IMSA announced Friday morning (June 21) that they have signed a multi-year extension of their media rights deal with NBC Sports. As a result, the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, along with IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, the IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge and the one-make championships will remain on the NBC Sports family of networks and on Peacock.
“Our partnership with NBC Sports has produced viewership increases for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship every year from our first year in 2019 through last season,” said IMSA president John Doonan in a press release. “We also have managed to deliver impressive audience growth on Peacock, which is an especially valuable platform for delivering live, flag-to-flag coverage of endurance races to our domestic race fans. We are thrilled to confirm not only an extension of our relationship with NBC Sports, but nearly a 50 percent increase in the number of hours on the NBC broadcast network beginning next year.”
“We’re proud to continue our partnership with IMSA as the home of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and its support series,” said Justin Byczek, NBC Sports’ senior vice president of programming and rights management. “From the Rolex 24 At Daytona to Petit Le Mans, fans will be able to enjoy every moment of IMSA’s high-quality, competitive racing across NBC Sports’ linear and digital platforms for years to come.”
For IMSA, the new deal will see an increased amount of racing on NBC itself. There will be 17 hours a year of live WeatherTech coverage on broadcast television, up from nine in the current deal. No word on which races will get the NBC slots. Like the current deal, all WeatherTech events will stream live on Peacock in addition to the broadcast on either NBC, USA Network or CNBC.
The deal comes as NBC Sports will have big changes in their racing lineup for 2025. They have retained rights to the NASCAR Cup Series, but won’t air as many races. In addition, they lost INDYCAR to FOX Sports starting in 2025.
As a result, there is more space available for IMSA programming to fill in. In addition, there won’t be as many situations where entire WeatherTech races would end up as Peacock exclusives or air via tape-delay.
In addition, the deal comes in an excellent time for IMSA in general as car count is high and interest in the GTP class is substantial. Sports car racing is in a very good position today and NBC Sports has…
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