Network has big plans despite not having TV rights after ’14
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Although ESPN will not televise NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races beginning next season, officials said Tuesday the network expects to continue to provide timely content to fans for 2015 and beyond.
“I don’t think you’ll see much of a change,” said Rich Feinberg, vice president, motorsports, production for the Bristol, Connecticut-based group. “We obviously won’t be doing the races, but in terms of serving the interests of fans with our news and information coverage, we’re full-steam ahead.”
ABC/ESPN ends an eight-year run of NASCAR race coverage at the close of 2014, during which time the company aired the second half of each season’s races.
FOX returns next year and will continue to air the first half of the season while NBC will replace ABC/ESPN. Races previously aired by TNT in the middle of the year will be split between FOX and NBC groups.
With ESPN not a part of the TV package going forward, many have wondered how the network would handle NASCAR news, or if it would abandon the sport altogether.
“I can assure those asking the question and all fans out there that we’re going to continue to cover NASCAR across all our news and information platforms in a very significant way,” Feinberg said. “We don’t have rights agreements with many different sports out there, but SportsCenter has an obligation to their fans to cover all sports.”
Feinberg said recent announcements that will keep former driver Ricky Craven, now an analyst, and reporter Marty Smith in-house is a clear indication that NASCAR remains relevant to the network.
“We obviously have a lot of outlets for all our content, both over the air, cable, digital, dot‑com, et cetera,” he said. “Our plans are to fulfill the interests of NASCAR fans who watch all our news and information programming, and I can tell you I personally have already been involved in our planning for coverage for the Daytona 500 in 2015 next year.”
ESPN will air the season’s last two races — this weekend’s event from Phoenix International Raceway that will determine the four drivers contending for the championship, as well as the Championship Round finale in Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 16.
“When we last left you Sunday night at Texas, all hell was breaking loose at the race track, and you know, no one knows what’s going to happen this week going into Phoenix,” Feinberg said. “But with eight drivers separated by only 18 points and none of the finalists determined yet, tune in … because I think it’s going to be one heck of a show and one heck of a shootout. That’s our focus and we’re really, really looking forward to it.”
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