Monster Energy's status as a sponsor of NASCAR

JBone88 said:
It’s time for a fresh start. NASCAR needs a leadership overhaul. Top to bottom. Clean ******* house. Period.
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I'm becoming more and more of the opinion that this sport needs to collapse in on itself and die off for half a decade or so. Only then can it be reborn from the ground up.
 
Acs said:
I'm becoming more and more of the opinion that this sport needs to collapse in on itself and die off for half a decade or so. Only then can it be reborn from the ground up.
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As long as the current broadcast deal is in effect Nascar can do the three ring circus thing with impunity and they may be able to get another similar broadcast deal when this one expires and continue on with the circus act.
 
What Nascar is saying FYI...

(Maybe I'm imagining things, but I get the feeling that Nascar may have had pushback from the teams on what they were granting to Monster Energy under the current deal. Could be totally wrong.)

http://nascar.nbcsports.com/2018/04...t-for-nascar-after-monster-deal-ends-in-2019/
By Dustin Long...

Why only a one-year extension?

Steve Phelps, NASCAR’s chief operating officer, said both sides wanted it that way.

“For Monster, I think it would be highly unlikely that they would come back,’’ Phelps said. “Both NASCAR and Monster, I believe, are on the same page on that. I wouldn’t say there is anything there hard and fast, but it is highly unlikely that they would return or we would have them return. That is not one-sided. That’s a decision that has been made by both companies. It will give us an opportunity to explore what this new (sponsorship) model looks like.’’

Wait, what is this new sponsorship model?

NASCAR wants to change the structure in how sponsorship would look. The plan would be to bundle the sanctioning body, tracks and media partners instead of having to do separate deals with each.

After NASCAR agreed to a deal with Monster Energy in December 2016, Monster then had to work out agreements with the tracks for signage and such. That took additional time.

Under NASCAR’s new sponsorship model, that shouldn’t be as big an issue.

“What we’re talking about here,” Phelps said, “is looking at combining assets and creating a new sponsorship model.’’

Such a model, though, would not include teams.

“It’s a little more difficult given the number of entities that are out there that are teams to make sure all the teams are participating in one fashion,’’ Phelps said.

So what will the name of the series be after 2019?

Good chance there will be no sponsor name tied to the Cup Series. That way it can be called the NASCAR Cup Series or NASCAR Premier Series or whatever NASCAR chooses to call.

One benefit is that fans don’t have to go through name changes as they have in going from Nextel Cup to Sprint Cup to Monster Energy Cup.

The Premier League did a similar thing in 2016 when Barclays did not renew it’s deal with the soccer league. There’s no sponsor of the NBA, NFL, NHL and Major League Baseball but all those leagues have categories of sponsors. That’s the approach NASCAR wants to take.

What if the new model doesn’t work?

“We want to keep our options open,” Phelps said. “There’s some benefit to trying to go all in on something. I think the stakeholders will be in a good place. If the sponsors come back and say, ‘you know what, we’re not sure this is the best avenue to partner with this sport,’ then we’ll have to pivot and go in a different direction. Could we go back to an entitlement model for our top series? We could. Again, I think that’s not our intention. I don’t think we’ll get there, but we certainly want to keep our options open.’’

How does all this impact the Xfinity Series and Camping World Truck Series?

It does not for now. Xfinity signed a 10-year deal to be the entitlement sponsor of that series through the 2024 season. Camping World has a deal in place to be the Truck Series sponsor through 2022.

What happens with Monster Energy after 2019?

Phelps said NASCAR expects Monster Energy to remain in the sport. Monster Energy was aligned with drivers and teams before becoming series sponsor. That avenue would remain for Monster if it chose to do so.

A Monster Energy spokesperson told Sports Business Journal that the company “wants to continue to be a part of the sport one way or the other.”

What about the sport using a sponsor to build a younger fan base? What happens now?

NASCAR continues to tout efforts to reach a younger fan base. That includes, among other things, children 12 and under getting in free for Xfinity and Camping World Truck Series races.

