Connect with us
https://yoursportsnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/call-to-1.png

Motorsports

Where to watch NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Nashville today: Time, channel, free live stream

The NASCAR Xfinity Series Race at 2025 Nashville, a.k.a. the Tennessee Lottery 250, is the second race on the weekend schedule at the Nashville Superspeedway on Saturday, May 31 (5/31/2025) at 7:30 p.m. ET. The NASCAR Xfinity Series at 2025 Nashville will air on The CW, and streams live on DirecTV (free trial). What: Tennessee […]

Published

on


The NASCAR Xfinity Series Race at 2025 Nashville, a.k.a. the Tennessee Lottery 250, is the second race on the weekend schedule at the Nashville Superspeedway on Saturday, May 31 (5/31/2025) at 7:30 p.m. ET.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series at 2025 Nashville will air on The CW, and streams live on DirecTV (free trial).

What: Tennessee Lottery 250, a NASCAR Xfinity Series race

When: Saturday, May 31, 2025

Where: Nashville Superspeedway, Nashville, Tennessee

Time: 7:30 p.m. ET

TV: The CW

Channel finder: DirecTV, Verizon Fios, Cox, Xfinity, Spectrum, Optimum

Streaming Service Free Trial Promo Monthly Price
DirecTV Yes $30 off first month $86.99
fuboTV* Yes $30 off first month $84.99

What are the differences between the streaming services?

DirecTV Stream is a subscription streaming service that lets you watch live TV from major broadcast and popular cable networks. Enjoy local and national live sports, breaking news, and must-see shows the moment they air. Included: unlimited cloud DVR storage space so you can record as many shows as you want and stream them from wherever you go. DTV Stream starts at $34.99 per month after a 5-day free trial when you shop their customizable genre packs.

*fuboTV is a live TV streaming service focused on live sports, including U.S. and international soccer, the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL and more. *It’s important to note that The CW has less reliable coverage on fubo, and new subscribers should check local channel availability. It offers 212 channels starting at $64.99 (for one month, then $84.99), includes unlimited DVR, and streams on most devices. Right now you can try fuboTV free.

BET: Extended Bet365 Bonus Code SYRACUSE: New $1.15K betting promo for Memorial Day Week

Ross Chastain is a +300 favorite to win, according to DraftKings. William Byron won last week in Charlotte, but will not race the Xfinity series this week.

Here’s a recent NASCAR story via The AP:

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Sunday night’s Coca-Cola 600 averaged 2.72 million viewers in Prime Video’s first NASCAR race.

The race, which was won by Ross Chastain, was the third-highest-watched NASCAR race this season not carried by Fox. FS1 averaged 2.89 million viewers for the March 16 race at Las Vegas and 2.84 million for Phoenix on March 9.

Fox Sports had the first 12 races of the season, with eight being carried on FS1. Last year’s Coca-Cola 600 on Fox averaged 3.2 million viewers.

According to Nielsen, the audience for Sunday night’s race peaked at 2.92 million viewers near the midway point.

Prime Video’s audience had an average age of 55.8 years, which is more than six years younger than the average median age of viewers watching NASCAR Cup Series races on linear TV (61.9).

The 67-minute postrace show averaged 1.04 million viewers and peaked at 1.26 million.

This was the first of five races that Prime Video will carry this season.



Link

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Motorsports

NASCAR Cup Series Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis

Larson finished second, followed by Denny Hamlin, Ryan Preece and Brad Keselowski. The next stop for the NASCAR Cup Series is Iowa Speedway for the Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol. Coverage of the event on Sunday, August 3 will be on USA, the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio at 3:30 p.m. ET. […]

Published

on


Larson finished second, followed by Denny Hamlin, Ryan Preece and Brad Keselowski.

The next stop for the NASCAR Cup Series is Iowa Speedway for the Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol. Coverage of the event on Sunday, August 3 will be on USA, the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio at 3:30 p.m. ET.

