The seven-year, $800 million Xfinity Series deal should help NASCAR as it closes media rights agreements for its Cup and Truck series. NASCAR officials have said they expect those deals to close by the fall. It‘s difficult to compare the CW‘s Xfinity deal with the circuit‘s current agreement since it was included in the larger deal signed by incumbents Fox and NBC.
Fox and NBC remain in the driver‘s seat to renew those deals. A package of around six midseason races also is available. That package, akin to the one Turner Sports carried a decade ago, likely will land with a streaming company such as Amazon. Those streamed races would be exclusive to whichever streaming company picks them up.
NASCAR has not been in a big rush to finish these negotiations, especially considering it has a season and a half left on its current deals. Talks so far have slowed on price. NASCAR had wanted to generate a significant increase in its media revenue over its current deal, which averaged $820 million. The size of The CW‘s Xfinity Series deal should allow that to happen, as this marks a big investment by a relatively unexpected buyer. NASCAR initially had looked into shopping the Xfinity Series to streaming companies.
