Henry sees dollars in NASCAR deal
Fenway Sports will create marketing, sponsorship plans
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- John Henry thinks baseball has lost its entrepreneurial edge and sees racing as a way to get out from under the league's stringent revenue sharing rules. That's why, the principal owner of the Red Sox said yesterday, his Fenway Sports Group bought half of NASCAR's biggest racing team, a reported $50 million deal that after months of speculation was finally disclosed yesterday at the Jackie Robinson Ballpark here.
"A dollar invested in NASCAR is a dollar you keep," Henry said.
Fenway Sports' investment links its name with the largest racing team in the business. The new Roush Fenway Racing will field the same number of cars and drivers as in the past, but Henry's cash will help the team stay competitive in an era when
Beyond that, team executives said yesterday that all racing-related merchandise with the old Roush Racing logo will be phased out in favor of jackets, hats, and other paraphernalia with the new, green-and-white Roush Fenway insignia that also will appear on the team's Fords during races.
And for Fenway Sports, the revenue will be especially sweet because none of it has to be shared, unlike some Red Sox income. Major League Baseball requires that any revenue drawn from sponsorships or media that come from outside the Sox's New England territory be divided among the rest of the teams in baseball. NASCAR has no such rules.
But, Henry said, that doesn't mean Fenway Sports will be looking to create a slew of promotions between the racing business and the Red Sox. The group plans to look for opportunities where there are more natural synergies. So instead of selling packages of race and baseball tickets together, for example, Fenway Sports will focus on getting sponsors interested in spending money with the Sox, NASCAR, and any other combination of sports properties it represents, such as the
That process is already in motion. Richard G. Dery , vice president of branded sales and marketing for Gulf Oil Limited Partnership , said at yesterday's news conference that the Chelsea filling station company is already in talks with Fenway Sports about putting its iconic orange and blue logo side-by-side with the Red Sox logo on a car for some NASCAR events.
Gulf already is a prominent Sox sponsor, with its logo on the Green Monster, but it hadn't ever considered NASCAR before a few weeks ago, when Dery traveled to Roush Racing's North Carolina headquarters as a guest of Fenway Sports.
"This is the perfect time for us to get involved," he said.
The deal also establishes Fenway Sports as a sports marketing company with its own stable of investments and clients, as opposed to merely another Red Sox-related entity. Racing could easily become as important to Fenway Sports over time as baseball is currently, said Mike Dee , the company's president, especially in New England, where the sport is just beginning to gain popularity.
Chip Tuttle , chief executive of Conover Tuttle Pace , a Boston advertising firm that focuses on sports-related marketing, said he sees the opportunity for Fenway Sports to become a major player in the sports world outside of baseball.
"They can take this up significantly from here," he said. "The next area of growth for them may be international. [Red Sox pitcher] Daisuke Matsuzaka may be a hint of that."
Keith Reed can be reached at reed@globe.com. 
