NASCAR's new TV contract -- goodbye ESPN

Exactly. If ABC/ESPN offered the high amount of money, Billy France would be saying the same things about them as he's saying today about NBC/NBC Sports. As usual with NA$CAR, it's all about the money.
Curt Cavin had an interesting story in Indy Star today about the potential impact on IndyCar. IndyCar leaders might be tempted to get out of their current 10-year deal with NBC Sports and help ESPN fill its void, but Cavin suggested staying on NBC Sports could actually help the series as the network becomes known as the motorsports channel. It's a good point, one that reminds me a lot of how covering racing helped ESPN grow in the first place during the 1980s.

 

With all the auto racing inventory, it might make sense to launch a replacement for Speed.

 

Notre Dame will be the Sprint Cup favorite.

 

Why wouldn't it be?

Fox Sports and NBC Sports are making all the right moves now to challenge ESPN by, say, 2020. ESPN has played its hand as though it's invincible, and at the moment, it is. That may not last.

 

So Fox Sports reshuffles its lineups to create Fox Sports 1 but NBC now has pieces of sports Fox once had dedicated channels for. SPEED will become FS1 and NBC's purchase of the rights to the Premier League essentially killed off Fox Soccer, which won't even be a sports channel anymore come August 17.

 

Throw the NHL into the mix, and NBCSN look better poised to challenge the WWL over Fox.

 

Fox has the cable clearance now. Speed, which will become Fox Sports 1, is in millions more homes than NBC Sports Network.

 

NBC has 17 or 18 NFL games a season. Fox has at least 30 TV slots. Fox also has far superior college football rights. And Fox has baseball and college basketball.

NBC is not particularly close.

 

IndyCar would have to be all kinds of dumb to try to jump networks because it feels like it won't get enough attention. Being part of a network that is so dedicated to racing can only help. Of course, given IndyCar is usually all kinds of dumb, I expect it to try to break the NBC deal any time now.

 

Will Brad Daugherty start doing college basketball games for ESPN with NASCAR going away?

 

Not a racing fan, but in the overall picture I am really impressed with what NBC Sports has done in an attempt to build a legitimate cable network. Really started with Versus, or OLN as it was once known. Getting the NHL package seemed like the first big step. But, to their credit, they really didn't stop there, adding cycling, Major League Soccer, college football, basketball and hockey and other stuff.

In the end, viewers will find what interests them. If you're a racing fan, you're going to find where the races are. If you're not, chances are you're not going to watch just because it's on. When I was young a generation ago and there were only 3-4 channels, we actually did watch stuff just because "it was on". Now, with 100+ channels, everyone gets to pick and choose.

 

They own the market for niche sports.