Bash all you want I'd bet Merchandise sales blow away F1 any day of the week.
I don't have any figures, just a feeling, but I'd assume quite the opposite. Remember F1 is a global market and its items are high priced.
You wanna see some real racing.......... Turn on SpeedTV @ 7:30est to watch the finish of the Petit LeMans.
You've got to give the masses what they want, hence "Speed TV" has become "Nascar vision" and this guy Dave Disdain, oops! Despain has got to go. So-o-o-o-o boring! I guess it all became clear to me when the typical five guys giving commentary on the lastest Nascar race were still giving jaw service 1-1/2 hours later. Sno-o-o-o-o-o-z-e! All talk no action.
Global or not---I bet for every 1000 people that buy a $50 F1 shirt. There are 10,000 rednecks paying $30 for a Dale Jr. shirt. I'll take NASCAR's merchandise money over F1 any day of the week. Walk out your local grocery store or mall. Count how many NASCAR related shirts or merchandise you see versus how many BAR HONDA, Ferrari, Renault shirts, merchandise you see. There is no comparison...
You're not thinking on a global scale. Yes, NASCAR sales blow F1 merchandise away in the USA, but probably not on Earth (remember there are about 300+ more countries outside the US borders?). Europe's countries equal about the US population in sheer numbers. There F1 is the merchandise item to buy, not NASCAR. On top of that you have F1 fans in the US buying F1 stuff. On top of that you have Central and South American countries that love F1. Canada in North America and a whole Asian area (China and Japan to name a few) and Australia that all are into F1 as well. And we're not even talking spending power here, where again the typical F1 fan would probably rival if not simply outspend the average NASCAR fan. Again, I have no numbers to back this up, so you can dismiss it altogether. But please keep in mind NASCAR is a US only phenomenon. And that's good.
All the na sayers here should go out and either get a ride or take a drive on any of the NASCAR tracks in the US. You can do 10 mile , 20 mile and 50 mile drives after a few laps with a pro driving in front of you. It a blast to take one of these flying bricks of 650+ HP and smoke it on the track. It's super .
Hey Man! this thread is for bashing only. Start your own thread, call it Nascar for nerds or something like that.
Nascar stuff, from a site I just looked at, sold over 2 Billion dollars annually. I doubt F1 is beating that. Mainly because F1 has been slow to get with the merchandising movement. I rememeber several years ago it was impossible to even get any F1 stuff. F1, as usual, has been slow in this regard.
But the marketing of Nascar isn't usually the same as in F1. Typically a Grand Prix team hires a firm to design, manufacture and sell its goods. They take X% of the sales in exchange for the licensing. Every team for themselves. Pretty straight-forward stuff. Nascar marketing operates on different levels. Nascar Inc. is the big dog, and they eat first. Everything that sells with a licensed logo sends a % into their pocket. Then there are personal deals, such as Dale Jr. and Budweiser. They pay him a fee, say $20 million, and in exchange use his likeness in their ads, shirts, visors, etc. The hook here is, they also get a percentage of the merchandise sales, so ultimately they get a pretty good chunk in return on the back end. Bottom line is, both series are selling a **** load of stuff to the ever-hungry fans.
Taken From http://www.grandprix.com/ft/ft00286.html An older article but probably still rings true "Everyone involved in F1 owns the rights to market themselves be they racing teams, sponsors or drivers. Everyone owns the rights to merchandise their image: but few have the time to do it. The easiest way is to sell licences to others and let them do the job for you in exchange for a large cheque every year." "The licensees buy the goods, sell them on to the public and try to make a profit above what it costs for them to buy the licence. It is not a tightly-controlled business and margins can be tight. Companies come and go, shops open and close."
