Amazon emerges as frontrunner to land NASCAR's streaming rights

NASCAR is set to join the streaming game in their next media deal, and Amazon is looking like the front runner to broadcast it.

According to John Ourand of The Sports Business Journal, we’re still some time away from making it official, but Amazon could join FOX and NBC in the NASCAR business moving forward.

“When I wrote about NASCAR’s media rights talks a month ago, multiple sources predicted that the racing circuit would have handshake deals by July 4. That’s how well talks were progressing. With July 4 only a week away, those same sources have moved that timeline back to late summer/early fall,” Ourand wrote. “All sides still are optimistic that deals are at hand. But the hold up has been that the negotiations with streaming companies have taken longer to finalize than expected.

“Fox and NBC are far along in their talks to renew the first half and second half of the NASCAR season, respectively. The sides have not agreed on a price yet, which always is the thorniest issue. Unless talks hit unexpected snags, expect both broadcasters to remain in business with NASCAR.”

As for Amazon, Ourand noted that their package of races could be similar to the way TNT broadcasted a package of races until 2015, but talks are taking longer than originally expected.

“Amazon still appears to be a front-runner for a midseason package of races — akin to the six-race package TNT carried until 2015. But talks with Amazon have gone much slower than expected,” added Ourand. “Sources said Amazon is interested in the package and still talking.

“The company has become more cost conscious, as it has laid off tens of thousands of employees and harbors hopes for landing an NBA package when that deal comes up after the 2024-25 season.”

One of the ideas pushed in the past was NASCAR would look to move the NASCAR Xfinity Series to a streamer full time, but Ourand believes the sport is moving away from that idea.

“Elsewhere, NASCAR appears to have moved away from the idea of selling the full season of its second-tier Xfinity Series package exclusively to a streamer,” Ourand wrote. “The package likely will go to a single media company, with some races produced for TV and others produced for streaming. It’s not known yet how that breakdown will look.”

Alas, there’s a lot of moving parts, but it’s looking like NASCAR will be a featured player on Amazon in the near future, as the sport gets in on the streaming business.