By Michael Smith, Staff Writer, SportsBusiness Journal
Joe Mattes' stint as interim President of Motorsports Authentics (MA) ended in August and Jim Morris, a veteran of the retailing business, is now running MA under his previous title of GM. Morris formerly worked at Americrown, the merchandise and catering arm of International Speedway Corp. (ISC), as well as The Sports Authority. ISC is a 50-50 joint owner of MA with Speedway Motorsports Inc. Mattes confirmed that he has returned full-time to his job at Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s JR Motorsports (JRM) as VP/Marketing & Licensing. Since March, he had been working at both MA and JRM, where he has been the licensing chief for two years and recently picked up the marketing title when Thayer Lavielle left JRM at the end of August. During his six months at Concord, North Carolina-based MA, where he took over for former CEO Mark Dyer, Mattes led a shrinking of MA's massive licensing and retailing business. MA's Atlanta terminal, which handled all of the mass-market business to stores such as Wal-Mart and Target, was closed and the employee count continues to drop as MA narrows its business. The company, which used to employ 500 people just a few years ago, now has fewer than 200 employees and the reorganization of the past seven months has led to a reduction in expenses that is believed to be more than $10M a year. This is on top of significant cutbacks that Dyer instituted prior to his departure in January. With the reorganization comes a focus on licensing only T-shirts, hats and die-cast cars, while cutting out much of its apparel and novelty business. MA's trackside retail, which formerly carried only its own licensed goods, will begin carrying products from other licensees.
