Story Credit: Jared DePouw
Photo Credit: Jared DePouw
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As was reported earlier by Jenna Fryer at the Associated Press, Target is ending their sponsorship with Chip Ganassi Racing after 27 years. The shockwaves of this announcement isn’t limited to just IndyCar, but it would also appear that NASCAR could be impacted after 2017 when Target’s current agreement is set to expire. In reading the AP’s coverage, one quote from Target Senior Vice President Scott Nygaard really stood out to me.
“But the Target brand is about being fresh and new, so we felt like this was the time to make the difficult decision and expand our sports marketing platform.” ~ Target Senior Vice President Scott Nygaard
When you read this quote, you might wonder how Target can cut the sponsorship yet expand their marketing at the same time. About the only thing that this could mean is that Target would rather spend their sponsorship money on Super Bowl ads than racing. As a fan of motorsports this is a great tragedy for our sport and has far reaching implications. Not only does this likely mean that Chip Ganassi Racing will drop from four cars to three next year, but this could mean unemployment for veteran crew members at Ganassi.
And what will Target gain from this? One or two extra Super Bowl ads that will likely have minimal economic impact and fewer cars on the grid…
