A number of paperwork, depositions, and inside conversations have been made public on account of the continued antitrust lawsuit between 23XI Racing, Entrance Row Motorsports, and NASCAR. Together with the total 2025 Constitution Settlement, different data gives a behind the scenes have a look at some ‘what if’ situations over time, together with a proposal for a really totally different TV package deal than the one we have now now.
Per his personal deposition, NASCAR EVP and Chief Media and Income Officer Brian Herbst thought of a plan the place NASCAR and IndyCar would work collectively on a TV deal, packaging each collectively in an effort to maximise potential income.
As an alternative, when NASCAR’s previous TV deal ended after the 2024, it put collectively a brand new $7.7 billion cope with a number of networks, spanning from 2025 by means of 2031. The deal includes earlier companions FOX Sports activities and NBC Sports activities, but additionally new ones through Warner Brothers Discovery and even streaming by means of Amazon’s Prime Video.
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IndyCar’s new TV deal additionally started in 2025, giving FOX unique rights to broadcast all 17 occasions on FOX Sports activities’ major channel. FOX has since purchased a 33% stake in Penske Leisure, which owns the sequence and Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Nevertheless, in Could of 2019, Herbst says NASCAR “explored plenty of totally different concepts and ideas to attempt to enhance our negotiating place.”
A partnership with IndyCar, packaging the media rights deal collectively for the highest open-wheel sequence and prime inventory automobile racing division in the US was among the many concepts thought of.
“A kind of ideas that by no means bought off the bottom was, if we approached IndyCar, to have as an alternative of simply NASCAR going to market, having NASCAR and IndyCar going to market collectively for his or her media rights,” stated Herbst within the deposition. “So this was a — as I recall — once more, this has been six years. However as I recall this was an inside presentation. I believe it was simply reviewed by the senior management workforce. I am unsure if it bought in entrance of the board truthfully. So at this level, I used to be reporting to someone named Jill Gregory, who was the CMO, in addition to Craig Neeb, who was an EVP, had a twin reporting construction there. I am unsure who this one was reported to, however I will provide the background.
“The background was that NASCAR was going to wish to get, like, very artistic to be able to — and really aggressive when it comes to how we positioned our sport for the following rights discussions due to the viewership decline NASCAR had suffered as a sport from the time we signed our final deal in 2013 to after we began to plan for our media rights future in 2018 and 2019.”
Whereas this by no means got here to be, NASCAR has labored by means of FOX Sports activities to align extra with IndyCar and assist bolster each sequence. Subsequent yr, the primary Phoenix race weekend will characteristic each IndyCar and NASCAR Cup motion, whereas the NASCAR Truck Collection heads to St. Pete for the primary time as a part of IndyCar’s season-opener.
He went on to say that there was a “decline within the pay TV setting,” noting a separation between the ‘must-have’ sports activities and ‘nice-to-have’ sports activities for broadcasters. Officers had been involved that NASCAR can be relegated to the ‘nice-to-have’ checklist.
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