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NASCAR Continues To Rev Up Its Licensing Efforts, Building Out New Ideas And Its Cool Factor
New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara just launched a merchandise collection with NASCAR, driving up to a home game in a NASCAR-branded Toyota Supra to get things rolling.NASCAR
As WWE star John Cena rolled down a scenic highway in the most recent "The Fast and the Furious" movie this summer, a child actor sitting next to him in the passenger seat donned a T-shirt of Daytona International Speedway.
NASCAR's Charlotte-based licensing department had worked with its Los Angeles-based entertainment division to provide branded garments to Universal Pictures. NASCAR received no assurances the merchandise would be used in the film, but when its licensing staff watched the trailer, they spotted the Daytona shirt, featuring palm trees and a race car.
Meanwhile, in real life this month, New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara showed up to the team's home game in a NASCAR-branded Toyota Supra to promote the launch of a merchandise collection with the racing circuit.
The examples are just two on an increasingly long list of ways that NASCAR is working to build its cool factor through its approach to licensing and merchandise. Seizing on a renaissance around automotive and motorsports culture, while taking advantage of the way the overall company is diversifying, NASCAR's licensing department has found a big appetite from fashion brands, toy companies, Hollywood studios and even a dog toy subscription service to collaborate.
NASCAR declined to reveal overall licensing revenue, but the 2023 season saw trackside sales climb nearly 27% year over year, the highest combined sales of NASCAR and driver merchandise since 2015, according to information reviewed by Sports Business Journal. Per-caps were up 11.7%. Trackside, the NASCAR brand was the top-selling entity this year when including drivers and teams; NASCAR's most popular driver, Chase Elliott, came in No. 2.
Over the past couple of years, NASCAR has struck deals or released new products with national clothing retailers such as Hurley, Abercrombie & Fitch and Hollister; trendy items with sportswear brands New Era, Columbia and Starter; co-branded merchandise with rapper Curren$y, country music star Luke Combs and now Kamara; and limited-edition lines with a host of local boutique shops for special events.
NASCAR has had merchandise placed in more than 25 new retailers during that time, according to Megan Malayter, managing director of licensing and consumer products, and has been experimenting with styles, designs and garment types.
As part of its push to do more in the toy space, the racing property recently struck a deal with Danish giant Lego after more than a decade of trying, and it's finding growth with other licensees internationally, selling well domestically in major retailers like Walmart and seeing growth with core products such as die-cast toys, according to NASCAR.
Hurley was drawn to NASCAR's origins on the beach at Daytona. It's done two NASCAR-themed merchandise drops so far. NASCAR
It struck a co-branded merchandise deal with the esports organization FaZe Clan, signed a deal with dog toy subscription service BarkBox, and worked on co-branded products with sports franchises ranging from the Carolina Hurricanes to the Chicago White Sox, Arizona Diamondbacks and Chicago Cubs.
In addition to the product placement in "The Fast and the Furious," NASCAR has worked with Disney on "Cars" merchandise, "Star Wars" shirts with Lucasfilm in partnership with Columbia, and Barstool Sports.
The moves are part of a shift in strategy under new leadership in NASCAR's merchandise department, which is now headed up by Malayter following the retirement of Paul Sparrow last year. Malayter has been with NASCAR for 16 years, and she's one of seven employees in the licensing department.
NASCAR used to look at merchandise as one of the last parts of a fan sales funnel where licensed products were largely geared toward hardcore avid fans. Now, in line with broader efforts to grow the sport's fan base, NASCAR makes a conscious effort to strike deals across a far wider spectrum of licensees with non-fans and casual fans on top of traditional gearheads. Many of the garments look and feel differently than traditional NASCAR merchandise. For example, much of the apparel has more toned-down, simple designs on the front compared to the in-your-face graphics of vintage driver T-shirts.
Top 2023 Trackside Sales 1. NASCAR2. Chase Elliott3. Kyle Larson4. Kyle Busch5. Kevin Harvick6. Martin Truex Jr.7. Ross Chastain8. Ryan Blaney9. Joey Logano10. Dale Earnhardt Jr.11. William Byron12. Dale Earnhardt Sr.13. Denny Hamlin14. Hendrick Motorsports15. Alex Bowman Source: NASCAR
"When I started at NASCAR back in the day, I was always thinking that there was a hierarchy with the fan where they consume the sport, go to events, buy concessions and if they had any money left, they'd buy merchandise, so it was like ground zero for how our fan felt," Malayter said. "But what I really learned is [merchandise] can also be a great gateway to fans and an entry point for people. … It's freed us up to think about new and different ways to build our brand and touch different audiences where they are."
One example is the deal with Hurley, a brand based around surfing and swimming. Around the time of its mid-20th century founding, NASCAR raced on the actual shores of Daytona Beach. NASCAR used that story to connect with Hurley and the brands have done two merchandise drops so far.
NASCAR also has been doing deals with local fashion boutiques for specific races, such as working with State Forty Eight in Phoenix, Clark Street Sports in Chicago and The Nash Collection for NASCAR's Champion's Week end-of-season banquet in Nashville. The debut Chicago street race posted the highest average merchandise transaction rate of the season and plans are in the works for next year's new market that the Cup Series is racing in for the first time, Iowa. The motorsports property also took advantage of 2023 being its 75th anniversary, launching products around the occasion with the likes of Sugarlands Distilling Co., RTIC coolers and Funko.
