NASCAR Fans
Scoop UP NASCAR Apparel, Collectibles, and Diecast
After reading this article,
to learn more about NASCAR Merchandise, visit
www.NASCAR-THINGS.com
From its humble roots in the
Southern US, NASCAR has exploded to gigantic popularity across the entire
nation in recent years. From the first races conducted in 1948 to the current
NEXTEL Cup and Busch series, NASCAR has become arguably the most popular
spectator sport in The USA, boasting 75 million loyal fans.
The success formula NASCAR
uses is one that no other spectator sport matches. Weekly, the leading teams
(drivers) are competing straight up against each other. Unlike, for instance
the NFL, where you may have to wait weeks for that critical match up, at a
NASCAR race, you can follow number 1 challenging number 2 every week. It’s
almost like having the Super Bowl of this sport every week.
The NASCAR brand is now
recognized worldwide as a leading sports property. More Fortune 500 companies
utilize investment in NASCAR racing than any other spectator sport. Landor
Associates was cited in December 2004 as stating “NASCAR was the #6 brand
in 2004 and is predicted to be the #2 brand in 2005, ahead of Google and
iPod,”
Interestingly, 40% of
current race fans are female and 53% work in white-collar or skilled labor
jobs. And even with this diversity, the figures continue to be strong; yearly
attendance at tracks is upwards of 7 million and upwards of 275 million
Americans watch on television.
Those who keep an eye on the
races give credit to several items to its’ success. Many years of
tradition and a grass origins beginning are just a couple of the reasons given
for the sport’s development. The beginnings of the sport in the
“bootlegging” days and the modest start of several of it’s
original headliners seems to be motivating to fans in this day of the spoiled,
indulged, disrespectful professional athlete.
From little local raceways in
the Southern US, NASCAR is now big business today. Including tV revenues,
sponsorship money, and licensed product sales, NASCAR generates very big money
today. NASCAR merchandise gross sales now have grown to exceed $2 billion per
year and the markets continue to remain substantial. This is built upon a 250%
growth from 1995 to 2004.
Race followers seem to have a
large desire for wares that shows support for their favourite driver, whether
it is by putting on NASCAR apparel, buying accessories for their auto or sport
utility vehicle, or even decorating their front yard.
NASCAR clocks
for your home, even throw blankets, sheets and wall tapestries are showing up
in homes everywhere.
Within the huge NASCAR
products market, strong sub markets appear. Even
NASCAR collectibles are very big
just by themselves. A variety of items from plaques and signed pictures to
diecast cars are snatched up, partly due to success, but also in hopes of gain
in value for the collectibles market.
Even though the
NASCAR diecast product market has
softened of late, it is still reasonable in size. As drivers vary their paint
schemes, it allows producers to expand the items several times over in this
niche and that helps keep gross sales going.
Apparel such as sporty
NASCAR jackets,
jerseys, t-shirts, etc appear to be thriving in growth as producers release
expanded product sets and are even including more high-priced things like
leather jackets and specialty items like jewelry. The true fan can even dress
the entire family unit with recent introductions of complete
NASCAR kids
clothing and accessories.
Where will it all end? I
don’t believe we know, but when I see corporate secretaries putting on
colorful NASCAR
hats and white collar managers wearing logo
NASCAR shirts
with pics of “Junior” plastered on them, I question if there is a
limit to this market.
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