NFL-type money: That's what NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin says drivers in the sport should be making due to the inherent risks they face in high-speed racing.
“We’re way underpaid as race car drivers,” Hamlin said at a charity event Wednesday, ESPN reported. “There’s no doubt, doing what we do, the schedule that we have and the danger that we incur every single week, NASCAR drivers should be making NBA, NFL Money.”
Hamlin, one of the highest-paid racers, he said he was talking about “the back half of the field,” where the risks to drivers are the same but the pay is far lower.
The NASCAR television deal currently distributes 65 percent of its yearly revenue to the tracks, 25 percent to the teams, and keeps 10 percent, ESPN reported. Hamlin thinks those numbers should shift toward teams and drivers.
“The TV dollars coming into NASCAR is higher than it’s ever been, but we’re seeing fewer and fewer teams, and it just can’t survive,” Hamlin said, suggesting that teams get a bigger share of the pie going forward, NBC Sports reported.
Salaries in recent years have seemed to be decreasing instead of increasing as younger racers enter the field.
“Racetracks are making a lot of money. And I’m not trying to thrown anyone under the bus,” Hamlin said, NBC reported. “That money has to be reinvested to give us a better product and something for fans to see.”
Twitter users seemed to disagree with Hamlin’s comments.
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