NASCAR is back on airwave television, and now it’s on a singular channel.
NASCAR announced July 28 the first major news regarding the much-anticipated television rights deal in that the NASCAR Xfinity Series will be moving to the free, antenna-covered channel The CW exclusively for all 33 race weekends beginning in 2025 and running through 2031.
And this move by NASCAR is a brilliant step in the right direction.
The CW has been steadily gaining ground as a newcomer to the sports market. With shows such as Inside the NFL and 100 Days to Indy and live sports such as ACC college football and LIV Golf, The CW will now prepare to roll the Xfinity Series to a national audience for every race weekend.
Introducing NASCAR’s next up-and-coming drivers to every television and antenna owner is a vital step in the right direction for the sport, which has been struggling to find new fans. The CW has had a big following of younger demographics in the past thanks to shows like Riverdale, The Flash and Batwoman, among others, and now starting in 2024, that younger demographic will have a much inexpensive option to view the Xfinity Series.
The last time the series was hosted by a single broadcast provider was when the series was aired on ESPN from 2007-2014, and although it was part of cable, having one broadcasting team dedicated to the entire season just as the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is broadcasted solely by FOX Sports 1 makes keeping up with the branch of the sport easier. Having the Xfinity Series jump from FS1 to FOX or USA Network to NBC to CNBC to MSNBC gets pretty confusing as a viewer.
The deal comes as a surprise since Amazon seemed to be the next platform the Xfinity Series was going to for months, per general industry rumors.
Although NASCAR was reportedly in serious talks with Amazon about potentially bringing the series exclusively to its streaming service Amazon Prime, getting a deal with a network that can broadcast to a national audience that holds a healthy young demographic is vital for the furtherance of the sport.
Additionally to the hope of a younger national audience, the benefit to the teams and purses of future races can help teams with the revenue generated from race to race.
With a yearly media revenue for NASCAR of $115 million, it’s safe to say that the purses for the Xfinity race itself (not including year-end points contributions and contingency rewards) will begin to tick in the million-dollar range for more and more races helping teams tremendously with revenue each week.
The increase of eyes on the Xfinity Series could also mean an increase for more teams or drivers that receive new sponsorship. The increase in viewership could certainly attract bigger companies into the sport with this move to a potentially wider television audience.
Finally, with the Xfinity Series getting a television rights deal on a national, antenna-based network in The CW, it gives confidence and hope that with the future television rights deal, potentially, NASCAR fans could see the NASCAR Cup Series return to a national audience week after week.
With NASCAR announcing this deal to jump the Xfinity Series to the airwaves, it certainly begins to spark the conversation on what NASCAR is preparing when in regards to the biggest piece of the pie in the Cup Series. It could put the pressure on FOX or NBC to broadcast more races on their flagship channels to help bring in revenue for the big networks.
The move to The CW was out of the blue and caught many by surprise, but the future of NASCAR looks great now that at least one of its series makes a year-long return to the airwaves.
About the author
Wyatt Watson has followed NASCAR closely since 2007. He joined Frontstretchas a journalist in February 2023 after serving in the United States Navy for five years as an Electronic Technician Navigation working on submarines. Wyatt writes breaking NASCAR news and contributes to columns such as Friday Faceoff and 2-Headed Monster. Wyatt also contributes to Frontstretch's social media and serves as an at-track reporter, collecting exclusive content for Frontstretch.
Wyatt Watson can be found on Twitter @WyattGametime
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Good for NA$CAR. I wonder who will be calling the races from the booth? Please don’t hire any Waltrips, Danica’s, etc. I’m sure the 10’s and 10’s of fans attending the Xfinity races will be pleased,
Let’s hope that the start times are more in line with what the people who buy tickets for the events really want and the viewers don’t have to decide whether to have dinner or watch the farce.
I wouldn’t hold my breath on that one. LOL