How IndyCar, Fox each win in deal that gives media giant minority ownership

Think about it like doubling down a bet.

One year after Fox Corp. won the broadcasting rights for the IndyCar Series—and subsequently poured millions of dollars into commercials and additional coverage—the company last week acquired a one-third stake in the racing series’ owner, Penske Entertainment.

Executives, team officials and industry experts told IBJ they believe the Fox investment will help IndyCar better compete for fans in an increasingly crowded sports landscape.

The deal also provides the league its first outside capital infusion since Roger Penske acquired it, along with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, in 2020 for a reported $250 million to $300 million. According to The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources, Fox paid $125 million to $135 million for its minority stake in Penske Entertainment; IBJ has not independently verified that information.

Just as important, the move gives the publicly traded Fox—which owns Fox Sports—a potential say in the IndyCar schedule, which it could seek to reshape to maximize national exposure and reach new audiences.

“It’s exciting, and it’s good timing for IndyCar,” said David Pierce, a professor of sports business at Indiana University Indianapolis. “It looks like that [original] deal got off to a really strong start. Having a media partner with a literal investment or vested interest in the success of the league is good. And it’s certainly unexpected.”

IndyCar officials declined to comment for this story. Fox also declined to comment, deferring to IndyCar.

Announced July 31, the deal gives New York City-based Fox only a stake in Penske Entertainment. The agreement does not affect Team Penske or other parts of the Penske Corp. empire.

According to IndyCar, the Fox media rights deal that began this season has already paid dividends. Viewership is up 31% from 2024, at just more than 2 million viewers per race—due in part to a strong Indianapolis 500. The May 25 race had 7.08 million viewers, its largest audience since 2008 and a 41% increase over last year.

Fox broadcasts for at least five of the last six races, and eight of the 14 so far this season, have failed to reach an average audience of 800,000. (Viewership figures for the July 27 race in Monterrey were not available when this story went to press.)

Before the Fox agreement, IndyCar had an exclusive television contract with NBC that ran from 2019 to 2024, following a split deal between NBC and ABC dating back to 2009.

In the later years of its deal with NBC, the series struggled as owner Comcast shifted lesser-watched races to USA Network. Peacock became home to ancillary coverage such as qualifying and practice sessions.

The Fox deal, which now reportedly runs through 2030, guarantees that all 17 IndyCar races will be broadcast nationally each year.

Larry DeGaris, a professor of sports marketing at Northwestern University, said Fox is demonstrating that the short-term challenges are outweighed by the long-term opportunity to expand the series’ reach.

“I think it highlights both the historic and the current growing importance of sports to the media business ecosystem,” he said. “We’re in a transformative, disruptive period where the television landscape is being shifted.”

DeGaris said that while the NFL remains the dominant player in the industry—it accounts for a majority of the most-watched TV programming annually—there’s room for IndyCar to make its mark.

“IndyCar is not the NFL, but it’s a piece of the puzzle,” he said. “Paid media is a trillion-dollar global business. One percent of that is some real money.”

Jim Kahler, a sports business professor at Cleveland State University, said it’s not clear how IndyCar will use proceeds from the equity sale, but the valuation aligns with sports media growth trends.

“I think it’s running parallel to the other growth that we’re seeing with some of the sports and their media rights,” he said.

Adding validity

Alex Palou, a Chip Ganassi Racing driver who won this year’s Indianapolis 500 and is poised to win the series championship for the fourth time in five seasons, said Fox’s backing could help the series grow.

He said he isn’t certain about the deal’s long-term effects, but he’s confident Fox will bring something unique to the series, especially as it seeks to attract new fans—which Fox has a direct interest in promoting.

Given “how much love [Fox] showed us and how much work and investment they put in” to the series, Palou said, it makes sense that Penske Entertainment would be interested in Fox’s investment.

“It’s going to take, obviously, some time,” Palou said about Fox during a news conference days before Sunday’s Portland, Oregon, race where he could clinch the title. “I cannot wait to see what they’re going to do. I have full trust and full confidence that they are going to do good for our sport.”

IndyCar’s market share remains much smaller than those of Formula One and NASCAR. The Indianapolis-based open-wheel circuit currently receives $30 million annually for its television rights from Fox. NASCAR, by contrast, brings in $1.1 billion from a split schedule involving four broadcasters—Fox Sports, NBC Sports, Amazon Prime and Warner Bros. Discovery—and a separate deal for its second-tier Xfinity Series with The CW Network.

