IndyCar Snubs Bigger Payday for Massive Fox Sports Deal [Video]

IndyCar is set to overhaul its broadcasting strategy in a calculated gamble that seeks to prioritize increased visibility over immediate financial reward. Beginning next year, the American single-seater series will move its media rights from NBC Sports to Fox Sports.

In this context, IndyCar’s decision comes despite having the potential to score a more lucrative deal elsewhere.

“We did not do the deal which would have afforded us the greatest rights fee,” IndyCar CEO Mark Miles said, via Sports Business Journal. “This is the deal that made economic sense but more so was far and away the greatest reach, and that — you could think about it as our willingness to invest by taking less for the growth of the sport through the greater reach.”

IndyCar’s move away from NBC Sports, its broadcast partner for 16 years, marks a big moment for the sport. After all, NBC played an instrumental role in stabilizing …