NASCAR Sponsorship And Shareholder Return: Some Preliminary Results

Abstract

NASCAR sponsorship is a major investment for corporations that choose it as a marketing communication tool. Companies frequently spend in excess of $10 million to sponsor a car in the Nextel Cup series. This paper develops a return on investment measure for that spending using the financial market event study methodology where race day performance influence on publicly traded sponsoring firm’s stock returns is examined. Results for the 2005 NASCAR Nextel Cup season suggest that sponsorship of top 5 finishing cars generates significant positive returns for the sponsoring company shareholders.