NASCAR team investors claim charters values have doubled since lawsuit settlement, per report

As part of the settlement agreement in the 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports vs. NASCAR lawsuit, the sanctioning body granted permanent charters to all 15 Cup Series teams. Permanent charters were an item teams wanted in the Charter Agreement signed in August 2024, though NASCAR declined to give in to their demand.

Since this past Thursday’s settlement, several NASCAR team investors and executives believe charter values have gone up overnight, according to Adam Stern of Sports Business Journal. The most confident team investors reportedly say that charter values have increased close to 100% since being made evergreen.

For context, Legacy Motor Club reset the market this season when they acquired a charter from Rick Ware Racing for $45 million. Nearly all of the industry executives with ties to teams contacted by Stern agreed that the price for charters will at least top $50 million in the next valuation. Dale Earnhardt Jr. recently suggested that number could be well higher.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. sounds off on permanent NASCAR charters

“If the charter remains nothing more than a guaranteed entry into a single event, I think then values remain where they are today. What the teams have recognized are if those charters were to become permanent and therefore basically a franchise, the values are well north of $150 million. So, you’re sitting there with a charter that’s worth let’s say $25 million and by the stroke of Jim France’s pen, it will now be $150 million,” Earnhardt said on the latest Dale Jr. Download. “If you’re a charter owner, of course you’re hoping for that to happen. I believe, secretly, even the people that signed the Charter Agreement that someway, somehow, in the end, that these do become permanent. That is the ultimate decision that I think comes out of this whole trial.

“They’ll be some other little nuances of will 23XI and Bob Jenkins be rewarded some damages, will this lever get pulled, will this little thing get changed, will somebody lose a job, will this person get replaced? All those things may happen, could happen but ultimately, I think what we are deciding is do the charters become franchises, do they become permanent and realized in new value north of $150 million?”

With charters now permanent, expect a “gigantic barrier of entry,” Earnhardt said: “If that happens, there is no going back. Like, it changes the sport forever. You’ll basically have 36 franchises — however many cars start a race — they’ll be the franchises, owned and valued and they will sell and trade from one entity to another over the course of decades and centuries, however long this goes. They’ll be a gigantic barrier of entry.

“As we’ve known racing for 75 years, if you wanted to build a Cup car and show up at a race and try to compete, you did. Probably not gonna go all that well, you’re gonna compete against the regular teams and that’s what it was, but you could. That’ll be gone forever.”