NASCAR and Turner Sports announced this morning that
AOL's Turner Sports has acquired NASCAR's Internet rights
and will become the exclusive producer of NASCAR Online,
which is set for a January 1 relaunch. Turner Sports has
also acquired NASCAR's exclusive Internet video rights.
Turner Sports' NASCAR Online staff will be based in Atlanta,
with additional personnel in Charlotte and Daytona Beach.
Meanwhile, NASCAR and AOL have inked a marketing and
promotional agreement (see THE DAILY, 9/26), under which
NASCAR content will be promoted across AOL's Internet
properties and AOL will receive offline promotion from
NASCAR. NASCAR Online has been produced by ESPN Internet
Ventures (NASCAR). BRANDWEEK's Terry Lefton writes that the
$100M, six-year Internet rights deal is "easily the biggest
digital deal in an exploding market where interactive sports
rights may soon eclipse" TV dollars. The deal "begs the
question: How much will NFL rights be worth when that
league's deal with ESPN expires next April?" Under the
deal, AOL and NASCAR will "exchange promotional and
marketing rights to drive traffic both ways." NASCAR
VP/Broadcasting Bray Cary: "We'll double our traffic and
eventually become the No. 1 sports site over the next 18
months" (BRANDWEEK, 10/9 issue). In Daytona Beach, Godwin
Kelly notes that the NASCAR Online staff, currently on the
NASCAR payroll, will become Turner Interactive employees in
January. Sources say that NASCAR Online, "often seen as an
extension of" NASCAR's PR department, will have "editorial
autonomy next year." One source: "They won't be running
away from any negative stories" (D.B. NEWS-JOURNAL, 10/10).
