International delivery giant FedEx last week signed a letter of intent to become the primary sponsor of Joe Gibbs Racing’s third Nextel Cup team in 2005, a deal facilitated by the company’s naming-rights relationship with the Washington Redskins, which Gibbs will return to coach this season after an 11-year absence from football.
Once the deal is completed, marketers expect FedEx to maximize the natural opportunities that will exist between the brand, Gibbs, the race team and the Redskins.
Dean Noble, vice president of business for Joe Gibbs Racing, said Gibbs’ relationship with FedEx was instrumental in landing the team sponsorship deal. Noble said the two parties are still negotiating, but “are in the final stages of finalizing the contract.”
“We’ve been talking to FedEx for more than a year,” Noble said. “But the conversation became heated once Joe became coach of the Redskins.”
FedEx, which is an official NFL sponsor, secured naming rights to the Redskins’ stadium in 1999 with a 27-year, $205 million deal.
Ardy Arani, president and CEO of Atlanta-based Championship Group, said that FedEx’s relationship with the Gibbs-coached Redskins not only helped land the deal, it should also help it succeed.
Arani noted the possibilities for cross-marketing and licensing between the football and the race teams. “I’m sure a lot of that will be going on,” he said.
Terms of the deal with Gibbs’ racing team were not available, but sources say that UPS, FedEx’s major competitor, pays as much as $16 million for its primary sponsorship of Robert Yates’ No. 88 car.
