Tuesday, July 23, 2013

NBC Inks 10-Year NASCAR Broadcast Deal

NASCAR and NBC Sports Group announced today they have reached a comprehensive agreement that grants NBCUniversal exclusive rights to the final 20 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races, final 19 NASCAR Nationwide Series events, select NASCAR Regional & Touring Series events and other live content beginning in 2015. Financial terms of the agreement, which runs through the 2024 season, were not disclosed.  

With this partnership, NBC’s 20 Sprint Cup race schedule includes becoming the exclusive home to the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, NASCAR’s final 10 races of the season, including its season-ending championship event which will return to network television in 2015 for the first time since 2009. Of NBC Sports Group’s 20 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series events, seven will be carried on NBC annually, with 13 airing on NBC Sports Network (NBCSN). Four of NBC Sports Group’s 19 NASCAR Nationwide Series races will air on NBC, with 15 airing on NBCSN. 
“NBC is known for being an exceptional partner and delivering outstanding production quality and presentation of live sports, as well as its broad portfolio of broadcast and digital properties so we are thrilled with the commitment they have made to NASCAR and its future,” said NASCAR Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Brian France. “We know this partnership will yield great value to our entire industry, provide a premium experience to our most important stakeholders, the fans, and help us achieve a number of strategic growth objectives. Our new partnership with NBC and the recent extension by FOX validate the strength of our fan base and the many bold steps we have taken the last several years to provide fans with better, more accessible racing.”   
In addition to rights to NASCAR Sprint Cup and NASCAR Nationwide Series races, NBC has also obtained exclusive rights to practice and qualifying sessions for NBC’s national series events during their portion of the season, as well as rights to broadcast the NASCAR K&N Series, NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, NASCAR Toyota (Mexico) Series, the NASCAR Hall of Fame induction ceremony and NASCAR’s season-ending banquets. Further, NBC has been granted Spanish-language rights, certain video-on-demand rights and exclusive TV Everywhere rights for its NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and NASCAR Nationwide Series events. 
“Acquiring the rights and bringing NASCAR back to NBC comes at an important point in time for NBC Sports Network, NBC, and all of our distributors and affiliates,” said NBC Sports Group Chairman, Mark Lazarus. “We look forward to working with Brian and his management team, who have brought a renewed focus to NASCAR's intersection of sports and technology.” 
“We are excited about the cross-promotional opportunities NBC provides, especially in the timeframes right before NBC’s NASCAR schedule and during the Chase,” said NASCAR VP of Broadcasting and Productions, Steve Herbst. “We’re confident NBC will utilize its powerful Championship Season lineup, including the NHL Playoffs, Premier League, the French Open, the Kentucky Derby and other events, to build interest and excitement for NASCAR. Those opportunities, combined with the opportunity to lead into the number one show on television – NBC’s Sunday Night Football – for select Chase races, were both very attractive prospects when considering this partnership.”  
ESPN president John Skipper also commented on the new deal today, “ saying, “ESPN has enjoyed a long and mutually beneficial relationship with NASCAR.  We have tremendous respect for the France family, the drivers and all in the sport and wish them well.  We will continue to serve NASCAR fans through SportsCenter and our other news platforms as we continue to enhance our industry-leading collection of quality assets. 
“We are looking forward to the start of our Sprint Cup season and will continue with our deep commitment to the highest quality coverage.”

9 comments:

  1. Does this signal the possibility of more Adam, Wally, Kyle? I hope NBC finds a more viable team to host, analyze, and report on the sport.

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  2. Anonymous4:51 PM

    Finally, the non-cable subscribers and more casual fans will see NASCAR during football season. (Hopefully) it will be broadcast on network. Fox for the first 16, NBC for the final 20, you bet. Buh bye TNT and ESPN.

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  3. Anonymous5:02 PM

    Thier announcers are terrible.all nascar cares about is more money not the fans. As dw said ounce, I hope they choke on it.

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  4. Anonymous5:12 PM

    I bet it will include PAY TO WATCH

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  5. Anonymous10:52 PM

    Another big move by NBC Sports. In the past year or so they have signed IndyCar, most European and US soccer games (Fox) and now Nascar from ESPN/ABC.
    They sre not being timid about launching the next big sports channel.
    Robert Y
    Cincinnati

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  6. g55rumpy3:28 AM

    glad i listen to mrn/prn and only watch the tv coverage

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  7. Dwayne in Memphis3:41 PM

    YES!! I love the broadcasts on NBC!! Especially when there were for extra yellow flag laps during the race and the race broadcast bled over into reruns of Mama's Family...and the winner interview lasted about 4 seconds, and the rest of the top 5 were relegated to neglible importance behind Mama's shennanigans on THIS episode. "Network" is not what it used to be, and with ESPN you got the coverage you deserved after the racing...if you can even consider it "Network" with only 7 of the 20 airing on NBC itself. If I were an employee of MRN, I would be thrilled at this announcement! MILLIONS of new listeners flocking to get real coverage during the Chase.

    It used to really bug me when people would type "NA$CAR" every time they typed the word. But, sadly, it's never been more true. More money thrown at NA$CAR ;) will only mean more commercials in order to pay for it with an immediate jump to some rerun as soon as the checkered flag waves. I hope I'm wrong, but that's exactly what I didn't like about NBC's coverage the first go-round. They paid a ton of money to get NASCAR, then couldn't seem to end the broadcasts fast enough.

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  8. I have never heard of NBCSN. how are we going to watch races on a channel most people don't have access to???

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  9. Fox expected to take first half of NNS schedule in 2015. The rights to the first half of the Nationwide schedule have not been publicly announced, but NASCAR chairman Brian France let slip in a Tuesday conference call with reporters that there will be Nationwide races on Fox Sports 1. "We will have both Cup and Nationwide on FOX Sports 1 at some level," France said during the call. ESPN currently broadcasts the entire Nationwide schedule. This is from an AP sorry about NBC acquiring broadcast rights. Sounds like more pay to watch second and third tier subscription packages required to watch a decreasing quality broadcast of NASCAR for the fans to me.

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