FS1 will carry NHRA races next season, ending a 14-year relationship between the drag racing circuit and ESPN, according to several sources. Fox Sports and the NHRA have agreed on deal terms, but a formal contract still has not been signed, sources said. An official announcement is expected later this week. Financial details of the new deal cannot be confirmed. As recently as last week, NHRA officials had been negotiating to leave the current five-year ESPN deal a year early, as the drag racing series was upset with ESPN’s decision to carry most races on tape delay and in unattractive timeslots. Its ESPN deal originally was scheduled to end in '16, and the net was charging the NHRA an undisclosed break-up fee to get out of the deal early (Ourand & Stern, Staff Writers). An NHRA team official said, "Plain and simple, NHRA needs a consistent time when the coverage can be expected. We, and I speak as part of NHRA, pay for the coverage, yet ... get pushed around depending on an event they paid for. We're not in prime time, in fact we may not be in the same time period in any two-race span." The official added, "Plus, you would figure that since we are on ESPN and pay them, we would get our highlights on Sports Center. Yet, about the only time we get on that is when we have a spectacular crash. It does not help us when we try and land major sponsorships.” In California, Louis Brewster notes it is "highly unlikely" that ESPN commentators Dave Reiff and Mike Dunn "will be part of the Fox broadcasts." Also to be determined is whether FS1 "will have a show solely dedicated to NHRA sportsmen, like the one currently on ESPN2" (INLAND VALLEY DAILY BULLETIN, 7/14). NBCSPORTS.com's Jerry Bonkowski noted NHRA had "already announced that it will bring production of its TV broadcasts in 2016 in-house, much like it did in the 1980s and into the 1990s with its affiliation with the now-defunct Diamond P production company" (NBCSPORTS.com, 7/13).