Tony Kanaan, who heads Indianapolis-based Arrow McLaren, a division of England-based McLaren Racing, said Roger Penske rescued the racing series when he bought it from the Hulman family five years ago. The decision to sell a portion of his ownership to Fox, though, amplifies IndyCar’s opportunities, Kanaan said.

“We’re not in jeopardy, but I think we were in jeopardy before Roger bought it—100%,” he said. “Every year, we’ve been doing baby steps, but like everything in the world—but especially racing—you need to elevate, especially when your competitors are growing in different ways.”

Chip Ganassi, owner of Indianapolis-based Chip Ganassi Racing, said the Fox partnership brings some cachet and “validity” to the series, particularly at a time when it continues to grapple with competition from other big brands, including Formula 1 and NASCAR.

Right now, Formula One is rethinking how it handles broadcasts and is looking for ways to build its more globally recognized brand of auto racing in North America. Its deal with ESPN is set to expire soon, and Apple has been pursuing a deal that would be worth about $150 million annually—just for rights to the U.S. market.

“We’re seeing these media companies link up, loosely, with sports properties going forward, and we’re on the front end of that,” Ganassi said. “Hooking up with the Murdoch family [which owns Fox] is never a bad thing, and I don’t think it’ll be a bad thing in terms of a worldwide entertainment property.

“It sort of levels us up with—if not skips a little ahead of—the other racing media properties. It gets us more in line with that.”

Penske Entertainment wasn’t seeking a partner when talks began with Fox, according to a source close to the process. The discussions grew out of the existing broadcast partnership, the source said.

Fox Sports CEO Eric Shanks said in a statement that the investment “underscores our commitment to motorsports and our belief in IndyCar’s continued growth on and off the track. We’re excited to help elevate the sport to new heights across all platforms.”

Shanks, a Brazil, Indiana, native and longtime IndyCar fan, said the move aligns with Fox’s broader goals.

“We’re thrilled to join the IndyCar ownership group at such a pivotal time for the sport,” he said. “IndyCar represents everything we value in live sports—passionate fans, iconic venues, elite competition and year-round storytelling potential.”

Unusual arrangement

It’s rare for a broadcast partner to take an equity stake in a league, but IU Indianapolis’ Pierce said it signals a deeper commitment. While he expects Penske Entertainment to continue handling day-to-day operations, Pierce said Fox might play a larger role in shaping event strategy, including the race schedule, new race locations and fan-engagement efforts.

IndyCar teams and officials have discussed adding races to the season or switching in new locations, including Mexico City or other international spots—changes that could draw additional interest to the series.

Fox also owns a portion of the United Football League, for which it broadcasts games each season.

Media companies owning individual sports teams is not so rare. Comcast owns the Philadelphia Flyers, and Disney previously held stakes in the Anaheim Angels and Anaheim Ducks.

And media partnerships can cut the other way, too. On Monday, the NFL announced it was selling NFL Network, NFL RedZone, NFL Fantasy and other assets to The Walt Disney Co. in exchange for a 10% equity stake in ESPN. The non-binding deal would allow ESPN to license NFL content for use on those platforms.

Cleveland State’s Kahler said the agreement between Fox and IndyCar is “probably a sign of more deals” to come between media companies and sports leagues. He said while a private equity firm will give companies money, that kind of buyer doesn’t often have a platform for direct brand promotion like Fox offers.

That support could help drive attendance and viewership, while also enhancing sponsorship potential.

“If you’re tying in with Fox, and you can find a way to get more exposure through either soft inventory or promotional spots, I think that can only help you drive ticket sales,” Kahler said. “And the key to a sponsorship working is the way you can activate it.”

He said the key metric will be how well Fox continues to promote IndyCar’s full slate of races and how it creates its own avenues for further investment in the series.

“The thing to look at is, within the broadcast, how good a job they will do. They’ve got a bigger stake in the game now to promote the rest of the series,” Kahler said. “If you could duplicate [the Indy 500] and do that across the series, you would have one really hot property. I think Penske has done a good job of growing it, but there’s still room for growth. And having a media power like Fox could be the answer.”•