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Fox backs off from its sponsor blackout

By KEVIN KELLY

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 14, 2001

DAYTONA BEACH -- Two days after favoring its advertisers in on-air graphics, Fox backed off its position and came to an agreement with NASCAR on Tuesday.

In Sunday's Budweiser Shootout, Fox's graphics did not display the cars' sponsor logos except when the sponsors had bought advertising through Fox. NASCAR, heavily dependent upon sponsors of races and race teams, objected.

"I think they were trying to push the envelope and we don't blame them," NASCAR senior vice president Brian France said. "You can't have a relationship as big as this one is without having a bump in the road here or there."

Representatives from Fox and NASCAR met Monday to discuss the graphics used to show the starting lineup and top 10 drivers at commercial breaks.

Dodge, Home Depot, Kellogg's, Texaco and Budweiser were among the few sponsors that appeared because they purchased advertising packages for the race. Viewers will get an accurate depiction of every car during 125-mile qualifying races Thursday and the Daytona 500 on Sunday.

"I didn't think it'd be picked up so quickly," said David Hill, Fox Sports Television Group chairman and chief executive officer. "When the folks at NASCAR expressed their concern, I took a bit of time to think about it, and decided the best thing to do was let sleeping sponsors lie, as it were, and just go with it."

Fox is one of four networks (NBC, TBS, FX) that purchased the rights to broadcast NASCAR races the next six years for $2.47-billion. Fox and its cable partners, Fox Sports Net and FX, will broadcast the first 16 Winston Cup points races this season.

"Because this is a long term relationship," Hill said, "we didn't want to offend the NASCAR family."

Initial reaction of the exclusion of sponsor logos did not sit well with drivers, some of whom considered pulling out of interviews with Fox.

That changed when news of the compromise filtered through the garage.

"They got in a little bit of hot water the other day for blocking those sponsors out," said Rusty Wallace, driver of the No. 2 Ford. "I don't know why you would even think about doing that one, but they did. They got their hand slapped so they did it back right.

"It's growing pains."

-- Staff writer Sharon Ginn contributed to this story.

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