ABC-ESPN Will Take NBC-TNT Slot
ESPN and ABC Sports are expected to announce soon that they have acquired the July-to-November package of NASCAR races that has been carried by NBC and TNT since 2001, said executives involved in the talks who insisted on anonymity because the contract had not been completed. The six-year ESPN-ABC deal is worth an estimated $280 million annually and will last through 2012, the executives said. Ramsey Poston, a NASCAR spokesman, would not talk about the agreement in principle with ESPN and ABC. "No deal is done," he said. "If and when there is news, we will announce it." Chris LaPlaca, a spokesman for ESPN, would not confirm the deal and said, "We've said for a long time that if an opportunity presented itself to have a conversation with NASCAR, we'd be glad to oblige."
At $280 million annually, the ESPN-ABC pairing will pay 40 percent more than the $200 million a year that the NBC-TNT joint venture has paid since 2001 and will pay through next season. NBC had an exclusive period of negotiations through the end of the year but chose last week not to pursue a renewal because of the financial losses it incurred during its five seasons televising NASCAR and because of the stock-car racing governing body's financial demands for the future, the executives said. By waiving its right to exclusive talks with NASCAR, NBC opened the door for talks to accelerate with ESPN and ABC.
Fox, which has the February-to-June NASCAR package, has a similar window to extend its contract and is expected to do so. NBC has never divulged its losses, but Fox in 2002 wrote off $297 million from the value of its NASCAR agreement. Depending on the outcome of talks, Fox could end up with a contract that lets it broadcast six Daytona 500 races, instead of alternating them, as it has with NBC. For ESPN and ABC, the pending deal will take them back to stock-car racing. The networks carried NASCAR races for 20 years or more until the end of the 2000 season.(New York Times)
ESPN and ABC Sports are expected to announce soon that they have acquired the July-to-November package of NASCAR races that has been carried by NBC and TNT since 2001, said executives involved in the talks who insisted on anonymity because the contract had not been completed. The six-year ESPN-ABC deal is worth an estimated $280 million annually and will last through 2012, the executives said. Ramsey Poston, a NASCAR spokesman, would not talk about the agreement in principle with ESPN and ABC. "No deal is done," he said. "If and when there is news, we will announce it." Chris LaPlaca, a spokesman for ESPN, would not confirm the deal and said, "We've said for a long time that if an opportunity presented itself to have a conversation with NASCAR, we'd be glad to oblige."
At $280 million annually, the ESPN-ABC pairing will pay 40 percent more than the $200 million a year that the NBC-TNT joint venture has paid since 2001 and will pay through next season. NBC had an exclusive period of negotiations through the end of the year but chose last week not to pursue a renewal because of the financial losses it incurred during its five seasons televising NASCAR and because of the stock-car racing governing body's financial demands for the future, the executives said. By waiving its right to exclusive talks with NASCAR, NBC opened the door for talks to accelerate with ESPN and ABC.
Fox, which has the February-to-June NASCAR package, has a similar window to extend its contract and is expected to do so. NBC has never divulged its losses, but Fox in 2002 wrote off $297 million from the value of its NASCAR agreement. Depending on the outcome of talks, Fox could end up with a contract that lets it broadcast six Daytona 500 races, instead of alternating them, as it has with NBC. For ESPN and ABC, the pending deal will take them back to stock-car racing. The networks carried NASCAR races for 20 years or more until the end of the 2000 season.(New York Times)