With ESPN reportedly not interested in renewing its Formula 1 media rights deal, a shocking lack of suitors have emerged from other networks.
Since the pandemic days, the popularity of Formula 1 in the American cultural zeitgeist has skyrocketed. The U.S. now has three races on the annual F1 calendar, with Grands Prix in Las Vegas and Miami joining the yearly Austin event. As our Michelai Graham reports, the Miami Grand Prix has generated $1 billion for the local economy since its 2022 launch, three years after Netflix launched the wildly successful Drive To Survive that put the sport on the map in the U.S. for casual fans and began a sports documentary boom that’s still alive and well in 2025.
Yet, a source close to Netflix told Inside the Boardroom that at this time, it won’t bid on the Formula 1 U.S. media rights, which are up after the 2025 season, instead being especially selective about what they move forward with on an ongoing basis. Current rights holder ESPN, according to a February report in Puck, informed F1 that it will not renew its deal, which is currently valued at $90 million per year. A source close to the network told ITB that it would be ESPN’s choice if it didn’t renew the rights package, rather than being outbid by another company.
Amazon’s Prime Video, a burgeoning sports media power player, also won’t be submitting a bid, per a source, echoing a recent Wall Street Journal report. Apple, seen as a potential player to add to its MLB and MLS coverage, declined to comment through a spokesperson. Perhaps other networks, like Warner Bros. Discovery, Fox, NBC, or CBS, will come in with an unexpected offer, but it doesn’t seem to make much sense that the Formula 1 media rights have so little interest, given the sport’s tremendous growth domestically over the last five years.
Subscribe for the biggest stories in the business of sports and entertainment, daily.
Despite different late-night start times in Australia, Asia, and the Middle East, the first five races of the 2025 season averaged more than 1 million viewers on ESPN, a double-digit percent increase from 2024, though a little down from its peak in 2022 and 2023. But the lack of a consistent start time, as the 10 teams and 20 global superstars jet around the world for 24 races, makes it tough for casual fans to build consistent viewing habits, as ratings, aside from key tentpole broadcasts like Miami, Las Vegas, and Monaco, seem to have plateaued. Perhaps racing fans are turned off by the high barrier to entry for an F1 racer or the prohibitively expensive costs of fielding and maintaining a competitive team.
NASCAR, on the other hand, has a fan base of tens of millions that has been ingrained over decades, with a relatively set viewing time for its American audience. While ratings to date are down a little under 9% to begin the 2025 season, the 10 races on network TV to begin the campaign are averaging 3.48 million viewers, dwarfing ESPN’s F1 numbers. It’s why NASCAR is in the first season of a seven-year, $7.7 billion media rights deal split among Fox, NBC, WBD, and Amazon that’s a 40% increase over its previous deal. Meanwhile, F1 has yet to crack nine figures per year in U.S. rights fees.
As F1 began to gain steam in the U.S. at the start of the decade, ESPN signed a three-year, $15 million pact to broadcast the league in a deal that proved to be a bargain. And when the rights were back up again after 2022, F1 didn’t forget about how the network stood by their side, signing a deal when better offers may have been on the table.
“They were the ones that believed in our product during a period where not a lot of American media broadcasters believed in us,” Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali told me in 2023. “So, we renewed with them because they deserve to be with us. We had others bid for that, but I thought we made the right choice.”
Domenicali and company are now reportedly looking for $150-180 million per year for U.S. rights, a price that’s seemingly spooked deep-pocketed suitors, most of whom have already spent billions on other leagues’ rights in recent years. Right now, the race for the Formula 1 media rights is on, with few suitors speeding to capture the checkered flag. So while the buzz will certainly be palpable for this weekend’s Miami Grand Prix, the interest in which network will broadcast the first race of 2026 remains far lower than the league’s current cultural cachet would suggest.
Read More:
Simone Manuel’s Mission: A Future Where Everyone Can Swim Safely
Warner Bros. Discovery is Still All About Sports in Post-NBA Future
How a Hated CBA Rule Fixed the NBA Playoffs
From Culture to Cleats: Adidas, Sekou Thornell Spotlight Black Excellence
Why NBCUniversal, Amazon are Doubling Down on Live Sports, Original Content
