The High-Stakes Race for F1's U.S. TV Rights: Netflix, ESPN, and the Future of Broadcasting
Since Liberty Media completed its acquisition of Formula One in 2017, the United States has been pinpointed as the sport's most crucial growth market. Historically, F1 struggled to gain significant traction in a country dominated by NASCAR, IndyCar, and other major sports leagues. Fast forward eight years, and the landscape is dramatically different. F1 now boasts three races on American soil — the established United States Grand Prix in Austin, the glamorous Miami Grand Prix, and the high-profile Las Vegas Grand Prix. American manufacturer interest has surged with commitments from Ford and Cadillac, and the sport has experienced an undeniable boom in popularity across the nation.
Much of this newfound success is widely attributed to the impact of Drive to Survive, the Netflix docuseries that premiered in 2019. The show offered an unprecedented behind-the-scenes look at the teams, drivers, and politics of Formula 1, captivating a new generation of fans in the U.S. and beyond. It transformed drivers into household names and demystified a sport often perceived as complex and inaccessible.
Now, as F1's broadcast rights in the United States approach their renewal deadline at the end of the year, the stage is set for a potentially transformative bidding war. With Netflix reportedly considering a bid, alongside incumbent ESPN and other potential entrants like Amazon and Apple, the outcome of the next TV deal could significantly reshape the sport's trajectory in the U.S. — and its financial valuation. The current estimated rights fee of $90 million per year is widely seen as a baseline that is destined for a substantial increase.
François Godard, a senior media analyst for Enders, highlighted the significant potential upside. “The price is so low, it can only go up really substantially,” Godard told The Athletic, underscoring the market's belief that F1's U.S. rights are currently undervalued given the sport's recent surge in popularity.
The ESPN Era: Building a Foundation
When F1 transitioned to its current U.S. broadcast partner, ESPN, in 2018, the sport's position in the country was vastly different. The United States Grand Prix in Austin was the sole American race, and its future had occasionally seemed uncertain due to fluctuating attendance and funding challenges. The idea of hosting three races in the U.S. felt like a distant dream when merely sustaining one was a struggle.
NBC had held the U.S. rights since 2013, but negotiations for renewal broke down partly due to F1's plans to launch its own direct-to-consumer streaming service, F1 TV. ESPN stepped in, securing the rights initially for free on a three-year agreement. This deal was crucial as it kept F1 on a major American television network, utilizing the commentary and broadcast feed from Sky Sports in the UK, while simultaneously allowing F1 TV to launch and cater to dedicated fans seeking additional content and features.
ESPN's initial viewership figures reflected F1's niche status at the time. The network drew an average audience of 554,000 fans in its first year (2018), followed by 672,000 in 2019 and 608,000 in the pandemic-affected 2020 season. However, the landscape shifted dramatically. The widespread success of Drive to Survive during lockdown periods, coupled with the intense and dramatic 2021 championship battle between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen that went down to the final lap, ignited a surge in TV figures. Viewership reached a record average high of 1.2 million in 2022.
While viewership has slightly plateaued in the past two seasons, averaging 1.1 million viewers per race, these figures remain significantly higher than the pre-pandemic era. However, they still lag behind markets like the UK, which has a much smaller population but saw average viewership of 1.7 million on Sky Sports in 2022. Sky's deal for the UK rights is reportedly worth over $250 million per year and runs until 2029, highlighting the disparity in valuation compared to the U.S. market.
ESPN's most recent F1 renewal, signed in October 2022, saw the rights fee increase to an estimated $90 million per year. Crucially, this three-year deal was agreed upon before the full impact of F1's expanded U.S. footprint was realized. The Miami Grand Prix only debuted in May 2022, and the Las Vegas Grand Prix joined the calendar in November 2023. These new races, particularly Miami and Las Vegas, have brought significant attention, celebrity engagement, and commercial opportunities to the sport in the U.S.
The relatively short duration of the current deal gave F1 the flexibility to observe and capitalize on the sport's burgeoning success in the United States. With a secure presence across three major markets, a growing and increasingly diverse fanbase, and heightened interest from American sponsors and technology companies, F1 is now in a prime position to command a significantly higher price for its U.S. broadcast rights.
A substantial increase in the U.S. rights fee would be a major boon for F1 and, consequently, for the 10 teams competing in the championship. Media rights represent one of F1's primary revenue streams, alongside race promotion fees and sponsorship deals. In 2023, F1's total revenue reached $2.56 billion, with $1.215 billion distributed to the teams as prize money. A rise in overall revenue directly translates to increased income for the teams, making the outcome of the U.S. TV deal negotiations a topic of intense interest throughout the paddock.
Netflix's Shifting Strategy: From Documentaries to Live Events
Netflix's potential bid for F1 rights signals a notable evolution in its approach to live sports broadcasting. For years, the streaming giant seemed hesitant to enter the costly and competitive world of live sports rights, preferring its documentary-style content like Drive to Survive.
