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This past Friday, Nathan Brown of The Indianapolis Star, wrote a very interesting article on the ongoing talks as the NTT IndyCar Series negotiates for a new TV deal, as the current contract with NBC comes to a close at the end of this season. As suspected, Brown says that the talks have essentially come down to two major players – NBC and FOX.

I’m sure that comes as quite a surprise to some of the naysayers that claimed that IndyCar probably wouldn’t get a sniff from anyone except for the likes of streaming apps Tubi and Pluto. Last fall, many detractors said that NBC wanted out and there would be no interest from any major players. I think NBC and FOX qualify as major players.

Brown had some compelling information as he compared the plusses and minuses of each. The good news is that it sounds like IndyCar has a tough decision to make, instead of being forced to take a single offer. This is a very good problem to have.

According to the article, if they go with NBC – there will be a small bump in fees, to roughly the $25 Million range; but there is also talk that NBC will increase the amount of races on the “big” network. That’s huge! They also have access to NBC’s multitude of platforms like USA, CNBC and Peacock.

FOX on the other hand is reportedly offering as high as $35 Million in rights fees. The downside is that it is considered likely that they will offer fewer network broadcasts. According to the article, NBC was the most watched network in 2023, while FOX was the fourth most watched. That’s a huge difference. Most races would be on FS1; but some may be relegated to FS2, which is in far fewer homes. Plus, that have no unique streaming app like Peacock. While many complain about races on Peacock – streaming apps are the future, like it or not. Peacock offers a lot of content and even if IndyCar went with FOX, we would still keep Peacock.

A month or two ago, I gave my opinion on the situation and expressed my desire for the series to stick with NBC. Now that it has been broken down to bullet-points, that is still my opinion. It’s easy for me to sit here behind a keyboard and tell Roger Penske which deal to take, especially when it is less money. I mean, $10 Million is a lot of money – I don’t care who you are. But I think in the long run, IndyCar would benefit more and be positioned for better growth opportunities by sticking with NBC.

Have they been perfect? No. The perfect TV partner doesn’t exist. They all have their pros and cons; but I truly feel that NBC brings more to the table that will help fuel IndyCar’s growth, more than an extra $10 Million in cash will.

As most know, I follow the mantra that Change is Bad – but not always. When IndyCar decided to sever ties with ABC/ESPN after more than half a century, I felt like the time had come to make a change. I don’t feel that way about NBC. I like their product, most of their announcing team, the number of network races they give us and the access to multiple platforms they can offer. This series needs exposure, and I think they will get more exposure from NBC/Peacock than they will from FOX.

Then there is the unknown factor. You’ve heard the saying “to go with the devil you know”. Whenever faced with a tough choice, going with a known entity is usually the better path. At least it has been that way in my experience. Now if IndyCar and NBC had a bad relationship and the series was getting mistreated by NBC – then it’s better to go with the unknown quantity.

Given the pros and cons listed by Nathan Brown in the article, I think it would be more prudent to go with the devil that IndyCar knows, especially since NBC is not a devil at all. I get no sense that this has been a bad marriage. I’m sure there are things that NBC could do better, but overall – I have been pleased with what they have done for IndyCar over the past five seasons (with one to go). Is it really worth an extra $10 Million in rights fees, to go with an unknown quantity? There will always be haters out there; The Legions of the Miserable, I call them. To the NBC haters out there that insist on a change – you’d better watch what you wish for. You just might get it.

George Phillips

This entry was posted on April 8, 2024 at 4:03 am and is filed under IndyCar. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.