[JBurtonFanInMayberry]

Sprint posts huge loss, scraps dividends - Earnings - MSNBC.com

I don't see how Sprint/Nextel can continue to sponsor NASCAR with these financial results.

[OrionBen]

Originally Posted by JBurtonFanInMayberry

Sprint posts huge loss, scraps dividends - Earnings - MSNBC.com

I don't see how Sprint/Nextel can continue to sponsor NASCAR with these financial results.

So I guess we'll see the AT&T (or insert sponsor here) cup in a near future

[bob101]

They've got themselves in a box now. The original sponsorship deal said 10 years with only 1 name change. They have how many years left to go now?

Of course if the company goes bankrupt or can't pay it's sponsorship bills it won't matter.

[PenelopePitStop]

Doesn't surprise me at all. My first cell-phone provider was Sprint. At the time, I lived in an apartment in a brick building. Guess what? Sprint's wireless service didn't work in brick buildings! What is this? Bedrock? Beyond that, it was hard to get a signal even outside my building. Needless to say, I dumped Sprint as soon as my contract was met.

Beyond that, I don't think Sprint will be the Cup sponsor for very long. With the corporate merging/overtaking going on these days, you'll be hard pressed to find a name that can sustain a 10-year sponsorship and is willing to put up the almighty dollar. It's actually nauseating the way Cup sponsorship changes like the wind these days.

It'll always be Winston Cup to me!

[NascarRacer56]

Wish I could find that $29.45 billion they lost.

That would buy a lot of race tickets.

[NascarRacer56]

Originally Posted by PenelopePitStop

It'll always be Winston Cup to me!

How about they just go back to calling it the Grand National Division?

And call the Nationwide Series the Late Model Series.

Just like the old days.

[pecvillian]

Originally Posted by PenelopePitStop

Doesn't surprise me at all. My first cell-phone provider was Sprint. At the time, I lived in an apartment in a brick building. Guess what? Sprint's wireless service didn't work in brick buildings! What is this? Bedrock? Beyond that, it was hard to get a signal even outside my building. Needless to say, I dumped Sprint as soon as my contract was met.

Beyond that, I don't think Sprint will be the Cup sponsor for very long. With the corporate merging/overtaking going on these days, you'll be hard pressed to find a name that can sustain a 10-year sponsorship and is willing to put up the almighty dollar. It's actually nauseating the way Cup sponsorship changes like the wind these days.

It'll always be Winston Cup to me!

Yes let's go back to to the Winston Cup.

[Phils20]

I'd love to see them drop the "brand names", but we will never go back to those days, unless the economy really bottoms out.

Bottom line is the money from those sponsors makes the purses bigger, and help in a lot of other ways.

If Sprint goes, someone will take thier place. It may be for less money, but someone will sign up to be the title sponsor. That has just become SOP for teams.

Same with the naming of the races. I'd love to go back to:

Firecracker 400
World 600
Southern 500

But the sad truth is that those days are over. And if we do go back to those days, racing as we know it will change. For some of us, that could be better, but fans who have started watching over the last 10-12 years would probably not like that product.

Plain old grass vicotry lanes, no indoor plumbing at race tracks, polically incorrect behavior with no corporate watch dogs!!

No more sipping drinks for $$$$'s in victory lane!

Wait, all that sounds great to me!

[Quality88]

Originally Posted by Phils20

I'd love to see them drop the "brand names", but we will never go back to those days, unless the economy really bottoms out.

Bottom line is the money from those sponsors makes the purses bigger, and help in a lot of other ways.

If Sprint goes, someone will take thier place. It may be for less money, but someone will sign up to be the title sponsor. That has just become SOP for teams.

Same with the naming of the races. I'd love to go back to:

Firecracker 400
World 600
Southern 500

But the sad truth is that those days are over. And if we do go back to those days, racing as we know it will change. For some of us, that could be better, but fans who have started watching over the last 10-12 years would probably not like that product.

Plain old grass vicotry lanes, no indoor plumbing at race tracks, polically incorrect behavior with no corporate watch dogs!!

No more sipping drinks for $$$$'s in victory lane!

Wait, all that sounds great to me!

Don't forget the drivers policin themselves... i.e. they administered their own justice for misbehavior

[LSC9901]

The day may come when there are multiple sponsors just as many of the teams now have. This week it could be the "Grand National Cup Tour Presented by Pepsi" and next week by Sears and so on. With the economy the way it is now and probably going to get worse ....... it may well happen.

[Phils20]

Originally Posted by Quality88

Don't forget the drivers policin themselves... i.e. they administered their own justice for misbehavior

How could I foget that!

Bye Sprint, been nice knowin ya!

But then, drivers like Kurt B would be short timers. If there wasn't a camera there to protect his skinny hide de would have been put in his place long ago.

Instead, I still have to hear him whine and cry.

I'd like to have seen him bump Cale Y like he did Stewart. He would have been in the infield care center for a bit after that.

[pecvillian]

Originally Posted by Phils20

I'd like to have seen him bump Cale Y like he did Stewart. He would have been in the infield care center for a bit after that.

Ain't that the truth.

[bob101]

Call me a heretic but I think the on track racing would improve if NASCAR started loosing sponsors and money.

Even if cars cost 1/2 as much as they do now the racing would be just as good.

They could cur the ridiculous purses paid (normally 40% to the driver, 60% to the owner) and I think the quality of drivers would improve and the drama from the current crop of drivers would decrease if they made a lot less.

[WestCoast]

Originally Posted by bob101

They could cur the ridiculous purses paid (normally 40% to the driver, 60% to the owner) and I think the quality of drivers would improve and the drama from the current crop of drivers would decrease if they made a lot less.

History shows that money paid has no bearing on "race quality", ask any local short track fan.
Just looking at 2004 earnings stats, which are probably double that now, the top drivers would still give 100% regardless of purse, but being sponsor driven, as you say, if there is a claw-back in money coming in, who knows.


According to Forbes magazine,
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. made $20 million in 2004.
Jeff Gordon made $19 million.
(For race car drivers overall, the highest paid was Michael Schumacher with a whopping $80 million in 2004.)

[WestCoast]

Originally Posted by LSC9901

The day may come when there are multiple sponsors just as many of the teams now have. This week it could be the "Grand National Cup Tour Presented by Pepsi" and next week by Sears and so on. With the economy the way it is now and probably going to get worse ....... it may well happen.

I think your more likely to see something like this:

THE TOYOTA CUP
sponsored by
BRIDGESTONE/FIRESTONE

*time to duck..