Owners of NASCAR Cup Series teams boycotted their scheduled meeting with NASCAR officials over revenues, multiple outlets reported Wednesday.
The two sides are in a dispute over how to divide revenue from the organization’s next television contract, which soon will be up for renegotiation. The current pact with FOX Sports and NBC expires following the 2024 season, Yahoo reported.
Under the current deals, teams receive 25 percent of the television contract. NASCAR gets 10 percent, and the tracks — many of which are NASCAR-owned — take the other 65 percent.
In a statement to Sports Business Journal, NASCAR leadership indicated that the organization is ready to negotiate.
“NASCAR is committed to open and productive dialogue on a regular basis with all industry stakeholders,” the statement read. “We remain committed to continuing discussions in the spirit of collaboration and with the shared goal of growing our sport for the benefit of all stakeholders.”
Team owners are seeing increased expenses and fewer dollars from sponsors and could use a boost from a new television contract.
Currently, FOX and NBC are spending about $800 million for the rights to air races from NASCAR’s three top series.
Autoweek reported that viewership also is down this season. At the Cup series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last month, about 3.9 million people watched, representing a reduction of about 14 percent.