Having the Duck Dynasty folks as a three-year sponsor of the April NASCAR Sprint Cup race is another coup for Texas Motor Speedway.
The track’s president, Eddie Gossage, could be called a modern day P.T. Barnum for getting his Texas-sized race in the news all the time.
And that’s a compliment.
Although Barnum, a 19th century circus impresario, is known for some derogatory remarks about his customers; it would be a mistake to leave it at that.
As he once said “without promotion, something terrible happens... nothing!”
While it’s true that the entire staff of the parent Speedway Motorsports Inc. works hard at getting their venues in the news another cliché, “everything is bigger in Texas,” still applies.
Charlotte Motor Speedway, the mother ship of the company, started a competition with the “World’s largest HD television.” Completed in 2013 it had a 16, 000-square-foot screen.
Around 90 days after the CMS TV was fired up Gossage responded that TMS was building its’ own 20,000 square-foot television to be completed this spring and claim the title as largest HD televisions.
The television size competition pales in comparison to last year’s controversial race sponsorship, by the National Rifle Association. TMS gained media coverage nationwide if not globally. The NRA is both a well-funded and politically powerful lobby in Washington, D.C. for pro-rifle politics.
Coming on the heels of front page gun violence the sponsorship was lightning rod for controversy.
Gossage defended it. He said that he only received seven complaints about it. He added that there were more complaints about the food vendors. He told the Dallas Morning News “who determines what’s controversial?” he asked. “Is there a board somewhere that says this is controversial and this isn’t? … The media loved it and wanted to make it controversial.”
In fact, there were neither demonstrations at the Speedway nor any disruption by protestors who had previously voiced opposition in verbal form in various traditional and social media.
But NASCAR, the sanctioning body did react. It now requires that it must approve naming sponsors of races. Gossage said it could be called the “Gossage Rule.”
While Duck Dynasty is a pop culture/reality television phenomenon, the show, which reaches over 11 million viewers edged over into the controversial news category when family patriarch, Phil Robertson, made anti-gay remarks and denied maltreatment of minorities in the South (prior to the Civil Rights Act) in a magazine article.
The A&E Network suspended Robertson – even though the taping of this season had completed. Around one million Facebook users demanded his re-instatement and the family said they wouldn’t work without their founder.
The cable network caved within days.
Whether you call these sponsorships controversial or not; that’s not what’s going on.
Gossage and Texas Motor Speedway remain in the news for weeks leading up to the big event.
P.T. Barnum would approve.
The track’s president, Eddie Gossage, could be called a modern day P.T. Barnum for getting his Texas-sized race in the news all the time.
And that’s a compliment.
Although Barnum, a 19th century circus impresario, is known for some derogatory remarks about his customers; it would be a mistake to leave it at that.
As he once said “without promotion, something terrible happens... nothing!”
While it’s true that the entire staff of the parent Speedway Motorsports Inc. works hard at getting their venues in the news another cliché, “everything is bigger in Texas,” still applies.
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| New Duck Commander 500 sponsorship and trophy at Texas Motor Speedway. (Photo: TMS PR) |
Charlotte Motor Speedway, the mother ship of the company, started a competition with the “World’s largest HD television.” Completed in 2013 it had a 16, 000-square-foot screen.
Around 90 days after the CMS TV was fired up Gossage responded that TMS was building its’ own 20,000 square-foot television to be completed this spring and claim the title as largest HD televisions.
The television size competition pales in comparison to last year’s controversial race sponsorship, by the National Rifle Association. TMS gained media coverage nationwide if not globally. The NRA is both a well-funded and politically powerful lobby in Washington, D.C. for pro-rifle politics.
Coming on the heels of front page gun violence the sponsorship was lightning rod for controversy.
Gossage defended it. He said that he only received seven complaints about it. He added that there were more complaints about the food vendors. He told the Dallas Morning News “who determines what’s controversial?” he asked. “Is there a board somewhere that says this is controversial and this isn’t? … The media loved it and wanted to make it controversial.”
In fact, there were neither demonstrations at the Speedway nor any disruption by protestors who had previously voiced opposition in verbal form in various traditional and social media.
But NASCAR, the sanctioning body did react. It now requires that it must approve naming sponsors of races. Gossage said it could be called the “Gossage Rule.”
While Duck Dynasty is a pop culture/reality television phenomenon, the show, which reaches over 11 million viewers edged over into the controversial news category when family patriarch, Phil Robertson, made anti-gay remarks and denied maltreatment of minorities in the South (prior to the Civil Rights Act) in a magazine article.
The A&E Network suspended Robertson – even though the taping of this season had completed. Around one million Facebook users demanded his re-instatement and the family said they wouldn’t work without their founder.
The cable network caved within days.
Whether you call these sponsorships controversial or not; that’s not what’s going on.
Gossage and Texas Motor Speedway remain in the news for weeks leading up to the big event.
P.T. Barnum would approve.