The TV package with Fox, NBC and TNT runs out in 20 months, and renegotiations are hotly anticipated. ABC says it too plans to make a bid for the Winston Cup series. It is not clear if any of the three networks has actually turned a profit on NASCAR, and that could make upcoming talks difficult from the NASCAR side. It is also not clear who will be the chief TV negotiator for NASCAR; last time around it was Bray Cary, who drove amazingly hard bargains and then took his percentage and vanished. This time Neil Pilson, the former CBS executive and a long-time NASCAR TV adviser, could get the call to the boardroom.( Winston Salem Journal )(3-24-2003) UPDATE: The TV package with FOX, NBC, and TNT does not run out in 20 months. The contract, which was signed in November of 1999, runs from 2001 – 2006 for NBC and TNT. For FOX, the contract is for the same six years, but also includes an option to go two more years. Furthermore, FOX is already billing itself as the TV home of the 2007 Daytona 500, so it sounds like they are counting on the option being exercised through 2008. However, even if the option with FOX was not exercised, the earliest that a new TV partner would be in place would be for 2007. Negotiations probably wouldn’t start until the second half of 2005, at the earliest. Also, there’s no indication this early in the process that ABC or any other network will or won’t make a bid for NASCAR. ABC Sports president Howard Katz resigned about a month ago and the new boss is ESPN honcho George Bodenheimer. It is doubtful that Bodenheimer has even thought that much about ABC making a bid for a 2007 NASCAR TV package. Of course, however, it’s likely that big names like ABC, CBS, and ESPN will all inquire about the NASCAR rights, but no one has made a definitive decision to go after the rights this early in the game.(see full story at MotorsportsTV.com )(3-25-2003)
