NBC-LMS feud escalates
By Marty Smith, Turner Sports Interactive
October 6, 2001
11:06 PM EDT (0306 GMT)
CONCORD, N.C. -- A dispute over how NBC and TNT refer to Lowe's Motor Speedway on its broadcasts turned ugly Saturday as speedway president H.A. “Humpy” Wheeler threatened to pull the plug on the network.
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Tow trucks stand at the ready in front of NBC's equipment.
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Turner Network Television, which broadcast Saturday's Busch Series race, is a network partner with NBC, which will broadcast Sunday's Winston Cup race.
In 1999, Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse signed a 10-year, $35 million deal to garner the naming rights to then-Charlotte Motor Speedway. NBC, has refused to refer to the track by its new name, since Lowe's failed to fork over additional advertising dollars for on-air commercials.
“There’s a dispute in the language over the entitlement sponsorship,” said Jim Hunter, NASCAR vice president for corporate communications. “I think it’s regretful that the circumstances surrounding that became somewhat of a circus.”
Did they ever.
Wheeler was so infuriated on Saturday that he summoned tow trucks and threatened to have the trailers in the television compound removed from the premises. He also threatened to pull the plug on the broadcast.
Neither was done, but executives from NASCAR, NBC and the racetrack did hold closed-door meetings Saturday to discuss the situation. According to Hunter, NASCAR served as the liason between the track and NBC, which he said did not meet face-to-face.
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NASCAR acted as an intermediary between NBC and speedway officials.
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“The dispute over the name of the speedway is childish,” Wheeler said. “This television deal is supposed to be a partnership between the speedway, NASCAR and the networks. We had no problems with FOX or Turner, really. NBC has decided to play with different rules.”
The core issue in the debate that set FOX apart from NBC has to do with the purchasing of on-air advertisements.
Lowe’s bought such ads in May during FOX’s broadcast of the Coca-Cola 600, but did not do so this time around for NBC’s broadcast of the UAW-GM Quality 500.
Mike McCarley, a representative for NBC, said all three parties were well aware last winter that if Lowe's paid no advertising dollars to NBC, the network would not refer to the track as Lowe's Motor Speedway.
“It wasn’t even an issue until this morning -- one and a half hours before the broadcast began,” McCarley said. “Everyone knew about this a year ago and it just came up."
There was no official statement from Lowe's.
All parties seem to believe the dispute will be resolved before Sunday's race, although Wheeler issued a thinly-veiled threat to the network.
“This dispute hasn’t been resolved,” Wheeler said. “Surely common sense will prevail before race time tomorrow. If not, I believe NBC is going to learn a very, very serious and expensive lesson if they don’t honor the contract.”
That contract between NASCAR and NBC, according to NASCAR senior vice president George Pyne, prohibits NBC from referring to the track in any way other than Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
“NASCAR has an agreement with NBC that the network cannot say the name of the speedway in any other way than its correct form, which is Lowe’s Motor Speedway," he said. "So they cannot reference the facility in any other fashion than Lowe’s Motor Speedway. We expect that they will honor that agreement.
“You can say a race from Charlotte, N.C., but you can’t call it Charlotte Motor Speedway. They can call it the UAW-GM from Concord, N.C., and they would be in the realm of our agreement.”
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