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The current charter negotiations between NASCAR and the race teams are constantly lingering in the background as the NASCAR season prepares to enter its’ middle third. Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic caught up with multiple team owners to discuss the charter agreement. While the posturing remains largely the same as it has been, some new insights were given, and these are the biggest highlights.
On multiple occasions, NASCAR has claimed that they and the teams are close to getting a deal done. Adam Stern reports that Steve O’Donnell said NASCAR and the teams are “Very close” at the CAA World Congress of Sports in Los Angeles. Steve Phelps echoed a similar sentiment in an interview with Fox Sports’ Chris Myers before the Daytona 500.
How do the teams feel? According to Gluck and Bianchi, it’s a mixed bag. They report that smaller teams believe a deal could be close to happening, but, the bigger teams don’t seem as optimistic.
Again, teams have been singing a far different tune regarding how close NASCAR and they are to getting a deal done. One such instance came at Daytona, where Steve Phelps claimed a deal was close, but, NASCAR and the teams were clearly not on the same page behind the scenes.
Curtis Polk of 23XI Racing was one of the most prevalent voices in this update, and he gave some insight into how close the teams are. According to Gluck and Bianchi, Polk said that teams will not sign an agreement unless all 15 teams have to sign the same terms.
The teams, while competitors are both trying to work together to get a charter deal done. The easiest way to mess that up is to have bigger teams negotiating for deals that only benefit them. NASCAR itself doesn’t have any incentive to give certain items an inherent advantage, given how much parity the Next-Gen car has created, so, this is more about the teams than NASCAR itself.
Polk also talked about the concept of leverage with Gluck and Bianchi. It’s equally as important as the actual arguments teams are presenting.
I could have the greatest point I’m debating, with logic behind it, but, if I don’t have any leverage, I’m not going to get very far if the other side doesn’t want to agree with my position. I think that’s where we find ourselves.
Curtis Polk
The bottom line is that NASCAR has most of the leverage in this situation. The race teams do have some leverage since they carry the star power that fans come to NASCAR for, but, that’s about the only value the teams have.
NASCAR owns many of the tracks, owns the TV rights, and has 75 years of brand power behind them. If the teams don’t agree with NASCAR, then taking the nuclear option and breaking off to something new is tough.
With a split unlikely according to Gluck and Bianchi, what could we see the teams do if a charter agreement is not reached? Well, NASCAR could take the charters away, and Polk had this to say about that potential scenario.
What happens if the 36 cars people are familiar with seeing all of the sudden don’t go every week, and they pick and choose where they go? And therefore, their favorite driver is not there every week or there’s only 18 cars on the grid? How do the TV partners feel about that? Those are some of the things people have to think about. … That could be the world next year.
Curtis Polk
If NASCAR takes away charters, there’s no way to force the teams to show up to every race. Gluck and Bianchi reported that racing at the Clash at the LA Coliseum made teams lose money, as an example.
Imagine this scenario where NASCAR grids end up shrinking due to teams not wanting to show up to every race. This is about as bad as the teams leaving NASCAR entirely, and it would alienate fans.
Throughout this entire process, everyone has said that a deal will get done eventually. NASCAR believes it will get done, and a member of the Team Negotiating Committee, Jeff Gordon, said he expects a deal to get done during his recent appearance on the Dale Jr. Download.
What about in this update by Gluck and Bianchi? Polk claims a deal will “Probably” happen, and Bianchi and Gluck both report that teams are not in “Panic” mode.
This deal may come down to the very bitter end of the current deal. The teams and NASCAR both will exercise every option they can to get what they feel they want and need.
