NASCAR Announces Historic Media Rights Agreements with FOX, NBC, Amazon and Warner Bros. Discovery
Partners Join The CW on Seven-Year Deals Covering All NASCAR National Series Races from 2025-2031
NOVEMBER 29, 2023 (Daytona Beach, Fla.) – NASCAR today announced it has reached new seven-year media rights agreements for the NASCAR Cup Series with four best-in-class distribution partners – FOX Sports, NBC Sports, Amazon’s Prime Video and TNT Sports, a division of Warner Bros. Discovery – to deliver live coverage of all 38 NASCAR Cup Series races beginning in 2025 and extending through the 2031 season. Financial terms of these agreements were not disclosed.
FOX Sports and NBC Sports will continue to carry the majority of NASCAR Cup Series races with 14 events each. The FOX Sports portion of the Cup Series schedule, which kicks off the season with The Busch Light Clash followed by ‘The Great American Race,’ The DAYTONA 500, will also include live events for the entire NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series season. NBC Sports’ coverage of the Cup Series will encompass the final 14 events of the season, including the Playoffs and Championship race. Both partners will feature a mix of broadcast and cable events, with five Cup events airing on FOX and four on NBC annually. The remaining events will air on FS1 and USA Network, respectively.
As part of this historic agreement, the NASCAR Cup Series will welcome two new broadcast partners in 2025 – Prime Video and TNT Sports – that will evenly split a series of 10 midseason races. Both have also obtained exclusive rights to practice and qualifying sessions for the entire Cup Series schedule through 2031. NASCAR’s first fully direct-to-consumer partner, Prime Video will stream practice and qualifying live for the first half of the season through their last race of the midseason series with the exceptions of the Busch Light Clash, DAYTONA 500 and NASCAR All-Star Race, which will remain with FOX Sports. TNT Sports will initiate its coverage with the next five midseason races simultaneously broadcast live on TNT and streaming on the B/R Sports Add-On on Max. Practice and qualifying for the remainder of the season will stream on Max and air on truTV.
“Our goal was to secure long-term stability with an optimized mix of distribution platforms and innovative partners that would allow us to grow the sport while delivering our product to fans wherever they are – and we’ve achieved that today,” said NASCAR President, Steve Phelps. “NASCAR has been a cornerstone property for both new and established platforms for several decades. These agreements demonstrate the staying power of our sport and the consistent, large-scale audience it delivers. 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. With the talented young drivers, exciting new teams and record-breaking racing we’ve seen since the Next Gen car was introduced in 2022, we’re looking forward to working with each of these partners to bring some of the best racing in the world to fans everywhere.”
“These agreements not only show NASCAR’s importance to the sports and entertainment ecosystem, but also the willingness of some of the world’s largest and most respected media companies to make significant investments in America’s leading motorsport,” said Senior Vice President, Media and Productions, NASCAR, Brian Herbst. “The media landscape is rapidly evolving, with new distribution platforms providing more options to the consumer than ever before. This is the right mix of media partners to promote and deliver content around our sport – positioning NASCAR for growth across different mediums and giving our fans uninterrupted access on the established platforms that they are already using. We are excited to work with this best-in-class group of media companies to deliver the best of NASCAR racing and the excitement of live sports to our fans.”
FOX Sports
Building upon a successful relationship of more than two decades, FOX Sports and NASCAR have extended their multi-series media rights agreement to carry 14 NASCAR Cup Series races, including practice and qualifying for the Busch Light Clash, DAYTONA 500 and NASCAR All-Star Race as well as exclusive rights for the entire 23-race NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series schedule from 2025 through 2031. As in previous years, NASCAR Cup Series races will appear on both FOX and FS1 with all NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races on FS1.
“We are proud to begin the next chapter of what will soon be a three-decade relationship with our friends at NASCAR,” said FOX Sports CEO and Executive Producer Eric Shanks. “As the continued home of the DAYTONA 500, we look forward to getting every season off to a roaring start.”
NBC Sports
Continuing its coverage of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs for an additional seven years, NBC Sports will air the final 14 races of the season culminating with the Cup Series Championship Race. This multi-platform agreement will feature a mix of races and content on NBC, USA Network, and Peacock in 2025-2031.
“We are thrilled that the NASCAR champion will continue to be crowned on our platforms for years to come,” said NBC Sports President Rick Cordella. “Whether it’s the unpredictability of a superspeedway, a Playoff cutoff race, or the championship finale, NBC Sports will use its wide array of platforms to present the dramatic conclusion to every NASCAR season for what will be 17 years at the end of this extension.
Prime Video
Prime Video will exclusively stream five NASCAR Cup Series races as part of the streaming service’s first foray into live motorsports. As part of this seven-year deal, Prime Video will also offer exclusive coverage of practice and qualifying for the first half of the NASCAR Cup Series season (excluding The Clash, Daytona 500, and All-Star races). Prime Video is also working with NASCAR Studios on an upcoming Garage 56 documentary. All NASCAR races, qualifying, practices, and other content will be available to Prime members in the U.S.
“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,” said Jay Marine, vice president and global head of sports at Prime Video. “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.”
TNT Sports
TNT Sports – which has previously had a 32-year history with NASCAR – will offer NASCAR Cup Series content across multiple platforms. TNT Sports races will stream live on the B/R Sports Add-On on Max, along with the return of live race telecasts on TNT for the first time since 2014. All second-half practice and qualifying events will be simulcast on Max and truTV. Bleacher Report will also feature NASCAR content across its social, digital, and mobile platforms.
“We are thrilled to welcome NASCAR back to TNT Sports, and build on our rich, shared history of providing immersive fan experiences that only our world-class team can deliver,” said Luis Silberwasser, Chairman and CEO, Warner Bros. Discovery Sports. “This agreement expands our portfolio of premium sports content throughout the Summer and further elevates Max and our leading linear networks. We look forward to utilizing all of our resources to create new opportunities for compelling storytelling that connects with our fans, as we present the thrilling action and excitement on the track in innovative ways throughout the entire NASCAR season.”
As previously announced, The CW Network is set to become the exclusive home to the NASCAR Xfinity Series beginning in 2025 and extending through the 2031 season with 33 live races, along with practice and qualifying events each weekend. All Xfinity Series races and ancillary content will be fully produced by NASCAR Productions in close collaboration with The CW Network and will include additional viewing opportunities on The CW’s digital platforms.
CAA Evolution served as the media advisor to NASCAR.
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About NASCAR
Celebrating its 75th Anniversary in 2023, the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) is the sanctioning body for the No. 1 form of motorsports in the United States and owner of 16 of the nation’s major motorsports entertainment facilities. NASCAR sanctions races in three national series (NASCAR Cup Series™, NASCAR Xfinity Series™, and NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series™), four international series (NASCAR Brasil Sprint Race, NASCAR Mexico Series, NASCAR Pinty’s Series (Canada), NASCAR Whelen Euro Series), four regional series (ARCA Menards Series, ARCA Menards Series East & West and the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour) and a local grassroots series (NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series). The International Motor Sports Association™ (IMSA®) governs the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship™, the premier U.S. sports car series. NASCAR also owns Motor Racing Network, Racing Electronics, and ONE DAYTONA. Based in Daytona Beach, Florida, with offices in eight cities across North America, NASCAR sanctions more than 1,200 races annually in 12 countries and more than 30 U.S. states.
For more information visit www.NASCAR.com and www.IMSA.com, and follow NASCAR on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat (‘NASCAR’).
Sources: Matt Nordby/NASCAR Communications