Nextel/Sprint Scared of Competition????????
By mfpsassy
@mfpsassy (2827)
United States
March 16, 2007 8:26pm CST
Okay I finished watching qualifying and something is bugging me. I am not a huge Robby Gordon fan but what Nascar did to him this weekend was bogus. Verizon and Motorola wanted to sponsor his cars this weekend, but because they were not sponsors before Nextel/Sprint took over Nascar they (Nascar/Nextel) said they could not be a sponsor for his cars. The only reason they let Cingular and Alltel is because they were there before Nextel took over. So my question is do you think this is fair???
1 person likes this
5 responses
@ycswid (279)
• Canada
17 Mar 07
I completely understand the way you feel but I also completely understand the position of NEXTEL. When they took over the sponsorship of the series from Winston there was a contract in place. They made sure that they were protecting their marketing ability. I think they would have been hard pressed to have had Cingular and Alltel removed from existing sponsorship but I think they were well within their rights to have no further sponsorship come into the series.
Robby Gordon could have used the Motorola sponsorship if it had not been tied to Verizon. Let's face Robby's not very good at playing by the rules but he should have known this was going to happen.
To let you know of another similar instance where the same thing is happening. In our local mall's food court there is one hamburger joint and only one because they have it in their rental contract that no other hamburger places would be allowed to rent space. It really does happen all over it just came to your attention via the qualifying this week.
2 people like this
@mfpsassy (2827)
• United States
17 Mar 07
Nextel has been doing this since they took over the cup series. Nobody was allowed to say Winston Cup Series or the would be fined, not even when talking about races from 40 years ago. They still can't say past Winton Cup Champions, they have to say past Nextel Cup Champions. Dale Earnhardt Sr.,Bobby Labonte, Richard Petty, and Benny Parsons weren't a Nextel Cup Champions they were Winston Cup Champions.
Nextel wasn't done with negotiations with Sprint when they took over and they added Sprint to their name. Verizon is the primary sponsor Robby's Bush car. Motorola was to be his Primary sponsor on his cup car. Nextel uses/sells Motorola phones. Nextel also uses/sells Samsung phones and they were the primary sponsor on the 66 car driven by Jeff Green last week. Is that because Samsung sponsors a race?
Nextel also won't let At&t/Cingular adn Richard Childress change the logo on Jeff Burton's car.
1 person likes this
@mfpsassy (2827)
• United States
17 Mar 07
Sorry hit the button to soon. So far there is no where apparent in the contracts that states the sponsors name can not be changed
Sunoco tried to make Richard Childress shrink the sponsorship logos on Kevin Harvicks car after he won the Daytona 500.
The Craftman Truck Series has Snap On and Mac Tools as sponsors in their series
1 person likes this
@ycswid (279)
• Canada
17 Mar 07
I don't doubt anything of what you have taken the time to post. It may not make sense but the fact is it is what the series is contractual obligated to because of the what was negotiated when they took over for Winston.
I completely agree DE Sr. was never a Nextel Champion as were the others you mentioned. That does really bother me. But I'm bothered by a lot of the changes that have taken place. The fact that I can't watch all the races because different networks have them this year and I don't get those with my cable. I stopped watching Inside Nextel Cup after AB left cause I don't like DD and the way he reins in the drivers when they talk. I didn't tune in to hear him, I tuned in to hear the drivers.
It is unfortunate that NASCAR seems to be a sport that requires alot of sponsorship $ and NEXTEL has made that difficult because of the restrictions it puts on the owners but if the owners could find a new sponsor who would be willing to put in the $ for the series then perhaps things could be different. I'm not really sure but just typing as I'm thinking.
But it will always be the WINSTON in Charlotte in May. I've been 3 times and love that race weekend! I only wish I could afford to stay for the Coca-Cola 600 one year!
1 person likes this
@shelagh77 (3643)
•
20 Mar 07
The problem with any sports governing body or sponsor is that they make the rules and however unfair they are nobody will really stand up to them for fear that they will ban them as well, I am afraid. He can try protesting but will probably have to take it on the chin.
@mfpsassy (2827)
• United States
20 Mar 07
They did finally let him have the sponsor. I think it is because another sponsor has a lawsuit pending in an actual court of law. They need to have some governing bodies for the governing body.
Nice to see you back the last few days. Thanks for getting me addicted to this site lolol
1 person likes this
@cristlegirl (817)
• United States
20 Mar 07
I dont' think verizon sponsoring a car is that big of a deal, at least it wouldn't have been if they had just let it happen. I do understand though that the rules about sponsors have been around since before nextel, I also heard it was winston, so I see why nextel would adopt it.
I did hear somewhere that it wasn't nextel that wanted past cup winners to be referred to as nextel cup winners, but it was something that had to do with winston being a tabacoo company and they didn't want nascar associated with tabacco anymore. It's just something I heard, I don't know if it's true.
1 person likes this
@JvilleKid (131)
• United States
19 Mar 07
It is not right, but unfortunately that is the way the ball bounces in the NASCAR world. It is the only sport that I know of that relies so heavily on sponsors, so they can't just take anyone so there current sponsors don't get their toes stepped on. This is the same reason that Kevin Harvick had to change the look of his hat, because it looked to much like the Shell gas products and not their oil products.
1 person likes this
@mfpsassy (2827)
• United States
19 Mar 07
I'm sure having a pending lawsuit will make them rethink their policies. Robby had Motorola on his car today. They claimed it was because they make music players.
As for Harvick we don't have any Sunco stations any where close to here but we do have Shell stations
If they keep this up I see sponsorship support falling by the wayside
