[vincesanity82]

NASCAR CEO Brian France asked what concerns he has about the viability, long-term and short-term of your series sponsors: "We're optimistic (about Sprint). They have a different management team that has taken them in a different direction. We like what we see (and) we're very confident they're going to be around for a long time. We're looking for a Truck Series sponsor. Craftsman is leaving at the end of this year, so we're in the process of looking at a replacement for that national (truck) series. Nationwide is at the beginning of a seven-year agreement with our second series." -- USA Today


NASCAR Q&A: CEO France confident in body's direction - USATODAY.com

[Bob Tanner]

A Brien France sighting! Boy, Ol' Brian sure has been keeping a low profile lately. I was about ready to put his picture on a milk carton.

[BiscuitMan]

I don’t think Brian France has been reading the same analyst reports about Sprint Nextel that I have been reading. Sprint is not in very good financial condition. Sprint’s first-quarter results indicated the company had a 9% decline in wireless revenues, to nearly $8 billion. Overall, the company lost $505 million in the first-quarter of 2008.

Sprint continues to lose customers in droves, ending the first-quarter 2008 with only 52.8 million subscribers. And, Sprint executives are forecasting similar customer losses in the coming quarter. However, some analysts are concluding that Sprint “may be on the verge of turning around” before year’s end.

So, one may ask, “What is Sprint getting out of their sponsorship effort with NASCAR?” If Sprint continues to loose customers at the same time that they are getting several hours of TV exposure for their products ands services every week, their advertising campaign is not working.

I would hope that Sprint Nextel can survive and are able to pay NASCAR their sponsorship fee.

[Racer Duck]

There's lots of NEXTEL 2-way commercial customers who would jump in a microsecond if any other wireless company had the network to support them. Within months of Sprints assuming control of NEXTEL, 2-way customers began noticing performance degradations and loss of signals. Turns out Sprint started "re-assigning" NEXTEL towers to regular cell traffic. In some places it go so bad the 2-way customers began using competitors cell phones because they could get "connections" in places where they no longer had 2-way support.

All this is to say, Sprint is inching along a cliff edge with a blindfold on. Unless they get their act together soon, some enterprising Japanese or Korean company is gonna push them off that cliff...

[Bob Tanner]

According to one reliable corporate reporting agency, Fitch, Sprint's outlook is pretty negative. They aren't on the verge of going belly-up, according to Fitch, and there's no sign of then reneging on their massive debt in the near future. However, it's not a stock I'd feel comfortable buying now, with any thought of making any money.

All just another validation why I stay completely away from telcomm and dot comm investments.
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