NBC Sports may have lost the IndyCar rights to FOX Sports last week ahead of next season under the series’ new multi-year TV rights cycle, but they did successfully retain the IMSA SportsCar Championship rights however for another few years. Nothing much will change other than the fact there will be up to 17 hours of screen time on the free-to-air NBC channel per year (50% up from what we see right now) with the rest including its support categories and on-demand content being on Peacock.
So it looks like most of the races including the 2 hour and 45 minutes ones and key portions of the long-distance endurance races – such as the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring, 6 Hours at Watkins Glen and 8-Hour Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta will all be happening on NBC. Although nothing is guaranteed like FOX promised to IndyCar when they will have all races live free-to-air from next year while NBC wanted to keep the IndyCar rights by having nearly all races for free & only a handful ending up elsewhere in which the series said no, there’s still a possibility that we could see just a handful Premier Class races going behind a paywall on Peacock and maybe on cable via USA Network like we see with IndyCar at the moment.
Speaking of IMSA on cable, they still should get some air time with some of long-distance endurance races as above but no word at this stage as to whether or not if the taped support race encores/highlights will continue during the following weekend of each round, etc – especially for viewers who is still around as some have already cut the cord in recent years for streaming. They used to do it quite frequently when NBCSN was there a few years back before it was shut down two years ago & the network barely shows motorsport encore/highlights these days with USA Network & CNBC already have their own time filler like USA’s endless marathons of second-run syndicated dramas as well as CNBC’s daily financial/business coverage.
And lastly who will still be around for NBC’s IMSA coverage? Leigh Diffey is one of them who has been around sportscars for a long time and will be back to commentate the early rounds of next season including the 24 Hours of Daytona but is expected to be given the reigns though as the network’s leading NASCAR Cup Series announcer during the second half season. Yes, they haven’t made the announcement yet as official but still likely to happen after the Olympics in September with Rick Allen to fully focus on Xfinity when the CW gets the early Playoff access and for Diffey to come in at the right time during Cup day.
When Leigh is on other commitments, Dave Burns has been filling in every now and then including Brian Till who is also an analyst having competed in CART back in the early 90s. Calvin Fish has always been a mainstay as the leading sports car analyst also for a long time as no doubt he and Leigh will continue their long-running partnership together for another few years. It remains to be seen though if Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe will stick around where both of them have always been around in IndyCar but it looks like they will both likely move on considering Hinch has also done some Formula 1 work from time to time & Townsend barely appeared on the network beyond IndyCar. Then on pit road, there’s no doubt Matt Yocum will be there for the most part including some from NASCAR on an occasional basis like Dillon Welch and Marty Snider.
All in all, it wasn’t a difficult deal for NBC to renew their commitment with IMSA when the US sports car series is also run by NASCAR. You could tell they could get the World Endurance Championship rights that includes the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans race but it seems TNT Sports via Warner Bros Discovery has kept them in great hands for the time being, especially when they use their sister Eurosport English-language commentary feed from Europe for every round on Motor Trend.
If IMSA did move to TNT, they would be the whole home of sports car racing but then it wouldn’t go down well when it comes to the overall reach with no free-to-air presence while the series has so many different manufacturers in the books & there’s no way IMSA would want to accept that. For now, NBC still has the 2nd half NASCAR Cup races, IMSA & dirt bike racing.
