I can see that except for one thing. Cingular sponsored the 31 car before Sprint/Nextel took over the series. I would be fine if NASCAR said no to new sponsorships by mobile carriers, say, Verizon or T-Mobile. Nextel was bought out by Sprint, and Cingular was bought by AT&T - technically it’s not a new sponsorship - the 31 car is sponsored by the Cingular corporate entity, whether it’s Cingular or AT&T - it’s not a “new” sponsorship.
>>I can see that except for one thing. Cingular sponsored the 31 car before Sprint/Nextel took over the series. I would be fine if NASCAR said no to new sponsorships by mobile carriers, say, Verizon or T-Mobile. Nextel was bought out by Sprint, and Cingular was bought by AT&T - technically it’s not a new sponsorship - the 31 car is sponsored by the Cingular corporate entity, whether it’s Cingular or AT&T - it’s not a “new” sponsorship.<<
My understanding is that the could have kept the Cingular name and kept the sponsorship. But once they put the AT&T name on the car that put NASCAR in danger of losing the $750 million.
An anology - say Coke was the main NASCAR sponsor and exclusive rights to Cola products.
Say that Perrier water had a NASCAR car.
Say Pepsi bought Perrier.
They should be able to keep Perrier on the car but not put Pepsi on the car. IMO.
Say Pepsi bought
I should mention, that I like Cingular, and Bell South and AT&T and don’t like Sprint/Nextel but I’m talking about what is fair to NASCAR and what will keep NASCAR safe.
Cingular was specifically grandfathered. It was an exception to the exclusivity arrangement that NEXTEL negotiated with NASCAR. As I understand it Cingular was not even allowed to drop back to a secondary-sponsorship. Once they gave up on the 31-Car they were out. That shows you how tightly NEXTEL negotiated the exclusivity arrangement. And you can bet NASCAR was paid a premium for it as well.