The rise of NASCAR from a regional sport to national prominence comes with a hefty payoff: nearly US$4.5 billion in rights fees beginning in 2007.
NASCAR announced Wednesday that it had signed eight-year deals with ABC, ESPN, Fox and TNT to split broadcasts of its Nextel Cup series that will bring in more than US$560 million a year. That represents a 40 percent increase over the previous deal with Fox and NBC, a six-year contract from 2001 through 2006 that averaged US$400 million a year.
ABC and ESPN, which return to the sport to replace departing NBC, will pay US$270 million annually to televise 17 of the 36 Cup races, including the final 10 that make up the annual Chase for the Nextel Cup. As part of the deal, ESPN2 will carry races for the second-tier Busch Series as well.
Fox will pay almost US$1.7 billion over eight years beginning in 2007, up from its current six-year, US$1.2 billion deal. Fox will televise 13 races, including the Daytona 500, which it now splits annually with NBC. NASCAR is retaining TNT, which will broadcast six races for US$80 million to US$85 million a year.
"The bottom line is, NASCAR is a national sport with very large ratings," George Bodenheimer, ESPN and ABC Sports president, said Wednesday in a conference call with reporters. "Secondly, obviously the sport is extremely fan-friendly and sponsor-friendly. We're very bullish on the sales prospects of this property."
More bullish than NBC, which finishes its six-year, US$1.2 billion deal after 2006. Although NBC had exclusive rights to renegotiate a contract, it opted against renewing because of losses under the current deal.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
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