It looks like ESPN will not carry NHRA races next season, potentially ending a 14-year relationship, according to several sources.
NHRA executives have been in advanced negotiations to end its media rights deal a year early and already has had informal talks with other networks to gauge their interest in carrying the drag racing series.
 |
After 14 years on ESPN, the NHRA is looking for a different network and better time slots.
Photo by: AP IMAGES
|
NHRA officials have been vocal about their frustration with unfavorable scheduling windows and a lack of shoulder programming. For close to a year, NHRA executives have been trying to get out of their current deal, which runs through 2016. The series’ top executives, including former President Tom Compton and new President Peter Clifford, have traveled to the network’s Bristol, Conn., campus to convince ESPN’s programming team, led by John Wildhack, executive vice president of programming and production, to tear up the current deal.
Those talks finally appear to be yielding fruit. Sources say talks have progressed enough that an official announcement could come within weeks. Sources say the holdup centers on an exit fee ESPN is charging to leave the contract early. No specifics were available.
Financial details of the current five-year deal were not available.
The NHRA has not been shy about airing its frustrations. Earlier this year, it said it would take production in-house next year. Last week, Clifford told the NHRA’s official website that he was “excited to announce some [TV] changes for next year, so stay tuned.”
Aside from noting that the NHRA’s relationship with ESPN is “evolving,” Anthony Vestal, director of media relations for the sanctioning body, declined to comment.
ESPN also would not comment.
NHRA executives have had informal talks with other networks, including Fox Sports, sources said. Those talks did not progress, and the two sides remain far apart on price. NBC Sports Group also would be a logical destination, considering its robust motor-sports portfolio, but it’s not known whether the NHRA reached out to NBC.
The NHRA has made strides at the gate in recent years, with attendance up in 2014 for the third straight year.
But it is ESPN’s TV performance that has frustrated NHRA executives. The series typically has been aired on tape delay. In recent years, ESPN began showing some Sunday races live. But the series wants more races telecast live and also would like to move some off of cable and onto broadcast TV.
Marcus Smith, CEO of Speedway Motorsports Inc., which controls four dragstrips on which the NHRA races, agreed that the sport needs to improve its TV schedule if it wants to thrive in the years ahead.
“I think ESPN has been very good for the NHRA over the last several years, but the time slots that they’re in are probably the one drawback to what I would say is the current situation,” Smith said. “If they could achieve better time slots on ESPN, that would be outstanding. If they can’t achieve better time slots on ESPN, then I think they’ve got to look at other networks.”
