US cable TV giant, DirecTV, has broadened its sports offerings by securing new rights carriage deals across soccer and motorsports. The company has partnered with Amazon's Prime Video OTT streaming service to broadcast live US stock car racing's Nascar races. Additionally, it has also collaborated with Major League Soccer (MLS) to provide free access to Sunday Night Soccer games for its customers.
DirecTV’s out-of-home business broadcast platform will air the streamer’s slate of live broadcasts from US stock car racing’s Nascar as part of a new deal with e-commerce behemoth Amazon. This addition of Prime Video’s five-race package ensures that DirecTV for Business, which serves over 300,000 commercial premises, will carry every Nascar race through the remainder of the 2025 campaign - making it the only commercial broadcast service to do so.
The deal kicks off with the June 2nd NASCAR Cup Series race at Nashville known as Cracker Barrel 400. Subsequent races include Firekeepers Casino 400 (June 8), NASCAR's debut race in Mexico at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez (June 15), and NASCAR Cup Series Race at Pocono Raceway (June 22). The recent Coca-Cola 600 was a notable success for Prime Video's debut in broadcasting NASCAR races; it averaged an impressive viewership of approximately 2.72 million viewers.
Strengthening ties with Major League Soccer
In addition to motorsports coverage expansion, DirecTV has also teamed up with Major League Soccer (MLS) - America's premier soccer competition - offering its Sunday Night Soccer broadcast slate free to all DirecTV customers until the end of the season in 2025.
This move coincides perfectly with MLS’s milestone celebration of its 30th anniversary season. Both residential and commercial DirecTV customers will enjoy free access to the slate of Sunday night fixtures throughout the 2025 season.
This deal further extends DirecTV For Business’ current exclusive agreement with MLS, through which it carries the MLS Season Pass broadcast service for commercial premises. The DirecTV residential offering also carries this service on a non-exclusive basis.
Sponsorship and branding
DirecTV is already a sponsor of San Diego FC franchise, the league's newest expansion team set to debut in the 2025 campaign. As an official jersey partner, DirecTV branding will be prominently displayed on all home and away SDFC jerseys throughout the season.
As a “chrome club” tier sponsor of SDFC, DirecTV gains exclusive sponsorship inventory including interior and exterior branding at Snapdragon Stadium - SDFC's home ground with a capacity of 35,000 spectators - including TV-visible areas likely on pitch-side hoardings.
These new deals mark an exciting era in sports broadcasting as media rights are increasingly held by tech firms like Apple that disseminate content via their OTT services. This trend was underscored by Apple’s $2.5 billion media rights deal for global MLS media rights - a move that league commissioner Don Garber described as potentially "one of the greatest in sports history." These strategic partnerships not only enhance DirecTV's sports offerings but also provide fans with more ways to engage with their favorite sports.
