Pep Boys says Labor Day weekend race sponsorship less valuable than Chase race
The Pep Boys Auto logo adorns the pace car used in last year's Sprint Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. // Atlanta Motor Speedway, Courtesy
Sponsorship for a race in NASCAR's Chase For The Sprint Cup is worth more to a sponsor than a non-Chase race, Pep Boys argues in a court filing over a dispute in the sponsorship of Atlanta Motor Speedway’s Labor Day weekend race this year.
AMS sued Pep Boys for missing a payment on its $1.6 million sponsorship for this year’s event, which is scheduled for Sept. 6. Pep Boys sponsored the 2007 fall race at the track and then signed a two-year, $3 million deal to continue sponsoring the event. AMS moved the race from late October to Labor Day for the 2009 season.
Pep Boys has balked at sponsoring the race on the new date, and AMS filed suit in Georgia state court to enforce the sponsorship deal. Pep Boys has moved the case to federal court and filed a counterclaim last Thursday against the track.
Pep Boys claims that Chase races “command a powerful television audience and provide valuable exposure” and says, “[T]his move would deprive Pep Boys of the core benefit for which it had bargained – a fall race during the popular ‘Chase’ (i.e., playoff) portion of the NASCAR season.”
The switch in dates, talked about for months in the NASCAR community, was made official in August 2008. Pep Boys in its complaint, though, states that it was not told of the switch until around the time of the race last year.
“[AMS] destroyed the important fall marketing boost for which Pep Boys had bargained,” Pep Boys states in its complaint. “The date change was also significant because television viewership during the Labor Day weekend is, because of holiday travel and outdoor activities, typically substantially lower than the last Sunday in October in Pep Boys’ core markets. Indeed, that total viewership is often down as much as 20%.”
Pep Boys also claims that selling tickets was a problem for Labor Day weekend races at Auto Club Speedway in California and “was not a problem for the 2007 and 2008 Atlanta Motor Speedway races held in late October during the popular ‘Chase.’”
At the time the date change was announced, one of the primary reasons AMS officials said they moved the race was in hopes of boosting ticket sales.
In addition, the complaint says that marketing in the fall is important to Pep Boys following the typically strong summer season in the automotive aftermarket industry as hot temperatures cause automotive parts and tires to fail and consumers tend to work on their cars more in the nice weather.
Pep Boys’ complaint does not specify the amount of damages. AMS wants Pep Boys to pay it the $1.6 million it pledged in the contract.
Through a spokesman, AMS President Ed Clark declined to comment on the suit because it is a pending legal issue.
