The New 9-Team NASCAR Race Team Alliance

Just heard about this on my 6:00pm news:

NASCAR's most powerful teams form Race Team Alliance
Nate Ryan

USA TODAY

2:59 p.m. EDT July 7, 2014

NASCAR's nine most powerful teams have formed the Race Team Alliance, a business association intended to increase revenues and budget efficiency for Sprint Cup organizations.

The RTA is comprised of Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, Michael Waltrip Racing, Richard Childress Racing, Richard Petty Motorsports, Roush Fenway Racing, Stewart-Haas Racing and Team Penske. It intends to open its membership to all teams in NASCAR's premier series.

A release said the organization "creates for the first time a single entity to engage with stakeholders on creative ways to market and experience the power of the sport's teams and drivers. As part of its focus, the RTA also plans to explore innovative ways to harness the combined purchasing power and scale of the teams' operations to drive efficiencies in costs."

NASCAR Q&A: Rob Kauffman on new Race Team Alliance

Rob Kauffman, the co-owner of Michael Waltrip Racing, has been elected the RTA's chairman.

"With the encouragement of NASCAR and the manufacturers, the teams have met in various forms and forums over the years to explore areas of common interest," Kauffman said in a release. "This simply formalizes what was an informal group. The key word is 'collaboration'. We all have vested interests in the success and popularity of stock car racing.

"By working together and speaking with a single voice, it should be a simpler and smoother process to work with current and potential groups involved with the sport. Whether it be looking for industry-wide travel partners or collaborating on technical issues the idea is to work together to increase revenue, spend more efficiently, and deliver more value to our partners."

In a statement, NASCAR vice president and chief communications officer Brett Jewkes said: "We are aware of the alliance concept the team owners have announced, but have very few specifics on its structure or purpose. It is apparently still in development and we're still learning about the details so it would be inappropriate to comment right now. NASCAR's mission, as it has always been, is to create a fair playing field where anyone can come and compete. Our job is to support and strengthen all of the teams, large and small, across all of our series and we'll continue to do that. NASCAR is a unique community with hundreds of stakeholders. They all have a voice and always will."

Brian France says 2015 schedule merits 'robust' talks

NASCAR will begin new 10-year TV deals next year with Fox and NBC that run through 2025 and are worth more than $8 billion. Under the current structure, NASCAR teams receive roughly 25% of the revenue from TV, with 65% to tracks and 10% to NASCAR.

In a state-of-the-sport address last weekend at Daytona International Speedway, chairman Brian France said NASCAR was "rethinking that a little bit. That'll be something that we will consider and we will look at to make sure that the appropriate values are where they need to be."

I have read a ton of opinions and observations on this subject today, including NASCAR's cautious response. Looks like this may be an event NASCAR is going to have some difficulty handling. Very interesting comments from a number of sources.

Thanks, Dave, for putting up the post. Hope you are doing well.

This is the end. Not the beginning of, but the end. Team owner organizations have ruined Formula One and Indycar. In the interests of lowering costs, they strive towards a spec series even worse than what we now have. By requiring certain suppliers and standards, they stifle innovation and threaten to boycott if the sanctioning body allows another team to gain a decisive advantage. They demand a guaranteed spot on the grid and appearance fees. They want to be like the NFL, where new teams can't get in and guaranteeing a big check when they decide to sell their franchise to someone waiting on the sidelines. Roush, Penske, Childress, Petty, all these guys are getting old and looking to cash out.

This isn't a driver's union, which would lobby for safety and help cover medical costs and retirement. This is a plan for billionaires to make more money. They're going to put the squeeze on NASCAR and on track owners and constantly threaten to form their own league. Granted, the France family brought it on with their mismanagement and lack of communication, but sports has always worked better as a dictatorship.

If Big Bill were in charge, he'd kick all these guys out of NASCAR tomorrow. And frankly, I think the sport would be better for it. Things have gotten stale. If you kick the guys with the big budgets out, then maybe you can open up the rulebook a little and allow folks to experiment without becoming dominant. If the big teams weren't paying drivers millions, maybe they would get out of their motorhomes more and start acting like regular folk, maybe get a roofing job for during the week.

Andy hit the nail on the head. As I Tweeted on Monday, the F-1ification of this sport just happened. Nascar has no one but themselves to blame. All they care about now is the tv contracts, because that is their source of revenue. The fans used to be, but when they stopped coming due to Nascar's rule book being written on an Etch-A-Sketch, they went to the networks and have basically sold the sport off to them. Now the owners are going to leverage their team into strong arming Nascar to do what they want, or else someone like Bruton Smith or Roger Penskeis going to form a rival league and take all of the major players with him. That being said- I actually think a rival racing league or even divisioncan be a good thing, as it would allow the sport to go to more tracks and give more places multiple dates on the schedule. It would also give them the ability to hold a one race, winner take all format with the best of both series running against each other in a seven race series. Don't get me wrong; I am a purist. I don't like the Chase, I don't like all of the changes. The problem is the American television viewer. Everything has to be Americanized to our short attention spans, and that is why everything in the sport is different now. The bottom line is that Nascar had better get ready, because when Rick Hendrick and a few of these other big players pull out over something they don't like, it's not going to be pretty.

Jay and Andy, I agree with you both. In their defense, the owners, who also have a significant investment in NASCAR, apparently, feel they must have some voice in the sport.......while there's something left. NASCAR's continual mantra of declaring the sport to be to be in 'good' health, don't necessarily make it so. With continually shrinking numbers, and sponsors, problems aren't going away. Like us, these mega-owners are well aware of the 'state of the sport'.

I bet Big Bill is rolling over in his grave. If he were still in charge there would be 9 owners that wouldn't be allowed in the race track next week and maybe never again. Of course if he were alive, those 9 owner wouldn't have gone thruwith their plan.Look at whathappened when track ownerswere allowed to startbuying multiple tracks and moving dates around, we lost some mighty fine race tracks. The big guys in timewill squeeze the little teamsout and you willbe left with a starting field made up of the 9 owners race teams. That will be even more boring than racing is today!Somebody better grow a set and get things back in line or Nascar is going to continue on it's downward spiral.