NASCAR is "asking $1 billion over 10 years" for its "soon-to-be-open Sprint Cup Series title sponsorship," according to sources cited by Adam Stern in this week's SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. Sources said that NASCAR's title-sponsorship replacement comes with a price tag of $45-50M annually "in rights fees and the same in activation over a decade." The sanctioning body "started the sales process in recent weeks," and the asking price represents a 33% increase "from the original deal." NASCAR "plans to take a similar approach to the one where it replaced Nationwide with Xfinity last year for its secondary series by starting off searching for agencies that can help in the hunt." NASCAR has Sprint as title sponsor for the next 21 months, "allowing the series a solid window for such a large and complex deal." NASCAR COO Brent Dewar "confirmed last month that NASCAR would consider a foreign-based company 'if they were looking for a way to interact with our large, loyal fan base … and aligned and committed to the sport'" (
SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 3/2 issue).
