Full THROTTLE Ahead: The Battle for Formula 1's U.S. Media Rights Is On
ESPN decided not to renew its $90 million per year deal. The question is, why? One of the most surprising twists in this story is the unexpected influence WWE is having on sports media rights deals.
Starting in 2026, Formula 1 will no longer race across your TV screens as ESPN has pulled the plug on renewing its contract with Formula 1. With TV ratings steady and the growth of the sport across the world, this seems like an odd move by ESPN.
In 2024, F1’s 24-race season averaged 1.1 million viewers across ESPN’s three networks. The most-watched event was the Miami Grand Prix in May, drawing just over 3.1 million viewers. ESPN first began broadcasting F1 in 2018, when its inaugural season averaged around 550,000 viewers per race.
ESPN recently committed to paying $2.6 billion per year to retain NBA broadcasting rights, with games averaging just under 2 million viewers per broadcast. From a purely numerical standpoint, F1’s rights seem to offer strong value in comparison.
The real question we should be asking is: why? But before exploring potential reasons—like WWE’s $5 billion Netflix deal—let’s take a look at what we know so far.
According to Puck News, ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro has informed Formula 1 that the network will not renew its U.S. broadcasting rights after the current agreement expires at the end of the 2025 season. ESPN has been paying approximately $90 million per year under its existing three-year contract, which grants it access to Sky Sports’ British coverage of F1 races. While ESPN primarily airs Sky’s broadcasts, it has also sent its own staff to cover U.S.-based races.
With ESPN stepping away, Netflix and NBC have emerged as potential contenders for F1’s U.S. broadcasting rights. NBC previously held the rights before ESPN took over and helped fuel the sport’s growing popularity in the country. Netflix, meanwhile, has played a key role in F1’s expansion through its hit docuseries Drive to Survive, which gained widespread traction during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
THE BIG OPINION
It’s likely that Formula 1 is seeking a significant increase in its media rights fees, and ESPN simply determined that the cost would be too steep.
With the media landscape evolving and streaming services reshaping the industry, F1 has surely taken note of WWE’s recent deal with Netflix—$5 billion over 10 years for programming that averages around 1.6 million viewers.
The big question now is: What will F1’s asking price be? Based on current trends and available data, my best estimate is that either Netflix or NBC will end up paying between $250 million and $500 million per year for the rights. To be fair to ESPN, that would represent a substantial jump from its current $90 million per year deal.