Isle of Man TT seeks promoter for global expansion

An independent promoter is being sought to 'organise and commercialise' the Isle of Man TT and develop a global series for the legendary road race.

The TT is one of the world's oldest motorsport events, which started in 1905 as the British trial round for the fledgling European car racing championship, the precursor to modern day Formula 1, with motorbikes introduced in 1907.

The Isle of Man, which is a UK crown dependency in the British Isles, hosts the annual two-week festival in late May and early June, annually attracting over 43,000 visitors.

Last year, the Isle of Man TT was televised in 130 countries and produced 402 hours of global TV coverage. The event reached an audience of almost 26 million and delivered a clear media value of over ?13million, according to figures provided by Kantar Sport from their 'Isle of Man TT 2014 Coverage' report.

The new Classic TT meeting, aimed at enhancing the event's heritage, was introduced in 2013 to widespread acclaim an the Isle of Man Government is now seeking an independent promoter to build on the event's global reach, who will have the opportunity to develop and implement new TT road race events around the world as part of a TT Series.

Ultimately, the promoter will develop a worldwide series that will see the stars of the TT competing in locations across the globe, culminating in the champion being crowned at the Isle of Man TT itself.

Under the proposed scope of services, the Isle of Man Government will license all commercial aspects of the TT events to an independent promoter, including: domestic and international television and broadcast rights, sponsorship, licensing, hospitality, event ticketing, merchandising and retail sales.

The promoter will be responsible for delivering the operational aspects of the Isle of Man TT and Classic TT jointly with the Isle of Man Government as well as independently contracting with individual host cities to deliver the TT Series events across the world.

Matt Wilson, Director of Consulting at The Sports Consultancy' who are managing the process on behalf of the Isle of Man Government, said: "The Isle of Man TT Races is one of the world's truly great sports properties combining iconic heritage with state of the art machinery and strong brand values.

"We believe that it has huge untapped global commercial potential and on behalf of the Isle of Man Government are looking to identify a promoter who shares the Government's vision, will develop the event to the next level and deliver enhanced commercial value to the Island."