Following AOL/Turner Sports' acquisition of NASCAR's
Internet rights for a reported $100M over six years (see THE
DAILY, 10/10), Turner Sports President Mark Lazarus said
NASCAR Online "will not be an Internet site," according to
David Sweet of the WSJ.com. Lazarus: "It may be interactive
TV delivered to the Internet. We'll build interactive
television in the most robust way you've ever seen." Sweet
notes that Lazarus "denied the Internet deal would give
Turner an unfair advantage over" Fox and NBC, which have TV
rights for NASCAR races for the 2001-06 seasons. Lazarus:
"We'll build a mutually beneficial relationship with the
broadcast partners. This is a separate company we're
setting up inside of Turner Sports. It'll be agnostic of
the broadcasters." Sweet added that Jupiter Media Metrix
senior analyst Patrick Keane "was surprised" NASCAR declined
to own its Web rights. Keane said NASCAR "may say they
don't have the technological wherewithal," but added because
the NHL took control of its Internet rights this year,
NASCAR "eventually" will "bring it all in-house." NASCAR
Senior VP Brian France, on the "benefit" Turner will provide
to NASCAR Online: "It'll be a site where everything's
available -- fast-breaking stories, not just stats and data"
(WSJ.com, 10/10). USA TODAY's Chris Jenkins reports that
NASCAR will distribute Internet-related revenue the "same
way it does money from" its TV deals with Fox and
NBC/Turner. Tracks receive 65%, teams 25% -- "mostly in the
form of race purses" -- and NASCAR 10% (USA TODAY, 10/11).
In Charlotte, David Scott cites sources as saying that the
money from the deal "might increase if revenues exceed
expectations." SMI President Humpy Wheeler: "The strong
growth potential of this is not the first year, but toward
the sixth" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 10/11).