Phelps said it was challenging to see if one thing over another was the overriding factor in reaching a younger demographic.

“It’s very difficult to isolate one particular thing versus another in terms of it being the cause of something,’’ Phelps said. “There are other things that this industry has done over the past couple of years to increase the millennial audience of NASCAR. That’s a journey we’re going to continue on.

“We have to continue to make sure our content is as strong as it can be that we’re pushing through the digital and social channels. We need to make sure that we continue to cater to kids and to make sure that our millennial audience is happy. We have to continue the gains we’ve made with our Hispanic fans, which has been significant over the last three years. That journey doesn’t end. And, by the way, we have to make sure that we’re nurturing the existing fan base that we’ve had for many, many years. They’re incredibly important.’’
 
So, I guess we can expect a lot of...

"(Insert Brand Name) the official (insert product category) of the NASCAR Cup Series!
 
I actually like Steve Phelps. Clearly a smart and capable guy. To listen to him speak in contrast to Brian France and Steve O'Donnell is striking. I hope his recent promotion to COO indicates that he is steering this ship on the business side. The partnership with Monster did not come together well, obviously. His comments that neither side would renew were surprisingly frank. They wouldn't want to, and we wouldn't have them. Wow. The figures thrown out about a sponsorship providing $500 million of value that Monster hedged on whether to renew for $20 million are pure fantasy, but that's just the PR game. The model they are making noise about switching to makes sense, as the market for title sponsorship isn't what it once was in most realms of sport.
 
gnomesayin said:
I actually like Steve Phelps. Clearly a smart and capable guy. To listen to him speak in contrast to Brian France and Steve O'Donnell is striking. I hope his recent promotion to COO indicates that he is steering this ship on the business side. The partnership with Monster did not come together well, obviously. His comments that neither side would renew were surprisingly frank. They wouldn't want to, and we wouldn't have them. Wow. The figures thrown out about a sponsorship providing $500 million of value that Monster hedged on whether to renew for $20 million are pure fantasy, but that's just the PR game. The model they are making noise about switching to makes sense, as the market for title sponsorship isn't what it once was in most realms of sport.
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I took it as NASCAR was not happy with the promotion from Monsters side. I agree, Monster failed in the promotion of the sport sans the monster girls. Nextel and Sprint did far more. I wouldnt want Monster back either.
 
The reality is Nascar needed a way to save face as no company wants to spend meaningful money for the privilege of sponsoring the series. Nascar came up with some nebulous plan that will likely be forgotten by the end of the week and Monster says adios and Nascar attempts to stave off another round of bad news and ridicule. Businesses and individuals do this sort of thing all the time in an attempt to save face. I am surprised by the number of true believers that have swallowed this charade hook, line and sinker.
 
Spotter22 said:
I took it as NASCAR was not happy with the promotion from Monsters side. I agree, Monster failed in the promotion of the sport sans the monster girls. Nextel and Sprint did far more. I wouldnt want Monster back either.
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I think both sides had different ideas. Monster says they are still going to be involved in the sport

"I'm very interested in seeing the new model," Monster Energy Vice President of Sports Marketing Mitch Covington said. "We're just deep in supporting the sport. We definitely want a front-row seat to see the new model.

"I won't use the word 'difficult' [to describe the deal in its current form]. It's complex in the fact there are so many entities to deal with. ... We've been in it long enough, we feel like we're [navigating the sport] well."

"Monster is all about racing, and this is the biggest form of racing in motorsports in America, so it's been a great fit for us, for our brand image in doing what we do," Covington said. "We go racing.

"We want to associate ourselves with great racers and racing, and NASCAR affords us to be able to do that in a big way on a very large platform."

Monster chairman Rodney Sacks told financial analysts in January that the sponsorship helped expand awareness of the brand.

"We have gotten a lot more visibility, a lot more recognition for the brand through the NASCAR sponsorship," Sacks said. "It's very expansive. It's on TV, it's appearing on talk shows. We look at the metrics that the NASCAR folk give us, and it certainly does seem to have been enhanced.

