On Wednesday, ESPN announced that they have reached a deal with Nexstar Media Group, the majority owner of The CW, to become the exclusive streaming home for CW Sports broadcasts. The move will occur sometime this summer. We don't have an exact date as of now.

While the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series races are currently the most viewed programs on The CW, I do not believe that they are the biggest draw for ESPN in this deal. Instead, the ACC college football, men's basketball and women's basketball is likely the real draw. That fits in better with ESPN's regular coverage. Like it or not, they currently don't air any motorsports since Formula 1 went to Apple TV. They're happy that they're there, but I think the races are roughly 11th in the pecking order here behind all the coverage from the ACC, Pac-12 and Mountain West, along with WWE's NXT.

There are a few benefits that will come out of this deal. One is the fact that NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series races will be able to be streamed live. Previously, The CW did not stream races on their website/app. The only way you could watch the races off of your television is if you subscribed to a pay TV service and were at your house. They streamed practice and qualifying, but not races. They did make races available to stream on demand the next day.

The move will also benefit markets in which the O'Reilly races often get pre-empted. In Atlanta, their CW affiliate is WPCH 17, Peachtree TV. They are known for not airing races in favor of local sports, such as Atlanta Braves spring training games, Atlanta Hawks games, College Park Skyhawks games and more. Having the ESPN app available gives those fans another way to watch.

Also, there are some markets where it can be very difficult to watch The CW. Indianapolis comes to mind. Their CW affiliate, WISH 8, is unavailable on DirecTV, Dish Network, YouTube TV, Fubo and seemingly everything that doesn't involve a digital antenna. I can attest to this personally since I couldn't watch the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series in my hotel room there when I was covering IMSA at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (the only way I could watch what is, as of this writing, Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s last NASCAR start, was to watch the live in-car camera from his car on YouTube).

There are reasons for all that, but that is a completely separate article, full of legal proceedings. Most of that is not pertinent to this discussion.

Also, The CW app is not really designed for live streaming. While I do watch the O'Reilly practice and qualifying sessions on there, I have picture quality issues that are more in line with ESPN3 from the early 2010s.  It's fine for on demand viewing, just not live streaming.

Of course, there are downsides. The obvious one is the cost. $30 a month for the standalone ESPN Unlimited app. That's a lot of scratch.

There are packages available to help you spread the cost, though. Deals are out there that combine ESPN with Hulu (for however longer that service still exists) and Disney+. You can likely get access through cell phone providers. That's how I have my Disney+ and Hulu subscription. You can also get access through an existing pay TV provider (if you have one). For example, I have Spectrum and get free ESPN app access through them.

What are the benefits for the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series? More exposure. Even though ESPN's been out of the NASCAR game for nearly a decade at this point, they're still effectively the biggest name in sports broadcasting. Being involved with them is typically a good thing. 

Unfortunately, I don't think this will amount to all that much in regards to cross-promotion. I view it as being relatively similar to ESPN3 broadcasts. Yes, being on ESPN's service will bring additional eyeballs to the series (and other CW Sports properties), but the impact may not be as substantial as you'd think.

Phil Allaway is the Frontstretch newsletter manager. He can be reached at [email protected]. Photo is courtesy of NASCAR Media via Meg Oliphant of Getty Images.