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Leagues and Governing Bodies

NASCAR eyes multiyear track deals

NASCAR is offering racetrack operators multiyear sanctioning agreements for the first time, according to industry sources, a potentially significant move that could help explain why the sport’s 2016 schedule has yet to be released.

NASCAR traditionally renewed each race agreement with track operators — including International Speedway Corp., Speedway Motorsports Inc. and independents such as Pocono, Dover and Indianapolis Motor Speedway — on an annual basis. But sources said that negotiations have been underway in recent months to extend that to a longer period, around three years and starting next season.

Longer deals could help tracks by assuring fans that races will remain on the schedule.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
ISC and SMI declined to comment. In a statement, Brett Jewkes, NASCAR’s senior vice president and chief communications officer, said, “We are in advanced discussions with all of our track partners on sanction agreements. It’s important for the entire industry to have track operators that are strong and positioned to help deliver our fans the best racing and race-day experience possible. We’re working toward that goal with each of the promoters now and hope to complete that process soon.”

The agreements currently include stipulations like the track’s required purse and sanctioning fee, which a source said is generally around $5 million but varies depending on the facility, plus the amount of guaranteed television money the track will receive.

Locking in the agreements for multiple years could benefit the tracks in several ways. One of the chief boons will be giving tracks more stability for their communications both to fans and potential business partners.

“The impact is more about trying to ensure that when tracks are communicating to their fan base, [they can tell them that] they’re always going to have one or two races a year — that it’s not in jeopardy,” a source with knowledge of the agreements said. “There’s always things that come up with tracks about, ‘Should they get two races? Or just one race?’ … So it’s not so much a financial impact as it is a commitment and helps tracks with marketing, communications and consumer-relationship management.”

The change also could provide increased stability for tracks when it comes to sponsorships, as well as free up executives who formerly worked on the agreements each year.

“It’s great for the tracks because it allows them to focus on selling tickets to their races and not have to continually negotiate their dates with the sanctioning body year after year,” said Debby Robinson, president of Victory Management Group, who has been in the motorsports agency space since the 1990s. “You have your operations folks, track management folks, legal team — all of those people are involved in those discussions, so if they’re busy doing that, they’re not selling sponsorships or promoting the race.”

The shift comes at a crucial period for NASCAR, which has signaled in recent months that a long-anticipated system that would give team owners a form of long-term equity is being worked on and could be unveiled within months. It’s unclear whether the decision to offer longer race sanction agreements is connected with the upcoming equity system.

This season’s NASCAR national touring series schedules were released on Aug. 26, 2014. Previous years’ schedules were typically released from late August through early October.

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