Report reveals timeline for NASCAR charter negotiations
NASCAR is hoping to reach an agreement on a new governing charter system with its Cup Series teams this week, according to Adam Stern of Sports Business Journal.
The sanctioning body wants to wrap up its new charter deal to avoid having talks spill over throughout the 10-race playoffs. Teams received the latest charter proposal last week and Stern noted in his report that “some teams appear to be at a point, or nearing a point, where they’ll be ready to sign NASCAR’s offer.” Still, it remains to be seen if a deal will get done this week ahead of Sunday’s playoff opener at Atlanta.
Negotiations have been ongoing over the last two years, and “teams have secured a commitment from NASCAR to increase the amount of media rights revenue they receive in the next term,” per Stern. NASCAR notably announced $7.7 billion in media rights deals with FOX Sports, NBC, Warner Bros. Discovery and Amazon for 2025-2031. Teams currently get 25% of broadcast revenue, tracks 65% and NASCAR 10%.
Under the current model, in place since 2016, charters are not permanent franchises like the setup in other professional sporting leagues. Teams can lose their charters due to poor performance on the racetrack or failing to field their cars each week. As a result, most teams lose money on a yearly basis. Teams argue that by not having permanent charters, it makes it more difficult to attract outside investors and invest in their operations.
23XI Racing’s Curtis Polk wears hilarious sign at Darlington after receiving new charter offer from NASCAR
There were signs of more frustration from teams this past weekend at Darlington, with 23XI Racing investor Curtis Polk pinning a piece of paper on the back of his shirt which read, “Please don’t ask me about my Charter. I don’t want to disparage NASCAR and lose it.”
23XI co-owner Denny Hamlin, who has been open about his frustration with charter talks, revealed on Monday’s “Actions Detrimental” podcast that NASCAR inserted an anti-disparagement clause into drafts of the charter deal. Hamlin said that NASCAR doesn’t want teams “speaking negatively” about them.
“I would choose not to speak about [Polk’s shirt], but it kind of speaks for itself, and I can’t believe he actually wore that,” Hamlin said. “They do not want you speaking negatively, that’s a new add to the charter agreement. We’ll see how that goes.”
NASCAR President Steve Phelps: ‘Something needs to change’ in team charter deals
NASCAR President Steve Phelps acknowledged on Kevin Harvick’s “Happy Hour” podcast last week that “something needs to change” in the charter deal moving forward.
“Something needs to change because if it doesn’t change in my opinion in seven years when we’re re-negotiating the financials of these charters, it’ll come back to we’re not making any money or we’re losing X, Y and Z, and you’ll always be chasing that,” Phelps said. “If there’s more money given, typically what happens is race teams want to take every dollar and then some and spend it to go fast.
“Which I get because it’s a vicious cycle that exists. If you don’t go fast, you can’t get sponsorship, if you’re not winning, you can’t get sponsorship. We have seen over the last decade teams that don’t run well, it’s hard to get sponsorship, and they’ll lose it, and will either be stolen by another team or worse yet, they’ll leave altogether, which is not in the best interest of anyone.”