ESPN Said To Have Secured F1 Broadcast Rights Until 2025, Paying Up To $90 Million Per Season

ESPN is reported to have signed a bumper deal to continue broadcasting F1 through 2025 for U.S. viewers. The three-year deal will be worth a whopping $75-90 million per year – significantly higher than the $5 million per annum deal that the broadcaster signed in 2019.

Formula 1 is currently enjoying a purple patch of popularity and appears to have finally cracked the U.S. market. The racing series has not always faired well stateside, hitting a low point following the infamous 2005 Indianapolis Grand Prix where only six cars started the race.

In contrast, last year’s 2021 United States Grand Prix attracted 400,000 spectators, smashing a previous record held by the British Grand Prix for the most racegoers in Formula 1 history. This year F1 added Miami as its second U.S. venue, while a Las Vegas night race in 2023 will make it three.

Read: Ride With Bruno Senna At The New Miami GP Circuit 

The Disney-owned sports network is cashing on the popularity of Formula 1 but had to fight off competition from streaming network Netflix. The streaming giant has traditionally been averse to airing live sporting events. However, after the breakout success of Netflix’s Drive To Survive docuseries, having live coverage for U.S. viewers would have made a lot of success.

Netflix wasn’t the only tech platform in the running, reports Sports Business Journal. Amazon’s Prime Video, which is aggressively ramping up its live sports portfolio, is also thought to have been in the running, and supposedly submitted an even higher bid than ESPN, in the region of $100 million.

Also making a play was Comcast, whose Sky subsidiary is the exclusive live rights holder for the UK. Such a deal would have put F1 races on the network’s Peacock streaming service, with additional coverage on NBC and the USA Network.

It’s thought that money wasn’t the deciding factor in the ESPN decision, with broader coverage and positioning to younger fans a key goal for F1’s stakeholders. While the final deal has not yet been inked, other bidders, including Amazon and Comcast, were told that their offers had not been accepted.