-Photo credit: Lesley Ann Miller, Lumen Digital Agency for Toyota Gazoo Racing



Link

Continue Reading

Motorsports

Bubba Wallace makes Indy history with Brickyard 400 victory

INDIANAPOLIS — Bubba Wallace climbed out of the No. 23 Chevolet, pumped his fists, found his family and savored every precious moment of a historic Brickyard 400 victory. He deserved every minute of it. The 31-year-old NASCAR Cup Series driver for 23XI Racing overcame a tenuous 18-minute rain delay, two tantalizing overtimes, fears about running […]

Published

on


INDIANAPOLIS — Bubba Wallace climbed out of the No. 23 Chevolet, pumped his fists, found his family and savored every precious moment of a historic Brickyard 400 victory.

He deserved every minute of it.

The 31-year-old NASCAR Cup Series driver for 23XI Racing overcame a tenuous 18-minute rain delay, two tantalizing overtimes, fears about running out of fuel late and the hard-charging Kyle Larson — the winner of the 2024 race — on back-to-back restarts Sunday to become the first Black driver to win a major race on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s 2.5-mile oval. There has never been a Black winner of the open-wheel Indianapolis 500, which dates to 1911, and Formula 1 used the road course at IMS when the international open-wheel series held its U.S. Grand Prix there from 2000 to 2007.

The Cup Series raced on the IMS oval from 1994 to 2020, switched to the road course for the next three years, then returned to the oval a year ago, when Larson drove the Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 Chevy to victory lane as Wallace finished fifth. Until Sunday, the best Brickyard 400 result for Wallace was fifth place in 2019, when he was at the wheel of the Richard Petty Motorsports No. 43 Chevy.

“This one’s really cool,” Wallace said. “Coming off Turn 4, I knew I was going to get there — unless we ran out of gas. I was surprised I wasn’t crying like a little baby.”

His third career Cup Series victory was his first in of stock-car racing’s four crown jewel events, with the others the Coca-Cola 600, the Daytona 500 and the Southern 500. It also snapped a 100-race winless streak that dated to his September 2022 victory at Kansas Speedway and locked up a spot in the 16-driver field for the postseason, which begins next month. His only other win came in October 2021 at Alabama’s Talladega Superspeedway, a playoff race that was postponed and shortened due to rain.

The final gap Sunday was less than a a quarter-second (0.222), but even that was no measure of the consternation he faced.

Larson cut a deficit of 5.057 seconds with 14 laps to go to about three seconds with six laps left as the yellow flag came out for the rain. The cars then rolled to a stop on pit lane with four laps remaining, forcing Wallace to think and rethink his restart strategy.

“‘Are we going? Are we not?'” he said. “I will say I leaned more towards ‘I know we’re going to go back racing. Be ready. Don’t get complacent here.'”

Wallace made sure of it. He beat Larson through the second turn on the first restart only to have a crash behind him trigger a second overtime, forcing his crew to recalculate whether they had enough fuel to finish the race or whether he needed to surrender the lead and refuel.

In Wallace’s mind, there was no choice.

“The first thing that went through my mind was, ‘Here we go again,'” he said. “But then I said, ‘I want to win this straight up. I want to go back racing.’ Here we are.”

He beat Larson off the restart again and pulled away, preventing the 2021 Cup Series champion from becoming the race’s fourth back-to-back winner.

The victory also alleviated the frustration Wallace felt Saturday, when he spent most of the qualifying session on the provisional pole only to see Chase Briscoe earn the No. 1 starting spot with one of the last runs in the session.

On Sunday, he made sure there was no repeat.

“Those last 20 laps there were ups and downs, and I was telling myself, ‘You won’t be able to do it,'” Wallace said. “Once I’d seen it was Larson, I knew he won here last year, and he’s arguably the best in the field. So to beat the best, we had to be the best today.”

The other big contest — the final showdown of the In-Season Challenge — went to Ty Gibbs, who had a better car than fellow finalist Ty Dillon in qualifying and on race day. Gibbs finished 21st in his Joe Gibbs Racing No. 54 Toyota to win the inaugural single-elimination, in-season tournament and collect the $1 million prize.

Dillon, a surprise qualifier for the championship round after making the field as the 32nd and final driver, finished 28th on the track Sunday in the Kaulig Racing No. 10 Chevy.

“They brought me money guns and they jammed, so I decided to take all the money and throw it to the fans, and they were all wrestling and fighting over it,” said Gibbs, who also received a title belt and a ring. “But it’s super cool. It’s a cool opportunity.”

