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What is Driving NASCAR's Merchandise Numbers?

The NASCAR formula is one that no other spectator sport utilizes. Week in and week out, the leading teams (drivers) are fighting directly against each other. Unlike, for instance the NFL, where you may have to wait several weeks for that very big competition, at a NASCAR race, you can view number 1 versus number 2 every week. It's nearly like having the World Series of this sport every week.

Surprisingly, 40% of today's race fans are female and 53% work in white-collar or skilled labor jobs. And even with this diversity, the counts continue to be solid; yearly attendance at courses is over 7 million and upwards of 275 million People watch on tV.

From its humble origins in the Southland, NASCAR racing has exploded to gigantic popularity across the entire united States in recent years. From the first races conducted in 1948 to today's NEXTEL Cup and Busch series, NASCAR has become arguably the most popular spectator sport in The US, sporting 75 million rabid fans.

The NASCAR brand has become recognized around the world as a leading sports property. More Fortune 500 companies use investment in NASCAR racing than any other spectator sport. Landor Associates was cited in December 2004 as saying "NASCAR was the Number 6 brand in 2004 and is forecast to be the Number 2 brand in 2005, ahead of Google and iPod,"

Those who watch the circuit ascribe several factors to its' success. Years of tradition and a grass roots start are just a couple of the reasons given for the sport's popularity. The origins of the sport in the "bootlegging" days and the humble start of many of it's first headliners seems to be a positive factor to buffs in this day of the spoiled, babied, cocky professional athlete.

From small local races in the Southern US, NASCAR is now very big business today. With television revenues, sponsorship money, and licensed product sales, NASCAR generates very big dollars today. NASCAR merchandise sales now have risen to exceed $2 billion annually and the markets continue to stay substantial. This is built upon a 250% gain from 1995 to 2004.

Race followers seem to have a large appetite for wares that shows endorsement for their preferred driver, whether it is by getting into NASCAR apparel , grabbing accessories for their auto or sport utility vehicle, or even decorating their residence. NASCAR wall clocks , desk clocks, even blankets, sheets and wall tapestries are appearing in homes everyplace.

Clothing such as NASCAR jackets , jerseys, t-shirts, etc appear to be growing in growth as manufacturers release expanded product sets and are even including more high-priced products like leather jackets and specialty things like jewelry. The true fan can even outfit the entire family unit with recent introductions of full NASCAR kids clothing and youth lines.

Within the large NASCAR product market, strong sub markets show up. NASCAR collectibles have become very big merely by themselves. A mixture of items from plaques and signed pictures to diecast cars are snapped up, partly due to popularity, but also in hopes of appreciation in value for the collectibles market.

While the NASCAR diecast market has weakened recently, it is still reasonable in size. As drivers alter their paint schemes, it allows product producers to develop the items several times over in this niche and that helps keep sales going.

Where will it all stop? I don't think we know, but when I see corporate secretaries putting on NASCAR hats and white collar managers wearing NASCAR shirts with pics of "Junior" plastered on them, I begin to doubt if there is a limit to this marketplace.

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