A number of reliable sources within the industry are reporting this week that the National Hot Rod Association is in the midst of negotiations with FOX Sports for a new television deal that would begin in 2016, placing the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series broadcasts on the new FOX Sports 1 cable network. The deal, if it comes to fruition, would end the organizations’ 14-year partnership with ESPN and ESPN2.

The rumored move comes on the heels of an official confirmation by new NHRA president Peter Clifford that the sanctioning body would be taking a different direction with their television programming next season by moving all production activities in-house. Clifford, however, stopped short of suggesting that the series may move networks altogether.

ESPN has long drawn the ire of drag racing fans for providing low-level priority to drag racing, but given their place as the world leader in sports programming, the NHRA has merely been a tiny fish in a large pond. Business is business, and stick and ball sports sell. With that, the NHRA could well see increased exposure through more attractive time slots on FOX Sports 1, which is a win-win situation.

It should be noted that, should the NHRA end their relationship with ESPN, it would leave the network, which once was a dominant force in the motorsports realm with its then-new ESPN2 channel, without a shred of regular motorsports programming. Not NASCAR, not IndyCar, drag racing, or anything else with wheels and an engine.

Photo courtesy NHRA/National Dragster

FOX Sports 1, which replaced the much-beloved SPEED Channel in 2013, presently airs NASCAR, MotoGP, the United Sportscar Championship, AMA Supercross, Monster Jam, and other regular and semi-regular motorsports programming.

The NHRA will reportedly buy itself out of its five-year contract that was slated to end in 2016 for an undisclosed sum, according to the Sports Business Daily report, in order to defect to FS1. An official announcement — if one is to come — could come as soon as this week, although a timetable that coincides with the NHRA U.S. Nationals festivities in late August would seem more in-line with NHRA protocol.

NBC Sports reached out to the NHRA and ESPN for comment, but those inquiries went without response. FOX Sports, meanwhile, said only that they are “not ready to comment on the report as of yet.”