Team owners skip meeting
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — NASCAR teams boycotted a meeting with series leadership Wednesday as a show of frustration over the slow pace of negotiations on a new business model.
Three team representatives told The AP on the condition of anonymity that the owners collectively decided to skip the quarterly meeting because they don’t believe NASCAR has negotiated in good faith. The request for anonymity is due to the sensitivity of the negotiations.
The owners went public in October with their frustration over what they consider a broken business model in which racetracks and NASCAR make the bulk of the money and teams are forced to fund their organizations through outside sponsorship.
NASCAR has said it’s willing to work with the teams on financial security, and reiterated that commitment Wednesday after no owners showed for the meeting.
“NASCAR is committed to open and productive dialogue on a regular basis with all industry stakeholders,” NASCAR said in a statement. “We remain committed to continuing discussions in the spirit of collaboration and with the shared goal of growing our sport for the benefit of all stakeholders.”
The AP learned Wednesday that the team owners don’t believe NASCAR has negotiated in good faith and that they have taken a step backward in talks on an improved business model. Moving forward, they want NASCAR chairman Jim France and executive vice chair Lesa France Kennedy at the meetings, the team representatives told AP.
NASCAR says teams receive about 40% of industry-wide generated revenue.
The financial split from the $8.2 billion media rights deal signed ahead of the 2015 season sends 65% to the tracks, 25% to the teams and 10% to NASCAR, according to the series. There are two major track operators, NASCAR and Speedway Motorsports; NASCAR owns the majority of the venues on the Cup Series schedule, including the crown jewel Daytona International Speedway, and the France family owns NASCAR.
Teams have argued they have become “fulltime fundraisers” seeking sponsorship to keep their organizations afloat and the only possible place to make further financial cuts is through layoffs.
NASCAR in 2016 adopted a charter system for 36 cars that is as close to a franchise model as possible in a sport that was founded by and independently owned by the France family. The charters give the teams something of value to hold — or sell — and protect their investment in the sport.
But the team business model is still heavily dependent on sponsorship, which the teams must individually secure. The teams revealed last October that sponsorship covers between 60% to 80% of the budgets for all 16 chartered organizations.
Because sponsorship is so vital, teams are desperate for financial relief elsewhere and have asked NASCAR for distribution from the league to cover baseline costs.