NASHVILLE, Tenn. — NASCAR’s historic new media rights agreement features the first Cup races to be exclusively streamed, fewer races on network television and more money for teams.
But what does it mean for fans?
MORE: NBC part of new media rights deal with NASCAR beginning in 2025
NASCAR President Steve Phelps said the new deal gives the sport a chance to “meet race fans where they are or potential race fans where they are.”
Here’s a look at key elements of NASCAR’s new media rights deal, which begins in 2025 and ends after the 2031 season. Many details remain to be worked out, including broadcasters for NASCAR’s new partners and such.
WHERE CAN I WATCH THE RACES?
Starting in 2025, NASCAR Cup races will be shown by four different companies.
Fox and FS1 will broadcast the first 14 Cup races of the season, a total that will include the Busch Light Clash and All-Star Race.
Prime Video will stream the next five Cup races.
TNT Sports will follow by broadcasting five races.
NBC Sports will broadcast the final 14 races of the season, including all 10 playoff races on NBC, USA Network and Peacock.
WHAT ABOUT THE TRADE-OFF OF FEWER CUP RACES ON BROADCAST TV?
This past season, 20 of the 36 Cup points races were on either Fox or NBC.
In 2024, that number will be the same with Fox and NBC each airing 10 Cup races.
But when the new media rights deal begins in 2025, only nine of the 36 Cup races will be on broadcast TV. Fox will air five races. NBC will air four.
#NASCAR President Steve Phelps on the trade-off of having fewer races on broadcast TV vs. streaming component in media rights deal that begins in 2025. pic.twitter.com/NcWF3Jf76R
— Dustin Long (@dustinlong) November 29, 2023
NASCAR President Steve Phelps explained the trade-off between fewer races on broadcast TV and having five races streamed.
“We think what is going to happen to these two summer series, talking to these key partners about it, we think it will increase interest in the sport,” he said of Amazon and TNT’s five-race schedules.
Among the key things NASCAR pointed to is Bleacher Report and House of Highlights. Those are looked to bring in younger viewers to NASCAR, along with the steaming component. Amazon Prime’s audience for its NFL games is seven years younger than the average age of a fan watching NFL games on linear TV.
WHERE CAN ONE WATCH THE COCA-COLA 600?
One of NASCAR’s signature events likely will move to Amazon Prime Video beginning in 2025.
With Fox Sports having 14 total races, including the non-points Busch Clash and All-Star Race, the company will have 12 points race.
The Coca-Cola 600 typically has been points race No. 13 or 14 on the Cup schedule in recent years. Unless changes are made in the first part of the season, it appears unlikely that Fox will have the 600, allowing Prime Video to broadcast the Memorial Day weekend race.
WHAT ABOUT THE DAYTONA 500?
The Daytona 500 will continue to be the first race of the season, NASCAR President Steve Phelps said Wednesday. That race will remain on Fox.
WHAT ABOUT THE CHICAGO STREET RACE?
The 2025 race is scheduled for July 5-6 and could be the opening race for TNT, allowing the network to return to NASCAR with a showcase event.
Last year’s inaugural event on NBC delivered a Total Audience Delivery of 4.795 million viewers, making it the most-watched Cup race since the Daytona 500 and the most-watched Cup race on NBC in six years.
WHAT ABOUT PRACTICE AND QUALIFYING?
Prime Video will stream Cup practice and qualifying from the beginning of the season through its five races — except for the Busch Light Clash, Daytona 500 and All-Star Race. So, for most of Fox Sports’ 14 races, practice and qualifying will be seen only on Prime Video.
Practice and qualifying for the rest of the season will air on truTV and stream on the B/R Sports add-on on Max.
WHY DID AMAZON PRIME WANT TO BROADCAST CUP PRACTICE AND QUALIFYING IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE SEASON?
Jay Marine, Prime Video vice president and Global Head of Sports, stated that the company wanted to air those sessions early in the season even during the Fox portion of the schedule.
“It’s a chance to come in, try Prime Video, get familiar with it, start to build that audience before we even get to our five big races,” Marine said. “So for us, it made perfect sense. It extends the calendar year. Obviously it’s not the races, but it lets us work with NASCAR across a longer period of time and we’ll start to bring in fans, I think.”
#NASCAR … Jay Marine, Prime Video Vice President and Global Head of Sports, on why Amazon Prime wanted to stream Cup practice and qualifying for most of the first half of the season starting in 2025 pic.twitter.com/RD3pFWWeij
— Dustin Long (@dustinlong) November 29, 2023
HOW MUCH MONEY WILL THIS BRING THE SPORT?
Sports Business Journal reported that the seven-year deal is worth $7.7 billion. Along with the Xfinity Series deal to air on the CW Network beginning in 2025, the sport will receive about $1.1 billion a season. That’s about a 40% increase from the current media rights deal, which expires after next season.
The money will be significant to teams. NASCAR President Seve Phelps said during a webinar this week that “our race teams by and large are losing money at the Cup level. That is something that we need to solve.” He noted increased media rights was one element to help teams become more profitable.
WHAT IS AMAZON PRIME’S GOAL WITH STREAMING CUP PRACTICES, QUALIFYING AND FIVE RACES?
Jay Marine, Prime Video vice president and Global Head of Sports, said:
“We’ll approach it as a seven-year-plus investment, meaning when you think of things as a longer term, then you can invest a lot and it’s going to pay off for a long time,” he said. “That’s why it’s important that the partnership is long to do that on both sides.
“The big part on younger (audience), we’re delivering. We have a large customer, prime customer base that includes a lot of younger people. Secondly, this is how they consume content now. My daughters don’t know what a TV guide is. They don’t use one, I don’t even try to explain it. They’re not interested.
“Consumers have so much choice, especially people under 30 in terms of entertainment. That’s not just sports. Whether it’s Tik Tok or it’s anything. So you have to be where they are to give yourself a chance. … You have to make it so easy. That will be our goal.”
NBC HAS EXPANDED ITS POST-RACE SHOW OF CUP RACES, TAKEN FANS CLOSER TO THE ACTION WITH JEFF BURTON AND DALE EARNHARDT JR. BEFORE RACES, AMONG OTHER THINGS, WHAT MORE IS IN STORE FOR FANS?
Stay tuned.
“We will continue to invest around the sport,” said NBC Sports President Rick Cordella. “We signed up for another seven years. Certainly it’s going to be a big investment for us and one that we want to make sure that NASCAR is successful.”