{"id":1558400,"date":"2023-04-19T22:05:24","date_gmt":"2023-04-20T02:05:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/?p=1558400"},"modified":"2023-04-19T22:05:25","modified_gmt":"2023-04-20T02:05:25","slug":"is-nascar-bailing-on-budweiser-over-recent-bud-light-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/is-nascar-bailing-on-budweiser-over-recent-bud-light-controversy\/","title":{"rendered":"Is NASCAR Bailing on Budweiser Over the Recent Bud Light Controversy?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Newsweek offers insight into NASCAR<\/a> about as often as Halley\u2019s Comet travels past the planet, so it piqued my interest when the news magazine \u2013 those things still exist, right? \u2013 asked a question about the country\u2019s most-watched racing series and its relationship with Budweiser:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDid NASCAR Drop Bud Light Over Dylan Mulvaney Partnership?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I would have preferred hard-hitting content about the odds of Chase Elliott<\/a> making it to the playoffs or perhaps an update on Ross Chastain vs. Denny Hamlin<\/a>, but at least they were writing about NASCAR, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Numerous concerns consume NASCAR these days. TV ratings are down. Short tracks are duller than the last 87 minutes of Saturday Night Live<\/em>. The penalties against drivers and teams are reduced like caramelized onions served over a bean salad. Each represents a significant challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Year-over-year viewership this season has been down every step of the way. (The 2023 Martinsville audience was larger<\/a>, but that was entirely due to last year\u2019s race being on a Saturday.) While NASCAR consistently ranks at or near the top of weekend viewership for all sporting events, the decline in raw numbers comes at an inopportune time. NASCAR wants to move the average value of its TV package from a little over $800 million now to more than $1 billion in 2025, and those negotiations are in progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Racing at short tracks remains a major concern in the Next Gen era. NASCAR is running out of variables to play with to improve the ability to pass. Remember, it was a scant two years ago that fans were clamoring for more short tracks, and it\u2019s a factor behind the proposed conversion of Fontana to a half-mile oval.<\/p>\n\n\n\n NASCAR\u2019s policing of the sport has been undermined by the necessary but uneven appeals process. The vastly different outcomes for Hendrick Motorsports and Kaulig Racing in their initial appeals regarding hood louvers fed into suspicions tearing at the most important commodity a sport has: its integrity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, Newsweek is asking whether NASCAR dumped Budweiser\u2019s parent company, a major financial backer of the sport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n NASCAR has a multi-tiered corporate sponsorship program separate from the arrangements its teams make with a variety of brands and services like Ally Financial, Menards, Bass Pro Shops, etc. The top tier consists of \u201cPremier Partners\u201d GEICO, Coca-Cola, Xfinity, and Busch Light. The latter is one of the many beer brands of AB InBev, the Belgian company that acquired Anheuser-Busch in 2008.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Separate from the NASCAR-level deal, Anheuser-Busch has a long history of sponsoring teams. The Terry Labonte, Darrell Waltrip, Neil Bonnett, and\/or Geoffrey Bodine<\/a> cars were rolling Budweiser billboards from 1983-91. Bill Elliott became the marking focus from 1992-94, followed by Ken Schrader, Ricky Craven, and Wally Dallenbach Jr.<\/p>\n\n\n\nPeople worry about NASCAR, and understandably so<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Budweiser and NASCAR a<\/strong>re closely connected<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n