When F1 rolls on Sunday to start its '16 season at Melbourne’s Albert Park, the starting grid "will feature something that hasn’t been seen in 30 years: a U.S.-led team," according to HJ Mai of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL.
And it "won’t be hard to identify the two cars of the Haas F1 Team either: They’ll be featuring the marks of team owner Gene Haas’ Haas Automation machine tool brand as their primary sponsorship."
Haas said, "Formula One is a premium brand, and our goal is to convey that premium brand to Haas Automation." An industry source said that primary sponsorships in F1 range between $42M-$70M annually, so "there’s money being left on the table with the self-branding." Haas said he "doesn’t expect his team to break even financially until year five." The company posted $1B in revenue for the first time in '14, but it still lags the likes of Germany’s Trumpf Group, which touts nearly $3B in annual revenue, on the global market.
Haas: "Right now, we have probably somewhere around a 1 or 2 percent market share in the world. If we can just go to 3 percent, that’s worth $400 [million] to $500 million."
CSM Sport & Entertainment has been working with the Haas F1 Team "to set up its long-term commercial plans and strategy." CSM CEO Zak Brown:
“The Haas Automation brand will get hundreds of millions of dollars in media exposure around the world. It’s the world’s largest annual televised sporting event. It’s an extremely efficient and economical way to build your brand around the world" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, issue 3/14).
GEARING UP: Haas F1 launched its official online store on Wednesday. The shop currently features only a limited selection of products ranging from a $36 men's graphic logo tee to a $96 replica sweatshirt. More products are expected to be available in the coming weeks. Aditionally, NBC Sports, the exclusive F1 broadcast rights holder in the U.S., will air a one-hour documentary about the team on Wednesday night. "Haas F1: America's Return To The Grid" chronicles the team's steps toward Sunday's starting grid and will premier at 11:30pm ET on NBCSN (HJ Mai, SBD Global).
