Time to revisit the pie for Xfinity media rights deal

The topic of sponsor funding for NASCAR Xfinity Series teams has taken center stage recently, as two teams were faced with funding-related decisions.

Following the road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Brett Moffitt was relieved of driving duties in the No. 02 Our Motorsports entry.

This week we learned that Brandonbilt Motorsports had signed Chris Wright at nine of the 12 remaining races of the season. It provides the funding that the No. 68 team needs. This week at Watkins Glen International, Brandon Brownwho also got out of the car in Indianapolis in favor of Austin Dillonwill drive the No. 5 for BJ McLeod Motorsports, which recently parted ways with Josh Williams.

Moffitt and Williams have yet to land any new rides.

A hot topic on the NASCAR Cup Series side has been the upcoming media rights deal, particularly regarding the monetary split of the contract between NASCAR, the tracks and the teams. The current media rights deal began in 2015 and will end in 2024 and is worth $8.2 billion, or $820 million per year. Regardless of the length of the next contract, the goal is undoubtedly to get more money from media partners each year.

On April 28 of this year, Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports tweeted the purses for this weekend’s races at Dover Motor Speedway. The total purse for the Cup race was $7,205,230, significantly higher than the Xfinity purse of $1,419,713.

A response to that tweet said: “It’s horrible that purses are such a difference, Xfinity should be at least 50% of the Cup, and if trucks worked they should be at least 33% of the Cup.”

the TV deal is split such that 90% of the TV money goes to the Cup, 9% to Xfinity and 1% to the Trucks. (previously it was 93.75% of the Cup before 2015). This is why the Cup purse is so much bigger. https://t.co/HV4TCtS3pj

-Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) April 28, 2022

Pockrass tweeted the response and said that currently 90% of TV money goes to Cup teams, with only 9% going to Xfinity and, surprisingly, only 1% going to Camping World Truck Series teams . And the percentage of TV money doesn’t represent the entire $8.2 billion from the media deal. Currently, tracks receive 65% of the $8.2 billion, NASCAR 10% and teams the remaining 25%. From there, 25% is where the Xfinity Series gets its 9%.

NASCAR wants to see more money each year from media rights holders, but Cup owners have expressed their desire for a bigger piece of the pie. The main argument for getting more money would be less reliance on sponsors to fund a season-long effort.

This is not just a Cup problem, but also an Xfinity and Truck problem.

The Cup Series will always be the center of attention in media rights negotiations, and rightfully so. This is the world’s premier stock car series, and any media rights deal will be centered around this series. But with recent funding issues for Our Motorsports and Brandonbilt Motorsports, perhaps discussions about increasing the Xfinity allocation of purse money should be sparked.

I’m in the club where I would like to see not only the amount of money allocated to teams increase, but enough so that four more charters can be added, and each charter still benefits from a substantial increase in cash flow per race, thus allowing sponsorship dollars to fall. This goal becomes more difficult to achieve when Xfinity and trucks are also expected to see increases.

Of the 21 races in 2022, 19 Xfinity purses have been made public. Only the season-opening race at Daytona and the Texas Motor Speedway race during NASCAR All-Star Weekend were not disclosed. The highest purse was at Indianapolis ($1,750,651) and the lowest was at New Hampshire Motor Speedway ($1,175,214).

Big teams like JR Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, Stewart-Haas Racing, Richard Childress Racing and Kaulig Racing will find sponsorship easier than mid-field teams. Their performance is better: they get better results, more wins and arguably the most crucial selling point for sponsorship: TV airtime.

Naturally, if the next media rights deal results in more than an approximate annual value of $820 million, the Xfinity Series purses will increase. But adding a percentage point, two or three on top of the 9% allocated to the Xfinity Series, would go much further to help teams and their owners finance a team with less sponsorship. Of course, this also helps attract potential new owners to the series, as they will find that they have to bring in less money to run a team.

I will never advocate for a charter system in any series besides the Cup Series, but I will advocate for their purses to see an increase. Regardless of why Our Motorsports and Brandonbilt Motorsports have struggled to raise enough funds to keep their full-time driver in the car, this should be a red flag for NASCAR.

Ultimately, the goal of reducing a team’s reliance on sponsors to get to the racetrack should not be an issue exclusive to the NASCAR Cup Series. The Xfinity and Truck series should be included in this goal.

The health and stability of the teams in these series are just as important as the Cup teams. While the Cup’s owners probably wouldn’t admit this, at least publicly, they know it’s true deep down. Without a stable power system, the quality of racing in the premier series will suffer.

How much more competitive could the top 20 in the Xfinity Series be if more money was invested in each race purse? The expression “more money, more problems” is not always true. More money for a 17th place finish means a team can attract a better tire changer or hire an engineer to its crew, allowing it to move closer to a team that regularly finishes in the top five.

In other words, what does an extra million dollars collectively in annual purse money do for a team like Our Motorsports? What does an extra $500,000 do for Brandonbilt Motorsports? The answer is short and cliché: a lot.

For the long-term health of NASCAR’s lower division teams, they also need a bigger piece of the pie in the next media rights deal.