Next year, NASCAR will spur off a new media rights deal that locks them in from 2025 to 2031. The mammoth deal will feature coverage from Amazon, Fox, NBC, and TNT Sports.
Believe it or not, at least according to NASCAR’s President, the racing series could have gotten even more than they did.
Steve Phelps, who’s served as NASCAR President since 2018, joined the Sports Business Journal Sports Media Podcast this week. While he was there, Phelps discussed the current landscape and the previous one that the series negotiated through with host Austin Karp.
In a clip that Adam Stern posted, Phelps first thanked the partners of the racing series. “We were pleased. We were very pleased with the overall deal both from a distribution standpoint and hedging our bet between cable and streaming. And then obviously, still having a significant number of over-the-air windows is a positive thing for us.”
.@StevePhelps says that @NASCAR may have been able to get 15% more for its TV deal if the media market hadn't changed so dramatically in late 2022, but that the series still got what it needed to ensure the industry is "continuing to flourish."
📹: @SBJ Sports Media Podcast pic.twitter.com/bQD175Lqhs
— Adam Stern (@A_S12) February 15, 2024
More from Phelps:
“With respect to the media rights marketplace, I would say since the Fall of 2022, there was kind of this switch and change. Those who had streaming services, whether they’re specific streamers like an Amazon, or Max, Peacock, etc., Paramount, there was a switch from Wall Street that they decided they weren’t going to look at subs anymore. They were gonna look at profitability. So that switch really took the air out of the balloon from a media rights market standpoint. I would say last year, I don’t remember a year that was as challenging to the sports media rights landscape, which was white-hot over the last several years before the Fall of 2022.
“At some point, you’re always going to have a reset, right? A real estate reset, Wall Street reset, the stock market. It was going to happen. So, the question is, ‘What was the impetus sport to do that? Or what was the catalyst?’ And I really think it’s this idea of profitability. So, I think the market is still challenged, and I think it will continue to be challenged over the next couple of years. With that said, there really is no better place to reach a significant live viewing audience as there is in sports.”
Indeed, as time has proceeded, things may tighten up and the sports media rights bubble will inevitably burst someday. But, for now, everyone wants a piece.
