US Broadcast Rights Deal Done
F1 decides to stick with what's working
Formula 1 has its US broadcast partner for the next two years, and it’s a familiar face: ESPN. The Disney-owned sports broadcaster reportedly bid between $75 and $90 million, a significant increase over the $5 million they currently pay.
ESPN will still broadcast some races on ABC and also has the option to stream some races exclusively to ESPN+.
It was also reported that Amazon’s bid was over $100 million annually, with some races distributed to linear networks.
Ultimately, Formula 1 and Liberty Media chose to go with the team that got them here, keeping it familiar for the viewer while honoring the work ESPN has put into growing F1 stateside.
Implications
The deal itself goes through the 2025 season just before the series goes through another set of regulation changes. It’s also just before we could see one of either an American team (Andretti) or even the Volkswagen Group (Audi & Porsche) could join the fold.
New American money (Google, Salesforce, Oracle, Zoom, Qualcomm) has come in, but more work is needed. Liberty would be doing itself a disservice by selling the rights too far into the future with much more potential, especially if we see an American driver on the grid.
If this is my playbook to run, I’m would spend the next two years bringing on every potential US partner possible, ensure that a formidable American team and driver get on the grid, and continue building the digital and social media communities. Doing all this in preparation for a 2025 negotiation puts Formula 1 firmly in the driver’s seat to capture a massive deal similar to the Apple x MLS partnership.
