Race Team Alliance chairman: Dealings with NASCAR have gone well so far

Brant James | USA TODAY Sports

Rob Kauffman, chairman of the Race Team Alliance that became a source of intrigue and speculation after it was announced roughly a year ago, said he wants the collaboration of NASCAR owners to continue working behind the scenes as a spur for growth for the entire industry.

“We’ve put a lot of effort into being productive. We want the conversation and the media to be around the sport and the racing, not so much the business side,” Kauffman told USA TODAY Sports. “We use the analogy of the plumbing in the walls. We run the plumbing and make sure the hot and cold water works. That’s more our side of it. The conversation needs to be more the Chase and the race for the Chase and what goes on around the track and how it relates to racing. The business stuff I think is more secondary to the fans.”

Kauffman, co-owner of Michael Waltrip Racing said his dealings with NASCAR, which from its inception managed an independent contractor model with labor, have “gone very well so far.”

Almost a year after the RTA’s inception, Sprint Cup drivers formed their own council as a platform to communicate with the racing series.

“I think hopefully what we’ve been able to create across the whole spectrum is an increased level of communication,” Kauffman said. “Everyone is in it together. So I think the driver council is one indication. There’s a manufacturers council as well and then you have the teams together. Running a business sensibly requires communication and that’s how this is working so far.”

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The original nine-member RTA initially espoused a desire to reduce costs and improve unified dialogue between members and the series. It has now begun to procure potential sponsors for membership, which includes a deal with fantasy sports site DraftKings announced early this month.

“Our focus is growing the sport, trying to make it more popular, more exciting racing,” Kauffman said, “have a good sustainable base of teams that are commercially viable that can invest in talent and developmental series, and that’s really the goal and kind of what unties everyone in trying to progress.”

That would include some sort of long-term equity value for teams. Unlike in other team sports, race teams do not enjoy the security of a franchise assured a competitive schedule and tangible assets to sell, if desired.

“I think it’s been clear publically that there has been an interest by NASCAR to have teams economically viable over the long term,” he said. “There have been discussions of having a long-term equity program for teams that provide the show week-in, week-out, year-in, year-out, having some long-term equity value that grows. How you have that is a detailed discussion and we’re working collaboratively with NASCAR to try to come up with some sort of structure that fits the industry that we’re in.

“I don’t think there’s a plug-and-play solution. I think we have to adapt and look at other models that are around in other sports and other businesses around the world and it’s an active dialogue about that.”

Follow James on Twitter @brantjames

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