The Fox Sports division of US network Fox has sealed an eight-year rights extension, from 2015 to 2022, for coverage of the Nascar motor-racing series.
Fox Sports would continue to show the flagship Daytona 500 race and 12 other races from the top-tier Sprint Cup competition every year, as well as other Nascar events such as the Sprint All-Star Race, the Daytona Shootout, the Duel at Daytona and the entire lower-tier Camping World Truck series.
The deal includes digital media rights and, for the first time, the opportunity to make the programming available through the TV Everywhere initiative, which aims to encourage pay-television subscribers to register their subscriptions online so they can access television content over the internet at no extra charge.
The rights fee was not disclosed, but the SportsBusiness Daily website said that Fox Sports would pay $2.4 billion (€1.86 billion) over eight years, or $300 million per year – up from $1.76 billion over eight years in the existing deal, from 2007 to 2014.
US network ABC and cable-television broadcasters ESPN, TNT and Speed also currently have US rights to Nascar races in eight-year deals, from 2007 to 2014.
“This extension… helps position the sport for future growth as Nascar continues to be an anchor with one of the world’s largest and most influential media companies,” Nascar chairman and chief executive Brian France said.