- ESPN’s US$90m-a-year deal with Formula One expires after 2025 season
- Apple has previously been linked with bid, though BlackBook Motorsport understands a global deal would be too complicated
- Netflix airs popular Drive to Survive docuseries and has started moving into live sport
Netflix is evaluating a bid for the US media rights to Formula One, according to a report from The Times.
ESPN holds the rights in the market until the end of the 2025 season in a deal worth a reported US$90 million per year, but the sports broadcaster’s period of exclusivity to negotiate a new contract from the 2026 campaign has expired.
BlackBook Motorsport understands the report from The Times is accurate, but that this is a normal process when media rights come up for renewal.
John Suchenski, senior director of programming and acquisitions for ESPN, told BlackBook Motorsport last year that the broadcaster’s collaboration with Formula One “is stronger than it’s ever been”, and The Times report said the Disney-owned company could still return to the table.
Netflix was behind the Drive to Survive docuseries that revolutionised the series’ popularity, meaning it already has a strong existing relationship with Formula One.
Meanwhile, Apple, which is producing the upcoming ‘F1’ movie starring Brad Pitt, has also previously been linked with a US$2 billion bid for the global rights to Formula One.
However, sources have told BlackBook Motorsport that a global media rights deal would be too complicated. Formula One’s media rights across the UK, Germany and Italy, for example, currently sit with Sky Sports until at least 2029.
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Netflix made another significant move into live sports at the end of last year when it secured the rights to exclusively broadcast the next two editions of the Fifa Women’s World Cup in the US. It was the first time that the streaming platform has secured sports rights in a specific territory, rather than on a global basis.
The streamer also broadcast the Jake Paul v Mike Tyson boxing event and two National Football League (NFL) games in 2024, which marked the beginning of its push into live sport.
Whether this could include a 24-race Formula One season remains to be seen. However, Netflix co-chief executive Ted Sarandos revealed on an earnings call earlier this year that the streaming giant is considering its options.
“We believe that the live events business is where we really want to be and sports is a very important part of that but it is a part of that expansion,” he said.
Sarandos also reiterated that Netflix would be “mindful of the bottom line” when it came to future rights acquisitions.
“It’s really important that those economics do work,” he added. “And the big league sports, full league, full season economics, are very hard to make work.”
BlackBook Motorsport has approached Formula One and Netflix for comment.
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