Due to the highly competitive business environment it faces, Sprint, a giant telecommunications company, announced this week that it would end its title sponsorship of NASCAR’s top-tier series after 2016. As disappointed as NASCAR may be, the urgent task for them at the moment is to find another suitable title sponsor for the sport in the next 18 months. Will they succeed?
During the years of the Sprint-NASCAR partnership, the wireless carrier did a lot of work, including creating the NASCAR Sprint Cup Mobile wireless app (2008) and debuting the Miss Sprint Cup (2007), an ambassador program that is now he has more than 1.5 million followers on social media. In addition, the company will have spent around $750 million on its ten-year contract with NASCAR, that’s $75 million a year, which is definitely a lot of money. So it’s really hard for NASCAR to see its friend Sprint go.
Also, the $75 million per year is just 2006 dollars, and as for an ever-changing sport, it becomes more difficult to get a long-term sponsorship of up to ten years. Thus, the potential benefactor for NASCAR’s title sponsorship could shell out almost $100 million a year and hanker after a maximum five-year deal. So it seems more difficult for NASCAR to find a suitable title sponsor after Sprint.
However, David Carter, executive director of the University of Southern California Sports Business Institute, insisted that NASCAR is a successful business model, also stating that the series “has historically served its corporate partners very successfully and they have shown there’s value attached to NASCAR.”
In addition, Mike Boykin, CEO of Bespoke Sports & Entertainment, said: “I would say it is very high that they find a partner.”
And it is true that there are a number of options at hand, such as the fast food sector, packaged goods and even companies in the energy sectors.
Boykin said: “It could be an energy company, it could be an oil company, it could be technology.”
And he even hinted that NASCAR might even get a foreign sponsor.
“In the old days, it could be limited to US companies. But right now, while I think it’s likely to be a US company, I wouldn’t rule out the other one.”
However, the determining factor in choosing a title sponsor is the benefactor’s ability to maintain the level of the race and make the sport appealing to its fans. Therefore, a megastore that sells toilet water might not be a good fit. At least, it’s not cool enough. We hope NASCAR finally gets us a great sponsor.