In a recent conversation with Dale Earnhardt Jr. on his podcast show, NASCAR Hall of Famer and current Hendrick Motorsports Vice President Jeff Gordon shared his take on the ongoing conflict between RTA and NASCAR. For quite a while, there’s been a back-and-forth between the teams and the governing body over a variety of issues, one of which is revenue sharing.
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However, Gordon cleared that it’s not all about the revenue. The 4x Cup champion also clarified that despite the new TV deal, there are still a few creases that need to be ironed in favor of the greater good of the sport.
“We need to make a change to get this thing going back in the right direction. I think the new TV contract is a good one. Did it live up to if you look at other leagues, what we thought the potential was? That’s debatable. But it’s done, and it’s very solid,” Gordon said.
“These discussions aren’t just about splitting revenues. It’s about how do we look at the business model of a race team and build enterprise value and be more collaborative with NASCAR in how we come up with ideas to grow the sport, bringing in new fans. We’re still very heavy on relying on sponsor income.”
Gordon claimed that the reason things have not “moved forward” is because there are a few major key things that the teams have been consistently insisting to NASCAR on which would bring them more profit.
Following this, Jeff Gordon made a major revelation that could sound unbelievable to many. “We don’t make money,” he said as he elaborated further.
Jeff Gordon claims Hendrick Motorsports hasn’t made a profit in a decade
“I don’t think Hendrick Motorsports has made a profit in 10 years,” Jeff Gordon said, continuing on his point of teams not making money in NASCAR. A good and obvious follow-up question to this would be why do teams keep doing it if they don’t make enough money?
“It’s because Rick Hendrick loves the sport. He loves cars. And it’s been good branding,” Gordon said. “But if we didn’t have all the B2B and we’re one of the few teams out there very fortunate to have the B2B to tie the Hendrick Automotive Group and Hendrick Motorsports together and bring these sponsors in, I don’t know where that would put us if we didn’t have that.”
This is where Jeff Gordon claimed the negotiation committee comes along and takes the case for all the teams instead of just fighting for the big ones. Gordon added that it’s about “every team” and that there are a lot of teams that are struggling.
