WHY SUPERCARS CAN’T SPILL SEASON INTO 2021

Supercars plans to run into 2021 vetoed – Photo: LAT

Supercars’ plan to extend this season into early next year was vetoed by primary broadcast rights holder Fox Sports.

By MARK FOGARTY

AUTO ACTION has been reliably informed that the pay TV network opposed running the final two rounds in NZ in January and Bathurst in February without a new deal from 2021.

Supercars has yet to secure a broadcast agreement to replace the existing six-year $241 million contract, which finishes this year.

Fox Sports is the front-runner to renew, but negotiations are stalled on the price and duration of the extension.

Also, a free-to-air TV partner has yet to be finalised, although the Seven Network is in talks to take over from Network 10.

As well as the contractual complication, AA understands that Fox Sports doesn’t want Supercars running deep into the summer sports season.

The revised calendar has the series running at Sandown on December 12-13, then in NZ – at either Pukekohe or Hampton Downs – on January 9-10, with the finale at Mount Panorama on February 5-7.

According to a high-level source, Fox Sports wasn’t consulted on extending the disrupted 2020 season into early ’21.

Fox Sports, a division of subscription TV platform Foxtel, will accept the series running into very late in the year.

The new finale is set to be a return to Sydney Motorsport under lights on December 12-13.

Among the sticking points of the broadcast rights bargaining is Supercars supremo Sean Seamer’s desire to turn the series into a summer sport.

Spilling the championship into early 2021 because of the coronavirus crisis was seen as a first step towards shifting Supercars to an NZ-style September/October to March/April season across two calendar years.

While the conventional wisdom is that switching to a ‘summer’ season would remove Supercars from running against the AFL and NRL, sports broadcasting experts point out that viewership in the warmer months drops dramatically.

Only the traditional cricket and tennis seasons draw big TV audiences.

Our informant maintained that Fox Sports wanted Supercars to continue as a predominantly ‘winter’ sport, with marquee events either side of the major football codes’ seasons, to attract maximum viewers.

It was also suggested that a second Supercars event at Bathurst would be confusing to the public, which identifies with the October classic.

Primarily, though, keeping Supercars in its traditional March to November – or thereabouts – season is more financially viable for a broadcaster than a cross-calendar schedule.

When major calendar-year motorsports – Supercars, F1, MotoGP and IndyCars – are combined, racing is Fox Sports’ biggest annual drawcard.

This, the source asserted, is the real reason Supercars has had to back down from extending the disrupted season into early next year.

Fox Sports ruled it out for contractual and viewership concerns.

Driver and sponsor contract problems were also factors.

But the main resistance was Fox Sports amid contract renewal talks and opposition to Supercars moving to a summer season.

It has been reported that the series will return to Sydney Motorsport Park for a night-time finale on December 12-13, replacing the Sandown round, which would be rescheduled earlier.

Supercars has a contractual obligation to end the championship in NSW.

It looked at Bathurst in early February – the slot allocated to the Bathurst 12 Hour, which it also runs – to replace the cancelled Newcastle 500 as the season-closer.

SMP will host the heavily restricted resumption of racing in two weeks.

NZ is set to be cancelled until later next year, while the proposed Bathurst sprint racing round in February could become a special event – especially as the 12 hour is threatened by international border controls.

Whether it could become the first round of the 2021 season is debatable as the Adelaide 500, in the final year of its existing deal, has the contractual right to be the opening event.

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