With the settlement of the antitrust suit against NASCAR, Brad Keselowski says interest in team ownership in the Cup Series has increased as has companies looking to advertise their products. “The closing of the lawsuit here in the last 12 months has dramatically affected the perception of the sport, in particular New York City and where a lot of these big investment firms are,” Keselowski said. “This sport is now viewed as an ownership asset that has certainty and it has a level of stability, and the valuations have dramatically increased along with the interest.” The settlement in the antitrust suit filed by 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports against NASCAR came 14 months after it was initiated. It made the coveted Charters permanent, gave the teams a share in international revenue, and the teams a third of revenue from IP. The Charter revenue for each team is tied to NASCAR’s media rights deals. Prior to the settlement, the price on the last Charter sold was $45 million. Since the settlement, the current estimates for a Charter are $50 million to more than $100 million. RFK Racing teammates Ryan Preece (left), Chris Buescher (center), and Brad Keselowski. Keselowski believes NASCAR, as a property, is recovering from a downturn that it experienced during the last eight to 10 years. “There’s always a metric you can point to that is unfavorable, whether that’s in attendance or TV viewership, but there are a lot of very favorable metrics inside the garage area, and one of those is clearly the team ownership model has a level of sustainability that it didn’t have before,” Keselowski said. “It doesn’t mean it’s necessarily profitable, but it’s sustainable, and that’s a win.” In the sponsorship department, Keselowski describes live sports as the “last bastion of advertising outside of buying an ad on Facebook or Google.” “I think a lot of Fortune 500 companies or a lot of companies that are marketing and have the wherewithal to be involved in NASCAR are starting to have fatigue over the Googles and the Facebooks… so that brings them live sports and a way to tell their story that is unique,” Keselowski said. “Those two things as a whole are driving a success story in NASCAR and a narrative that I think is different than what it was 10 years ago.” Looking to purchase a car? Find your match on the MSN Autos Marketplace
Liked by Lucas Wright, Mason Tremblay
Liked by Lucas Wright, Mason Tremblay
Liked by Lucas Wright, Mason Tremblay