| At the end of the day, a sport is about the athletes, not about the ball, the bat or the car. Lose your stars and you'll lose your sport |
ISC this morning released Q4 and full-year results for FY '16, showing an overall increase in revenue from the previous year but a drop in admissions. ISC, which owns 12 speedways and one dragstrip, saw total revenue of $661M for the FY ended Nov. 30, up about 2% from $645.4M in '15. That comes largely on the back of the completion of the Daytona Rising project and contracted increases in broadcast fees. However, admission revenue for the year was $123.5M, down about 5% from $130.2M in '15.
During the call, ISC President John Saunders cited Jeff Gordon's retirement as a full-time driver, injuries to Tony Stewart and Dale Earnhardt Jr., a "lack of activation" from outgoing Cup Series sponsor Sprint and distraction by the presidential election as factors for the decrease.
Saunders said he "underestimated" the effects of Gordon leaving the sport on a full-time basis. He also spoke of how the transition from Sprint to Monster as title sponsor of NASCAR's Cup Series will affect the corporation. He noted that Sprint-Nextel's original deal in NASCAR was negotiated in '03, prior to the recession, and that there will be a "reset" as a result of that in terms of how much money Monster spends on activation relative to Sprint.
Monster signed what sources have said is a two-year deal with a two-year option worth about $20 million in annual rights, and Saunders said ISC is projecting gross corporate sales to decline 1% as a result of the "reset." He noted that excluding this "one-time reset of series entitlements," ISC expected corporate sales to increase 1-2% in '17.
LOOKING FORWARD: ISC is projecting $660-670M in revenue for '17. ISC VP/CFO & Treasurer Greg Motto during the call noted that if ISC comes in around the lower end of those projections, it will amount to the "continued erosion" that ISC experienced in Q2 and Q4 in '16.
However, the upper end of the guidance would mean ISC experienced "stable to slight growth" in areas like admissions.
Saunders said he was optimistic about a second-straight sellout of the Daytona 500.
He also said he was optimistic overall because of increasing collaboration in the sport, as well as NASCAR's new format changes and title sponsor. He did concede that the sport needs to fully grasp the changing of the guard with drivers and continue to increase the star appeal of up-and-coming drivers like Chase Elliott and Daniel Suarez.
Adam Stern/SportsBusinessDaily