Formula One renews US media rights partnership with ESPN

Formula One has renewed its media rights deal with ESPN for a further three years. The new deal, which will run till 2025, is reported to be around US$75-90 million per year, which is a massive jump from the US$5m deal ESPN had initially signed in 2019. 

The new deal will see most of the races broadcast on ESPN or ABC channels, while some select races will be shown exclusively on ESPN+, ESPN’s streaming platform. 

It is reported that Amazon had also put forward a bid worth around US$100 million per year to get the rights to sublicense to a linear broadcast network, while Comcast also put in a bid which was comparable to ESPN’s bid, but both these bids were rejected. Netflix was also involved in the discussions, but reportedly Formula One executives did not want to switch exclusively to a streaming service to broadcast the races. 

It is to be noted that the boom in viewership in the United States has come on the back of Netflix’s docuseries Drive to Survive, which has resulted in a massive surge of viewership among the US audience.

With growing popularity in the States, the 2023 F1 season will see a total of three races held in the country: in Austin, Miami and Las Vegas, the last one making its debut in the 2023 season.