Matt Johnson
NASCAR initially faced plenty of skepticism and anger from its fan base when it was announced that Amazon Prime Video would stream five Cup Series races per season under the new rights deal. Now two seasons in, fans wishing for more Cup races on Prime Video may eventually get their wish.
NASCAR CEO Steve O’Donnell recently said that Prime Video wishes it had more Cup Series races to stream. However, it’s important to note that the sport’s broadcasting rights deals don’t expire until 2031 and talks on a new deal won’t begin until 2031, per the Sports Business Journal.
NASCAR on Prime Video launched in 2025, with Amazon agreeing to a seven-year deal with the sport for the right to stream five Cup Series races per season. While the move was initially met with skepticism and some fans initially had trouble finding out how to stream practice, qualifying, and races, it’s now a huge hit.
The Jeff Gluck Good Race poll is a testament to that. As the NASCAR analyst for The Athletic has shared, there seems to be a significant boost in the number of fans who vote ‘Yes’ on the poll when the race is streamed on Prime Video.
There are a variety of reasons for Prime Video’s success. Among them, Amazon has shelled out money to bring in Hall of Famers, beloved former drivers and even ex-crew chiefs to provide the best analysis among all of NASCAR’s partners. Furthermore, Prime Video has fewer commercial breaks, better camera angles, delivers better in-race and post-race coverage and delivers a superior experience for the viewer at home.
From Amazon’s perspective, partnering with NASCAR allows it to tap into professional sports at a fraction of the cost of streaming rights for NFL or NBA games. It also means more subscribers, with research showing that a significant percentage of people who subscribe for Prime Video to watch sports stick around.
The issue now, however, is where could NASCAR acquire the broadcasting rights to more Cup Series races. TNT Sports would seem to be the likeliest option, but O’Donnell also revealed that TNT wants more NASCAR races.
However, there could be another potential option in the coming years. The NFL’s asking price for its broadcasting rights continues to skyrocket, leading to reported tension with FOX and its owner Rupert Murdoch. Perhaps, FOX considers selling a few of its races to Amazon for money that it can use to cover the costs of maintaining its NFL package in the years to come. To that point, FOX CEO said it will ‘rebalance‘ its sports portfolio if the NFL’s broadcasting rights fees increase.
That could be exactly the opportunity that Amazon is looking for. It could pick up a handful of more races per season to expand its NASCAR coverage, taking that off FOX’s plate so they can then afford to retain their existing NFL rights. It ultimately could be a win for all parties involved.
