The Offical Unoffical NASCAR TV Deal Breakdown

Last month, NASCAR announced that a new TV deal was reached and would run from 2025-2031. FOX Sports, NBC Sports, Amazon’s Prime Video, and TNT Sports would have rights to broadcast Cup Series races beginning in 2025.

Following the 2014 season, NASCAR was in an unfamiliar position: viewership was declining, fan attendance never got back to pre-recession levels, and the general public did not care for stock car racing as it had in the past.

The TV deal, which ran from 2007-2014, was worth an estimated $4.4 billion ($600,000 annually) and included FOX, ESPN, and Turner Sports. NASCAR was looking for more money to help offset the lack of attendance that was beginning to wreak economic havoc on the tracks that hosted race weekends.

In 2013, it was announced that NASCAR had found suitors: NBC and FOX. The deal, which would eventually run from 2015-2024, was worth a whopping $8.2 billion ($820,000 annually) and would help to provide somewhat of a stimulus for tracks that were facing a new challenge…low attendance.

The move has turned out to be very lucrative for NASCAR and the tracks. The investment in infrastructure and fan experience at certain tracks can be attributed to the rewards of this deal; however, whether this deal was beneficial to the fan at home remains a debate:

Now, this isn’t a hit piece on FOX or the announcers, but we can’t just sit here and pretend like we enjoy the first half of the season because of the production over there.

So, what’s the deal?

Over the last two seasons, as rumors amped up about who was in the running to get the rights to the Cup Series. We heard of interest from ESPN, CBS, TNT, Amazon, and of course FOX and NBC.

NASCAR announced in November that FOX, NBC, Amazon Prime Video and TNT would share broadcasting rights to the sport after a deal was reached for $7.7 billion ($1.1 billion annually) from 2025-2031:

Mo’ money, mo’ problems?

Contract negotiations have stalled thorughout the year due to how revenue should be split among NASCAR, tracks, and teams. The current charter contract will end alongside the current TV deal at the end of the 2024 season.

NASCAR’s current charter contract with teams has a TV revenue split and it looks like this:

• 65% to tracks
• 25% to teams
• 10% to NASCAR

Cup Series team owner and driver, Denny Hamlin, has been vocal about the repercussions of this split on his podcast Actions Detrimental:

“So cars cost what they cost. The travel is what it is. We can’t negotiate our hotel rooms. The labor is what it is. The tires cost what they cost. There’s nowhere else for the teams to cut, okay? And so, what the difference is, and while we have said that the teams need more share of the revenue is because sponsorship over the last decade or so has gone down.”

Hamlin, one of NASCAR’s biggest critics, has been very vocal and transparent with fans throughout the process of negotiating the deal with NASCAR.

And while there has yet to be an deal reached, NASCAR President, Steve Phelps remains optimistic, telling Jordan Bicanchi, of The Athletic, “We’re going to come to a very good result for the race teams and the industry as a whole,” when asked about the state of negotiations.

It is only a matter of time before a deal is reached between the charters and NASCAR. Hopefully this deal can help solve some of the issues in the sport that are less seen by the average fan.

Will it solve the real issues?

This could help boost the fan experience at the race track. Right now, tracks are making 65% of the TV revenue whether anyone shows up or not, i.e., Texas Motor Speedway. There is no urgency to promote a better at-track experience.

This could help teams fund rides for deserving drivers and not just whoever can bring the most lucrative sponsorship deal. Talent>Money.

Employee pay: Like it or not, it’s 2023 and there are a lot of moving parts in the sport. If there is not enough money to pay employees a competitive wage, there will be a shortage of talent in the sport (p.s. this is already happening)

So, as we ring in 2024 and gear up for the final season of the current TV deal, be ready NASCAR fans… Change is coming.