- Liberty Media’s Method 1 is seeking to promote a U.S. TV package deal for $150 million to $180 million per 12 months, in response to the Wall Avenue Journal. That’s practically double what ESPN is estimated to pay now to broadcast the game.
Liberty Media’s Method 1 is seeking to promote a U.S. media rights package deal for $150 million to $180 million per 12 months, in response to a Wall Avenue Journal report.
That’s not an official asking worth, however it might be as much as double what the present rights deal is reportedly value, sources instructed the Journal. The brand new contract is slated to start with the 2026 season.
Liberty didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Since 2018, Method 1 has been airing within the U.S. on ESPN, which initially obtained the printed rights free of charge after NBC determined to forgo a renewal of its $4 million deal.
After Liberty Media acquired Method 1 in 2017, it prioritized increasing it the U.S. The game has added American locations to its circuit in Miami, Las Vegas, and Austin, Texas, whereas Netflix’s docuseries Drive to Survive was additionally a success amongst U.S. audiences.
That helped increase F1’s U.S. viewership, which greater than doubled from about 550,000 in 2018 to 1.2 million in 2022, when ESPN inked a three-year extension for a worth that’s been estimated at $75 million-$90 million a 12 months.
ESPN’s rights to broadcast F1 expire on the finish of the 2025 season, and the corporate owned by Disney declined to barter additional throughout its unique window, in response to the Journal.
Moreover, Puck Information reported that Disney won’t pursue a brand new deal as soon as its present one runs out. However F1 CEO Stefano Domeniciali mentioned throughout a February earnings name that though the unique negotiation interval had handed, discussions had been ongoing.
“The fact that at the end of the exclusivity period they have not put in place on a formal offer doesn’t mean that the discussions aren’t going ahead,” Domenicali mentioned. “Actually, it’s the other way around. So there are still a lot of discussion to try to find the best solution.”
ESPN declined to remark to Fortune on its negotiations with F1.
F1’s U.S. media rights package deal is estimated to be value greater than $100 million per 12 months, however not the $180 million Liberty Media reportedly seeks, in response to Ampere Evaluation, a analysis agency.
That’s as viewership has dipped barely from 1.2 million in 2022 to 1.1 million in 2024, in response to Nielsen knowledge cited by the Journal.
For comparability, that determine is 26% lower than a mean baseball sport on ESPN’s protection of Sunday Night time Baseball. ESPN is reportedly paying $550 million per season for Main League Baseball rights, although that association is ending on the finish of 2025.
Different main leagues throughout the U.S. have signed bombshell TV offers. Notably, final 12 months, the Nationwide Basketball Affiliation signed a $2.6 billion-a-year take care of Disney. And in 2021, the Nationwide Soccer League closed a take care of CBS, Disney, Fox, NBC, and Amazon value greater than $11 billion a 12 months.
Though F1 garners worldwide consideration, race occasions for U.S. viewers should not optimum, with many beginning round midnight into early Sunday mornings.
Liberty Media CEO Derek Chang mentioned he’s seeking to improve fan publicity together with discovering probably the most profitable deal, however he acknowledges the shifting media panorama.
“The whole media world is a very fluid situation,” Chang instructed the Journal.
This story was initially featured on Fortune.com
