The contract between NASCAR and its media partners, FOX and NBC, runs out after the 2024 season. Much has been speculated about what the sport’s media future looks like. Earlier this week, NASCAR President Steve Phelps appeared on the Marchand and Ourand Podcast to discuss exactly that.
Phelps knows that over-the-top streaming platforms are in the sport’s future. He was keen to mention that NASCAR is aware of the different levels of consumer control offered by various platforms. No matter what though, he says racing will be on traditional television.
“The team model is very dependent on sponsorship so we need to make sure that whatever partner that we would move, that we would go to… stay with or move to. There wasn’t any foreshadowing there, I promise you. We need to make sure that over-the-air is an important part of what that will be,” he said.
With three full seasons of racing still left on the current deals, there is plenty of time before NASCAR rights hit the open market. After the 2022 season, FOX and NBC would likely have an exclusive window to negotiate with the league. Steve Phelps is optimistic for the position NASCAR could be in by that point.
“I think that 2022 will be the best year that NASCAR has had on television in a long, long time. That certainly bodes well as we head into negotiations.”
The first two weeks of the season have shown growth. The Daytona 500 just delivered its best ratings in three years. Still, there is a long way to go to catch up with pre-pandemic numbers. In fact, that Daytona number becomes a little less impressive when you factor in that the 2020 and 2021 editions of the race were the least watched in history.
As for what media outlets could offer competition to FOX and NBC, Phelps was not specific. He did mention that he was happy with the E:60 documentary ESPN produced about driver Bubba Wallace and that he thought the network’s Daytona 500 coverage was excellent. He still expressed a desire to see ESPN give NASCAR more attention in the future.