Wallace and Larson were followed by JGR’s Denny Hamlin — who also co-owns 23XI Racing — the winner a week earlier at Delaware’s Motor Speedway for his fourth victory of the season and the 58th of his Cup Series career. Ryan Preece had the best finish for a Ford driver in fourth, and he was followed by RFK Racing teammate Brad Keselowski, who is also a co-owner of the team.

At different points, Penske teammates Austin Cindric and three-time Cup Series champion Joey Logano appeared to be in control of the race, but tire problems took them out of contention. Eric Jones also was knocked out of the race when his right front tire came off between the third and fourth turns, sending him hard into the outside wall on the 91st lap.

They weren’t the only drivers who made early exits.

Ross Chastain was the first out after just 18 laps when a tap from Michael McDowell sent his car spinning into the third turn wall and caused heavy damage. The others who were out before the 100th lap were Austin Dillon, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Cody Ware.

AP photo by Darron Cummings / Bubba Wallace drives the 23XI Racing No. 23 Chevrolet in the NASCAR Cup Series' Brickyard 400 on Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
AP photo by Darron Cummings / Bubba Wallace drives the 23XI Racing No. 23 Chevrolet in the NASCAR Cup Series’ Brickyard 400 on Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

IndyCar: Palou closes in on another title

Alex Palou won IndyCar’s Grand Prix of Monterey on Sunday at California’s WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, the Chip Ganassi Racing star’s eighth victory through 14 races this season on the American open-wheel circuit.

Palou, a 28-year-old Spaniard seeking his fourth IndyCar title in five seasons, is almost there. With three races to go, he has a 121-point lead over second-place Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren, who had won the previous two races but wound up fourth Sunday.

Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard was second to Palou on the track Sunday, with Andretti Global’s Colton Herta third.

Palou led all but 11 laps to repeat as the Monterey winner, and he has a chance to break IndyCar’s record for single-season wins if he can sweep the remainder of the schedule, with the final three races Aug. 10 in Portland, Oregon, Aug. 24 in Milwaukee and Aug. 31 in Nashville.



Link

Continue Reading

Motorsports

Bubba Wallace becomes first Black driver to win a major race at Indianapolis’ oval with Brickyard 400 victory

INDIANAPOLIS — Bubba Wallace climbed out of the No. 23 car Sunday, pumped his fists, found his family and savored every precious moment of a historic Brickyard 400 victory. He deserved every minute of it. The 31-year-old Wallace overcame a tenuous 18-minute rain delay, two tantalizing overtimes, fears about running out of fuel late and […]

Published

on


INDIANAPOLIS — Bubba Wallace climbed out of the No. 23 car Sunday, pumped his fists, found his family and savored every precious moment of a historic Brickyard 400 victory.

He deserved every minute of it.

The 31-year-old Wallace overcame a tenuous 18-minute rain delay, two tantalizing overtimes, fears about running out of fuel late and the hard-charging defending race champ, Kyle Larson, on back-to-back restarts to become the first Black driver to win a major race on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s 2.5-mile oval. No Black driver has won the Indianapolis 500, and Formula 1 raced on the track’s road course.

“This one’s really cool,” Wallace said. “Coming off Turn 4, I knew I was going to get there — unless we ran out of gas. I was surprised I wasn’t crying like a little baby.”

His third career NASCAR Cup victory delivered Wallace’s first victory in the series’ four crown jewel events, the others being the Daytona 500, Coca-Cola 600 and Southern 500. It also snapped a 100-race winless streak that dated to 2022 at Kansas and locked up a playoff spot. His only other win came at Talladega in 2021.

The final gap was 0.222 seconds, but that was no measure of the consternation he faced.

Larson cut a 5.057-second deficit with 14 laps to go to about three seconds with six laps left as the yellow flag came out for the rain. The cars then rolled to a stop on pit lane with four laps remaining, forcing Wallace to think and rethink his restart strategy.

“The whole time I’m thinking are we going? Are we not?” he said. “I will say I leaned more towards ‘I know we’re going to go back racing. Be ready. Don’t get complacent here.”

Wallace made sure of it.

He beat Larson through the second turn on the first restart only to have a crash behind him force a second overtime, forcing his crew to recalculate whether they had enough fuel to finish the race or whether he needed to surrender the lead and refuel.

In Wallace’s mind, there was no choice.

