NASCAR inks ground-breaking sponsorship deal with Alabama

In what could be described as a partnership made in sports marketing heaven, NASCAR has agreed to a deal with Alabama as an official sponsor.

It’s the first time NASCAR has sponsored a collegiate athletic department. Sports Business Journal has since reported the inventory and assets of the sponsorship:

It’s a one-year deal from this summer through next, though NASCAR did not reveal how much it is spending. It grants NASCAR rights use to Alabama’s IP; in-venue and experiential activation opportunities; social and digital media integration; and first-party data that the racing body will use to try to drive ticket sales.

This deal speaks to the heart of NASCAR and its effort to double down on its most loyal fan base and footprint. It comes in one of the regional strongholds for motorsports, as Talladega, which is about 2 hours from Tuscaloosa, is one of the sport’s most important tracks, as it hosts 2 NASCAR weekends annually, including one in the playoffs.

Here are more examples of advertising to come:

• NASCAR will run radio spots, while creating new signage and marketing assets for out-of-home advertising in Birmingham and Tuscaloosa
• NASCAR also gets in-venue LED board inventory and “NASCAR Drive Summary” videoboard features at all 7 home football games
• LED stanchion inventory and a “NASCAR Drive of the Game” videoboard feature at Coleman Coliseum for basketball games
• Title sponsorship of the Alabama sports network’s weekly Facebook show
• Social media sweepstakes and NASCAR getting access to first-party data across Learfield’s Fan365 platform

Keith Farner

A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.