Bob Pockrass: Banquet week a crucial one for Sprint
COMMENTARY
NEW YORK – NASCAR once again is back in New York for its postseason activities in what could be considered a somewhat fun trip to honor some for a job well done as well as a begging exercise for the nation’s biggest city – one where many of the people don’t even own a car – to take notice of stock-car racing.
And while Jimmie Johnson will get to do a lot of neat stuff here over the next several days – some of the things he could do whenever he liked, considering that he already has a home here – and everyone will acknowledge him for a job well done, it seems the sport is at a crossroads.
Drivers and teams are grappling with the harsh economic climate. Who will stay and who will fold?
While the economics are difficult to predict, so is the racing with NASCAR’s new car. Will the teams and drivers that struggled with it get better – especially with a moratorium on testing? Or will it be the Jimme, Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards show next year as well?
But another crossroads is that this signifies the halfway point of the Sprint (formerly Nextel) sponsorship of the Cup series. It is five years in with five years left in a contract that has Sprint paying $700-$750 million over a 10-year span. Even considering the merger of Sprint and Nextel in late 2005, after three years, the company is entrenched in the sport even with a perception by some that it has one foot pointed toward the door.
Steve Gaffney, who heads sports sponsorships for Sprint, already was in town by Monday night. He attended a dinner to kick off the week, sitting at a table with Johnson, NASCAR President Mike Helton, NASCAR Chief Marketing Officer Steve Phelps and others in the executive kitchen at the Waldorf-Astoria.
Gaffney, who played a key role in Nextel’s acquisition of the Cup sponsorship but attended the dinner for the first time as part of his new role at Sprint, reiterated that the NASCAR sponsorship is a valuable one for Sprint, one that certainly is worth the money spent.
It’s logical to question whether a company that has lost billions of dollars and millions of customers in 2007 and 2008 would want to keep its name associated with NASCAR.
Which brings us back to being in New York City. This is a place where it seems everyone walking down the street is talking or texting on a cell phone.
This is prime cellular territory. And even if people in NASCAR are somewhat lukewarm to whether NASCAR can conquer the New York beast, it certainly behooves Sprint to make it as big a deal as possible.
It’s almost a two-way street in this city of one-way streets. If NASCAR doesn’t sell well here in New York, then why sponsor the series? If Sprint can’t engage people during the week it honors the Sprint Cup champion, then what good is its sponsorship?
Sprint plays a key role in the entire week here. This is a key marketing tool. It might well be up to Sprint whether the banquet is here or somewhere else given the expense it and NASCAR go through to have its annual celebration in the biggest of America’s cities but one where the sport does not compete.
Give Sprint credit for trying to do some new things – the victory lap around Manhattan was a great idea while it lasted, but it probably was time to move on.
Here’s hoping that Sprint can engage the fans in New York City somehow this week. It must. It cannot just have its name attached to an awards ceremony that puts drivers on a stage where they never seem to get comfortable.
While this week might be about celebrating a three-peat by Johnson, for Sprint it’s about selling phones. Right now, NASCAR and its teams might need the New York market, but Sprint needs it much, much more.