“The first thing that went through my mind was, ‘Here we go again,’” he said. “But then I said, `I want to win this straight up. I want to go back racing.’ Here we are.”

He beat Larson off the restart again and pulled away, preventing Larson from becoming the race’s fourth back-to-back winner.

The victory also alleviated the frustration Wallace felt Saturday when he spent most of the qualifying session on the provisional pole only to see Chase Briscoe claim the No. 1 starting spot with one of the last runs in the session.

On Sunday, he made sure there was no repeat, providing an added boost to the 23XI Racing team co-owned by basketball Hall of Famer Michael Jordan and last week’s race winner, Denny Hamlin, as it continues to battle NASCAR in court over its charter status.

“Those last 20 laps there were ups and downs and I was telling myself ‘You won’t be able to do it,’” Wallace said. “Once I’d seen it was Larson, I knew he won here last year and he’s arguably the best in the field. So to beat the best, we had to be the best today.”

The other big race — the In-Season Challenge — went to Ty Gibbs, who had a better car than Ty Dillon in qualifying and on race day. Gibbs finished 21st o win the inaugural March Madness-like single-elimination tournament and collect the $1 million prize.

Dillon, a surprise championship round entrant after making the field as the 32nd and final driver, finished 28th.

“They brought me money guns and they jammed so I decided to take all the money and throwing it to the fans and they were all wrestling and fighting over it,” said Gibbs, who also received a title belt and a ring. “But it’s super cool. It’s a cool opportunity.”

Tire troubles

At different points, Austin Cindric and three-time Cup champion Joey Logano appeared to be in control of the race, but tire problems took them out of contention. Eric Jones also was knocked out of the race when his right front tire came off between Turns 3 and 4, sending him hard into the outside wall on Lap 91.

They weren’t the only drivers who made early exits.

Ross Chastain was the first out after just 18 laps when a tap from Michael McDowell sent Chastain’s car spinning into the third turn wall and caused heavy damage.

The others who were out before Lap 100 were Austin Dillon, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Cody Ware.

Weathering the storm

Series officials were concerned enough about the threat of rain that they moved up the start time by 10 minutes. Fifteen minutes probably would have eliminated the rain delay.

But the threat of rain impacted the race long before the delay. Early in the second stage, some teams informed drivers rain was expected near the midway point and it seemed to increase the aggressiveness earlier in the race than expected.

Monster advice

Cookie Monster made it to the track Sunday, too. The beloved Sesame Street character, who served as the Brickyard’s grand marshal, attended driver introductions and took a handful of questions before the race and even offered some advice to the drivers.

“Don’t stop and ask for directions,” the furry blue character said.

Up next

Cup drivers will continue their brief Midwestern tour next Sunday when they race at Iowa.



Link

Continue Reading

Motorsports

New Jersey Motorsports Park announces 10-year plan

State AlabamaAlaskaArizonaArkansasCaliforniaColoradoConnecticutDelawareFloridaGeorgiaHawaiiIdahoIllinoisIndianaIowaKansasKentuckyLouisianaMaineMarylandMassachusettsMichiganMinnesotaMississippiMissouriMontanaNebraskaNevadaNew HampshireNew JerseyNew MexicoNew YorkNorth CarolinaNorth DakotaOhioOklahomaOregonPennsylvaniaRhode IslandSouth CarolinaSouth DakotaTennesseeTexasUtahVermontVirginiaWashingtonWashington D.C.West VirginiaWisconsinWyomingPuerto RicoUS Virgin IslandsArmed Forces AmericasArmed Forces PacificArmed Forces EuropeNorthern Mariana IslandsMarshall IslandsAmerican SamoaFederated States of MicronesiaGuamPalauAlberta, CanadaBritish Columbia, CanadaManitoba, CanadaNew Brunswick, CanadaNewfoundland, CanadaNova Scotia, CanadaNorthwest Territories, CanadaNunavut, CanadaOntario, CanadaPrince Edward Island, CanadaQuebec, CanadaSaskatchewan, CanadaYukon Territory, Canada Zip Code Country United States of […]

Published

on







Link

Continue Reading

Motorsports

Results, points after Brickyard 400 as Bubba Wallace earns first NASCAR crown jewel win

With his first crown jewel victory in the NASCAR Cup Series, Bubba Wallace locked into the 2025 playoffs by winning the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Surviving two overtime restarts after the race went past its scheduled distance because of a red flag for rain, Wallace beat Kyle Larson by 0.222 seconds for his […]

Published

on


With his first crown jewel victory in the NASCAR Cup Series, Bubba Wallace locked into the 2025 playoffs by winning the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Surviving two overtime restarts after the race went past its scheduled distance because of a red flag for rain, Wallace beat Kyle Larson by 0.222 seconds for his third career victory. It was his first win since Kansas Speedway in September 2022, snapping a 100-race winless streak.

