Report: After 2025, ESPN will relinquish its F1 rights

The partnership between Formula 1 racing and ESPN is nearing its end.

ESPN will not seek the U.S. broadcast rights to Formula One when the network’s media agreement expires following the 2025 season, according to a report published by Puck News on Friday.

Entering the last year of a three-year deal, ESPN has been broadcasting Formula One races since 2018. The network pays around $90 million a season for the media rights.

Even though ESPN had predicted last autumn that other networks would submit rival bids, the anticipated split still occurs.

“There was (competition) the last time around, and it’s kind of the downside of doing what we do really well and bringing a larger audience to these events and the success we’ve added,” ESPN’s director of programming and acquisitions John Suchenski told Front Office Sports in August of last year.

“Unfortunately, the nature of the business is to create more demand and more competition.”

According to Front Office Sports, NBC Sports and Netflix are possible substitutes after meeting with Formula One last week.

F1 was televised by NBC Sports from 2012 to 2017, and Netflix’s “Drive to Survive” documentary series, which will debut its seventh season next month, has contributed to the sport’s increased appeal in the United States.

A record 1.21 million people watched each race on average on ESPN in 2022, but that figure fell to 1.1 million in 2023 and remained there in 2024.

The 2025 Formula One season starts on March 16 in Melbourne and stops at Miami on May 4, Austin, Texas on October 19, and Las Vegas on November 22.