gnomesayin
Team Owner
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- Oct 14, 2013
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That 38% sounds about right, as I read another source recently that stated "more than 35%". How purse money is distributed used to be quite complicated, and has become even more so. As I understand it, there is now a fixed amount of participation money that all 36 charter teams get. This is the money that non-charter teams are entirely missing out on. Then there is an amount based on how well the team has performed the past three years, weighted toward the most recent year. The Wood Brothers situation of being a very competitive non-charter team has been unusual and is unlikely to be repeated. Most of the non-charter teams are going to be finishing 30th or worse more weeks than not, and so they are also usually missing out on a lot of that performance money too. However, so are the worst performing charter teams.
There are four teams in every race without charters. The important point to keep in mind is that the overall amount of the purses has remained flat or declined since the inception of the charter system. That "38%" or whatever it is on average is effectively being withheld from the non-charter teams and redistributed to the 36 charter teams as part of the guaranteed money. It's not an insignificant amount of money, but once spread through the entire field of 36 charter teams, it's not that great either in terms of the budget it takes to race.
The more I look into it, the more I realize that the RTA is making smart moves to try to make the business more sustainable for the balance of the field. I'd rather they gain more influence. There is still a large piece missing because every team is so dependent on individual sponsors, and that market is still very difficult.
