AT&T/Cingular Next Round?

kat2220

kat2220

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AT&T Says Name Change Not Mentioned
Stating that NASCAR rejected a proposed paint scheme and that the company had not been told that it could not change the name on the car, AT&T is seeking a temporary injunction as well as a permanent injunction for it to put its logo on the No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Nextel Cup car.

The suit, filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Atlanta, also asks for unspecified damages as it alleges, among other things, that "NASCAR has violated the implied covenant of good-faith and fair dealing in the Cup Series agreement by its purposeful attempt to exclude Plaintiff from NASCAR."

AT&T and Cingular finalized a merger in December and plans to cease using the Cingular name. AT&T then submitted a proposed paint scheme to NASCAR, which was rejected in January, apparently because of Nextel's sponsorship of the premier series, states the suit. The paint scheme only had the AT&T trademark logo on the rear quarter panel.

In its complaint, AT&T says that when it was negotiating the Nextel contract in 2003, NASCAR never mentioned that Cingular would not be able to change its name, only that it could not increase its branding presence and could not move to another team. AT&T said Cingular has invested more than $100 million in the seven years of sponsorship of the No. 31 car, a contract that is scheduled to expire at the end of this year.

"NASCAR met with plaintiff in June 2003 and promised to 'grandfather' Plaintiff as a NASCAR sponsor, provided only that Plaintiff (1) did not increase its brand position on the vehicle or (2) shift to another race team," the complaint states. NASCAR not only made this pledge to Plaintiff, but also incorporated it into its agreement with RCR and, on information and belief, Sprint Nextel."

In essence, AT&T is arguing that NASCAR has changed its requirements, one which Cingular (now AT&T) relied on when deciding to commit to the NASCAR program.(scenedaily.com)
 
Notice how Nascar is giving the #31 a hard time about having Cingular/AT&T (a competing phone provider) as a sponsor? Notice how Nascar gave the #7 a hard time about the Motorola (a competing phone manufacturer) sponsorship? But how come Samsung (a competing phone manufacturer) can sponsor a Nascar/ISC race with no problems?

Point of the story- as long as the $$$ is going into the deep pockets of Nascar/ISC and not the teams everything is ok. When the teams start taking $$$ away from Nascar then it becomes a problem.

Nascar = greedy bitches
 
RobbyG Fan said:
Notice how Nascar is giving the #31 a hard time about having Cingular/AT&T (a competing phone provider) as a sponsor? Notice how Nascar gave the #7 a hard time about the Motorola (a competing phone manufacturer) sponsorship? But how come Samsung (a competing phone manufacturer) can sponsor a Nascar/ISC race with no problems?

Point of the story- as long as the $$$ is going into the deep pockets of Nascar/ISC and not the teams everything is ok. When the teams start taking $$$ away from Nascar then it becomes a problem.

Nascar = greedy bitches
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Just to clarify your post, Samsung is not a race sponsor at an ISC track but at a SMI track. It is also the Samsung/Radio Shack 500.
 
Lap3Forever said:
does AT&T have anything else besides wireless phone service?
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AT&T Wireless became Cingular Wireless when it was sold to Bell South. Now Bell South is "The New AT&T". AT&T also invented Direct TV and sold the rights, but now The New AT&T has re-aquired it. SOOOO, AT&T offers local, long distance, wireless, and Direct TV again. It also offers Business telephone service and my ISP is AT&T.
 
UPDATE: AT&T Inc., owner of the largest U.S. mobile phone carrier, sued NASCAR after meeting resistance to its efforts to replace the Cingular brand with the AT&T brand on the #31 Chevy car that the company sponsors. “NASCAR’s refusal is apparently a result of its fealty to Spring Nextel Corp., a wireless provider that, since 2004, has been lead sponsor of NASCAR’s ‘Cup Series,’ which is a series of NASCAR’s highest profile races,” stated AT&T in a complaint for injunctive relief. The complaint, filed in federal court in Atlanta, also seeks a declaratory ruling and damages. AT&T, which acquired the remaining 40% ownership of Cingular Wireless L.L.C. in its acquisition of BellSouth Corp. late last year, has a sponsorship agreement with Richard Childress Racing (RCR) that runs from 2005 through 2007, with an exclusive right to negotiate a renewal beyond 2007, the suit said. RCR owns the #31 car, which is driven by Jeff Burton. “NASCAR granted Sprint Nextel a lead sponsor of the Cup Series, exclusivity as the sole communications provider sponsoring NASCAR racing, and it is apparently on this basis that NASCAR refuses to permit RCR to alter the design of the #31 car,” the AT&T suit stated. Andrew Giangola, director of business communications for NASCAR, said the motorsports organization does not comment on litigation. However, Giangola pointed out that NASCAR’s contract with Sprint Nextel grandfathered both Cingular and Alltel Corp. into the competition, allowing Cingular and Alltel to participate in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series as team sponsors indefinitely as long as the firms did not change the scope of their sponsorship (beyond a team) or the actual name and brand on the race car. He said only the “Cingular” and “Alltel” brands are permitted on cars competing in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series. “This has been and remains NASCAR’s position,” said Giangola. The issue is notable as Cingular and Sprint Nextel have previously battled over a variety of issues, including advertising claims.(source: rcrnews.com), see an image of the proposed Cingular/AT&T scheme on my #31 Team Schemes page.(3-20-2007)
 
Lap3Forever said:
does AT&T have anything else besides wireless phone service?
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i sell communications and networks, AT&T plays a major part in what i do.

