Frances Unwilling to Relinquish Power in NASCAR Charter Fight
When you think of authoritarian regimes, what comes to mind?
I think of U.S. adversaries: Vladimir Putin in Russia, Xi Jinping in China, or Kim Jung Un in North Korea.
But what about the France family — the iron-fisted rulers of NASCAR for 76 years? (As long as the Kims have ruled North Korea)
Of course, the France family doesn’t view their rule as a dictatorship, but neither do the other leaders listed here.
They’re all sham democracies. And they all use similar authoritarian tactics.
Consider some of the approaches employed by NASCAR:
- Quashing dissent and controlling the narrative: When the on-track product has fallen short with fans and competitors, NASCAR executives have been known to advise drivers and teams not to publicly complain and to instead paint a rosy picture about the sport.
- Spreading disinformation: NASCAR executives sold the next-generation Cup car as a car that would create better racing because it allowed drivers to follow closer in traffic. But the car is actually worse in traffic than any of its predecessors.
- Resisting pushes for transparency: It’s 2024 and we don’t know what constitutes a caution. NASCAR executives clearly want it that way because it allows them to manipulate the racing when it’s convenient to them.
- Wildly inconsistent decision-making: From arbitrary late-race rulings to changing the rules in the middle of the playoffs to fines and points penalties that don’t align with past decisions, we’ve seen it all. Worse than the inconsistent decision-making is the resistance to put the structure and transparency in place to make better decisions in the future.
But more than anything, authoritarians want to stay in power, and to expand on their power and influence. Keeping as much control as possible is their top priority.
Bill France Sr. made it clear that NASCAR was his sandbox. If someone didn’t want to play by his rules, they were forced to go elsewhere. His son Jim France — NASCAR CEO and the fourth France to rule — has followed this same iron-fisted approach.
In fact, recent reports indicate that Jim France is pissing in the corners of that sandbox.
The Associated Press reported last week that NASCAR Cup Series race teams are more unhappy than ever with NASCAR’s latest offer regarding a charter agreement. Two months after NASCAR COO Steve O’Donnell said NASCAR and the teams were “very close” to a charter agreement, it appears they are about as close as New York City and Shanghai (see “spreading disinformation” above).
At the heart of the negotiation is the teams’ demand for permanent equity in the sport — similar to franchises in other professional sports. A charter guarantees that teams can compete in NASCAR Cup Series races and will be able to collect money for doing so. It’s a commitment that teams won’t race in other series’ and will invest to better the sport in the future. In an age of increasing costs and diminishing sponsorship dollars, it also provides teams with equity beyond the value of their parts.
The current charter agreement ends this season and team owners have been reluctant to purchase these expensive charters on the market (reportedly going for $20-$25 million) without an assurance that they will exist in the future under NASCAR’s authoritarian regime.
But the France family is only willing to extend the charter agreement seven years — to coincide with its new TV agreement. The argument is that “we only have money coming in through 2031 so we can’t guarantee anything after that.”
It doesn’t hold water. NASCAR executives signed a TV deal worth $7.7 billion, yet are acting as if the sport might cease to exist when the deal runs out.
Imagine if NBA Commissioner Adam Silver left NBA teams with no guarantee that they’d have a place in the league once their latest TV deal ended.
Unfortunately, permanent charters aren’t the only place NASCAR’s negotiations have fallen short. And the next detail reveals just how out of touch NASCAR’s ruling party really is. According to the Sports Business Journal, NASCAR proposed a clause that would allow the France family to buy into a NASCAR team — as if the Frances could be trusted to equitably govern a sport they also are competing in. Ruling a monarchy and raking in hundreds of millions apparently isn’t enough.
Imagine if NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell decided to buy an NFL team while serving as commissioner. It’s an absurd conflict of interest, but somehow seems realistic in Jim France’s mind (likely because he is getting away with it elsewhere. He already owns an IMSA team and IMSA is owned by NASCAR).
Making matters worse, it’s really difficult to negotiate an agreement when one side refuses to come to the table. In April, The Athletic reported that Jim France refused to meet with the Race Team Alliance in favor of meeting with teams individually — where he can likely sow division and find out just how aligned the teams are.
As Curtis Polk, long-time business manager of Michael Jordan and part owner of 23XI, explained, in other sports the commissioner or leader of the sport works for the team owners and therefore has an interest in serving their needs.
Not NASCAR, where the France family has never had to answer to anyone. The only family-owned and run professional sports league plays by different rules.
The Race Team Alliance better truly be aligned if it’s serious about winning this fight. And there are signs that the alliance is splintering. Front Row Motorsports recently reportedly spent more than $20 million on a charter with no certainty that charters will exist next year.
With multiple charters on the market following Stewart-Haas’ announcement, will teams’ competitive desire to expand and grow stronger relative to their competition trump their desire for permanent equity in the sport?
Only time will tell.
But they shouldn’t plan on the France family budging — not under current conditions. It’s going to take drastic action like boycotting a race to bring the Frances to the bargaining table. When drivers boycotted a race at Talladega in 1969, Bill France Sr. didn’t back down and filled the race with independents. If Jim France were to try this today, it wouldn’t work because of the small number of teams that field next-generation Cup cars.
It’s going to take a move like this to shift the scale of power.
Because if history has taught us anything, it’s that authoritarian rulers don’t just relinquish power on their own volition. It’s going to take a fight.
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