It’s no secret that NASCAR is a much more slimmed-down version of itself these days. Once it was a rotund, grossly obese figure that thundered into the room with the subtlety of a herd of elephants. The Great Recession of 2008 to 2010, however, forced NASCAR on a crash diet of sorts, alongside many others in the corporate world.
Sponsorships from corporate America were once an all-you-can-eat buffet for NASCAR. But that buffet became a salad bar—no seconds, please. Like a kid graduating from fat camp, NASCAR emerged on the other side of the Great Recession as a much smaller, much healthier version of itself. And a version that went from a publicly traded company to a private one, one not required to reveal much about its financial inner workings
There have been financial glimpses, however. Peeks under the hood, to inject a pun, that show that while NASCAR is still quite healthy when it comes to sponsorships, it is still losing a bit around the middle. A company called GlobalData makes its fortune reporting on the fortunes of others, including NASCAR. Last year, we were given a copy of the report, The Business of NASCAR 2023, which took a magnifying glass to the financial picture of the sport. It was a picture with pixels not from NASCAR, which would never open its ledgers and say, “Sure, here have a look.” Instead, GlobalData relied on data found elsewhere. And while that data fed pixels that made up a decent enough picture, it certainly wasn’t one that could be considered complete.
Recently, GlobalData released The Business of NASCAR 2024, allowing a comparison between last year and this one so far. And there are some eyebrow-raising contrasts that stand out. Again, NASCAR (rightly so) doesn’t publicly report earnings, and to be fair, they aren’t required to. But using available data, GlobalData reported that last year NASCAR generated $425.06 million in sponsor revenue, while this year, so far, it has generated $362.34 million—a nearly 16% drop.
Last year, Sunoco led the pack of corporate sponsors with an investment of $26.25 million. This year, Goodyear leads the way with a reported $25 million sponsorship deal, with Sunoco coming in 10th with just a $12 million investment. Xfinity, which sponsors NASCAR’s second-tier series, is second with $20 million, followed by Chevrolet ($18 million), Toyota ($17 million), Coca-Cola ($16 million), Ford ($16 million), GEICO ($15 million), Credit One Bank ($15 million), and Busch ($15 million)—all falling ahead of last year’s top sponsor.
Perhaps the biggest upheaval on the financial front when it comes to NASCAR is among the teams. Currently, there are 17 organizations fielding teams. These organizations hold the 36 Charters that guarantee them a spot in every points-paying race of the season. Those organizations and NASCAR are currently negotiating those valuable Charters, with organizations looking for a bigger piece of the financial pie. A pie which grew bigger with the new media rights deal NASCAR signed earlier this year.
NASCAR’s new media rights deal starting in 2025 is valued at approximately $7.7 billion over seven years. This deal includes partnerships with FOX Sports, NBC Sports, Amazon’s Prime Video, and Warner Bros. Discovery’s TNT Sports. The agreement will run through the 2031 season, featuring a mix of traditional broadcast and streaming platforms to bring NASCAR races to a broader audience.
The revenue from NASCAR’s media rights deal is divided among the teams, NASCAR itself, and the tracks. In the past, teams received 25% of the total media rights revenue. With the new deal valued at approximately $7.7 billion over seven years (or about $1.1 billion annually), the teams’ share under this model would be around $275 million per year.
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