The REAL picture here...BIG post....
Ray...thanks for the nice words.....By the way, VitaminWater is marketed by GLACEAU, not Revive... I see no conflict with this deal on the surface...I will do some digging and see what I can come up with tomorrow for everyone on this...
Also, I'd like to address the sponsorship side of NHRA teams for a moment...I know that there are a LOT of you, myself included, that feel Erica is a VERY marketable driver..I agree...But it is important that you understand how much money it takes to go racing nowadays, and companies are VERY tight with budgets now, too...For T/F, once you have all of your equipment (cars, tractor trailers, 6-8 shortblocks, etc...) it takes about $2,3000,000-$2,700,00 per year to run them...This is a REAL number..And of course, this budget gives you the opportunity to run with the best of them if you hire the right crew chiefs, drivers, etc....Funny Cars are about $200,000 more because of the bodies. By the time you hang them and paint them are about $40,000, and then the wind tunnell time that you spend for each body just to make sure they are straight is another $10,000 to $12,000 per day, PLUS travel costs to get there, and you need a MINIMUM of one day for a new body at the beginning of the year, and another in the middle of the year, to make sure that it is straight after 100 runs or so...These are REAL numbers..
What does this have to do with Erica Enders you ask? A lot...! Similarly, to run a top PS team, you will spend $1,500,000-$1,800,000 to run well...Ken Black, my guess, spends $4,000,000-$5,000,000 on those cars...That is part of the reason that they run so well...They have more high-dollar people, parts, machine equipment, testing time, etc...
While it has been proven that NHRA is the "Best Bang For The Buck" to corporate America as far as motorsports go, it is still a VERY tough battle to get the money! We are in the MOST competitive venue for "specialty advertising" that there is...Long gone are the days of "Build your team and sponsors will come..." A lot of the reason for this, is that with so many teams in so many different types of racing, the sponsors realize a few things:
1.) They can get these teams to do a LOT for a little (money)...
2.) The reason for #1 is that if you won't do it, there are 1000 teams that will...
3.) Too many rich guys will subsidize the cost of this game and take $200,000deals for Fuel Cars for the entire season (some even less...) And I know of 3 right now...you would NEVER guess who they are...lol
4.) Finally, ESPN2 could make things a LOT easier...In the few years that they have been broadcasting the races for NHRA, ask yourself this...How may promos have you seen to promote Division 2 and 3 college games as HUGE events...? And how many NHRA promos have you seen....Try ZERO...IT HAS NEVER HAPPENED...!!!
You only get out of something what you put into it...The idea here is that we 1,000,000 die-hard fans would tune in to SoapNet to watch these races if thats the only place to see them...Promos are supposed to attract new fans...and they DO if you run them....It has NOTHING todo with how much money comes into the sport...You can get all of the money handed to you if you have a sport that builds a very high profile with big TV viewership....Companies will seek out these teams...Our TV on ESPN has had the same ratings +/- for 6 years....Coincidence..? I don't think so....Sorry for ranting, but thanks for letting me get it all out....! whew...!
Thanks again..
Jay Rathman
CEO
J. Rathman Sports, LLC.