What NASCAR Needs To Fix - Part 3 - NASCAR Ranting and Raving

What NASCAR Needs To Fix - Part 3

by 4ever3 on Jan 2, 2008 11:52 PM EST Comment 6 comments

Well after nearly 2 weeks of being put-off here is the much anticipated Part 3 of my soon be longer than 3 Part series.

Part 3: Get Rid of 'Exclusive' Sponsorship Deals

This issue reared its ugly head this year with the Nextel/NASCAR vs Cingular/AT&T Mexican stand-off.

To solve this issue in its simplest terms all NASCAR has to do is get rid of its exclusive sponsorship deals with it advertisers. Sure, NEXTEL, Sprint, whatever can be the 'official' wireless provider of NASCAR, but NASCAR should not give them the right to dictate who can be a sponsor of car in the series (ie. other wireless providers like AT&T).

By having these exclusive contracts NASCAR has now put itself in position to be competing with the very teams that make NASCAR what it is for sponsorship dollars. Going back to the Cingular/AT&T thing for a second; NASCAR put itself in a position to compete with one of the legendary teams, Richard Childress Racing, in its series for sponsorship dollars by having the 'exclusive' deal with NEXTEL. NEXTEL did not want other wireless companies in the series and NASCAR let them do that and, if it were not for a loophole, RCR would have one less sponsor right now.

By having these exclusive deals with various companies NASCAR is limiting sponsorship options for its racing teams. What it Budweiser became the 'exclusive' beer of NASCAR? That would mean Miller, Coors, and any other beer (or drink made with malt, barley, or hops) would not be allowed to sponsor a race team. All those potential beer and beer related beverage makers would be lost to the racing community as potential sponsors.

Now granted they have done the grandfather thing in the past, but what if the beer company that was grandfathered wanted to put one of it's other brands on the car like when Miller switched to Genuine Draft in the early 1990's? They wouldn't be able to do it. Furthermore, what if the grandfathered company changed it's packaging/labelling, like Coors Lite did between the mid 1990's (blue, red, white) to the late 1990's (silver)? They wouldn't be able to run that car in the new colours at all.

With the cost of operating a competitive racing team increasing each year (with or without the CoT) and big money sponsors not as eager to spend their advertising dollars on racing sponsorships then don't you think it would be in NASCAR's best interest not to enter into exclusive sponsorship contracts so that potential sponsors will still be available to sponsor race teams?

Without adequate sponsorship dollars there will be fewer and fewer competitive race cars out there and the quality of the competition will decrease on the track making viewing a race less interesting thus creating less interest in NASCAR and with less interest comes fewer sponsorship dollars - exclusive or otherwise.

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Read More: fix, richard childress, nextel, att, cingular, nascar

Comments

NASCAR needs to back off and let the boys and sponsors be just that drivers and sponsors. What I mean by that is let the personalities come out with the drivers and quit limiting who or what the sponors will be. I forgot who I think Hermie said that NASCAR is getting alot like the WWE. Totally scripted and unbelievable..

by Tiredawg on Jan 3, 2008 5:58 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

I agree that by limiting sponsors due to esclusive deals is bad, but I also think that NASCAR has a moral obligation not to let just anyone be a sponsor either.

by 4ever3 on Jan 3, 2008 9:26 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

I see where you're going with this, but I don't think this issue is such a big one that it needs to be changed. The only 'exclusive' deal that NASCAR signs (that completely exclude all competitors on the hood of a car) is with the series title holder.

NASCAR has countless official sponsors (Home Depot, Coors Light, etc) but all that governs is the use of the NASCAR bars. It doesn't keep Lowe's and Miller Lite off the 48 and 2 cars.

Even with the Nextel/Sprint sponsorship and the tight rules around it, Alltel has been able to make paint scheme and logo changes without problems.

by Hi-Def on Jan 3, 2008 11:57 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

My problem with exclusive deals is that now that NASCAR has let the "cat out of the bag" that other 'official' sponsors, like Home Depot, etc., will now want to be 'exclusive' sponsors and shut out the competition.

by 4ever3 on Jan 3, 2008 4:30 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I agree that the "official sponsor" is a very slippery slope, but playing devil's advocate for a minute, if I'm a sponsor that can be granted exclusivity, I'd take it.

On the other hand we see several Cup teams (Ganassi, Haas, Yates) that can't find primary sponsors right now in part because companies would rather be a title sponsor or official ____ of NASCAR.

by Mike on Jan 4, 2008 1:53 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Mike,

I'm in 100% agreement with you on that - if I were a sponsor and NASCAR was offering an exclusive contract I would be all over it too. But is is an awful precident that is being set here, and it is the race teams that are going to suffer the most.

by 4ever3 on Jan 4, 2008 2:16 AM EST reply actions 0 recs