AT&T Sues NASCAR For Right To Change Brand On Nextel Cup Car

AT&T Suing NASCAR To Switch Cingular Brand On No. 31 Car

AT&T is suing NASCAR for the right to use its brand on the No. 31 Nextel Cup car driven by Jeff Burton in place of the Cingular brand, which is being phased out this year. AT&T spokesperson Clay Owen said the company has been in negotiations with NASCAR “for months” and that the lawsuit is “a last resort.” Cingular and Alltel were allowed to keep their team sponsorships after Nextel became the Cup title sponsor beginning in ’04, but other wireless brands were forbidden from entering the sport as sponsors. Sprint Nextel has maintained that neither Cingular nor Alltel can change brand names, per its ten-year, $1B contract with NASCAR. But Cingular’s grandfather clause, Owen said, specified that it could not increase its position of sponsorship at Richard Childress Racing and that it could not switch teams. “We’ve been faithful to both,” Owen said. “We believe we have the right to change brands” (Michael Smith, SportsBusiness Journal). AT&T had significant ad presence during Fox’ coverage of the Kobalt Tools 500 yesterday. The front hood camera feed for Burton’s car included a banner at the bottom of the screen featuring an AT&T logo and the message “Cingular is now the new AT&T.” Also, the AT&T and Cingular logos were displayed side-by-side with the results for the “Cingular Virtual Crew Chief” poll question. AT&T also had branding on the top-of-screen ticker. Over the space of seven minutes in the middle of the race, the top right corner of the screen displayed the AT&T logo and the words "The new AT&T" (Fox, 3/18).

MOTOROLA HAS SIMILAR ISSUES: NASCAR and Robby Gordon Motorsports reached a compromise allowing Motorola logos to appear on Gordon’s No. 7 Ford yesterday. The logos promoted Motorola’s digital audio players “and not its involvement in wireless communication” (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 3/18). In Winston-Salem, Mike Mulhern writes it was “apparently the overtones of Gordon’s new Busch sponsorship with Verizon ... that triggered NASCAR’s initial reaction to bar Motorola as a primary sponsor on Gordon’s cars.” But Gordon said, “The relationships with Verizon and Motorola are separate. The Verizon piece is on the Busch side, with Motorola as an associate; and on the Cup side, we have Motorola by itself” (WINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL, 3/19). More Gordon: “You go to the front page of Nextel.com and you find the Motorola logos are on there, the Motorola phones are on there, and it’s just a bit confusing why we’re having the issue with the race car being on the racetrack” (“NASCAR Now,” ESPN2, 3/18). NASCAR President Mike Helton said, “There was a list developed that NASCAR agreed upon when we did the [Nextel] contract of specific brand names of telecommunications that were OK or not OK. In the case of (Gordon’s) car we have one that was particularly on that list.” NASCAR VP/Corporate Communications Jim Hunter said that Gordon “will be allowed to use” the Motorola digital audio player logos “for the rest of the Cup season” (ESPN.com, 3/17).

Sunoco Eyeing Legal Action Against Shell Over Kevin Harvick Marketing Campaign

CONFLICTS EVERYWHERE: The WINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL’s Mulhern yesterday reported Sunoco, NASCAR’s official fuel supplier, “is considering legal action against Shell to force it to take down all those Kevin Harvick banners at its 15,000 service stations” (WINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL, 3/18). In Ft. Lauderdale, Ed Hinton wonders if NASCAR “can continue to dictate, as it has for decades, which brands the independent-contractor teams can and can’t bring in as sponsors.” Driver Jimmie Johnson said, “I believe everyone’s paying very close attention to (the situation).” Burton said if his team is unable to change brands, “We could be in the position of not having sponsorship. ... I certainly don’t want to be in that position especially when you have a company that’s willing to ... sponsor us for many, many years in the future” (South Florida SUN-SENTINEL, 3/18).