THREAD DERAILMENT ALERT...
what are your thoughts on NASCAR lawsuit?
MJ is NOT wrong. NASCAR is the only major sports entity that has not ever had a work stoppage. BUT, there is also not a union or insurance. Until recently, the "answer" was that NASCAR shared SOOOOO much of the revenue. NASCAR retained only 10% of the TV money and shared 90% with the tracks and teams.
But now that NASCAR revenue is down, 90% of a smaller number is still....a smaller number.
NASCAR should have done more with the "insurance" issue decades ago. I have mixed feelings about a union, I do believe it could be a positive force on safety and competitive issues, on a par with the NFLPA, but I understand why people hesitate to embrace a union's role in compensatory issues. The reality is that there a lot fewer NASCAR drivers than, say, NFL players, so the drivers already have disproportionate power. Or at least the top 15 or 20 drivers do.
My overall opinion is that NASCAR usually tries to control everything until someone says "no" to them, and while MJ and Denny said no to this "charter" issue, most of the long-time team owners did not. But I actually think MJ/Denny are right about a lot of things.
And it doesn't help that NASCAR and ISC (owned 12 racetracks) merged a few years ago, and now the "sport" (NASCAR) owns a fairly healthy percentage of all the stock-car tracks IN THE SAME BUSINESS ENTITY. And it also doesn't help that NASCAR is essentially owned by 2 people.
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