|
 |
The first independent gambling guide to the best online
casinos!
NASCAR announces a $4.48-billion
pact
NASCAR announced an eight-year, $4.48-billion television deal Wednesday
that will pay the racing organization 40% more per year, beginning in
2007, than it receives under its current agreement.
At $555 million, NASCAR would rank fourth in annual revenue for
televised professional sports, behind the NFL at $3.735 billion, the
NBA's $767 million and Major League Baseball's $713 million.
NASCAR's 36-race season will be shared by Fox, ABC, ESPN and TNT. ABC
will televise at least 11 of the season's last 17 races, including the
entire 10-race "Chase" for the championship.
"We are now partners with three huge media companies — News Corp.,
Disney and Time Warner," said NASCAR Vice President Dick Glover,
referring to the networks' parent companies. "You can't get much bigger
than that."
It marks a return to the sport that claims to be the second-most watched
on television for Walt Disney Co.'s ABC and ESPN, which have not
televised NASCAR since 2000.
"ESPN once said that America's appetite for sports is insatiable, and
this just proves that media companies' appetite for sports is
insatiable," said Paul Swangard, managing director of the Warsaw Sports
Marketing Center at the University of Oregon.
The increasing appetite of advertisers to associate their names and
brands with NASCAR helped to drive up the broadcast fees. With
advertisers so smitten with NASCAR, network executives felt more
comfortable agreeing to write these big checks, analysts said.
"The reality is that NASCAR has become appointment television. It has a
tremendous following, both with fans and also from corporate America.
The advertisers have really had great success marrying up their brands
with NASCAR," said Bob Gutkowski, president of Marketing Group
International and a former president of Madison Square Garden.
An appealing element for networks and their advertisers is that NASCAR
holds up well in a world of digital video recorders, analysts said.
Since cars and drivers are plastered with ads, viewers might
fast-forward through commercials, but they can't avoid all the
advertising.
Networks also don't need to worry about a strike or lockout upsetting
the schedule.
"They are the one major sports league that doesn't have a union," said
David Carter, executive director of the USC Sports Business Institute.
"It's those worries about an impasse with labor that make networks and
advertisers queasy. But there aren't those concerns with NASCAR."
Beginning in 2007, Fox will televise the first 13 races of the season
and will have the Daytona 500 — considered the Super Bowl of stock car
racing — every year. Fox currently alternates showing the Daytona 500
with NBC, which is not part of the new deal. NBC will televise next
year's Daytona 500 even though it takes place during the network's
Winter Olympic coverage.
TNT will show six midseason races.
Fox, despite getting Daytona 500 exclusivity, will pay NASCAR $208
million compared to the $200 million it now pays.
ABC and ESPN will pay $270 million a year, which is less than the $296
million a year ESPN recently agreed to pay baseball for eight years
beginning in 2006.
The ABC-ESPN deal includes the Busch series for ESPN2, plus multimedia
rights for various platforms, including the Internet and cell phones.
TNT will pay $85 million a year for its six races beginning in 2007. TNT
and NBC now share paying $200 million a year for NASCAR.
Speed Channel, which is owned by Fox's parent company, News Corp., gets
the Craftsman Truck series, except for two races to be televised by Fox.
Speed Channel also gets NASCAR's annual All-Star challenge.
The deal with Fox gives NASCAR 100% control of NASCAR Images, which is
comparable to football's NFL Films. Fox and NASCAR have been 50-50
partners since 2002 in the company based in Charlotte, N.C.
Glover said controlling the company "allows us to increase our overall
media coverage without cost concerns of a partner."
|
 |
|
