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Formula One has renewed its U.S. media rights deal with ESPN for the next three seasons, but it has not put pen to paper yet, according to the Sports Business Journal.
The sport informed Amazon and Comcast executives that their respective bids were not accepted on Friday despite Amazon’s bid reportedly being around the $100 million mark. According to SBJ, ESPN agreed to pay between $75-90 million per year for the rights. Currently, the media company is reportedly paying approximately $5 million annually.
SBJ reported that “ESPN’s deal gives the media company flexibility to put a small, but undetermined number of races exclusively on its ESPN+ streaming service. Most races will be carried on linear television, either ABC or ESPN.”
Last season was the most watched Formula One season on American television, averaging nearly 1 million viewers per race, according to ESPN. This was a 54% increase from the 2020 campaign. During the ’22 season, new viewership records are once again being reached.
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The live telecast of May’s Miami Grand Prix attracted a record average of 2.6 million viewers, peaking at 2.9 million from 4:45-5 p.m. as Max Verstappen cruised to victory. Through the first five races of the season, ESPN saw an average of 1.4 million viewers each race, up 49% from last year’s average of 949,000 viewers.
As seen through the spike in viewership, Formula One is booming in the United States, which will have three races on the exclusive calendar next season. Las Vegas will debut during November on a Saturday night with cars zipping down the famous Strip, joining the newly added Miami Grand Prix and the United States Grand Prix in Texas. Formula One previously raced in Las Vegas with the Caesars Palace Grand Prix, which took place from 1981 to ’84.
