NASCAR could be making its way to Prime Video very soon. According to Sports Business Journal, the streaming service is likely to be the most aggressive network to pursue NASCAR rights. It’s also reported that other media companies, including Disney, Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery, are likely to kick the tires on potential deals with NASCAR.
Fox and NBC have media rights with NASCAR, signing an $820 million contract per year combined in 2013. The deals run through 2024 and it’s likely both networks will renew the contracts as early negotiations are going smoothly. One reason NASCAR won’t provide a package for Prime Video is the league needs the biggest reach for sponsors aligned with those races and the teams compete with them.
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NASCAR is coming off a 2022 season where it had strong viewership numbers. According to Show Buzz Daily (per Sportsnaut.com), the overall viewership for NASCAR races was 114.231 million, the most since the 2018 season. The 2022 season marked the first year for the NextGen Car and the first time The Clash took place at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
NASCAR President Steve Phelps recently spoke to The Athletic and revealed what he’s most looking forward to in 2023. “That’s like asking you about a favorite child. Honestly, I’m really excited about the Chicago street course,” he said. “It’s not that I don’t care about the Coliseum or the Daytona 500 or North Wilkesboro, but there’s the newness and the fact that in our 75 years as a sport we’ve never run a street course. I certainly will have the same butterflies that I had around the Coliseum. But I think it’s going to be extraordinary.
“I think the really cool thing for us is that it’s an opportunity to create new fans. If you think about the Coliseum, 70 percent of the people that went to the Coliseum last year had never been to a NASCAR race, and 17 percent of them had never watched a NASCAR race on television. That’s extraordinary.” NASCAR kicked off the 2023 season on Sunday with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. winning the Daytona 500. It’s the first time Stenhouse as won the race and it’s the third Cup Series race victory in his career.
