NHRA Retains IMG For Sponsorships, New Business Opportunities

The NHRA, in a move to "broaden its corporate support," has retained IMG to "sell sponsorships and develop new business opportunities at the league and track level," according to Michael Smith of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. Neither side revealed the terms of the agreement, though NHRA President Tom Compton said IMG's end of the deal is "heavily incentivized." IMG Sports & Entertainment President George Pyne described the NHRA as an "unknown gem" in terms of sponsorship opportunities. Pyne: "We're talking about a series with 4 million attendees, 60 million viewers on TV, 120 hours of programming. A lot of opportunities come across my desk, but most don't have numbers like that. This is a unique opportunity for a series that has an extremely loyal fan base and a great deal of upside." IMG N.Y. Senior VP/U.S. Business Development Tom Worcester will lead the NHRA account and the agency will "post an account executive in the league's" Glendora, California, HQs. Worcester will be in charge of "merging IMG's sales efforts with those from the NHRA, which will continue to run a 30-person staff under" Senior VP/Sales & Marketing Gary Darcy. IMG will work to "broaden [NHRA's] sponsor base, especially nonendemics, and create new inventory." Pyne "specifically mentioned that the NHRA is fertile ground for packaged goods," and Darcy added that telecom and QSRs are "of particular interest" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 4/14 issue).