NASCAR declined an option to extend its TV contract with Fox Sports past the 2006 racing season, said Dick Glover, NASCAR’s vice president of broadcasting and new media. Fox, NBC and Turner Sports are in the fifth year of a six-year, $2.4 billion contract to televise NASCAR races. NASCAR had to decide by May 31 whether to pick up its option with Fox through 2008. Glover said the move was made to end all of its television contracts simultaneously. “All it means is we’ve synced up the agreements with our broadcast partners,” Glover said. “We’ve said all along we’d like to renew with all of them. That hasn’t changed.” Glover didn’t disclose the size of the option. “Our contract runs through 2006, and we are continuing discussions with NASCAR about a new deal,” Fox spokesman Dan Bell said. Former ABC Sports Executive Steve Solomon said ABC and ESPN are possible bidders for NASCAR’s rights when the current agreements expire after the 2006 season.(Tennessean)(6-4-2005)
UPDATE: Only half the NASCAR TV renegotiations story with Fox came out last week. NASCAR officials said they had decided not to renew the final two-year option with Fox for 2007 and 2008. But the real story, according to sources, is that Fox has proposed canceling that two-year option in order to sign a new six-year contract with NASCAR, for 2007 through 2112, for a slight bump in money. And Fox executives are reportedly pleased with David Hill’s work last week at Charlotte in his negotiations with NASCAR. Hill is Fox’s sports boss; his duties have also expanded to include running DirecTV, the satellite network. It is unclear what role DirecTV might play, if any, in any new Fox-NASCAR contract. NASCAR officials are very interested in expanding their sport’s international television coverage.(Winston Salem Journal)(6-6-2005)
