NASCAR on Wednesday announced a seven-year media-rights deal with Fox Sports, NBC Sports, Amazon’s
AMZN,
Prime Video and Warner Bros. Discovery’s
WBD,
TNT Sports, starting in 2025, which for the first time will include top-tier races that are exclusively streamed.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Sports Business Journal reported it was worth around $7.7 billion, which would be a roughly 40% increase from NASCAR’s current broadcast deal.
The deal marks NASCAR’s first foray into livestreaming its races. Ten mid-season races will be split evenly between Prime Video and TNT Sports, which will simulcast its races on cable and stream on Max, NASCAR said. Prime and Max will also stream practice and qualifying sessions all season long, with the exception of the Busch Light Clash, Daytona 500 and NASCAR All-Star Race, which will remain with Fox Sports.
“This landmark deal underscores our collective growth opportunity to drive engagement across this diverse collection of platforms — whether on broadcast, cable or direct-to-consumer,” NASCAR President Steve Phelps said in a statement.
Fox
FOX,
and Comcast’s
CMCSA,
NBC have broadcast NASCAR races for years, and TNT had previously carried races.
Prime Video said it was excited to add motorsports to its live-sports lineup.
“NASCAR is the most popular motorsport in the country, and we can’t wait to deliver Cup Series racing to Prime members in the U.S. for the first time,” Jay Marine, vice president and global head of sports at Prime Video, said in a statement. “We are excited to find ways to get NASCAR fans closer to the racing than ever before, and we are proud to contribute to the growth of the sport in the years ahead.”
Live sports are increasingly seen as a key to expanding — and retaining — streaming subscribers. Prime Video already has has NFL and Major League Baseball games, and Max, which launched its Bleacher Report Sports tier in October, offers NBA, NHL, MLB, soccer and college basketball games. Max’s live-sports tier is free for subscribers for now, but will cost an additional $9.99 a month starting in March.