Buffalo-based New Era has been working with NASCAR for over a decade and has been experiencing the trend of NASCAR merchandise becoming more popular of late, according to Todd Sokolowski, director of New Era's core licenses business unit. While not disclosing specifics, he said sales were up in 2023 from 2022 and that "the whole NASCAR trend is so popular right now — we're seeing demand from accounts that three or four years ago weren't buying any NASCAR from us" such as Foot Locker, Culture Kings and PacSun.
Sokolowski said credit for the trend both goes to NASCAR leadership, which is pushing the sport forward with new types of events among other sea-changes, and to the fact that racing gear right now "is totally on trend — the retro types with old graphics and vintage marks are so popular right now."
Lego activates at the Kids Zone at NASCAR-owned tracks.NASCAR
While pushing boundaries with designers and others, NASCAR has worked hard to retain a retail presence with Walmart and Target with children's apparel and toys. NASCAR has a direct-to-retail licensing relationship with Walmart, including six products with its Adventure Force line of toy cars and accessories, up from two in 2019. Lionel, maker of toy trains and cars, has had four consecutive years of double-digit sales growth at Walmart, Target and Meijer with its NASCAR Authentics line of die-cast car toys, including a 10% lift this year. Those got placement at 3,931 Walmart stores, 1,843 Target stores and 260 Meijer stores.
NASCAR has also become more deliberate about integrating its merchandise operations into different aspects of the race-day experience. NASCAR works with Legends Global Merchandise on its at-track and special-event retail operations, while it works with Fanatics for its e-commerce efforts.
David Raymond, executive vice president of merchandising for Legends Global Merchandise, said the company has been able to bring in more premium brands to its racing deals such as Tommy Bahama, Johnnie-O, Columbia and Horn Legend. He cited vintage designs, apparel with multiple bold patches and merchandise that has different cuts such as slim or relaxed fits as things that have been on-trend in NASCAR.
Whereas merchandise was historically largely only sold at tracks from mobile haulers, now NASCAR sets up a Kids Zone at all of its owned facilities that, among other things, markets toys. Madeline Boushie, senior brand manager, U.S. Marketing, at the Lego Group, said that access to the Kids Zone "allowed us to bring awareness and discoverability of our Lego portfolio and encourage the joy of hands-on building to many more families in key U.S. Markets."
NASCAR turned one of the garage stalls at its renovated Phoenix Raceway into a merchandise store to give a touch-and-feel souvenir buying experience in the track's infield. Malayter said infield merchandise sales at Phoenix doubled as part of that move to build a walk-in environment.
Malayter's bosses want her to grow revenue, but their main aim for now is to just make NASCAR cool again in the consumer product world. She said a lot of that is about brand growth and relevancy.
"If you do those things well, then revenue generation comes," she said. "But it's really about creating connections with the fans, building new points of view for NASCAR and expanding what the audience perceives us as."
Season Reviews: 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Drivers
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Dale Earnhardt Sr. Makes Top 15 List For Most Trackside Merchandise Sold At NASCAR Races In 2023
Over 20 years after his passing, Dale Earnhardt Sr. Remains one of the iconic figures in the history of NASCAR.
The love his fans had for him is undeniable, and it's remained over the last two decades and change. "The Intimidator" was among the top trackside merchandise sellers in NASCAR for 2023, according to Adam Stern of the Sports Business Journal.
In addition to Earnhardt Sr. Ranking in the Top 15, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Also made the cut, as well. Check out the full list below, shared to X (formerly known as Twitter) by Stern.
Top 2023 NASCAR Trackside Sales, via Adam Stern of SBJ:
As you can see, NASCAR's most popular driver in Chase Elliott is of course among the top merchandise movers, only behind NASCAR as a whole. Additionally, his Hendrick teammates all made the list as well, with Kyle Larson leading the best of the rest, coming in third.
Continuing, Kevin Harvick staked his claim to the top five, even in his final season as a full time Cup Series wheelman. The biggest surprise on the list may be the place of Ryan Blaney, as the well-liked reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion came home eighth on the list.
Regardless, the stats prove the Earnhardt name is still powerful around the track. We'll see if that trend continues in 2024, but history has shown there's no reason to doubt moving forward.
Folks, we are just over two months away from the 2024 Daytona 500 and that means it is time for the opening odds to come out. NASCAR is over for this year, but the next season is so close. The Daytona 500 is going to kick off another great season of stock car racing.
These early odds are always fun. It gives fans something to talk about, bettors something to put money on – it also lets you know what Vegas thinks about these drivers. I'd also say these opening odds reveal something about the new cars in the Cup Series.
In the opening odds for the Daytona 500, NASCAR on NBC has Ryan Blaney as the favorite at 9-1 odds. He is followed by Chris Buescher, Chase Elliott, and Brad Keselowski at 11-1 odds.
William Byron and Denny Hamlin are both +1200. Joey Logano is listed at +1400. The rest of the top-10 in the opening odds are Kyle Larson, Kyle Busch, and Christopher Bell at +1600 odds.
The Daytona 500 odds tell us a few things – Ford and the new Dark Horse might be the best on superspeedways. Four Ford drivers in the top-10 of the odds. Keselowski pushed Buescher to the win at Daytona for the regular season finale this season. That is a good pick.
Joey Logano and Kyle Busch were right there with a chance to win at the end of the race this year. But they fell short. Also, very interesting that Elliott is favored so much in this whole thing. Hamlin and Bell are holding it down for the Toyotas in the opening odds.
On3's Jonathan Howard contributed to this article.
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