[Bob Tanner]

Steve, some others, and I discussed this over the weekend past. I couldn't find the thread to continue it so I'll pass on the following as info for those who might find it interesting.

I DO NOT give these figures as facts, only as info I heard on a radio interview.

On a pre-race show Sunday morning, Zack Walker, an official of a sports marketing company Welcome to Just Marketing: The Ultimate Marketing Vehicle the question was asked, "How much is Dale Earnhardt Junior worth to NASCAR?"

As best I remember the response (what I give may not be verbatim but it's darn close), this is the reply (All figures below were Walker's best educated guess):

All of NASCAR-licensed souvenir and memorabilia gross sales total (grab something solid!) $2 billion dollars!!?? Junior accounts for approximately $600,000,000 of those gross sales. After all cost were taken into consideration (all sales overhead) net profit to Motorsports Authentics (which since last year controls all NASCAR license merchandise) is approximately $200,000,000. Walker put the figure actually getting to Junior as around $14-$20 million. He went on to guess that Junior gets around a $10,000,000 salary from DEI. This plus addition endorsements and winnings put his annual income somewhere north of $40 million.

What was amazing to me was the fact that Motorsports Authentics, which controls the $180 million left after Junior gets his cut, is owned wholly by both ISC (NASCAR) and SMI (Bruton Smith). They bought these rights from Action Sports and Caliber Sports (Roush) last year for an undisclosed amount.

Since sales in Junior stuff will probably spike when he gets a new car number, new colors and a new team, now might be a good time to consider buying some ISC and/or SMI stock?

I won't vouch for the above figures. However, in considering them, they seem reasonable, more or less. But they do indicate that Junior is a VERY VALUABLE commodity to NASCAR and the parent organization has a distinct vested interest in his future.

[simple simon]

not sure if alarming is the right word here for me Bob ..... maybe amazed is better

i did hear this weekend that Jr's annual salary is $20 million from DEI, not sure how accurate that is

1st thing i thought of is this is all the more reason for NASCAR to want Jr to sign with an established team ......... if he brings his own team to Cup it may not be likely but would be plausible he could have a year like Mikey ........ what would that do to the numbers ?

[Bob Tanner]

Originally Posted by simple simon

not sure if alarming is the right word here for me Bob ..... maybe amazed is better

I don't vouch for the figures, Simon. The interviewee just seemed like a knowledgeable person who had a far better insight into the matter than I. However, that being said, the cynical side of me (is there another side?) leans toward the "alarming."

Originally Posted by simple simon

i did hear this weekend that Jr's annual salary is $20 million from DEI, not sure how accurate that is

I wouldn't doubt it. Bottom line is our boy deals with dollar signs and numbers ending in a lot more zero's than I'm used to dealing with.

Originally Posted by simple simon

1st thing i thought of is this is all the more reason for NASCAR to want Jr to sign with an established team ......... if he brings his own team to Cup it may not be likely but would be plausible he could have a year like Mikey ........ what would that do to the numbers ?

I knew NASCAR had an interest of some kind in "NASCAR-Stuff" sales but I didn't know the extend and I sure had no idea SMI was involved. That put an entirely different spin on the matter. Again: "Alarming!"

[Racer X]

I think that Jr. is worth more to NASCAR than any other sport figure in history, with the possible exception of Tiger Woods and here is why. All other sports are defined by "teams". The great players in baseball, football, basketball, etc. are members of a team. When they get traded or leave to pursue greener pastures in free agency, I would say that only a small amount of fans follow them. The fan's allegience is to the team, not the individual. In most cases, the exact opposite is true in NASCAR. I don't care where Jr. goes, the majority of his fans will follow.

[simple simon]

i think thats a great point Racer X

if Manning went to Arizona next year and didnt make the playoffs again he would just about fall off the radar