ESPN renewal of Formula 1 coverage is great news for America’s F1 fans.
After seeing its viewership for the past two seasons, the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, known to many simply as ESPN, has extended its contract to cover Formula 1 racing until 2022, The deal was announced shortly before Sunday’s United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas.
ESPN
Six hundred seventy-one thousand viewers have tuned in so far this season, in comparison to the previous year’s total of 561,000 at this time. The former network, NBC Sports Network, ended its contract after 2017 with a final viewer rating at 542,000 before ESPN took over a year later.
The platform for the future of ESPN’s will nearly remain the same, with commercial-free coverage on ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC networks, with live on-air reporting, along with replays available on the ESPN app.
As it has been for the last two seasons, ESPN will rely on coverage by the British Sky Sports network, which also covers the race on the F1 Tv platform. Also beginning in 2020 is the addition of coverage on the ESPN Deportes network, which will be covering F1 races for the Spanish-speaking community.
Sean Bratches (photo, Grandprix.com)
Sean Bratches, Formula 1’s managing director of commercial operations, is pleased with the two-year deal.
“The U.S. is a key focus for growth, and ESPN knows and understands the U.S. sports audience like no one else,” Bratches offered. “The combination of their dedicated coverage and Formula 1’s amazing racing spectacle is a perfect partnership for us to build on our recent success with U.S. audiences.”
Burke Magnus, ESPN’s executive vice president, was thrilled that American audiences have shown more interest in the sport. “When we brought Formula 1 back to ESPN two years ago, we had faith that Formula 1 fans in the United States would support the coverage,” he asserted. “That faith has been rewarded many times over, and we much appreciate how fans have responded in record numbers.”
When ESPN made the last deal it was with the conviction that American fans wouldn’t just watch on television but on other their other platforms. Now, with two more seasons added, America will have more opportunities to view Formula 1 racing.
