Adam Stern
Adam Stern covers the business of motorsports and combat sports at Sports Business Journal, with a consistent focus on how sponsorship, media deals and new events reshape the commercial landscape around racing and fighting. His reporting tracks the money, brands and platforms that underwrite series like NASCAR, Formula 1, IndyCar and major MMA promotions, rather than the on‑track action alone. He treats motorsports and combat sports as connected marketplaces, following how broadcasters, manufacturers, sponsors and promoters jockey for position across both.
Motorsports sponsorship and commercial strategy
Stern’s core beat is the business side of motorsports, with defined coverage of NASCAR’s national series, IndyCar, Formula 1, NHRA and rallycross. He regularly reports on new and expanding sponsorships, such as Jose Cuervo becoming the official tequila of NASCAR and building on activations around the Chicago street race. Similar briefings detail Rockstar’s return to NASCAR through a program with 23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick in select Cup Series races, showing his attention to how brands re‑enter or reposition within the sport.
He tracks sponsor portfolios across major events, including pulling together the sponsor roster for the F1 Miami Grand Prix and coverage of the Kentucky Derby’s marketing partners, framing races as commercial stages for global advertisers. His work also follows the commercial performance of properties like IMSA, highlighting strong linear TV figures and a rare season‑finale sellout as indicators of a series hitting its stride with fans and broadcasters.
In longer features, such as his coverage of Cadillac’s push into Formula 1, he examines how manufacturers use team entries and partnerships to pursue broader marketing aims and reclaim share in competitive automotive segments.
Media, streaming and content around racing
A second line through Stern’s work is the media and distribution strategy around motorsports. He writes about new sports media entities like Versant and their positioning of NASCAR as a core property, treating rights deals and corporate restructurings as central to the future of racing coverage.
He follows NASCAR’s moves into original content with projects like the YouTube docuseries “Rising,” presenting the series as part of a deliberate push to grow on digital platforms and build profiles for emerging drivers. In broader analytical packages on how upcoming seasons will reshape sports, he focuses on Formula 1 testing whether streaming alone can sustain its growth in the U.S., tying schedule decisions and platform strategies to audience trajectories. His social posts mirror this focus, relaying comments from executives like Apple’s Eddy Cue on F1 viewership and comparing performance to prior cable partners, underscoring his interest in how rights shifts translate into actual consumption.
Across these pieces, Stern treats YouTube, streaming services and spun‑off media companies as competitive levers for motorsports series, not just distribution channels.
Combat sports business and MMA disruption
Alongside motorsports, Stern covers combat sports, including UFC and boxing, with the same commercial lens. His beat description explicitly includes fighting, and his social bio identifies him as a motorsport and fighting reporter for the masthead.
Recent work on MMA focuses on fresh entrants in the space and whether they can create real competition for UFC, framing the story around fighter options, promotional strategies and the durability of a dominant brand. He treats questions about disruption and “cruise control” in established promotions as business issues, examining how new organizations and investment might change leverage between athletes and rights‑holders.
This coverage positions combat sports within the wider sports business ecosystem he follows, linking them to themes of dealmaking, branding and media innovation rather than treating them as a separate niche.
Formula 1 teams, series development and technical direction
Stern’s motorsports reporting includes sustained attention to Formula 1’s growth, team strategies and emerging series tied to the championship. His coverage of Cadillac’s entry into F1 looks at preparation timelines, ownership backing and how the program is meant to support luxury market ambitions, showing how team projects are evaluated against broader corporate goals.
He writes about F1 Academy in his Insiders magazine column, focusing on the series’ progress on and off the track and the commercial momentum it is building several campaigns into its life. In pieces like his story on McLaren’s openness to becoming an F1 power unit manufacturer under a specific V‑8 regulatory formula, he draws a line between technical rules, manufacturer interest and the long‑term health of the grid, treating regulations as business conditions as much as engineering challenges.
His broader F1 work also follows calendar changes and special weekend formats, including schedule adjustments in places like Baku to align races with national observances, reflecting his attention to how local contexts and global planning intersect.
Across these threads, Stern’s distinguishing trait is his consistency in following the commercial and strategic decisions behind motorsports and combat sports, from sponsors and media partners to manufacturers and new promotions. He moves fluidly between short “speed reads” that flag key deals and longer features that unpack multi‑party investments, keeping his focus on how each move fits into the evolving business environment around racing and fighting.
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