."

I've also heard that JLo will race with different helmet brand next year. Wonder what it is.. Guy is making changes to his outfit.

On the other hand; I have complicated feelings about poor old Rossi. I couldn't even imagine I was going to call him old some day. It gets less and less possible to use the champion and Rossi in the same sentence when talking about the next session, but if he could pull that trick, I will sincerely cry...