Talk of gaining and losing sponsorships runs throughout the motorsports circuit as each series ends around October and November. Jack Daniels announced pulling away from Childress Racing; Jim Beam cut ties with Robby Gordon's Sprint Cup team; General Motors, Chrysler, Chevron and Sears all have cut ties with the No. 2 sports market, second to professional football, due to financial crisis.
Does NASCAR Care?
Looking at all this from 50,000 feet, the answer seems a bit cloudy. They claim to help the individual teams gain the sponsorships and funding needed to come to the sandbox and play with the big boys. However, with every corporate-backed sponsor reevaluating funds and marketing strategies, it looks like there are going to be teams left high and dry come 2010. Teams that had three or four cars fully sponsored, may now only have one car sponsored and the rest partially funded or even worse – parked for the season. Yes, NASCAR has around $4.5 billion in television contracts that will run through 2014, but that money won't be enough to keep some of these teams on the track.
Looks like it will be up to each team's owners/managers to figure out alternative ways to cut down on expenses but continue improving technology, development and performance for the "cars of tomorrow." How can this be done? Is this even possible? Maybe if you are a part of Hendrick Motorsports, Roush Fenway, Joe Gibbs or Richard Childress's program. There may be a chance you can accomplish this unattainable task, but if you're not one of the (maybe) top five teams in NASCAR, you may as well go buy a lottery ticket.
What's Next?
2010 is going to pose strange and interesting strategies and procedures in order for NASCAR to continue being one of the top marketable sports in North America. Without the backing of some of their biggest supporters, the future of NASCAR appears to be a bit unsettled. As teams continue to try to stay afloat, marketing teams and sponsorship scouts become more and more important. Teams will become more and more investment-minded and rely on others to help keep their teams viable.
Also, this dip in massive sponsorship packages and one-branded teams may change the sponsorship landscape on the business side as well. Companies that couldn't afford to pay for a whole team sponsorship may now have the opportunity to get in on a couple of races, or better yet, a small logo on the car for a season. Again, this comes back to more investment, less reward, in hopes that it will pay off in 2011.
What else do you think will change? What other investments will rise in importance?