Remember When Brian France said NASCAR was Stabilizing?
A little short of three weeks ago Brian France said things are not as bad for NASCAR as last year, when a weak economy hurt fan attendance and corporate financial backing.
“Some things are stabilizing for us in our sport,” NASCAR Chief Executive Brian France said, pointing specifically to the motor sport automakers that have cut racing-related spending.
France’s “stabilizing” remark set off a round of guffaws, chortles and sniggers around NASCAR nation. Many noted all the rule changes this year as not stabilizing and more importantly, any stabilizing seen has been four straight Cups won by Jimmie Johnson and a reasonable expectation of a fifth straight.
That’s not your Grandfathers stabilizing, so to speak.
However France may have had a point, to the great consternation to some, and be correct.
Prior to last year’s Daytona 500 research firm IEG estimated 2009 sponsorship spending in motor sports by North American companies would drop 5.7 percent, marking the first decline in 25 years of tracking such data.
They were just a tick off, spending declined 6 percent in 2009.
The same research firm reports motorsport sponsorship spending by North American companies is expected to rise 2.1 percent in 2010.
“The motorsports category has suffered more than many others recently, as its high cost of entry in many cases fell victim to increased scrutiny over corporate marketing expenditures and questions about return on investment,” said William Chipps, IEG Sponsorship Report’s senior editor.
However, the expected 2010 increase still trails the expected 3.4 percent boost for overall sponsorship spending and 2.8 percent increase for all sports properties, IEG said.
As they say spending is spending and any increase is a good thing. Sponsorship in not at the levels seen in the past but the slight increase predicted can’t be anything but good news.
IN RELATED NEWS: ESPN announced it’s increasing Daytona coverage, coincidentally or not, centered around Danica being entered in her first NNS event.
Something tells me they had a peak at Speed’s numbers this past weekend.
According to Nielsen Media Research, 2.4 million viewers tuned in to see the Saturday afternoon race, an 87-percent increase over last year’s audience of 1.3 million.
“The Daytona ARCA race always has been a strong performer for SPEED,” said network President Hunter Nickell. “We expected a ratings bump from the ‘Danica factor,’ but this is much more than a bump. There is no question that her strong debut performance is great news for her, her team and everyone involved in the sport. She handled an intense amount of attention and drove an excellent race.”
The Nielsen ratings were the highest ever for an ARCA race and rank only behind SPEED’s exclusive coverage of the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race as the highest ratings ever for the network.
I really haven’t liked anything Brain France has to say, I think Nascar has suffered a lot since he took over. I think he is just a big blow hard.
That being said this economy has hit everyone hard. Look at JR Motorsports, they still don’t have a full time sponsorship for the whole year for the #88 car. That really surprises me being having an Earnhardt name you would think sponsors would be knocking down his door. That goes to show how bad our economy is.
A “big blow hard” that just happens to be correct apparently in this case.
But I have to ask, just what has he done wrong since taking the reigns?
I don’t know if it is what he has or has not done, the guy just rubs me the wrong way. I just can’t put my finger on it, just doesn’t seem to have the fans at mind.