NASCAR and its Sprint Cup Series teams this afternoon formally unveiled the sport's landmark new charter system that overhauls its ownership structure after a year-long negotiation. NASCAR Chair & CEO Brian France called the deal “historic,” while NASCAR COO Brent Dewar called it a “seminal moment” for the sport. The nine-year agreement runs concurrently with the sport's media-rights deals through '24. However, France said that was just to ensure the plan can be revisited when the new rights deals begin, and the plan is for this system to go long into the future.
The system will not just grant team owners a guaranteed spot in races plus guaranteed income over the life of the deal, but also greater participation in the governance of NASCAR – specifically the formation of a Team Owner Council – and additional rights in the digital-media realm. Charters will be transferable, and some details of the charter sales will be made public after every sale, though the precise terms that would be released are unclear. RTA Chair Rob Kauffman said he is currently seeing values for the charters as starting in the seven-figure range. Kauffman added that the system was designed to improve three key areas of the sport: participation, governance and economics.