"Now the degree is, to what degree? That we don't know. ... It took us a little bit of time [in 2017] to get up to speed, to get our activation going. We think we'll see a lot clearer benefits and more benefits coming from that relationship this year."

http://www.espn.com/racing/nascar/s...rgy-extend-sponsorship-deal-nascar-cup-series
 
Nascar has many drink makers in the sport and I would imagine they all want a different piece of the pie
 
AtomicPunk55 said:
I am surprised by the number of true believers that have swallowed this charade hook, line and sinker.
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Few are swallowing anything directly. My comments are limited to a belief that Phelps is a very competent executive, in contrast to some others, and that finding a new direction is the only way to go. Obviously if demand for traditional title sponsorship were still high, the model wouldn't be changing.
 
It wouldnt bother me one bit if NASCAR fell back in to a regional sport and purged those who bash the sport on a daily basis. Not one bit. They will still be on TV, hopefully on a paid cable or streaming service where people love to watch racing and who dont nit pick every single part of the sport. Take me back home NASCAR, get me outta here.
 
Spotter22 said:
It wouldnt bother me one bit if NASCAR fell back in to a regional sport and purged those who bash the sport on a daily basis. Not one bit. They will still be on TV, hopefully on a paid cable or streaming service where people love to watch racing and who dont nit pick every single part of the sport. Take me back home NASCAR, get me outta here.
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Amen!!!!!!!!!
 
Spotter22 said:
It wouldnt bother me one bit if NASCAR fell back in to a regional sport and purged those who bash the sport on a daily basis. Not one bit. They will still be on TV, hopefully on a paid cable or streaming service where people love to watch racing and who dont nit pick every single part of the sport. Take me back home NASCAR, get me outta here.
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Eh. There are a couple trollish figures here who take pleasure in negative NASCAR news. The vast majority are engaging in good faith based on their preferences and opinions. There are disagreements because there are many perspectives. Aside from actual 'haters', I would rather be part of a community of fans who think critically and have real opinions. My level of interest has little to nothing to do with whether 5 million or 500,000 are watching each week, but I'm not interested in purging all but the yes men and women.
 
gnomesayin said:
Eh. There are a couple trollish figures here who take pleasure in negative NASCAR news. The vast majority are engaging in good faith based on their preferences and opinions. There are disagreements because there are many perspectives. Aside from actual 'haters', I would rather be part of a community of fans who think critically and have real opinions. My level of interest has little to nothing to do with whether 5 million or 500,000 are watching each week, but I'm not interested in purging all but the yes men and women.
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I'm not for purging people with different ideas, just the absolute completely ridiculous un please-able fans of which there are many. I'm not just talking on here.
 
I always thought when you were sponsoring something, it was the other side's job to promote you? It's not Monster's responsibility to promote NASCAR, they're paying NASCAR to paste their logo everywhere. Unless they're trying to drum up something in the agreement or NASCAR has some image of what they're expecting, this is the way it's supposed to work.
 
I see Monster maybe getting some more blame than they should here, so I will pull these out courtesy of @Allenbaba

Allenbaba said:
The problem isn't so much that Monster can't sell their drinks, or can't own the real estate at track that they want, or can't demand certain actions from drivers.....the problem is that they were originally told they could. When I had originally posted that Monster was not happy, there were many lawyers involved, and they would have had a very good case to terminate the contract early for breach.
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Allenbaba said:
In the article it mentions "amid issues with driver participation in Monster's marketing and track activation assets like signage and suites." Sounds about right. Unfortunately, NASCAR promised things it has a hard time controlling...
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Allenbaba said:
Monster's "growing pains" required lawyers. Apparently they haven't gotten to do a few things that they were promised. NASCAR is currently trying to "fix" that. In the article, Mitch Covington declined comment. He couldn't even give a canned "happy to be in the sport" blah blah remark. Right now, he's not. Hope they work it out and remain partners for a while. I think the series is headed in the right direction (at least their unhappiness comes from deliverable rather than attendance/ratings etc. The former seems much easier to remedy).
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In regards to Monsters track midway presence, based on the races I have attended I felt it was pitiful. Just pulling in a rig and and setting up a few round tables doesn't entice me to check out the product. Their display is no where close to Ford or Chevy. Lowes used to always have a pretty good setup and Sprint had all kinds of fan interactions, displays and activities going on. I wished I kept a picture I recently took of the ME setup at a race where no one, except two ME workers were present.

