NASCAR Insider Spills the Beans on Major Lawsuit Settlement Terms Over Evergreen Charters

The NASACR community is overjoyed with the anti-trust lawsuit coming to an end and the teams getting permanent charters.

NASCAR Insider Spills the Beans on Major Lawsuit Settlement Terms Over Evergreen Charters

Denny Hamlin (via imago) and NASCAR CEO Jim France (via nascar)

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The NASACR anti-trust lawsuit was the major point of discussion in the premier stock racing community for the last two weeks. Michael Jordan, Denny Hamlin, and Bob Jenkins joined hands to file a federal antitrust lawsuit against the sport, alleging a monopoly. The case went to trial this month and things were getting ugly every day.

However, the entire drama came to an end in the second week, as the lawyers for Michael Jordan and Jim France decided to settle the matter outside the court. Both sides have made major compromises to make it a reality, with NASACR seeming to have given in to the team’s major demand, permanent charters. It was a major win for 23XI and FRM, who will also get back all the charters they lost after filing the lawsuit.

Senior NASACR journalist Bob Pockarss reported the potential changes that will come with the new evergreen charter deal that will be sent to the teams to sign. The premier stock car racing series has effectively become a franchise model, with the teams getting a greater share of the revenue from the IP as well as International investments.

These charter deals will be updated periodically, with fees attached to them. 2/3rds of teams have to approve the renewal and if a team doesn’t sign a renewal, they retain the charter and get a year or more to sell it. This gives the team more opportunities to make money by selling the team’s assets including the charters.

NASACR is also gaining some power regarding how the sale and control of the charters work. They can force a team to sell charter(s) for not meeting specific performance standards and also they are now entitled to 10% of the charter sale revenue instead of the 2% deal that was in place before. A massive change in favour of the sanctioning body.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. doesn’t seem to be a big fan of NASACR charters becoming permanent

Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. doesn’t seem to be a big fan of the permanent charters and on his podcast before the settlement was reached he admitted that he doesn’t think it’s the right path ahead. He expected the charters that are now worth between $30 million- 50 million to triple their price to around $150 million, which can change the sport forever.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (via Imago)
Dale Earnhardt Jr. (via Imago)

In the same podcast, he pointed out that this change will create barriers to entry that had previously not been part of the sport, with the franchise sides becoming stronger than ever. Unlike the past, the part-time entries and small teams won’t be able to survive or get into the big leagues. This has the potential to limit the sport to only big-time spenders.

If that happens, there is no going back. Like, it changes the sport forever. You’ll basically have 36 franchises — however many cars start a race — they’ll be the franchises, owned and valued and they will sell and trade from one entity to another over the course of decades and centuries, however long this goes. They’ll be a gigantic barrier of entry.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. said via Dale Jr. Download.

These comments from the racing legend not only shows how the sport is going to change, but also personal regret over his failure to not invest in a Cup team as he wanted to for a long time. JR Motorsports now will have to pay more than they ever hoped for to become a Cup series team in the near future.

Also Read: Roger Penske Brands the NASACR Monopoly Lawsuit Settlement A “Tremendous News for the Industry”