NASCAR is currently in year 2 of 7 in a new media deal; Changes could be made for 2027
2027 will be year three of a seven-year TV agreement; NASCAR CEO sees an opportunity to make adjustements
TNT Sports is currently in year two of a seven year deal with NASCAR. They air five mid-season NASCAR Cup Series races.
New NASCAR TV Deal: Fox, NBC, Amazon Prime, TNT through 2031
Last week, Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery merged into Skydance. That puts TNT Sports and CBS under the same media umbrella. And that opens the door for changes regarding NASCAR broadcasts.
TNT Sports has reach in roughly 70M homes. CBS has a much greater reach of roughly 125M households. With the free over-the-air antenna, CBS can reach near 100% of homes in the United States.
NASCAR CEO Steve O’Donnell says he intends to meet with CBS president/CEO David Berson on the possibility or airing those TNT races on CBS.
Steve O’Donnell comments
“CBS used to be a great partner of ours, Turner has been fantastic, so who knows?” Steve O’Donnell stated via the Front Office Sports conference.
“I think it’s an opportunity for us, especially as you look forward, to keep everybody close, but we’re very happy with the folks we currently have for sure.”
NASCAR TV viewership is down sharply under the new deal
Since NASCAR has entered media agreements that are behind a paywall, be it streaming or cable, the TV ratings have seen a sharp decline. In the first year of the new TV agreement, ratings were down roughly 15% overall from 2024.
Here’s an example of the ratings drop for TNT coverage: Compare Sonoma TV ratings for 2024, 2025 and 2026.
However, all of that decline is specifically related to the new cable deals. For races that were sent over traditional broadcast networks, they actually saw a viewership bump in 2025 over 2024.
TNT Sports next NASCAR race is in July 2027. They’ll air Cup races at Sonoma Raceway, EchoPark Speedway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, San Diego Street Race and Bristol Motor Speedway.
NASCAR races will likely move behind a paywall in the future (2021)
