Two global platforms, one shared passion: the FIM MotoGP World Championship and the International Two-Wheel Exhibition announce the EICMA. SHIFT UP project, a strategic partnership designed to unite sport, industry, motorcycle culture, and fan experience. The journey will culminate in November 2026 at Fiera Milano Rho with a major exhibition dedicated to the history and passion of MotoGP
Not just a simple collaboration. A shift in gears. A new project, announced today in Mugello, brings together two of the world’s leading two-wheel platforms: EICMA. SHIFT UP. On one side, MotoGP, the highest expression of motorcycle sport and entertainment, with a global fanbase of over 600 million; on the other, EICMA, the International Two-Wheel Exhibition, the world’s most important trade show for the sector, which brings the industrial, commercial, and cultural heart of two-wheel mobility to Milan every year.
The new project was announced today at the Mugello Circuit during the Brembo Grand Prix of Italy, a symbolic venue for Italian and global motorcycle passion. The partnership was unveiled by MotoGP and EICMA executives in the presence of key industry stakeholders, sporting institutions, and the media.
THE NUMBERS BEHIND THE PARTNERSHIP
The figures already reveal the scale of the alliance. MotoGP closed 2025 with a record 3.6 million attendance across race weekends, a global fanbase that rose to 632 million, and a digital community exceeding 60 million followers. International TV coverage averages tens of millions of viewers per Grand Prix through a network of broadcasters and platforms distributed across major global markets.
EICMA, for its part, continues to confirm its role as the global benchmark for the motorcycle industry: 600,000 attendees in six days, 734 exhibitors, 2,024 brands from 50 countries, over 43,000 trade professionals from 167 countries, and more than 8,200 media representatives and creators from 67 countries. Figures that make the Milan event not only a trade fair, but also an international platform for business, communication, networking, and motorcycle culture.
This partnership represents an alliance of two complementary ecosystems. MotoGP is the stage where performance becomes storytelling, technology, and competition. EICMA is the place where innovation, product, market, and passion take shape before the public and industry professionals.
Together, the two organizations aim to create a new shared language to engage fans, companies, and the next generation.
THE PROJECT’S ASSETS: VALUE FOR FANS AND ENGAGEMENT FOR STAKEHOLDERS
The project aims to create an even better fan experience at the same time as opening up new opportunities for partners and stakeholders.
MotoGP and EICMA naturally share a closely aligned audience and aim to connect their respective fan experiences, transforming them into a single engagement platform with a focus on the next generation of new fans, digital communities, and international audiences attracted by speed, technology, entertainment, and lifestyle.
The collaboration will give rise to special activations during Grand Prix events and dedicated initiatives within EICMA, with a first major milestone already confirmed: the 83rd edition of EICMA, scheduled at Fiera Milano Rho from November 5 to 8, 2026, will host an exclusive exhibition dedicated to the history of MotoGP, from its origins to the present day, with a look toward the future. Iconic motorcycles, prototypes, content, images, and testimonies that have marked generations of fans will be displayed. The exhibition has been conceived by EICMA and shared by MotoGP, with the involvement of the FIM.
MotoGP will use the EICMA platform, starting in November, to promote the Italian Grand Prix and the San Marino Grand Prix, held at Mugello and Misano, respectively, strengthening the connection between the exhibition’s community, fans at the track and the promoters of the two Grands Prix.
The “Road to EICMA” initiative is a series of events that, following Mugello, will also involve Cremona – where WorldSBK races in Italy – and Misano, where MotoGP celebrates the San Marino and Rimini Riviera Grand Prix. EICMA will serve as title sponsor of the SBK event at Cremona, and additional announcements regarding the next edition of EICMA will be revealed during these occasions.
The union between MotoGP and EICMA also opens up new opportunities for companies, partners, and stakeholders. The combination of the championship’s global media strength and EICMA’s trade and industrial position can become a driving force for commercial development, the entry of new partners, the attraction of companies from outside the sector, and the creation of projects capable of generating value for the entire industry.
The goal is to create integrated initiatives increasing the profile of both parties while at the same time offering new engagement opportunities for fans, customers, operators, and international markets.
EICMA 2026: THE COMMUNICATION CAMPAIGN
The MotoGP-EICMA partnership was launched in Mugello with the presentation of the new EICMA 2026 communication campaign. The manifesto for the 83rd edition carries the claim “Always the first time. Every year, a discovery” and depicts a motorcycle still concealed beneath a red drape: an evocative image recalling anticipation, revelation, and discovery. A concept portraying EICMA as the place where the future of two wheels ceases to be anticipation and becomes a shared experience.
“The campaign stems from the idea that EICMA is not merely a date on the calendar, but a true turning point for the industry, the market, and enthusiasts: a before and after in the world of two wheels,” explained EICMA President
Pietro Meda. “It is a dimension we share with MotoGP, with whom we have common values, international reach, a global community, and the ability to transform passion into emotion and experience. EICMA is the place where expectations, previews, and visions finally take shape and become a shared reality. It is the moment when new models, technologies, languages, and trends are unveiled to the world, while the entire two-wheel community gathers in Milan”.
“This agreement represents a strategic step in EICMA’s growth and internationalization journey,” stated Paolo Magri, CEO of EICMA. “We are proud to strengthen our dialogue with MotoGP, a global platform that embodies performance, innovation, and entertainment. Our ambition is to create a concrete and lasting project capable of generating value for the market, new opportunities for companies, and increasingly exciting content for the public. We do so while looking ahead to an edition of EICMA that promises to be extraordinary: featuring the complete presence of all manufacturers for the first time in its history, spread across ten exhibition halls, and setting the all-time record for exhibition space occupied by the event”.
With EICMA. SHIFT UP, MotoGP and EICMA are therefore joining forces to transform two iconic realities into a shared journey: from racetracks to the exhibition event, from competition to product, from passion to business. An alliance that sees 2026 not as a finish line, but as the opening lap of a new race for the entire world of two wheels.
Carlos Ezpeleta, Chief Sporting Officer, MotoGP: “We see this as an important strategic move to bring the entire two-wheel world closer together - unlocking new audiences, new opportunities, and new ways for fans to engage with MotoGP. It’s exciting news for the industry, for motorcycle fans and for the hundreds of millions of MotoGP fans around the world. With record-breaking attendance at MotoGP over the past couple of seasons, this is an exciting moment for our sport and we’re looking forward to working with EICMA to engage even better with our communities.”
Jorge Viegas, President, Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme: “The partnership between MotoGP and EICMA, two of the world’s largest motorcycling platforms, is extremely promising, and I look forward to seeing the positive impact that EICMA.SHIFT UP will have on the world of motorcycling. The shared objectives are perfectly aligned with the spirit of the FIM family, which champions unity, as is the innovative approach to attracting the next generation of fans. I therefore welcome this new alliance and am confident that it will benefit fans, riders, the sport, and the entire industry. The FIM is delighted to have contributed to this project and will continue its support after EICMA by hosting the temporary exhibition at the recently inaugurated Racing Motorcycling Museum adjacent to the FIM HQ in Switzerland”.
Giovanni Copioli, President, Italian Motorcycling Federation: “The Italian Motorcycling Federation has always been at the forefront of promoting motorcycling in all its forms. Both today’s MotoGP and the history of the Motorcycle World Championship have always seen Italy as a benchmark country, so we can only welcome this new initiative born from the collaboration between MotoGP and EICMA, aimed at nurturing the public’s passion from both a sporting and a historical-cultural perspective. A project dedicated to fans, young people, manufacturers, and the industry is certainly positive for our entire system, which—also thanks to this initiative—continues to grow and evolve”.