NASCAR, city of Chicago have not 'signed an agreement' for 2024 street race

While the official schedule has been released and NASCAR says the Chicago Street Race is on for 2024, nothing has been signed. Mayor Brandon Johnson announced that NASCAR was making concessions on funding for the weekend. That deal also included quicker setup and tear down times.

So, it is on the schedule. Tickets are being teased as “coming soon.” However, Chicago and NASCAR have not officially agreed to terms according to Crain’s Chicago Business, via Sports Business Journal.

It sounds like things are being ironed out, but NASCAR had to announce the 2024 schedule. The release was already delayed for a variety of reasons, but we finally know the races for next season.

Crain’s reached out to a city official in Chicago who had a reply for why there hasn’t been an official agreement.

City officials would have “gone public once it [the deal] was finalized negotiations,” but NASCAR “wanted to announce its racing schedule.” The official also said, “We would have been happy to not have an announcement and to continue working on an agreement there. That announcement was solely based on needing to put something out there in the context of their overall schedule for 2024.”

That same report says that the city expects NASCAR to come to a final agreement. There is also an assurance that NACAR will reimburse Chicago for aspects of the costs of future races in the city.

The city claims that it incurred $2.1M in street repairs and $1.1M in police overtime due to the event. From a competition and entertainment standpoint, the Chicago race was viewed as a success by NASCAR.

NASCAR has Chicago Street Race critics

Of course, there are those in the city that don’t like the NASCAR race. For various reasons. Some claim it costs too much money. Businesses were worried about losing out on revenue as well due to street closures. Then there was concern about traffic disruptions in Chicago from the NASCAR course.

One major critic of the NASCAR Chicago Street Race is Alderman Brendan Reilly. He has called for more transparency from the city. After all, this is a business decision and it has to make sense for all involved.

“If the administration has not yet signed the contract … they need to take some more time and go through those numbers in more detail to determine whether or not this is going to be a winner or a loser for the city.”

We will wait and see. Right now, I think this is just minor details. The schedule is announced and that tells me NASCAR expects to have a deal with Chicago soon.