Advertisement

The 23XI Racing driver’s first victory at Indy came in his fifth start on the 2.5-mile oval. His previous best Brickyard finish was a third in September 2019.

Wallace led three times for 23 laps.

Denny Hamlin finished third, followed by Ryan Preece and Brad Keselowski.

With the win, Wallace moved off the provisional cut line for the playoffs. Chris Buescher now leads Preece by 42 points for the final spot.

Chase Elliott, who finished 13th, held onto his lead in the regular-season standings by four points over Hendrick Motorsports teammate Wiliam Byron, who was 16th.

Here’s the finishing order at the Brickyard 400:

1. Bubba Wallace, No. 23 Toyota
2. Kyle Larson, No. 5 Chevrolet
3. Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Toyota
4. Ryan Preece, No. 60 Ford
5. Brad Keselowski, No. 6 Ford
6. Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Ford
7. Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Ford
8. Christopher Bell, No. 20 Toyota
9. Alex Bowman, No. 48 Chevrolet
10. Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Chevrolet
11. Justin Haley, No. 7 Chevrolet
12. John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Toyota
13. Chase Elliott, No. 9 Chevrolet
14. Chris Buescher, No. 17 Ford
15. Austin Cindric, No. 2 Ford
16. William Byron, No. 24 Chevrolet
17. Katherine Legge, No. 78 Chevrolet
18. Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Toyota
19. Shane Van Gisbergen, No. 88 Chevrolet
20. Cole Custer, No. 41 Ford
21. Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Toyota
22. Josh Berry, No. 21 Ford
23. AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Chevrolet
24. Jesse Love, No. 62 Chevrolet
25. Kyle Busch, No. 8 Chevrolet
26. Riley Herbst, No. 35 Toyota
27. Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Chevrolet
28. Ty Dillon, No. 10 Chevrolet
29. Tyler Reddick, No. 45 Toyota
30. Michael McDowell, No. 71 Chevrolet
31. Zane Smith, No. 38 Ford
32. Joey Logano, No. 22 Ford
33. Noah Gragson, No. 4 Ford
34. Josh Bilicki, No. 66 Ford
35. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Chevrolet
36. Erik Jones, No. 43 Toyota
37. Cody Ware, No. 51 Ford
38. Austin Dillon, No. 3 Chevrolet
39. Ross Chastain, No. 1 Chevrolet



Link

Continue Reading

Motorsports

CMOs look for ROI measures to justify rising sports sponsorships

Sponsorships are considered one the most reliable ways for a brand to get in good with sports fans. But most marketers are in the dark about the real commercial impact of their partnerships with franchises, tournaments and broadcasters. The search for answers could help them justify more spending, or lead them further astray. According to […]

Published

on


Sponsorships are considered one the most reliable ways for a brand to get in good with sports fans. But most marketers are in the dark about the real commercial impact of their partnerships with franchises, tournaments and broadcasters. The search for answers could help them justify more spending, or lead them further astray.

According to Forrester, 76% of U.S. consumer marketers who invested in a sports sponsorship in 2024 said they struggle to calculate the return on that investment (ROI). That’s despite 39% of CMOs saying they expect to increase sports sponsorship investments in 2025, while 28% are preparing their brand’s debut sports partnership this year — a reflection of live sports’ increasingly vital ability to connect brands with audiences in a fragmented media environment.

Sports sponsorships provide a “halo effect” for brand-building efforts, noted Forrester analyst Mike Proulx, so techniques like brand-lift studies are common while “hardcore ROI” measures are thinner on the ground. That isn’t stopping marketers looking for workarounds that get them closer to understanding the true impact of a partnership.

