The recent five-year Internet deal between NASCAR and
AOL/Time Warner for a reported $100M has "provoked
considerable head-scratching" among Winston Cup insiders,
according to Mike Mulhern of the WINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL, as
some team owners feel it is "optimistic" to think that
NASCAR.com can generate $20M in revenue. Roush Racing
President Geoff Smith said that he is "enthusiastic" about
the "potential" of the Internet, even beyond souvenir sales,
as he wants to use the Internet to generate interest in his
teams to create sponsorship interest. Smith says that he is
waiting to hear how much he will be offered to have
RoushRacing.com join NASCAR.com. Smith: "I don't really
know how this new deal translates into dollars for everybody
yet. But I do know the Internet is a very important piece
of communication between Roush Racing and our drivers and
the corporate sponsorship, the people in corporate marketing
who make the decisions about the race teams." Smith is
cautious about NASCAR.com: "It's not clear to me that I'm
going to sell $20 million worth of tee-shirts on the
Internet tomorrow, because it seems the retail side of the
Internet is lagging behind the marketing value." Smith says
that video and film rights are major components of a Web
deal. Smith: "Now AOL has all those film rights, and I want
to be able to marry my print content with that video
library. To have our own print recap of the big story and
add a 30-second video, that's the picture we want. And I
can't access that with any other deal I can make (except by
signing with AOL and NASCAR)" (W-S JOURNAL, 10/18).
