Kessel Leaving Sprint's NASCAR Account For Victory Junction Gang
By Michael Smith, Staff Writer, SportsBusiness Journal
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Kessel Leaving Sprint For
Victory Junction Gang |
DEAN KESSEL, Sprint’s Dir of NASCAR marketing for the past two-plus seasons, is leaving to become president of the Victory Junction Gang, a camp for special-needs children. With Kessel’s departure effective April 4, Sprint Dir of Sports Marketing STEVE GAFFNEY will assume an increased role in overseeing the NASCAR sponsorship. Gaffney and Kessel were previously peers at the director level. “The Sprint Cup Series team will now roll up in its entirety to my group, so my role will expand,” Gaffney said.
Sprint will hire a GM for its eight-person office in Huntersville, North Carolina. The GM will report to Gaffney, who will continue to operate out of Sprint’s K.C. HQs for the near future. Gaffney will continue to direct Sprint’s other sports sponsorships including the NFL, Sprint Center and the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Association. “We’re going to let this play out a little before deciding if I need to move (to the Charlotte area),” Gaffney said. “For us now, it’s going to be business as usual. We’ll continue the rebranding of the Sprint Cup Series, making Sprint Cup Mobile available to the fans and fulfilling our promise of bringing the fans what they want right now.”
DEPARTURE A PERSONAL DECISION: Gaffney, who previously worked for Octagon and Nextel before the merger with Sprint, said that Kessel’s departure was a personal decision and that he was not forced out. “He wanted to travel a little less and the position he got is a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” Gaffney said. Sprint, which spends about $100M annually on the sponsorship, is in the fifth year of a 10-year deal with NASCAR.
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