I can see where NASCAR might not be ecstatic over the current arrangement. I don't understand the issues Monster Energy has/had, but it does take two to tango..
 
Snappy D said:
Good article by Bob so far, reading through it. I see the bundling of sponsors for tracks and what not but teams wont be involved. Dont like that for teams as there are only so many sponsors willing to sponsor that are going around, wont they be in competition with each other? http://www.espn.com/racing/nascar/s...ship-part-evolving-business-model-nascar-2018
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Sponsors, teams and Nascar have always been in competition with each other. They all want the best deal they can get. They can be ruthless cut throats, and they can be benevolent charitable organizations depending on which way the wind blows.
 
Give it 3 or 4 years and we'll all be asking, 'Da heck was that whole Monster thing all about, anyway?'

Oh, wait...
 
Here is hoping that we can get away from what will happen Friday.
Monster Energy Series Busch pole qualifying for the Food City 500. Only thing missing is naming rights to Bristol by another sponsor.
For a moment I drifted back a few years and thought this was for Saturday's race.
 
DIDIT said:
Here is hoping that we can get away from what will happen Friday.
Monster Energy Series Busch pole qualifying for the Food City 500. Only thing missing is naming rights to Bristol by another sponsor.
For a moment I drifted back a few years and thought this was for Saturday's race.
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How about this one?, going back a few years

Monster Energy Series Busch pole qualifying for the Coke 600/BofA 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway.
 
I don't care what company puts their name on the series and I agree it should be known as the Nascar Cup series brought to you by (sponsor)

What I care most about is the producers of the race and those who determine what is shown during the broadcast. I don't mind missing a race now because I get to see very little of it.
Most of what they are showing is Nascar History and that includes most of the gory parts as if they don't really want the driver to survive. "Lets make big news by killing a Driver or 2" To me that is really what they want to show us. Cars racing means nothing to them because they are producers, not race fans to begin with.
 
As a consumer I want enough other people to like what I like in order for the business to keep going. As long as I like the product and the company has enough sales to carry on all is well with me.

Another thing is that the product doesn’t necessarily have to be good as long as I like it. I was away from home recently and turned on the TV in my room and there was some fake reality show on about crazy brides. It was terrible but hilarious
 
DIDIT said:
In regards to Monsters track midway presence, based on the races I have attended I felt it was pitiful. Just pulling in a rig and and setting up a few round tables doesn't entice me to check out the product. Their display is no where close to Ford or Chevy. Lowes used to always have a pretty good setup and Sprint had all kinds of fan interactions, displays and activities going on. I wished I kept a picture I recently took of the ME setup at a race where no one, except two ME workers were present.

I can see where NASCAR might not be ecstatic over the current arrangement. I don't understand the issues Monster Energy has/had, but it does take two to tango..
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From my experience Monster blows Sprint out of the water at the track. They had supercross bikes doing jumps, tricks, and a deathball. For what they are paying compared to what Sprint was it no contest in my opinion.
 
Simple Fan said:
From my experience Monster blows Sprint out of the water at the track. They had supercross bikes doing jumps, tricks, and a deathball. For what they are paying compared to what Sprint was it no contest in my opinion.
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Interesting. I think it's a question of what you expect from a sponsor. The things you mention can be entertaining IF you happen to be in the immediate area when they're occurring. The pavilion Sprint ran had lesser attractions but they were continuously available starting at 8:00 a.m. on both Saturday and Sunday, not just a few brief times on Sunday only.

As a consumer, I haven't seen anything from Monster letting me know they're associated with NASCAR at all. Maybe they're using other media than the ones this Boomer accesses.
 
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