Formula 1 has seen incredible growth in the U.S. over the last five years, but the global racing league’s desire for a substantial bump in media rights remains in neutral.
The 2025 race season ends in Abu Dhabi on December 7, and at that time, ESPN’s contract to air Sky Sports broadcasts in the U.S. expires. The deal covering 2022-25 is valued at $75-$90 million annually.
Multiple reports have shown that Liberty Media-owned F1 is seeking between $150 and $180 million for its new deal. ESPN has reportedly balked at this price tag, citing viewership numbers that were ostensibly flat in 2024 compared to 2023. ESPN initially picked up rights in 2018 for a slim $4 million after NBC passed on renewing, a sign of just how popular the series has grown since then.
For a media rights partner, one of the challenges for viewership is the range of start times, given the global nature of the series. Many see 9 am E.T. Sunday morning starts, with some such as Azerbaijan, at 7 am E.T. Trying to balance leaving the Las Vegas strip open as long as possible to traffic, Liberty, the promoter of the Vegas Grand Prix, had a 1 am E.T. Sunday start for the race the last two seasons, but is moving it to 11 pm E.T. on Saturday in a nod to trying to reach more of a U.S. audience while balancing early morning viewership in Europe.
The numbers for not only this weekend’s Miami Grand Prix but also the U.S. GPs in Austin, Las Vegas, and Mexico City, where time zones are favorable, will be of big interest. The 2025 season has been highly competitive, which, in theory, should bolster viewership.
The big question is, who will win the rights at the end of the season, and for how much?
Walt Disney-owned ESPN has been opposing increasing rights fees for some high-profile sports properties. The Worldwide Leader has already said it would need to renegotiate with Major League Baseball, and it appears to be doing so again with Formula 1.
The new players in the mix would appear to be the streamers, who have grown interest in live sports content.
On the surface, Netflix might seem a good fit, given that the growth in the U.S. for Formula 1 is directly tied to the Drive To Survive docuseries. Pairing live races with DTS seems a logical marriage. However, for Netflix, just how many new subscribers would they pull in airing races? Netflix might view a media rights deal for live races as more about retaining subscribers than pulling in new ones.
While Amazon Prime is a possibility given their deal with the NFL for Thursday Night Football, the one streamer that might be the best fit would be Apple. The Apple Originals Films “F1” movie starring Brad Pitt hits theaters this summer. Formula 1 gave unprecedented access to the grid for the movie, sees Lewis Hamilton as a producer, and sees several current drivers with small roles in it. While it took some time for Apple to viewers to flock to the platform, series such as Ted Lasso, Severance, and Silo, along with feature films such as Martin Scorsese’s Killers Of The Flower Moon, show that while Apple’s incredible market capitalization of nearly $3 trillion may make Apple TV+ a bit of a toy, it shows that they are calculated and serious about content.
While Apple isn’t about throwing money away, $150-$180 million annually for a deal ranging from 3 to 5 years could bolster their live sports offerings. Currently, Apple hosts Friday night MLB games and MLS League Pass.
Finally, while ESPN has been pushing back on some sports properties as of late, they could still be in play, although that would require F1 to pull back from their target range. That won’t come into play unless Formula 1 is still sitting months from now without a deal in place for 2026 and beyond.
