NASCAR’s new TV deal is done, and the days of TV-exclusive packages are gone.
According to a report from Sports Business Journal, NASCAR’s new $7.7 billion TV deal has been completed and it includes Fox Sports, NBC, Warner Bros. Discovery and Amazon.
The new deal comes at a 40% increase in revenue from its previous deal and runs from 2025-2031.
The first 14 races of the 2025 season will be televised on Fox Sports channels, like normal. Five races will air on FOX, and nine will air on Fox Sports 1.
After that, Amazon Prime Video will broadcast the ensuing five events on its streaming platform. The five races are the first in NASCAR’s history to air exclusively on a streaming platform.
Warner Bros. Discovery has the rights to the next five events, which will stream on MAX as well as being simulcasted on TV on TNT. NBC Sports then has the rights to the final 14 events, with four going to NBC and 10 being on USA Network.
“When we did this the last time in 2013, the media landscape was more stable and consistent,” NASCAR SVP/Media & Productions Brian Herbst said in the report. “What was important for us now … is that we wanted some broadcast windows, and then also to be represented on the digital and streaming side. … It was important for us to be in front of a new fanbase that may skew a little bit younger.”
As for practice and qualifying, fans will have to tune into streaming platforms as well.
Amazon Prime will carry practice and qualifying sessions up until NBC’s portion of the schedule.
After that, practice and qualifying for the Cup Series will air on Warner Bros. Discovery’s MAX platform as well as TruTV.
That does not include the Busch Light Clash, Daytona 500 qualifying nor the NASCAR All-Star Race. Fox retained each of those events.
The Xfinity Series will air on the CW and the Craftsman Truck Series remains on Fox networks – Fox Sports 1 aired every race live in recent years.
The report states that the deal will also provide highlight rights to Warner Bros. Discovery’s Bleacher Report as well as ‘House of Highlights,’ and that NASCAR hopes to bring in a younger, more diverse fan base.
“We’re going to invest and put the resources of the company behind it to help grow the sport,” Jay Marine, Amazon’s global head of sports, said in the report. “If you look at what we’ve done with ‘Thursday Night Football’ in terms of delivering an audience that’s seven years younger, the unique reach we provide is going to be really helpful.”
NASCAR has also convinced media companies to cross promote each others events.
“We are not in the business of trying to do every sport and every league out there,” WBD Sports Chair & CEO Luis Silberwasser said in the report. “We really try to be strategic about the sports that we get behind and the leagues that we get behind. Our strategy is Tier 1 sports, and NASCAR is a Tier 1 sport.”
The new TV deal is expected to be announced in Nashville as part of NASCAR’s end-of-season banquet.
