- Teams receive 7% of total Nascar revenue
- Nascar docuseries to begin streaming on Peacock
Nascar Cup Series teams have criticised a “broken” economic model ahead of negotiations for the series’ next domestic TV rights deal.
Hendrick Motorsports vice chairman Jeff Gordon, 23XI Racing investor Curtis Polk, Joe Gibbs Racing president Dave Alpern, and RFK Racing president Steve Newmark have gone public with their concerns over the current model.
“The economic model is really broken for the teams,” Polk told select media, as reported by SportBusiness.
“We’ve gotten to the point where teams realise the sustainability in the sport is not very long term. This is not a fair system.”
Gordon added: “Where we’re currently at is not sustainable.”
Newmark also pointed out that 16 teams who own the 36 charters in the Cup Series “continue to lose money in this economic model”.
The Race Team Alliance (RTA), the organisation that represents the teams, has enlisted the help of Wasserman in negotiations for the series' new domestic TV rights deal starting in 2025. The rights are currently held by Fox and NBC in deals worth a reported US$8 billion combined.
Teams want an increase on their current 25 per cent cut of the broadcast contract. The split is even worse for overall revenue generated by Nascar, with teams receiving just seven per cent.
According to Newmark, sponsorship contributes between 60 to 80 per cent of a team’s overall revenue. This is substantially lower than other properties like Major League Baseball (eight to 12 per cent), the National Hockey League (17 to 18 per cent), and English soccer’s Premier League (26 to 27 per cent).
The aim is for Nascar to be able to make a small profit each season once costs are taken into account.
In other Nascar news, Comcast-owned NBCUniversal has agreed to start streaming the docuseries ‘Race for the Championship’ on Peacock, according Sports Business Journal (SBJ).
Up until now, the series has only been available on USA Network and YouTube, but has delivered poor ratings.