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Leagues and Governing Bodies

Keeping Things In House: France, Kennedy Dispel Rumors Of Family Disagreement

ISC CEO Lesa France Kennedy and NASCAR Chair & CEO Brian France have an "ongoing challenge" to grow a fan base that -- as with other sports -- has "diminished in recent years as entertainment choices have grown exponentially," according to a front-page piece by Dinah Voyles Pulver of the Daytona Beach NEWS-JOURNAL. The siblings claim they are "joined at the hip" regarding the sport. France: "There isn't any way to have the kind of collaboration and projects and progress this industry has had, despite headwinds in different places, without us being joined at the hip." Kennedy added, "It's not perfect, goodness. We're like every family and we're like every business with partners. I think everybody for the most part always wants to get to the same place. Sometimes, you have a different way of getting there, but I think that with common vision, especially, we can speak to our industry, to move it forward."  France and Kennedy both said that a recent Wall Street Journal report suggesting there is disagreement within the family is "inaccurate." France: "You can't do big things in any industry in sports, or you pick it, if there's some big dissension going on. It's impossible." Meanwhile, Voyles Pulyer noted the big challenge for NASCAR is that "sports-loving Americans are picking and choosing what they watch among a wider range of available options than ever before." France said, "It's a huge challenge for everybody in sports, not just us." Kennedy said that the best way to "attract long-term fans is to get them to a race, where the action of the sport sells itself." Kennedy: "You have to continue to develop new fans and think more entertainment." France added that "holding the core audience, while attracting and keeping new fans to the sport is 'a big challenge for every sport'" (Daytona Beach NEWS-JOURNAL, 2/26). 

DON'T DO ME LIKE THAT: RACER.com's Kelly Crandall noted some of NASCAR's most prominent team owners have "taken exception" to the WSJ article, which questioned the "health of the sport and its leadership." JGR team Owner Joe Gibbs on Saturday gave a "passionate response," noting he had been interviewed for the story but "not one of the comments he made was published." Gibbs: "What was brought up in that article is that the management team, Brian France, Lesa and everybody, it's hard for them to make good decisions, fast decisions. I think nothing could be farther from the truth." Roger Penske said that he was "disappointed in the outcome of the story and that the talk about the France family was not pertinent to what is happening on the racetrack or in the grandstands." Penske: "When I look at the sport, and I go back to 2006 when I ran the Super Bowl in Detroit, we were lucky to have 70,000 seats and to think about every weekend we have better than a Super Bowl 38 times. People need to take that into consideration" (RACER.com, 2/26).

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