February 22, 2005
Sirius Gets NASCAR in 2007
Sirius announced today it will broadcast NASCAR starting in 2007. In an exclusive 5 year deal, Sirius will pay NASCAR a whopping $107.5 million. XM Radio currently has NASCAR from a deal done in 2000. From the following quotes, it looks like XM is crying sour grapes for being out-bid on this contract. Go big or go home. And this is coming from an XM subscriber. What's the difference from losing $20 million more a year vs. a few hundred million they alreay lose a year? Sometimes I don't get business [tongue firmly in cheek]."We are disappointed that we were unable to reach an agreement on extending our arrangement with NASCAR beyond the 2006 season," said XM spokesman Chance Patterson. "Certainly this deal will fuel the ongoing debate about the cost of sports programing across all media." Both XM and Sirius, money-losing companies not expected to turn a profit for several years, have signed expensive deals to broadcast professional sports. XM last year signed a $650 million deal to broadcast Major League Baseball, while Sirius will pay $230 million for National Football League games.
