NASCAR set to announce media rights deals worth $7.7 billion with Fox Sports, NBC, Warner Bros. Discovery and Amazon. The average annual value of transactions, including the previously announced one with CW, is $1.1 billion per year, representing an increase of approximately 40% over NASCAR’s current transactions.
NASCAR plans to make an official announcement in Nashville later this afternoon as part of its end-of-season banquet. The agreements begin in 2025 and will continue until 2031.
The 40% increase represents a big win for the racetrack, especially given the tightening market around sports media rights caused by cord cutting and shaving.
NASCAR executives said the lengthy negotiations, which began earlier this year, took longer than expected. But the president of NASCAR Steve Phelps said the deals would position the racetrack well amid upheaval in the media industry.
“If you think about the opportunity to actually have access to broadcast and cable and streaming, we think that’s an important thing for the next seven years,” Phelps said. “It means to the sports world, to the sponsors, to everyone, that NASCAR is clearly a Tier 1 property and a must-have property, and that’s what I think will be the overall message that gets reported here. “
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This is what the offers look like. NASCAR offers three national series: the Premier Cup Series, the Xfinity Series and the Craftsman Truck Series.
Under the new deals, Fox will get 14 Cup Series races per year during the first part of the season, including the Daytona 500. After Fox runs its 14 events, Amazon’s Prime Video will broadcast five events, marking the first time that NASCAR’s premier championship events will be exclusively streamed.
Warner Bros. Discovery will take over after Amazon’s races and broadcast the next five, which will be simulcast on TNT and the B/R Sports tier of the streaming service Max. NBC Sports will finish the season with the final 14 races.
“When we last did this in 2013, the media landscape was more stable and consistent,” said NASCAR SVP/Media & Productions. Brian Herbst. “What was important to us now… was we wanted to have release windows and then also be represented on the digital and streaming side. … It was important for us to be in front of a new fan base, maybe a little younger.
For comparison with the new deal, Fox this year aired 18 races, while NBC aired 20, including two exhibition events and 36 points events.
Of the 14 races broadcast by Fox Sports, five will be on the Fox broadcast channel while the rest will be on FS1. Of the 14 broadcast by NBC Sports, four will be on the NBC broadcast channel while the rest will be on USA Network.
A unique aspect of these agreements is that NASCAR has developed a set of practice and qualifying sessions for the Cup Series. Amazon Prime will broadcast these events from the start of the season until the end of its races (with the exception of the Busch Light Clash, Daytona 500 and NASCAR All-Star Race, which will remain with Fox).
WBD’s Max will then broadcast these events for the remainder of the season; Practice and qualifying will be broadcast on Max and broadcast on linear television on truTV.
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Terms of the deal also grant featured rights to WBD’s Bleacher Report and House of Highlights. Combined with the move to Amazon Prime Video, NASCAR executives expect the deals to attract younger, more diverse viewers.
“We are going to invest and put the company’s resources behind this to help grow the sport,” said Jay Marine, Amazon’s global head of sports. “If you look at what we’ve done with ‘Thursday Night Football’ in terms of reaching an audience seven years younger, the unique reach that we’re offering is going to be really helpful.”
In an effort to alleviate the problems of convincing fans to browse at least five different channels and sites to watch races, NASCAR has convinced media companies to cross-promote races that appear on other channels.
“Our goal is not to try to do every sport and every league,” said WBD Sports President and CEO. Luis Silberwasser. “We really try to be strategic about the sports we support and the leagues we support. Our strategy is based on Tier 1 sports, and NASCAR is a Tier 1 sport.”
