As reported

Business news

April 13, 2025

Formula 1 Liberty Media seeks to sell an American television package for $ 150 million up to $ 180 million a year, reports Wall Street Journal. This is almost twice as much as ESPN is estimated now to broadcast sport.

Formula 1 Liberty Media seeks to sell the mass media package for $ 150 million to $ 180 million a year, A A Wall Street Journal Report.

This is not an official requested price but as reported Journal. The new contract is scheduled to start from the 2026 season.

Freedom did not respond to a comment request.

Since 2018, Formula 1 is aired on the US on ESPN, which originally received the translation of free after NBC decided to give up its lengthening 4 million dollars deal.

Once the Liberty Media acquired the formula -1 in 2017, it preferred to expand it to the US, sports added American directions to its chain in Miami, Las Vegas and Austin, Texas, while Netflix documents A trip to survive It was also a hit among American audiences.

This helped increase US viewers F1, which increased more than 550,000 in 2018 to 1.2 million in 2022 when ESPN laid AA Three -year extension At the price, which was estimated at $ 75 million-90 million a year.

ESPN’s rights to broadcast f1 expire at the end of the 2025 season, and a company owned Dysne refused to negotiate further during his exclusive window, according to Journal.

Moreover The washer news It is reported that Disney will not continue the new deal as soon as it is over. But the CEO of F1 Stefan Dameney said in February Call profit Which, although the exclusive negotiation period took place, the discussions continued.

“The fact that at the end of the period of exclusivity they did not create on the official proposal does not mean that the discussions do not go forward,” the domain said. “In fact, it’s the opposite. So there is still a lot of discussions to try to find the best solution.”

ESPN refused to comment Wealth About your talks with F1.

The F1 Media Rights Package is estimated at more than $ 100 million a year, but not at $ 180 million in Liberty Media, the AMPere Analysis research firm reports.

This is the way the viewers decreased slightly from 1.2 million in 2022 to 1.1 million in 2024, according to Nielsen data referring to Journal.

For comparison, this figure is 26% less than the average baseball game ESPN lighting on baseball on Sunday. ESPN has been reportedly paying $ 550 million for the season for the Major League Baseball Rights, although this agreement ends at the end of 2025.

Other major leagues in the United States have signed deals on Bombshell TV. In particular, last year the National Basketball Association signed a $ 2.6 billion agreement with Disney. And in 2021 the National Football League made a deal with CBS, Disney, FoxNbc, and Amazon It costs more than $ 11 billion a year.

Despite the fact that the F1 attracts the attention of international, the racing for American viewers is not optimal, many start at midnight on Sunday morning.

Liberty Media CEO Derek Chang said he was seeking to increase the impact of fans along with the search for the most profitable transaction, but he recognizes the displays of the media.

“The whole world of the media is a very current situation,” Chang said Journal.

Originally this story was presented on Fortune.com