“Cable Universe Has Declined” – Despite $8.2B Deal NASCAR President Sends FOX and NBC a Scary Message As He Details Future Broadcast Plans

NASCAR’s viewership has hit a bit of a speed bump, with a 5% decline from 3.03 million to 2.86 million viewers per event this year. This dip has even made sponsors, the pillars of NASCAR, ease off the gas a bit. Recently, Steve Phelps and COO Steve O’Donnell suggested in a conference that one way to shift gears could be by focusing on media rights deals. And it looks like Steve Phelps is already steering down that road.

In a recent 45-minute talk during the fourth annual Race Industry Week, a series of webinars sponsored by Speed Sport, Racer.com, and EPartrade.com, Phelps touched on NASCAR’s existing ties with FOX and NBC. Considering the current headwinds, he hinted that the organization might bring other players on board to help rev up the viewership.

Steve Phelps is dropping hints that 2025 might see a new twist in NASCAR’s media rights saga

This season, Fox Sports took the wheel for 16 of the 36 races, while NBC drove home the remaining 20. The ongoing 10-year media rights deal with these two networks is a whopping $8.2 billion affair [$820 million per season]. But the new update is that NASCAR is toying with the idea of expanding into streaming. Big names like Amazon Prime Video and Turner Sports are in the mix as potential broadcasters for several races. It’s still up in the air, but if this plan shifts into gear, it could be a game-changer in the NASCAR arena.

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As per nbcsports.com, Phelps nudged at the possibility too, saying, “We are going to have an additional partner and we may have two additional partners. That’s kind of where we’re trying to figure out in these last few weeks — what that’s going to look like, but we already know we’re going to have more partners.”

The decision also stems from the dwindling cable TV landscape. Phelps added, “What we do know is that the cable universe has declined. So what does that look like in two years, five years, seven years? Don’t know, but we better make sure that we have distribution points that will allow us to be successful moving forward, to have as many eyeballs as we can, while not insignificant, also getting paid. The revenue is significant that comes from these media rights or from these media partners.”

Phelps didn’t stop there; he also touched on the rising demand for more horsepower by drivers, a growing concern with the new next-gen cars.

Steve Phelps recently tackled the growing concerns surrounding the next-gen cars

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Ever since their debut in 2022, these next-gen speedsters have been under scrutiny for their pace and overall performance. Racing icons like Richard Petty have suggested ramping up the horsepower to 800 as a fix. But in the conference, Steve Phelps made it crystal clear that boosting horsepower isn’t in the cards for the foreseeable future.

Phelps explained, “I don’t think the answer is more horsepower because more horsepower is expensive. If you ask a driver what’s going to solve it, they’re always going to say ‘Give me more horsepower.’ It’s a thing. I’m not a driver, but I’ve listened to enough drivers and that’s their solution. So the question is, is that really what it is? I don’t know. I think there’s some gearing things that we’re looking at as well. Some shifting things.”

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For now, drivers can only cross their fingers for essential tweaks to the cars, if not a horsepower hike, to avoid the kind of mechanical mishaps that plagued the 2023 season.