Leveraging its position as host of the first race in NASCAR's Chase for the Sprint Cup in mid-September, Chicagoland Speedway today announced an exclusive deal with Groupon to sell 60 premium experiences at $1,500 each that include just about every asset the venue has to offer. Chicagoland VP/Sales & Marketing Communications Scott Howard said he and his staff were mulling ways to take advantage of how the first Chase race gives the event a national profile, and had been following the growing success of premium-ticket sales. Track execs also are trying to get more ingrained with Chicago-based companies like Groupon, so they decided to approach the social-experience firm about a partnership. The company indicated that it typically does not sponsor properties for premium packages but that it was agreeable to this one in part because it also saw value in the Chicago tie. As part of the packages -- which will be offered to Groupon's national database of 40 million people as opposed to a more local offering -- purchasers will get perks that include an itinerary-carrying concierge when they arrive; an introduction meet-and-greet breakfast/tour from track President Scott Paddock; access to premium seats for all three national-series races that weekend; garage hot passes; reserve seating in the drivers' meeting; a private tour and meet and greet with NASCAR HOFer Rusty Wallace; access to victory lane; and $100 in merchandise that will be specially made. Howard: "All of these things, we've never done before. So if you're a diehard fan, that's like nirvana for you to get all this stuff and to have a limited group do this."
THE BUCKET LIST: Howard said the track valued the package at $10,000 "because a lot of the experiences in this you don't sell -- you don't sell hot passes, you don't sell a meet and greet and a private tour with Rusty Wallace -- so those are kind of bucket-list opportunities that we wouldn't sell as one-offs. But we'll sell this as a true kind of camp experience." Howard said he and Groupon are "confident it's going to sell out quickly," which would amount to $90,000 in additional ticket revenue. He added that the track, which considered selling as many as 75 of the experiences and as few as 40, landed on 60 in part because of logistics and also to create scarcity. He said the two sides could "look at trying to bump it to 100" moving forward if this year is successful. Groupon has a considerable database of Chicagoans, but given the national scale that will be used for this offer, track execs are expecting some out-of-state residents to take advantage of the offer. Howard thinks the premium package has the potential to be replicated across ISC's other tracks, but added that Chicagoland has some advantages for an offer like this because "we're the start of the playoffs, [and] we' re a major market that's easy to get to." Groupon has featured NASCAR offers in the past, but Howard said those were with the "standard sort of Groupon offers, which is typically a revenue-share model." He added he did not believe Groupon has "spent any kind of sponsorship or have done anything like an exclusive opportunity with anybody" in NASCAR. Groupon will get some "pedestrian signage on-site just to make the connection back to the partnership," but after that, the exclusivity is the main asset of the deal.
GET IN EARLY: Howard said the track has locked up a non-traditional entitlement partner for the fall race and should have an announcement on that within the next month. Howard, who said the track has had to bring in some temporary hospitality structures "just because we're killing it on that side," added that corporate sales also are seeing a boost because of the Chase, primarily because brands whose drivers are locked in for the Chase eye hospitality at the early Chase races. Howard: "Across all of our Chase tracks, hospitality is flying, so we keep encouraging partners to get in and commit early because there's certainly partners that are going to clinch in the next few weeks and might have a hard time getting suites at some of our tracks."
