(Monday, September 14, 2009)

"Best are the blessed and the blessed are the best" is a line from an old song from Teenage Fanclub & Jad Fair. Those words cannot be truer than when they are applied to one Valentino Rossi. There are so many seemingly overly simplistic and exaggerated statements which, when applied to Rossi, seem neither simplistic nor exaggerated. Try this one on for size:Try to find someone who will debate that sentence. Never has there been such wholehearted agreement among fans that one rider stands above all others. In fact, it's beyond a mere belief or a widely held opinion, Rossi's devotion from his fans is a near religion. The Church of Valentino. We've reached the point where lines form to get an autograph from Rossi's best friend, Uccio.

Another:Again, who will debate this? Very few, including insiders of MotoGP's paddock elite. The day is coming when Valentino Rossi no longer races MotoGP, and that is going to set in motion many very interesting situations that will be something to watch. How many people buy tickets to MotoGP if they can't go there and stand on the same approximate ground at Rossi, watch him race, and hopefully breathe some of the same air that he is about to? How many people will tune into MotoGP races on television or on the Internet if they no longer have Rossi competing in them? One day, we shall see.

Here's another:I'm afraid it's true. Pick the number you feel Valentino Rossi is worth in base salary—10, 15, 20 million dollars per season. Does anyone truly feel that he is not worth any of those numbers? Just in terms of sheer number of fans, his resume, and his capabilities, Rossi is worth at least $20 million a season. Or, $30 million. At what point does his value start to possibly fall out of line with potential salary numbers? Is he worth $50 million a year? Is he worth $100 million? His value is actually larger than what motorcycle racing can support.

Then, add in market conditions. If Marlboro paid Freddie Spencer over a million dollars to come out of retirement in 1989, and they were willing to pay Jorge Lorenzo between 8 and 12 million dollars (or Euros) to sign with Ducati for 2010, what, then, is Valentino Rossi worth to Phillip Morris? Phillip Morris/Yamaha/Kenny Roberts paid Wayne Rainey more money than some factory MotoGP riders make today, and Rainey's career ended in 1993. Rossi, who had an opportunity to join Ducati when he left Honda, but chose not to, could very well land the biggest payday of his career by riding a red bike.

What's amazing to me is that Rossi has not decided to move into maximum cash extraction mode, which encouragingly shows Rossi is a good guy and cares about the sport. Because his value to a racing series and ability to draw in millions of fans could very easily be—justifiably—leveraged for millions beyond whatever his salary from a factory and license deals bring in. What could a sanctioning body say if Rossi came to, for example, World Superbike, and offered to race the championship for a few seasons for—pick any number—half-a-million or one-and-a-half-million dollars per race? It's amazing to me that Rossi hasn't said to Dorna that he's considering not racing in 2011 but if they signed him to a personal service contract for a million a race, then he will show up and won't go race WSBK. Because any sanctioning body put in that position by Rossi would have little to say in response other than, "Well, okay".

2010 is the last year on Valentino Rossi's current contract. And this is going to be a very interesting one to watch.