Nextel plans $25M in upgrades to cell phone service at tracks. Nextel marketer Michael Robichaud had a fear that a branding dream could become a nightmare. Call volume around big events can overwhelm wireless phone services. And as Nextel replaces Winston next year as NASCAR’s title sponsor in what might be the biggest U.S. sponsorship ever, Robichaud imagined trackside fans, amidst Nextel signs, trying to get their cell phones to work. “I can see the cover of sports sections showing that,” he says. “And we really don’t need that picture.” So Nextel, paying more than $700 million over 10 years to title-sponsor a series that drew about 6.7 million fans last year, will spend about $25 million on antennas and switching gear so fans can make calls from tracks next year. Fans, that is, who are Nextel subscribers. And what if racetracks let other phone services make upgrades? Says Robichaud: “We would be, uh, disappointed.”( USA Today )(12-12-2003)
