Jul 16, 2007

Coca-Cola Says "Move Over Pepsi"

Pepsi-Cola is in the lead as we reach the final lap, but here comes Coca-Cola on the inside. Coke is making a run at it and has the slingshot working. Pepsi still leads by a nose as we come to the final straight, but Coke has the momentum.  Here comes Coke! There's the finish line! Coke noses in front. The checkered flag is waved. Coke wins the Daytona 500!

Well, it might not have been quite as dramatic as that, but The Coca-Cola Company has just signed an agreement to become the exclusive soft drink of 10 of the 13 International Speedway Corporation tracks, including the fabled Daytona International Speedway, the home of the Daytona 500, wresting those rights away from arch-rival PepsiCo. The multi-million-dollar agreement means that by 2012 Coca-Cola and not Pepsi-Cola will be served at those 10 tracks, but the exact monetary terms of the agreement were not announced.

What the story points out is how large sponsorship agreements figure in the overall scheme of things at NASCAR. But when you have races named after soft drinks (the Pepsi 400 was recently run at Daytona), sponsorships like this become more than business news -- they also pique the interest of the average fan in the seats.

The move marks the end of an era for the Pepsi-Daytona relationship. Pepsi-Cola had been the soft drink of choice at Daytona for more than 40 years. Coca-Cola will take over marketing and beverage-pouring rights at Daytona in January.  In addition, Chicagoland Speedway, Homestead-Miami Speedway, Kansas Speedway, Michigan International Speedway and Richmond International Speedway will switch from Coke to Pepsi next year. Coke will move into Darlington Raceway in 2009, Talladega Super speedway and Watkins Glen International in 2011 and Phoenix International Raceway in 2012.

All is not lost for your Pepsi drinkers, though. Pepsi still has the right to pour at ISC tracks in Fontana, Calif., and Martinsville, Va. And the New York firm might be able to retain those rights when those contracts come up for renewal.

In the interest of full-disclosure, let it be noted that the proprietor of this column prefers Coke to Pepsi, but also prefers Diet Pepsi to Diet Coke. The wildcard in the mix is the relatively new Coca-Cola Zero, which we like very much as well.