What are ESPN's plans for F1?

The recent announcement that ESPN was granted the new U.S. broadcast deal for Formula 1 in 2018 ranked high on the surprise scale, but was a little thin on the details.

What kind of coverage can American fans expect to see when they tune in next year? How do ESPN's visions for the sport in the U.S. align with Liberty's? And why did ESPN want F1 back anyway? RACER.com spoke to Burke Magnus, ESPN executive vice president, programming and scheduling, to try to fill in some of the blanks.

Q: ESPN has a long history of broadcasting motorsport, although not so much over the last year or two. Why did this represent the right opportunity to come back?

BURKE MAGNUS: Couple of reasons. One, we were looking for something like this that we could add to our portfolio, [something] that is what I would describe as world-class. Whether that was in the motorsports category or not, we're always on the hunt for world-class sport rights that we feel could draw viewership, which is our job. And it just so happened that the timing was particularly fortuitous for this one.

And frankly, in Sean Bratches we had very close contact with the new administration in Formula 1. Sean is a friend and a former colleague, and conversations progressed pretty quickly and we found interests in being aligned generally. And I'm a [racing] fan personally. So a lot of things lined up pretty quickly.

Q: The timing of the deal is obviously significant, with Liberty having come into the picture and been open about its wish to grow the sport's American footprint. Where does ESPN fit into Liberty's desire to extend F1s' reach in the States?

BM: Sean (below) is obviously intimately familiar with our platforms. We have a broadcast network in ABC that will have several races, we have the top two most distributed sports cable networks in ESPN and ESPN2, we have other platforms like ESPN News and ESPN3, which is our broadband streaming platform that are fully distributed. And I think Sean also understood the synergy with the Walt Disney Company that can be brought to bear, all of which would be pretty powerful in his effort to put Formula 1 top of mind, I'll say, in the U.S.

Q: Is the Disney side viewed as an opportunity to put F1 in front of new eyeballs?

BM: Yes. Outside of sports, and whether that's through ABC or potential Disney opportunities with our theme parks, or cruise lines, or movie studios ... none of this has been determined or completely fleshed out at this point, but the opportunity is to integrate Formula 1 across the variety of assets that the Disney operates is pretty spectacular.

Q: What will a typical race broadcast look like? When a fan tunes in for the Australian GP next March, what can they expect?

BM: Again, we are just rolling up our sleeves in terms of the presentation, so many, many, many details still need to be worked out. But we would like to [cater to] avid fans, and in certain ways to be determined, be a vehicle for new fans to sample and experience F1 in a way that pulls them in.

That's a very tricky dynamic in our business, so I don't want to set off any alarms because our primary role here is to document the competition at the highest possible level, and that's our mission. But at the same time, Formula 1's priority is to grow the fan base in the United States. I know they'll have several levers in the media upon which to potentially pull here; one of them would be exposing the product to more fans and creating new fans through the experience they have when they get there.

Q: Production-wise, will ESPN do anything to put its own fingerprint on what the viewers see, or will you relying completely on world feed for the entire telecast, including commentary, pre-race and so on?

BM: That's all to be determined at this point. I wish I had an answer for you, but it's all to be determined, unfortunately.

Q: So there is a possibility that there will be some kind of bespoke ESPN element to the telecast?

BM: Yes. That's certainly a possibility.

Q: Are you planning expanded coverage for the North American races?

BM: Yeah, I think it's logical that you'll potentially see unique elements when we're on this continent – Mexico City, Canada, Austin, any additional races that might be added in this territory could obviously be an opportunity. We have a large corporate presence in Brazil, and Latin America is one of our best international territories. We don't have rights down there, but we have resources. So there are those possibilities as well.

Q: My understanding is that F1 has retained some online rights, which was one of the sticking points for [outgoing rights holder] NBC. Do you have any sense of what that content will look like, and how it might sit with what you're broadcasting?

BM: I don't know what it will look like. I believe their plans are to do a Formula 1-specific digital product, but I don't have any specific details of that. But we're comfortable that our efforts and their efforts can be complimentary rather than entirely competitive.

Q: What is the timeframe for finalizing your production plans?

BM: Hopefully by the end of the year we'll have a clear picture. We announced this deal literally the day after we signed it, so all of our efforts up to this point have been on the document. Which is an excellent document, I assure you! I'm kidding, but that was the work to this point, and we didn't waste any time in getting it out there because it was so long in the making. But we're pretty quickly turning our attention to the presentation, and hopefully it won't be too terribly long before there is a clear picture there.

Q: Is this the beginning of a renewed commitment to motorsport on ESPN? Do you envision pursuing other forms of racing?

BM: Hard to say. We have an IndyCar arrangement with the Indy 500 – the 500 has been on ABC for 50-plus, maybe even 60-plus years. So that's near and dear to our hearts. That's an ongoing situation as we speak. But listen, I'm a motorsports fan; I've been involved in motorsports at ESPN on and off for almost my entire career in one shape or another, so I'm hopeful. But it's like every category. Interests have to align, and there has to be a deal in there that makes sense for both sides. For the time being, I'm excited about this one.