Engine oil brand Mobil1 has a long-time presence in NASCAR — it’s been the sport’s official engine oil since 2003, in fact. Ahead of the 2024-25 season, it signed up to become the presenting sponsor of NASCAR on Amazon Prime Video’s “Victory Lane” post-race coverage.

“Consumers can know that if it’s good enough for NASCAR, they can trust that it’s going to be good enough for their summer road trip,” said Austin Johansen, Mobil1’s North America marketing manager.

The move wasn’t just a way of doubling down on the brand’s motorsports associations. Amazon is a key direct sales channel for Mobil1, and the company’s been working with the retail platform to track extra sales generated by its sponsorship. 

In particular, the Amazon partnership granted Mobil1 the use of shoppable ad formats, which carried consumers through to a bespoke storefront within the Amazon retail platform. Though Johansen didn’t share exact financials or the size of the company’s media investment, he said the combination had produced a “significant lift in sales,” especially for its premium Extended Performance Advanced Full Synthetic product.

“[Consumers] can immediately go from brand awareness to product discovery,” he said.

The company also used Amazon’s user data to retarget viewers of its NASCAR ads with follow-up material throughout the NASCAR season. The pincer approach, he said, enabled the firm to bridge sales performance and media exposure in a way that wouldn’t be possible through a linear broadcaster.

Amazon’s execs are keen to prove that its Prime Video sports coverage represents a radical departure from the old broadcast world (this season was NASCAR’s first with the streamer). The arrangement allowed Mobil1 “to measure and optimize in-program sponsorships at parity with traditional media for the first time,” claimed Danielle Carney, head of U..S video and live sports sales at Amazon Ads, in an email. 

Marketing leaders are receptive to that CTV and commerce pitch. After all, they need to prove the value of their sports partnerships to skeptical CFOs.

It’s not the only way they’re attempting to bring more discipline to their partnerships, though. Non-alcoholic beer brand Bero recently sponsored a padel tournament in London during the same week as Wimbledon, in the hope that associating itself with the challenger racquet sport might help catch the eyes of fans following the more established championship. Backed by actor Tom Holland, the brand launched in the U.K. in January.

Bero worked with Advantage Sports and talent agency IMG to host the event, meaning it was able to appear as the tournament’s headline sponsor and take a cut of other partnership revenue raised. 

According to Bero’s marketing vp Jackie Widmann, that meant it was able to cover half of its cash investment in the sponsorship (she didn’t provide exact figures). According to Widmann, the sponsorship netted the brand a 30-40% increase in direct web traffic leading to a 92% week-over-week sales lift; 20,000 new Instagram and TikTok followers; as well as new trade leads on British beer vendors. The tournament was ““insanely useful for the business,” she said.

Malph Minns, managing director of sports marketing agency Strive Sponsorship, explained that impact measurement regimes of one type or another are now being sewn into sponsorship agreements from the word go.

Brands like travel retailer Subweb, shirt sponsor of Belgian soccer team RSC Anderlecht since 2024, provide one example. The company has been targeting the digital ads it runs in conjunction with the sponsorship deal based on a combination of first-party data from their own and their partner club’s datasets, enabled by specialist data clean room partner WeHave. “They’re optimizing their spend. They’re not just trying to slam [messaging] to everybody,” he said. Minns said his company Strive expected to work with WeHave on at least five sponsorship agreements this year.

Where they can be calculated, commercial returns help marketers justify their sponsorship investments. But chasing receipts might end up misleading marketers, too.

Minns warned against abandoning brand-awareness metrics in favor of commercial ones. “People like money measures, and I think ROI has been too narrowly defined as purely commercial income,” he said.

Both audiences and marketers are drawn to sport because of its emotional pull. Holland’s own passion for padel was one of the factors that drove Bero’s investment, Widmann said. That same dynamic can fuel skepticism among CMOs’ boardroom opponents.

“It can’t be simply, ‘Hey, we think this is cool, we want to see our name on a shiny billboard within a stadium.’ That’s not a sound business reason,” said Proulx.

It’s a knotty problem that echoes the broader brand-versus-performance debate playing out across advertising. Just as performance measures can undervalue brand assets and long-term marketing investments in other media, so too might commercial measures eclipse a sponsorship’s ability to generate positive effects for an advertiser.



Link

Continue Reading

Most Viewed Posts

Trending