Sprint Speed

Company Pays $70 Million For Ad Rights, Competing Alltel Gets $18 Million in Free Publicity By Winning the Daytona 500

Much to the chagrin of Sprint officials, the recent win by Ryan Newman in the Daytona 500 was worth $18.3 million in free publicity for one of it’s competitors, Alltel, according to one source.

-

Nextel sponsored entry
-

Sprint, which recently acquired Nextel at a kiosk at the local mall, inherited a $70 million sponsorship cost for the Nextel series of NASCAR events.

Unhappy with the plan, Sprint tried to contact NASCAR officials to change the plan. After waiting on hold for 52 minutes, NASCAR officials informed the phone company that it had signed a two-year contract and woudn’t be able to change terms without paying a $200 disconnect fee.

Sprint officials were reportedly furious and threatened to tell all their friends never to go see another NASCAR race.

The NASCAR rep countered by saying it would ruin Sprint’s credit rating, then laughed and hung up on the sputtering phone company.

-

Photo courtesy of FreeFoto.com

-