Sponsorship? Whats the deal with AT&T sponsoring a car?

Question

I am hearing about AT&T sponsoring a car for a team, and Sprint Nextel blocking them. I figured since Cingular already sponsored a car and their parent company SBC buying AT&T and using it for Cingular as well that they would already be in the sport, so whats the big deal about them sponsoring a car.

Answer 1

I was reading a news report today that says AT&T is suing NASCAR over this. AT&T says the deal with Sprint Nextel states no new communications companies can come in but the deal says nothing about a purchase and rename. To me this is the same old double dipping that NASCAR does. i.e. Gatorade Victory circle but Powerade as the offcial drink. I've heard teams are complaining that NASCAR has become against them instead of helping them find sponsors. I can understand why Sprint Nextel (hmm, name change?) might want this written in but not why NASCAR would write it in. Not sure if this falls under the anti-trust laws or not but it probably should, NASCAR and Sprint Nextel are preventing Cingular/AT&T from advertising in a place they all ready have been regardless of the name. AT&T went on to say that something like almost 50% of their customers are NASCAR fans. I have a Cingular phone vs others in my market because of the NASCAR sponsorship. Either way, I don't think this should be an issue at all. Sprint Nextel knew coming into the deal that there were other communication companies sponsoring cars, accept it.

Answer 2

The problem is that Nextel being the title sponsor no new competitors can sponsor a car which was an agreement when Nextel became the series sponsor. The brand name and sponsor "Cingular" was grandfathered in when Nascar went to Nextel. However Ithat doesn't cover AT&T if they just want to come into the sport, just the Cingular name. Kind of the same dilemma from Robby Gordon and Motorola, Nascar didnt allow them to sponsor the car, but i heard a couple minutes ago they can but it has to be different logo and can't actually represent the phone market.

Can't really fault Nextel for acting this way when it comes to their competitors, they did flop down 700 million and paying 40 million a year for sponsorship, they have kind of earned it. No other sponsor has ever put down that kind of money

Answer 3

I think by AT&T "merging" with Cingular, they are now bigger than Nextel. It all comes down to the money. It's not right, but Nextel does own NACAR now. I know they don't own the individual teams and their sponsors, but maybe Nextel figures since Cingular is on a car, then At&T doesn't need to sponsor one as well. I'm sure there will be a lawsuit over it.

Answer 4

With the naming deal after Winston was dropped, Sprint Nextel negotiated that any cell phone company that wasn't already in the sport couldn't advertise in the sport. That means the brand Cingular is grandfathered in, but not AT&T.

Answer 5

Let them put it on Jeff Burtons car because didn't Cingualar
and AT&T team up, if Nextel can't live with that AT&T will just
pull out.

Answer 6

Yeah.
Robby Gordon had a Motorola car and Nextel/NASCAR disallowed.
From what i heard, They're letting him keep the decals on it, but it's not the cell phone decals, its like Motorola audio digital..device.-??
That's BS.
Im not a R G fan, but they cant block sponsors.
Are they afraid of a little competition, or what?

Answer 7

Same company, different name. Let 'em decal the car. Anyone notice the 'NASCAR NEXTEL Cup' patch on Burton's firesuit is in shades of grey instead of yellow & black?