For the first time in history, NASCAR leadership has publicly stated a willingness to sell at least a portion of itself to outside investors, this time in the face of private equity money that is becoming awash across all sports.
Back in 2018, Reuters reported that the France family that has owned the sanctioning body since its inception in 1948 had retained Goldman Sachs as it explored potential opportunities to sale.
The concession was made to the Sports Business Journal as part of a larger conversation about private equity money. Numerous race teams have welcomed private equity firms into their ownership structure like Avenue Sports Fund with Trackhouse Racing, Knighthead Capital Management in Legacy Motor Club and similar groups that have portions of Richard Childress Racing; Joe Gibbs Racing; and RFK Racing.
“I would suggest that six years ago, regardless of how PE comes into sports in this big way, they weren’t looking to the degree they are now at NASCAR,” Phelps told the Sports Business Journal. “I’ve had many, many conversations myself with these PE firms who are looking to invest in race teams because they want to hear from someone who is out selling it, ‘Where do you see this sport going, what do you believe the future to be?’ And they’re buying what we’re selling, which is fantastic. I believe that PE is good for our sport because they bring money, they bring expertise and they bring sponsors in many cases, so those are all positive things for our sport.”
The dynamic, as the Journal points out:
Other top leagues in the U.S. allow private equity investments, including all four of the major stick-and-ball properties. Arctos has the most team investments, with $7.2 billion raised and $4.4 billion committed across 38 investments as of last June, Sports Business Journal previously reported. TKO Group, the publicly traded sports and entertainment holding company of UFC and WWE, has shown interest in investing in motorsports properties, reportedly bidding for MotoGP. UFC CEO Dana White has ties with NASCAR leadership through Thrill One Sports & Entertainment’s Nitrocross property, which could make it a natural candidate to look at investing in NASCAR. TKO declined to comment.