AT&T has many many other things besides wireless......they are huge in communications along the lines of phone and internet services that include very large networks for some very large companies domestically and internationally.
 
NASCAR better watch it!

I think AT&T will win this one hands down. As for NASCAR playing dirty pool like this, if they are not careful they will run off and be unable to attract new sponsors.
scooter
 
I suppose they could, IF they were advertising Direct TV.

I wonder what's gonna happen when the SRIUS/XM merger takes place.
 
When Winston was in, they let snuff, and chew. (yes there is a differnce) in and they are a tobacco product, just as smokes are. So i dont see why not let a landline phone in.
 
Lappy, don't forget that ALL phone companies except Cingular and Alltel were locked out when Sprint/Nextel took over from Winston.
 
I thought it was the wireless support of the companys.

I miss the days of Winston. Seems like things have just got worse since Nextel came around
 
Lap3Forever said:
Direct TV is already on the 07 car.

What about AT&T internet? or landline service?
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Thats a good question...considering Sprint/Nextel has nether of those services.

When Sprint bought out Nextel they spun off the landline and internet services, its now Embarq.....so how could they argue that AT&T was a competitor?

If AT&T was to go that route, then i dont see how Nascar can prevent them from putting their name on the car.

nascar has created a slippery slope....
 
they would have to use the landline service, because sprint has the mobile broadband internet and thay could call foul there.
 
i know.

I was saying ATT can't push theirinternet services because sprint has their own mobile broadband internet service.

so ATT can ONLY push their landline because cellular and internet are both direct competition.
 
kat2220 said:
All landline, long distance companies EXCEPT Alltel are locked out.
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i dont see how that can hold up in court though...considering Sprint doesnt offer landline or long distance service anymore.

neither does Alltel.
 
somebody call a legal expert..PLEASE lol

this is getting worse than the table meeting they're probably having now over in daytona.
 
Magnethead said:
somebody call a legal expert..PLEASE lol

this is getting worse than the table meeting they're probably having now over in daytona.
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noooooooooooooo a lawyer is the last thing we need!! haha
 
An angle about all of this that interests me is just how long is Nextel going to be with us. Sprint and Nextel are one now, but more importantly, just how long will the "new" company last. Nextel has signed up to be with NASCAR for ten years, but I am wondering if Nextel will be around for that long in the first place. It seems that wireless companies as well as all types of communication services are either merging or being sold outright. It wouldn't surprise me that within a couple of years, we will see another new name on the title series and Jeff Gordon will be said to have, if he doesn't attain another one, four (name your company) Cup Titles. BTW, I loved to hear Jeffy say that he's waiting to win his first Nextel Cup Championship since all of his other were Winston Cup titles. But all of NASCAR say that Jeffy has four Nextel Cup Championships. Maybe they should just hyphonate the titles to include what it really was named. :rolleyes:
 
How could this situation get any more bizzare? I believe that AT&T (my former employer) is still the largest telecommunications company on our planet, but I could be wrong. Should we call in the good old FCC to settle the issue?
 
kat2220 said:
How could this situation get any more bizzare? I believe that AT&T (my former employer) is still the largest telecommunications company on our planet, but I could be wrong. Should we call in the good old FCC to settle the issue?
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Why not Kat. You don't seem to care what the contract is with NASCAR and Nextel. Let's just throw out all contracts and say let the winner take it all.
 
buckaroo said:
Why not Kat. You don't seem to care what the contract is with NASCAR and Nextel. Let's just throw out all contracts and say let the winner take it all.
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CB, that contract should be amended to the point that NO ONE ENTITY can dictate who can or cannot be a sponsor.
JMO
 
kat2220 said:
CB, that contract should be amended to the point that NO ONE ENTITY can dictate who can or cannot be a sponsor.
JMO
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If that is to be done, let it be done by the parties involved, not by popular vote.

It's clear here that most fans are upset with the way NASCAR is running things. I agree that it just doesn't seem right, but what's happening here is a fight for real money, and it isn't chump change. All parties involved don't have the fans interests at heart, only the investors. It's a shame now that the amount of money involved has caused the courts to become a part of it all. But again, these things are not new to this sport, only it's being reported much more. Remember when Jimmie Johnson was sweeping off the Gatorade bottles from the top of his car. I seem to remember a bunch of our forum folks who sided with him on this because he was sponsored by Pepsi and their sport drink. The biggest difference in that one and what is happening now is probably about 20 million dollars, give or take a few mil.
 
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