Steve Martin and John Candy did “Trains, Planes, and Automobiles”, today we get cars, boats, and horses.
At 1 PM Qualifying starts at the Miami Formula 1,
At 2:30 PM the first race of the SailGP Grand Final in San Francisco
At 3:45 PM the Kentucky Derby.
(all times PDT)
Last year the Miami F1 race drew 2.6 million viewers on ABC. It seems that everyone works the numbers pretty hard, so I don’t know if that is 2.6 million over the entire weekend or what. ESPN paid $5 million per year through 2022, and has renewed their deal through 2025, presumably for a larger number.
Last year CBS drew 1.6 million viewers for the SailGP grand final - even though it was not broadcast live. This year it will also be delayed by a week, airing at 10 AM, Saturday, May 13th. Who paid whom and how much has not been reported. You can watch the racing live today on YouTube where 740,000 people have watched last years livestream.
Last year 16 million people watched the Kentucky Derby on NBC. The race only lasts 2 minutes, but NBC somehow delivers over 7 hours of coverage. NBC paid $9 million for the broadcast rights for 2022, also a number that is presumed to be larger for this year. The purse is $3 million and betting is expected to be close to $200 million.
Today’s Kentucky Derby winner will probably already be earning stud fees tomorrow when the F1 race and the SailGP Grand Final run.
Links and Resources
More about the ESPN/ABC/Disney broadcast deal for US TV: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/23/espn-and-f1-announce-new-us-broadcast-deal-through-2025.html
More about the Kentucky Derby:
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