NASCAR President Steve Phelps said Monday during a webinar that at least one additional company would broadcast Cup races in 2025, underscored his reluctance to increase horsepower and said changes would continue to be made on the calendar.
Phelps covered several topics during a 45-minute session at the fourth annual Race Industry Week webinar series sponsored by Speed ​​Sport, Racer.com and EPartrade.com.
Phelps hinted Monday that an agreement on the next Cup media rights deal could be announced soon. Phelps said NBC and Fox are expected to remain the broadcasters of Cup races under the new media rights package, which will begin with the 2025 season.
But Phelps said NBC and Fox won’t be alone in broadcasting Cup races in 2025 and beyond.
“We’re going to have an additional partner and we might have two additional partners,” Phelps said. “That’s kind of where we’re trying to figure out the last few weeks – what it’s going to look like, but we already know we’re going to have more partners.”
Phelps stressed the importance of holding events on television, cable and streaming.
“I think what I would call hedging our bet is a smart thing to do for us as a sport,” Phelps said. “Nobody has any idea what’s going to happen with streaming and what’s going to happen with cable. We know that television will be present in 125 million homes in the near future. This is not going to change.
“What we do know is that the cable world has declined. So what will this look like in two years, five years, seven years? I don’t know, but we better make sure that we have distribution points that will allow us to be successful in the future, to have as many eyes as possible, even if it’s not insignificant, to be also paid. The revenues from these media rights or these media partners are significant.
Current 10-year media rights deal for Cup races with NBC and Fox worth $8.2 billion ($820 million per season).
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An increase in media rights will be important for teams looking to extend the charter agreement with NASCAR beyond the 2024 season.
Each of the 36 charters guarantees these Cup teams a spot in each points race and additional payouts compared to non-charter teams. This money is essential for the teams.
“Race teams want three things, at least that’s what they’ve told us,” Phelps said. “They want to be competitive on the circuit, which is currently a test.
“They want to increase the enterprise value of their charters. It was a check.
“They want to have a path to profitability. It’s not a check at the moment. It’s not.
“Overall, our racing teams are losing money at the Cup level. This is a problem we need to solve. You solve this problem with two key pillars.
“The first is to make sure they get additional income. So they want to get more revenue from the sanctioning body and the railways through the stock market. This is something we must do. The only way to do this is to increase your media rights, which is what we are doing today. So we don’t know exactly what it is. When things become clearer, we will understand what this financial data will look like.
“Secondly, and this is no small thing, honestly, there is some form of cost control. So whether it’s in the form of a cap, or in the form of parts and pieces that make up the Next Gen car, or trying to limit those parts, I don’t know where we’re going to benefit from it. that. I’m not saying our racing teams can claw their way to success. I’m not saying this because I’ve been accused of this in the past.
“It takes a mix of those things, but both are important. »
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With more money in the sport, that won’t mean additional Cup races. The schedule includes 38 races – 36 points races and two exhibition races (Clash at the Coliseum and All-Star Race).
“For the foreseeable future, we will have 38 races (total) on the schedule,” Phelps said of the Cup schedule. “Our season is quite long, so I don’t see this extending.”
He said the focus remains on sold-out tracks, noting that if a track with two races doesn’t sell out, the sport has shown it will move one of those events elsewhere.
He made an exception for tracks where “the races are extraordinary”. He cited Daytona International Speedway, noting that the regular season finale was not sold out there, while the Daytona 500 was sold out.
NASCAR continues to look for ways to improve short track and road course racing. NASCAR has a test scheduled for December 5-6 at Phoenix Raceway. Series officials will look at a variety of potential changes during testing, from aerodynamic adjustments to the elimination of gear changes. The six-team test is expected to feature Cup champion Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell, Chris Buescher, Erik Jones, Corey LaJoie and Kyle Larson.
One change that should not be made at any time in the future is the increase in horsepower.
“I don’t think the answer is more power, because more power is expensive,” Phelps said. “If you ask a driver what will solve the problem, they will always say: ‘Give me more power.’ It’s a thing. I’m not a driver, but I’ve listened to enough drivers and this is their solution. So the question is, is this really true? I don’t know. I think we’re also looking at some things equipment-wise. Some things change.
One thing Phelps is certain of is the continued change in the Cup schedule. Next year, Cup cars will race at Iowa Speedway for the first time. Also next year, the Bristol spring race will return to concrete, removing the dirt race.
“I think the only thing I will say is that the schedule variations are going to continue,” Phelps said. “Are we going to continue racing in Atlanta, Richmond, Charlotte and other places on our schedule? We are.”
But he noted the sport will continue to look for ways to reach more fans.
“We need to make sure we go where there is demand,” Phelps said.
