NASCAR TV rights
AmazonFoxNBCRacingThe CWBy Arthur Weinstein on

NASCAR president Steve Phelps said Wednesday the streaming element in the sport’s huge new broadcasting rights package is “important.”

Many NASCAR fans, however, disagree, and worry that the new deal will make it more difficult and expensive to follow the sport.

The seven-year deal, announced Wednesday, runs from the 2025 season through 2031 and is worth an estimated $7.7 billion. It features prominent longtime partners Fox and NBC.

Fox Sports will air the first 14 regular season races, with five on Fox and nine on FS1.

NBC will broadcast the final 14 races, with four on NBC and the remainder on NBC Sports’ USA Network.

But NASCAR will feature a new partner for midseason races with Amazon Prime making its debut in the sport, handling five races after Fox concludes its run. Amazon will also broadcast all practice and qualifying sessions for the season’s first half, except for the exhibition Clash race, the Daytona 500 and the All-Star Race, which will all be covered by Fox Sports. Fox will also air those races.

TNT will then air the next five Cup races, and parent company Warner Bros Discovery will broadcast all practice and qualifying sessions for the season’s second half, with those streaming on Max and airing on truTV.

Phelps said the sanctioning body felt it was important to introduce a streaming element to the package, something that is becoming more common in other sports with events such as Amazon Prime’s NFL Thursday Night Football.

“We have two great partners right now in NBC and FOX with broadcast and cable,” Phelps said Wednesday (via Fox Sports’ Bob Pockrass).  “It was important to add the direct-to-consumer streaming element to it. … These four particular [partners] all add something unique and different for our fans.

“As we looked through the lens of what this deal was going to look like, we had the fan interest in mind. And not just the existing fans, but new fans as well.”

While other sports are embracing more streaming options, NASCAR has a different fan base. A study in 2016 found the average NASCAR viewer was 58 years old, among the oldest of all the measured sports.

Older fans are less likely to be tech savvy and able or willing to stream content.

NASCAR also has a heavy fan presence in rural areas, where streaming can be a problem.

Some NASCAR fans have also complained in recent years about the difficulty in finding races or qualifying and practices on TV. The schedule outlined Wednesday is the most challenging yet in that regard, with events spread across more networks and platforms than ever before.

Fans can at least appreciate that races in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, the sport’s equivalent of MLB’s Triple-A level, are exclusive to one network. The CW will telecast the entire Xfinity season.

While some NASCAR fans are concerned about the new broadcast deal, others believe it’s a step in the right direction.

[NASCAR]

About Arthur Weinstein

Arthur spends his free time traveling around the U.S. to sporting events, state and national parks, and in search of great restaurants off the beaten path.

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