Sprint Nextel Confident In NASCAR Lawsuit Filed By AT&T

Sprint Nextel Exec Feels AT&T Stands Little Chance To Win Lawsuit Against NASCAR

With AT&T suing NASCAR to put its brand on Jeff Burton’s No. 31 Nextel Cup Chevrolet to replace the Cingular brand that is being phased out, Sprint Nextel Dir of Nextel Cup Series Marketing Dean Kessel “doesn’t feel like AT&T has a chance in this case,” according to ESPN’s Marty Smith. Kessel said that “every single cellular provider knew the deal when the Nextel deal was brokered in 2003. Cingular and Alltel [are] grandfathered in. That’s it.” Meanwhile, with Sprint paying around $75M per year for title sponsorship of the Cup Series, Smith cited Kessel as saying that “directly correlated to the ... sponsorship, Sprint has proof that they’ve garnered more than one million new subscribers.” Smith: “Let’s just say it’s $50 a month on average for a cell bill, that’s about $50[M] a month in revenue just from the Nextel Cup sponsorship” (“NASCAR Now,” ESPN2, 4/23).