In 2022, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos expressed reservations about the profitability of acquiring major live sports packages. Speaking at a conference, Sarandos stated that Netflix had “not seen a profit path to renting big sports,” emphasizing that the company was “not anti-sports, we’re just pro-profit.”
However, Netflix's stance has visibly shifted since then. The company has made significant moves into live events, particularly in sports-adjacent or one-off spectacles. It secured a 10-year deal to exclusively broadcast WWE Raw, which commenced recently. It also streamed the highly anticipated boxing match between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul, which Netflix reported attracted an international audience exceeding 108 million viewers. Further solidifying its live sports ambitions, Netflix acquired exclusive rights for the FIFA Women’s World Cup in both 2027 and 2031. In a clear indication of its strategic direction, Netflix hired Kate Jackson, formerly ESPN’s vice president of production, as its new director of sports in November.
Perhaps the most high-profile example of Netflix's foray into live sports was its deal to show two NFL games on Christmas Day last year. This marked the beginning of a three-year agreement reportedly worth $150 million per season. The event was amplified by a halftime show featuring Beyoncé during the second game, transforming the broadcast into a major cultural moment. The two games became the most-watched NFL matchups ever on a streaming service in the U.S., averaging 24 million viewers, with the Ravens-Texans game peaking at 27 million during the halftime performance.
“I think (Netflix) liked very much what they did,” Godard commented, referring to the NFL Christmas games. “They say they want eventful sporting competitions and they did a great job at making this an event at Christmas with Beyoncé. And I think what they may like with Formula One is that it is an eventful thing.” F1 has increasingly positioned itself as more than just a race series, encouraging promoters to incorporate concerts and entertainment around race weekends and experimenting with broadcast enhancements like the driver introductions in Miami or the ‘opening ceremony’ in Las Vegas. This emphasis on spectacle, coupled with the sport's growing celebrity appeal, aligns with Netflix's apparent interest in 'eventful' programming. Furthermore, Netflix possesses valuable insights into the F1 audience profile thanks to the success of Drive to Survive.
However, some analysts remain cautious about Netflix's willingness to commit to a full season-long sports package like F1, which differs significantly from the one-off events or specific league deals it has pursued thus far. Pierre Maes, a media rights consultant, noted that Netflix and other streamers have typically focused on more contained sporting events rather than the extensive, season-long competitions traditionally broadcast by larger networks.
“Of course, on paper, Netflix is interested,” Maes told The Athletic. “They have been doing Drive to Survive and everybody thinks, OK, it’s a natural follow-up to this move as Drive to Survive has been so successful.” Yet, Maes expressed skepticism about Netflix's appetite for a direct bidding war. “But I don’t think they want to participate in an auction where they would compete against ESPN and maybe Apple or Amazon and drive the prices up. They don’t want to do that, that’s clear.”
Maes also questioned whether F1's current U.S. audience size — averaging around one million viewers per grand prix — is substantial enough to meet Netflix's typical scale requirements. “That is definitely not a big sport,” he stated, suggesting Netflix might prefer properties like the NFL Christmas game that draw tens of millions. “That said, I think that if there is an opportunity for them to maybe buy these rights at what they consider to be a very good price, I think they might go for it, that’s for sure,” Maes conceded, but concluded, “But, today, I would say no.”
David Murray, another media rights expert, offered a different perspective, suggesting F1 could serve as a relatively cost-effective way for Netflix to experiment with broadcasting an entire season. “They haven’t really done any long-term sport over the course of a season,” Murray told The Athletic. “So it’s a good experiment for them to see how it does.”
Despite the speculation and recent moves, Netflix's leadership continues to reiterate a cautious approach to full-season sports rights. As recently as two weeks prior to the article's publication, Ted Sarandos reiterated in an investor call that while live events are part of their expansion, the economics of full-season, big-league sports remain “extremely challenging.” He stated, “So if there was a path where we can actually make the economics work for both us and the league, we certainly would explore. But right now, we believe that the live events business is where we really want to be and sports is a very important part of that, but it is a part of that expansion.” This suggests that while Netflix is open to opportunities, a full-scale bidding war for F1 might still be outside their preferred strategy unless the terms are exceptionally favorable.
The Competitive Landscape: Beyond Netflix and ESPN
The question surrounding the next F1 U.S. TV deal is not *if* the rights fee will increase, but by how much, and critically, which media companies will ultimately be involved in the bidding process. Ian Holmes, F1’s director of media rights, was recently in the United States for preliminary discussions with potential broadcast partners, timing his visit with the Super Bowl, a major event for U.S. sports media.
While ESPN's exclusivity period for negotiation has concluded, the network is a natural contender to renew its partnership, seeking to build upon the significant audience growth it has fostered since 2018.
Amazon has also previously shown interest in F1 rights before ESPN's last renewal. Given its extensive Prime Video streaming service and its existing investments in sports content (like Thursday Night Football in the NFL), Amazon remains a potential bidder with significant financial capacity.
Apple also has a tangential connection to the sport, currently producing an F1-themed movie starring Brad Pitt. While primarily a content producer, Apple has also ventured into sports broadcasting, notably with MLS Season Pass, making it another potential, albeit perhaps less likely, entrant into the F1 rights race.
