NASCAR Spent $50 Million On The Chicago Street Race And Lost Money, But Says It Was Worth It
Chicago is an expensive city to visit!
During an interview with the Race Industry Week livestream on Tuesday, NASCAR President Steve Phelps said that the series spent $50 million on the Chicago Street Race.
He didn’t clarify if that was for each of the two years it has been held, with a third on the way in 2025, but said it was a “difficult race for us” financially and that “we unfortunately didn’t sell $50M in tickets or sponsorships.”
Nevertheless, more than 70% of visitors during the race weekend had never been to a NASCAR race before, so he considers it a win for growing the sport.
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He said it also was a big factor in NASCAR landing broadcast deals with Amazon and Warner Bros. Discovery, who will split the Cup Series season with Fox and NBC/Universal through 2031.
NASCAR had previously served the Chicago market with races at the more traditional Chicagoland Speedway oval and Road America in Wisconsin.
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The Chicago TV broadcast had 4.6 million viewers across all platforms in 2023, but that dropped to 3.79 million in 2024. Both events were affected by rain delays.
The city of Chicago made out better than that, however, with the estimated economic impact of the race increasing from $108 million in 2023 to $128 million this year.
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NASCAR has a three-year contract with Chicago and has not yet indicated if it will sign a new one after 2025. This season, it wrapped up a three-year run of holding the season-opening Clash exhibition race at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, and is moving the event to Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C., next year.
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