AT& –T corporate officials are meeting this week to study the NASCAR land-scape and decide what they might want to do next season in terms of sponsorship on the Winston/Nextel Cup tour. And, the Winston-Salem Journal learned yesterday, Verizon and AT& –T Wireless aren’t giving up hope of playing the stock-car racing game, too, despite Nextel’s apparent exclusivity arrangement with NASCAR. It is not clear if any legal challenges might be forthcoming, but some industry sources consider NASCAR’s ‘partial exclusivity’ grant to Nextel, with Cingular Wireless and Alltel grandfathered in, possibly illegal. The next move on the AT& –T-Nextel front may come from Fox and NBC, because the networks may not be interested in giving up potential ad sales to AT& –T, even with Nextel coming in to pay perhaps $1 million a race for on-air mentions. The nation’s six wireless companies spend about $3 billion a year on advertising. Sources say that NBC is hot to get some of that money.(much more at the Winston Salem Journal )(7-23-2003)