Traditional broadcasters are also making strategic moves in the motorsports and streaming space. Fox, for instance, expanded its motorsports portfolio in 2025 by acquiring the rights to IndyCar. NBC has increasingly leveraged its Peacock streaming service, placing NFL games and other sports content exclusively on the platform. These moves indicate that traditional players are also adapting to the evolving media landscape and could be interested in adding a property like F1.
Godard characterized F1 as a “cool and young” sport, making it a “very exciting product” for potential broadcasters. Its appeal extends commercially through advertising opportunities. He reiterated that the current estimated $90 million figure is “peanuts” for a global sport featuring 24 races, many of which occur during the summer months when major U.S. sports like the NFL and NBA are in their off-season. He drew a comparison to the reported $1.8 billion per year that Amazon is expected to pay for a share of the NBA rights starting in the 2025-26 season, illustrating the vast sums involved in top-tier sports broadcasting.
While forecasting the exact increase is challenging, Godard believes the fee could go “much higher” than the last deal, potentially reaching “Hundreds of millions, yes,” suggesting it could more than double. Maes, however, remained more skeptical, noting the difficulty in discerning genuine interest from negotiating tactics. “It’s difficult to see at this stage what part is the rightsholder’s bulls— and what part is the truth,” he remarked, adding, “I would bet on rightsholder’s bulls—, to be fair.”
The Audience Dilemma: Reach vs. Revenue
One significant trade-off that sports leagues and broadcasters face when considering a shift to streaming platforms is the potential impact on audience size and reach. While streaming services can offer lucrative deals and access to a different demographic, they may not yet command the same broad, instantaneous reach as traditional linear television broadcasts.
Netflix's experience with the NFL Christmas games illustrated this point. While the games set streaming viewership records, their average audience of 24 million was still lower than the over 29 million viewers who watched the previous year's Christmas Day games on traditional networks like CBS and Fox. This suggests that moving content exclusively to a streaming platform, even one as large as Netflix, can result in a smaller overall audience compared to widespread cable or broadcast availability.
F1 has worked diligently to cultivate its audience in the United States, and it will be wary of making a move that could jeopardize that hard-won growth. The Miami Grand Prix last year, broadcast on ABC, set a record for a live U.S. F1 TV audience, averaging 3.1 million viewers. However, this figure likely benefited significantly from being broadcast on a major network immediately following an NBA playoff game (Game 7 between the Orlando Magic and Cleveland Cavaliers), which drew an average of 4.32 million viewers, according to Sports Media Watch. Such a powerful lead-in is a major advantage of traditional broadcast partnerships that streaming services cannot easily replicate.
Despite the potential for a dip in overall viewership, Maes suggested that sports leagues might prioritize financial gain over audience numbers once a certain threshold is met. “If the rights holder gets good money, (I’m) not so sure that it’s really interested in the viewing (figures), you know?” he posited, implying that maximizing the rights fee could be the primary driver, even if it means reaching a slightly smaller, but perhaps more engaged or digitally-native, audience.
Strategic Considerations and the Future Outlook
All these factors — the sport's growth, the entry of streaming giants, the financial potential, and the audience implications — will weigh heavily on F1's decision-making process during negotiations. Competition for the rights appears inevitable, driven by F1's undeniable surge in U.S. popularity. While F1's viewing figures may still be modest compared to established American sports behemoths, the relative cost of the rights is also lower, making it an attractive property for broadcasters looking to expand their sports offerings.
If F1's primary objective is to capitalize financially on the current wave of American interest, now is undoubtedly the opportune moment. A serious bid from Netflix would necessitate a significant departure from its stated preference for one-off events and a willingness to engage in a potentially expensive bidding war against established players like ESPN and deep-pocketed tech rivals like Amazon and Apple.
Regardless of which specific broadcasters ultimately participate in the auction, the influence of streaming services on the negotiation is likely to be substantial. F1's demographic — often younger and more digitally savvy — is highly appealing to streaming platforms. Furthermore, a full-season property like F1 can contribute to subscriber “stickiness,” as Murray noted, encouraging users to maintain their subscriptions throughout the year rather than signing up for a single event.
Murray also speculated that if the U.S. deal were to land with a major streaming company, it could pave the way for future considerations of global rights packages, moving away from F1's traditional territory-by-territory approach. “You can see these big streaming companies clearly have spending power that your traditional broadcaster doesn’t have,” he observed, highlighting the potential for streaming giants to reshape the global sports media landscape.
The upcoming negotiation for F1's U.S. broadcast rights carries far greater weight than previous deals. Given the strategic importance of the U.S. market to Liberty Media's vision for the sport, the outcome will be critical not only for F1's financial health but also for its continued growth and accessibility in a key region. Whether the races are ultimately shown on traditional television via ESPN or find a new home on a streaming platform like Netflix or Amazon, the decision will shape how millions of American fans experience Formula 1 for years to come.
