Netflix Boosts Sports Profile With NASCAR, NBA Docuseries

Netflix’s sports ambitions have hit yet another peak with the reveal of two new documentary projects that will further raise the profile of the prominent streamer. 

On Wednesday morning, Netflix released a trailer for NASCAR: Full Speed, its five-part documentary series that premieres on Jan. 30 and has been in active development for months. Following a similar playbook as its Formula 1-focused Drive To Survive, the NASCAR project chronicles top drivers such as Denny Hamlin, Bubba Wallace, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, and Kyle Larson as they competed in last year’s NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. 

NASCAR: Full Speed features several noteworthy executive producers, including Connor Schell, the former ESPN executive who helped lead The Last Dance, and NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Netflix is also developing an NBA-themed version of its popular NFL Quarterback show, according to a report by The Athletic’s Shams Charania. The docuseries is set to feature NBA stars LeBron James, Jayson Tatum, Jimmy Butler, Anthony Edwards, and Domantas Sabonis, and has reportedly already started filming. That effort, too, is bringing in prominent producers including James’s SpringHill Company, Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions, and Higher Ground Productions, co-led by former U.S. President Barack Obama.

A series name and premiere date for that NBA project has not been finalized. But the initiative adds to Netflix’s rising interest in live NBA game rights, potentially including part of the successful new In-Season Tournament.

After years of actively resisting any notion of acquiring live sports rights—largely on financial grounds—Netflix’s interest in the space has shifted dramatically in recent months, both through the development of its own content and possible deals with leagues and promoters. Netflix, however, has yet to strike a large-scale deal for exclusive game rights to a major sports property as rivals Apple and Amazon have done.