WEC, 24 Hours of Le Mans looking for new U.S. television home

The 24 Hours of Le Mans and the WEC will not return to Fox Sports in 2018 and will be looking for a new television partner in the United States.

Sports car racing has been a staple of Fox Sports since the 1990s when current national sports network FS1 was still known as Speedvision. The network has continued to cover the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans through its transition from Speed to FS1, adding its parent series the World Endurance Championship (WEC) along the way. However, neither the round-the-clock race nor the international series will be returning to the networks of Fox Sports in 2018.

As reported by RACER.com, Fox Sports informed the series and the French producers of the Le Mans race in June 2017 that they would not be renewing their contract. This news came even before the WEC announced their 2018-19 “super season”, as part of their transition from a traditional schedule to being run as a winter series. This leaves the top international sports car division looking for a new American television home for the coming season.

In previous years, Fox Sports has used a variety of their networks, as well as Fox Sports Go, in order to cover all the races of the WEC and all 24 hours of the Le Mans race. FS2 carried the bulk of the load in recent years, with FS1 covering races especially during the breakfast hours when going head-to-head with English Premier League soccer. No word yet from the WEC on who will replace Fox Sports as the new season approaches.

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One of the favorites reported by RACER.com to take over the rights could be Discovery Channel’s Velocity network. A network that in recent years has picked up the rights to Barrett-Jackson Auctions from Fox Sports and highlights of the World Rally Championship, Velocity would have the infrastructure to take on these rights. They are a sister network to European sports network Eurosport, co-owned by Discovery Communications. This could prove important in their coverage of an international series.

Another potential landing spot for rights to the WEC could be the ESPN family of networks. They have already snatched up rights to the Formula One world championship beginning in 2018, and could bolster their coverage of motorsports with another FIA partnership. However, it would be expected that most of the races would then be shifted over to WatchESPN, the ESPN app, and their coming over-the-top (OTT) product.

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Where do you think rights to the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the World Endurance Championship will land in 2018?

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