NASCAR is ramping up its ambitions as it continues to compete in the American motorsports marketplace.
During the Race Industry Week seminars, NASCAR president Steve Phelps said that the racing league plans to take on at least one new broadcast partner, and possibly two, as it concludes media rights negotiations for the 2025 season and beyond.
Phelps added that he expects current broadcasters NBC and Fox to remain — but they could be joined by new players: Last week, reports emerged saying that NASCAR intends to make streaming a key part of its next deal.
“I think what I would call hedging our bet is a smart thing for us to do as a sport,” Phelps said at the seminar. “No one has any idea what’s going to happen with streaming and what’s going to happen with cable. We do know that broadcast television is going to be around for the foreseeable future at 125 million homes. That’s not going to change.”
NASCAR’s current rights deal with the legacy broadcasters is valued at $820 million per season — and Front Office Sports reported last year that the league could be seeking nearly $1 billion per season in its next negotiations.
While NASCAR experienced a dip in viewership this season, it’s still the top dog for motorsports on American television: All points races this season averaged 2.86 million viewers per telecast, whereas the increasingly popular Formula 1 averaged 1.24 million viewers.
Still, the conclusion of media rights negotiations will be key for NASCAR as it continues to try to build the sport. Phelps noted that most NASCAR teams are “losing money at the Cup level” and that media rights money would go a long way toward correcting that.
