Question
My name is Leszek, I’m a marketing management student at Ryerson University. I’m currently in the middle of a research project and presentation, which looks into and analyzes the various aspects of the NASCAR sport product and its various promotional & marketing efforts. As a required element of my assignment, I must receive a portion of the information about NASCAR directly from an official source via email. I realize the value of your time and would greatly appreciate even the smallest input on some or all of the questions I need to answer. If you are unable to answer these questions, could you please forward them to somebody in your organization that could have some insight.
Questions:
(1) How does licensing work in NASCAR? Who owns the rights to the NASCAR trademark? Who much does a licence cost (i.e. Royalties and other fees)? Who owns the rights to the Nextel, Busch, & Craftsman series trademarks? Who owns the rights to the drivers’/teams’ likeness?
(2) Cost of a single event? How much does its costs and where do the revenues come from to cover the costs? (Sponsorship? Ticket Sales? Participating Teams/Drivers?)
(3) What event packages are offered? What are some of their main features and prices? Who controls the package/ticket sales? (NASCAR? Individual tracks? Individual / official sales agents?)
(4) How are ticket revenues split up? What percentage, goes to whom? (NASCAR, drivers, track owners, etc...)
(5) Pricing, perks, benefits, strategies for concessions, luxury seating, parking and tickets?
Sincerely,
Leszek Luczynski
Marketing Management student
Ryerson University
Answer1. Nascar owns the rights to the Nextel Cup, Busch, and Craftsman Truck series trademarks. The teams usually own the licenses to the numbers the drivers run. Thats why Dale Jr will be in the 88 next year. The Drivers usually own the licenses to there likenesses.
2. The cost of a single event depends on the track. I would imagine the Daytona 500 would cost more to put on than a race at Pocono. You should contact some tracks and see what they say. I would ballpark it at about $100 million.
3. Ticket packages depend on the tracks. A standard ticket is sold for the seat you sit in and nothing more. You would have to buy a ticket to the suites if you wanted to sit up there. You would have to buy a pit pass to go in the pits. You buy these thing individually from the track itself but you could buy them as a package from an outside party.
4. The tracks get the ticket revenue and use it to afford the cost of the event, pay the sanctioning fee, pay the event purse, and pay there employees. Nascar gets its money from the sanctioning fee. Drivers get a percentage of the race purse and merchandise sales and a standard salary plus endorsement deals. Team owners get the bulk of the race purse and merchandise sales as well as sponsor revenue.
5 The prices are high for anything these days. I go to the Bristol Night race, the toughest ticket to obtain in all of sports, and the price has risen from $94 to $107 in the last 4 years to sit in turn 2. A Standard ticket has no perks really, you have to buy your own perks. Get you concessions before the race, during a caution, during a red flag, or a rain delay. Luxury seating usually runs you around $500 - $1000 dollars. You have to pay a fortune or be a celebrity to park next to a track, usually the farther out you go the cheaper it gets. We park a mile from the speedway at Bristol and its only 10 bucks. Camping that far away is usually $100 for the weekend. Infield camping is really expensive.
