Can Eurosport's IRC TV Coverage Bring Rally Back to the US?

After SPEEDTV dropped the World Rally Championship (and numerous other forms of racing in fact) due to the high cost of licensing and broadcasting the material and low amount of viewers in 2006, there's been a great sadness among American rally fans. Can that change soon though?

It's true that there are many mediums in which fans can get access to WRC content without having to watch it on SPEEDTV, but there is something about having coverage there on the schedule. Instead, the News Corporation-owned channel's love for NASCAR is apparent in the enormous amount of coverage it receives.

Eurosport's coverage of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) since 2007 has been very creative in that they provide live coverage of the events. Rather than taping the material, editing it, then shipping it off to channels around the globe, the European television giant has cameras and crew ready on site to provide the material in the raw, so-to-speak.

For 2009, Eurosport will be covering the IRC more than it ever has before, with the inaugural event, the newly-added Monte Carlo Rally, getting more than six hours of live coverage!

The main thing that would allow rallying to come back to US television is the cost of licensing and showing the coverage. The World Rally Championship (WRC) was too expensive to broadcast because David Richards'-owned ISC charged too much.

This high cost forced channels like SPEEDTV to reevaluate their investment into the WRC and eventually they opted to drop it.

Eurosport offers a significantly cheaper package than ISC. With the IRC garnering much support and the WRC on the decline, watching exciting rally racing on the television may be possible.

It will be up to rally fans all around the country to band together, either sign a petition or write to the channel about picking up IRC coverage. It is possible!