Ever since the new media deal was signed by NASCAR, things have not been going well between the competition and the team owners. A new charter agreement is set to come into effect soon, as the current one expires at the end of the 2024 season. No agreement has been reached yet, but as per a report in the Sports Business Journal, NASCAR COO Steve O’Donnell said that they are very close to one. What does this mean for the teams? Have they decided to compromise? From O’Donnell’s comments, that sure seems to be the case.

Steve O’Donnell is confident of getting to “a good place”

The NASCAR COO was at the CAA World Congress of Sports in Los Angeles when he was asked about the future of the sport with the charter situation. It’s not like he did not acknowledge that there were issues with reaching the new agreement, but he seemed confident that teams would see the benefits arising from the new media rights deal. With the increased value of charters, several teams wanted to make their place permanent in the Cup Series and, of course, get a bigger piece of the pie from the media rights deal financially.

“We’re very close,” Steve O’Donnell said. “Ultimately, when our owners look at where the sport’s potential is in terms of all the new media partners, the balance that we do have with linear and now being able to go with the Amazon’s, [TNT Sports], all the opportunities we have with content, I think they get it. Everyone wants to sit down and argue over who’s going to split the money the right way, but ultimately we’ll get to a good place.”

Another thing that could be inferred from his comments was that NASCAR is not willing to grant that permanent status in the Cup Series to teams, even to the ones that have been around for decades. O’Donnell believes that it would attract outside interest, and businesses may want to invest in new teams, which is always good for the sport.

Is the NASCAR COO prioritizing outsiders over decades-old teams?

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Ownership in the sport has always been traditional, as per Steve O’Donnell, but the lucrative nature of the new media rights deal may change that. Granting permanent status to some older teams means that their charter values would skyrocket. So if there comes a point where they want to sell one of their charters, the asking price would be too high for an outside business to buy and invest in a new race team. That’s what NASCAR does not want, but the owners do.

“There’s some things that’ll challenge us a little bit and push us, but … ownership that is maybe not traditional to the sport is good for us. We’re going to have new personalities, new businesses that’ll come into the sport. So I think at the end of the day, we’ve talked about everybody will be a little ticked off once we get to the deal, but that’ll mean it’s the right way to go,” O’Donnell added.

Despite these comments, some sources close to the teams have reportedly denied any agreement being “very close”. There are several issues, which is why it is taking so long, and team owners have often expressed their disappointment with NASCAR in this matter. But there has to be a new deal in place before the season ends, and this whole saga will be one to keep an eye on.