Micheal Jordan to Nascar!

[StuiE]

No, not really.


but it does show how popular NASCAR is getting on the world stage, will we see international drivers' dreams to be to race in Cup rather than F1?

[Erki]

Would be good to see.

[FIRE]

Micheal Jordan to Nascar!

Is that the reason they switch to the CoT?

[Knowlesy]

Certainly, NASCAR is flourishing in terms of driver interest it would seem. I think we will only see more and more topline drivers from all categories going there in the coming, but there is still a certain amount of snobbery to be dealt with first I feel!

Of course, this may just be a one off boom period!

[rustyfan]

Originally Posted by knowlesy

Of course, this may just be a one off boom period!

It will be until we start to see some "outsiders" making a name for themselves in NASCAR - if Juan-Pablo Montoya would start winning races, for example, it might be what, down the road, opens the flood gates.

[Knowlesy]

Yes, I'd agree with that.

[Hazza]

Could he be the poverbial Emerson Fittipaldi/Nigel Mansell?

[Last2LiftOff]

That's a pretty tall order. As it stands right now, NASCAR's audience worldwide vs. F1's is pretty paltry - like it isn't even close. F1 in China now, soon to be India I bet (probably Russia), it's apples and oranges.....IMHO.

[Knowlesy]

Who cares about audience?

[Last2LiftOff]

Trying to speak to one part of the post I thought Knowlesy, the one about NASCAR'S popularity on the world stage. Even for the drivers, it has to come into it if even for just a moment.

[Knowlesy]

Drivers will either go where the money is or where they think they will enjoy their racing. I'm not sure audience ever really enters the mind.

[VilleneuveTracy]

NASCAR is not close to F1 but its chief problem abroad is a lack of exposure. Drivers like JV and JPM will bring many fans with them as well as media attention. If other follow them and areas that did not even know what NASCAR was in the past take a look at the series, the global racing ball game will change. NASCAR's product is far better than F1. This could be looked back as the time when F1's hegemony began to end.

[Alwaysfirst]

Originally Posted by knowlesy

Drivers will either go where the money is or where they think they will enjoy their racing. I'm not sure audience ever really enters the mind.

No, but big sponsors go where the audience is & if drivers follow the money (ie sponsors) then audience really does play quite a large part in where drivers, or at least those that want to earn money rather than having to pay for drives, go.

[rustyfan]

Originally Posted by Alwaysfirst

No, but big sponsors go where the audience is & if drivers follow the money (ie sponsors) then audience really does play quite a large part in where drivers, or at least those that want to earn money rather than having to pay for drives, go.

As long as NASCAR remains as big & popular on the US market as it is I don't see a shortage of sponsorship anytime soon - the worldwide audience is just a nice bonus.

Are the crowd-numbers for Formula 1 available anywhere online? Would be interesting to see how the NASCAR crowds stack up against the Formula 1 ones.

[Knowlesy]

NASCAR has no problems with crowds, they are ludicrously huge week in, week out.

And as for sponsors.....43 cars all with some fairly big deals plastered over them.

[Erki]

There are still some littler teams struggling with getting sponsorship but I see them falling out of the Cup series in max 2 years.

[Knowlesy]

Well yes, but it's a small portion.

I don't think you can expect everyone to be drowning in cash, there has to be losers in every field sadly.

[rustyfan]

Originally Posted by knowlesy

NASCAR has no problems with crowds, they are ludicrously huge week in, week out.

Exactly, which is why I'd like to see how they stack up against Formula 1

[Knowlesy]

Quite favourably, but it's hard to compare an oval attendance to a road race attendance I guess.

[VilleneuveTracy]

Originally Posted by Erki

There are still some littler teams struggling with getting sponsorship but I see them falling out of the Cup series in max 2 years.

That is more due to the lack of results from those teams than a lack of willingness to sponsor NASCAR teams in corporate America. Numerous studies have proven that sponsors get far more in advertising through NASCAR sponsorship than they would if they spent the same money on conventional ads. It is a cost effective way of marketing. Budweiser pays, what, maybe $15, $20 million at most for sponsoring Dale Jr.? The total value of the exposue they get from Junior is light years ahead of $20 million.

[Last2LiftOff]

Originally Posted by knowlesy

Quite favourably, but it's hard to compare an oval attendance to a road race attendance I guess.

Maybe somebody can find some because the numbers I remember hearing or seeing somewhere, audience sizes for F1 races vs. NASCAR were not close at all. That may have been Bernie spouting off some, exaggerating to make his point, but not that much I don't think. 15 milion or some such for the Daytona 500 I think the example was; over 300 million for every F1 race. Worldwide mind you, but still.

Like you said though knowlesy, maybe on another post, who cares about audience? I couldn't care less what everybody else is watching.

[muggle not]

I have been out of touch for a number of years now but these are sponsorship costs from about 6 years ago. They have probably gone up 75% to 100% since then. For example, I understand that Pfizer spent about $20 million to sponsor the #6 car when they were sponsor a few years back

Hood & Rear Qtr Panel (usually sold as a pkg).........$12 million

Trunk & Back....................................................$1.5 million

Lower Rear Qtr Panel..........................................$1 million

Front Qtr Panel.................................................$500,000

B-Pillar............................................................$200,000

C-Pillar.............................................................$500,000

[fazzaz]

Muggle,

I think that those numbers for a top (or Chase) team are low for 2006, but the ratios are still probably pretty close.

A company which going to sponsor a Cup team (for example) will budget at least the amount of the sponsorship again for advertising the sponsorship, e.g. TV ads featuring the driver, in-store displays and promotions, show cars, print ads, etc. Budweiser has done a particularly good job of this with Jr. and the stand-up displays and TV commercials.

I'm also impressed with the number of TV ads aimed at the NASCAR audience and featuring distinctive qualities of the drivers. Carl Edwards (and Mark Martin) and the back flips, Dale Jarrett and the Truck, FedEx and Denny Hamlin, etc. Even companies which do not directly sponsor cars, such as Allstate, have made TV commercials aimed directly at this audience.

Marketing departments know and measure returns on the whole sponsorship package as well as individual parts; they're not doing this because the CEO is a NASCAR fan. The sponsorship money is in NASCAR because it works.

[muggle not]

No question. Nascar sponsorship pays big dividends or the Companies would bail out fast. Please note that I stated those numbers were from around 6 years back and have gone up considerably since then. I have had limited contact recently and do not know the exact $$$ amounts.

Also, those numbers do not include the $$$ the teams get from the manufacturers in terms of support.