NASCAR CEO Steve O’Donnell said bringing TNT Sports and CBS Sports together under Skydance has the potential to provide “new exposure” for the series. O’Donnell, appearing on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Tuesday, noted it has been important to “expose the sport to new audiences,” adding Fox has been a “terrific partner” and Amazon has brought in a “younger fan base.” With those media partners, along with Versant, there are a “lot of different areas where people can learn the sport.” He also noted the second-tier series, the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, is on The CW. O’Donnell said he spoke with Skydance Chair & CEO David Ellison about the future of media rights, with Ellison noting the “barbell approach where you’ve got streaming, cable, network.” O’Donnell said that is a “really good place for us to be to expose the sport” in the short term. He added, “Longer term, we’ll see where it goes.” O’Donnell said he does not believe the racing governing body wants to “go all streaming right away, but we want to make sure that we’re in front of as many eyeballs as possible.” O’Donnell: “That’s not just our current partners, but [we’ve] got to be on YouTube, got to be in places that younger fans may be tuning in or people are being exposed to the sport” (“Squawk Box,” CNBC, 10/13).
