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So, how are the NASCAR charter negotiations going? Well, it depends on who you ask. If you ask NASCAR President Steve Phelps, a deal is on the horizon. The race teams, on the other hand, decided to hire an antitrust lawyer to help advance the negotiations forward. Here is an in-depth and fair look at how both sides view this negotiation.
For More Information on the Charter Negotiations, Read Below:
NASCAR President Steve Phelps joined Chris Myers during the Fox rainout coverage on Sunday, and Phelps gave a seemingly optimistic view of the charter negotiations. What he said on the charter can be seen below, but the full interview can be found here.
Where do we stand in the process? We’re close. Like any negotiation, there’s back and forth. What I do know is that we’re going to get it done. Here’s the great news for the owners, they’re interested in more money, we’re going to give them more money. They’re interested in containing costs, we’re going to contain costs. What does it mean for fans? It will mean more competitive racing.
Steve Phelps
The first major takeaway from Phelps’ comments is that he expects a deal to get done. This is something that pretty much everyone involved in these negotiations has said, even if it’s squeezed in amongst the frustration. Denny Hamlin and Jeff Gordon both ultimately said that a deal would get done, and Adam Stern reported that those in the industry expect a deal to get done eventually.
Further down in the answer, Phelps elaborates a bit about what NASCAR is willing to do so that a deal can happen. What he says appears to be true based on recent reports and recent actions, but, the dissension is whether or not it is enough for the race teams.
He says that NASCAR will give the teams more money. Adam Stern of Sports Business Journal reported that NASCAR is indeed willing to give teams a larger share of the new media rights deal compared to the last one. A media rights deal that brings in about $300 million more per year than the previous one did.
He also says that he wants to help contain costs. Well, NASCAR created the Next-Gen car, which was meant to be essentially a spec car to help contain costs. NASCAR has policed the car quite sternly to keep teams from developing too much in certain areas, thus spending more money. Look below at all of the penalties NASCAR has handed out to protect the teams from themselves.
NASCAR has shown that they are willing to do what it claims is will do at least somewhat, but, with no deal in place, the teams are not satisfied with NASCAR’s current efforts. That seems to be where the impasse lies.
Phelps also claimed that a deal was “Close”. What “Close” means is unclear in this context, but, it seems like an optimistic term. Remember when I said Denny Hamlin, Jeff Gordon, and Adam Stern all said a deal would get done? All three of them in those same contexts said that a deal was far from getting done.
While Steve Phelps was doing that interview with Fox, NASCAR teams told Jenny Fryer of the Associated Press that they hired Jeffrey Kessler, an antitrust lawyer, to help with the negotiations. This came after a meeting between the 15 chartered team owners that NASCAR representatives were invited to, but, declined to attend according to Fryer.
In this article, some of the teams seemed to clap back at some of what Phelps was claiming. Denny Hamlin called it a “Monopoly”, and Curtis Polk of 23XI Racing was particularly scathing of how inflexible he feels NASCAR has been over these negotiations.
We want to make a deal, we are just looking for a fair deal. There is no give and take. We’ve been told ‘This is all there is; there is no flexibility.’ That’s not a negotiation.
Curtis Polk to Jenna Fryer of the Associated Press
Given the scenario, who exactly is this guy that the teams have hired, and what exactly is an antitrust lawyer?
Jeffrey L. Kessler is the co-executive. Winston and Strawn LLP. Kessler specializes partially in antitrust and sports law, and he has been at the center of plenty of sports controversies throughout the years.
He represented Tom Brady in the 2015 “Deflategate” scandal surrounding the New England Patriots. Kessler has also been heavily involved in the recent changes in the NCAA regarding things like NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness). Simply put, Kessler is pretty well known in the sports industry for representing those going up against these giant corporations and leagues.
What is antitrust law specifically? Antitrust is very complicated, but, in simple terms, it’s there to prevent unjustified monopolies and promote competition between businesses. The official definition of antitrust laws according to justice.gov is as follows, “These laws prohibit anticompetitive conduct and mergers that deprive American consumers, taxpayers, and workers of the benefits of competition.”
Essentially, the race teams do not feel like they are being heard, and they are going up against a corporation in NASCAR that holds a lot of power in this scenario. They’re seemingly trying to find someone to consult with so that these negotiations can go somewhere.
It’s impossible to say definitively because we are not in those negotiating rooms. However, it does seem that a deal is far from being completed, and it’s obvious that NASCAR and the teams do not see eye to eye on where negotiations stand.
NASCAR feels they’re trying to make concessions, but, it’s not enough for the race teams. Long story short, there are not a lot of people seeing eye to eye between NASCAR and the race teams currently.
