MEMBERSHIP LOGIN
JOIN PRI
NASCAR Chief Sales Officer Resigns; Monster Hires New Director Of NASCAR
Image
Longtime NASCAR Chief Sales Officer Jim O’Connell has resigned after 11 years with the sanctioning body. O’Connell informed NASCAR two weeks ago of his intentions, and his final day was last Friday.
O’Connell said, "I’ve spent the last three years heading up the search for our top-tier entitlement partners. We successfully brought in Xfinity, we successfully brought in Monster, and with the combination of the facts—there’s no more big deals to do, I haven’t had a vacation in 18 months, and I wanted to go out on top after 11 years—the timing just seemed right. I’m really happy with my decision.”
NASCAR VP/Integrated Marketing Communications David Higdon in a statement said O'Connell was "key to countless successful sales efforts and partner renewals," and his contributions "will be felt for years beyond his departure.”
O’Connell, who said he was not ready to comment on his next step, worked on four new entitlement deals and two renewals during his time with NASCAR, including deals with Sprint, Xfinity, Camping World and Monster. He has prior stops at Frito Lay, Viacom and a 10-year stint at the NFL, where he worked with current NASCAR Exec VP and Chief Global Sales & Marketing Officer Steve Phelps for most of his tenure.
O’Connell noted he has worked with Phelps for more than two decades overall and added, “I can’t say enough good things about Steve Phelps as a business person and more importantly as a person.”
Reflecting on his overall tenure, O’Connell said, "It’s been a great ride, I’m very proud of the work that we’ve done at NASCAR in business development and partnership marketing, the partners we’ve brought in... Really proud of the fact that we took some regional companies and replaced them with big, blue-chip national companies.”
Whether NASCAR will fill O’Connell’s role was unclear, but Phelps already took on more sales duties earlier this year when he was promoted from his prior role as CMO.
In other NASCAR-related news, Monster Energy has hired longtime NASCAR industry executive and lawyer Tom Norwood as its new Director of NASCAR as the brand becomes the title sponsor of NASCAR's premier series.
Confirming the move, Monster VP/Sports Marketing Mitch Covington last week said Norwood was hired "to facilitate the business negotiations with tracks and other partners [like TV partners].”
Norwood was most recently Director of Business Operations at HScott Motorsports, which folded after last season. Norwood used to serve as counsel to former NASCAR driver Robby Gordon, who was sponsored by Monster, which made him familiar with the company.
Covington noted that Monster Senior Sports Marketing Manager Cari Cellini, who has headed up Monster’s NASCAR program in recent years when it was solely a team sponsor, will continue to head up Monster’s hospitality and trade-guest activation programs.
Monster does the vast majority of its sports marketing in house, but it does do some work with North Carolina-based Hirschfeld Marketing Solutions, which provides on-site hospitality assets. That relationship will continue moving forward, Covington confirmed.
Norwood will have to hit the ground running, as NASCAR and Monster have to fit about six months’ worth of work into two months before the start of the '17 season. Monster is continuing to negotiate with tracks and media partners to figure out activation for what sources have said is a two-year deal with a two-year option worth about $20M in annual rights fees.
Prior to landing the entitlement, Monster mostly hosted large hospitality gatherings at races and did not have much consumer-facing activation aside from having Monster Energy girls roam pit road.
O’Connell said, "I’ve spent the last three years heading up the search for our top-tier entitlement partners. We successfully brought in Xfinity, we successfully brought in Monster, and with the combination of the facts—there’s no more big deals to do, I haven’t had a vacation in 18 months, and I wanted to go out on top after 11 years—the timing just seemed right. I’m really happy with my decision.”
NASCAR VP/Integrated Marketing Communications David Higdon in a statement said O'Connell was "key to countless successful sales efforts and partner renewals," and his contributions "will be felt for years beyond his departure.”
O’Connell, who said he was not ready to comment on his next step, worked on four new entitlement deals and two renewals during his time with NASCAR, including deals with Sprint, Xfinity, Camping World and Monster. He has prior stops at Frito Lay, Viacom and a 10-year stint at the NFL, where he worked with current NASCAR Exec VP and Chief Global Sales & Marketing Officer Steve Phelps for most of his tenure.
O’Connell noted he has worked with Phelps for more than two decades overall and added, “I can’t say enough good things about Steve Phelps as a business person and more importantly as a person.”
Reflecting on his overall tenure, O’Connell said, "It’s been a great ride, I’m very proud of the work that we’ve done at NASCAR in business development and partnership marketing, the partners we’ve brought in... Really proud of the fact that we took some regional companies and replaced them with big, blue-chip national companies.”
Whether NASCAR will fill O’Connell’s role was unclear, but Phelps already took on more sales duties earlier this year when he was promoted from his prior role as CMO.
In other NASCAR-related news, Monster Energy has hired longtime NASCAR industry executive and lawyer Tom Norwood as its new Director of NASCAR as the brand becomes the title sponsor of NASCAR's premier series.
Confirming the move, Monster VP/Sports Marketing Mitch Covington last week said Norwood was hired "to facilitate the business negotiations with tracks and other partners [like TV partners].”
Norwood was most recently Director of Business Operations at HScott Motorsports, which folded after last season. Norwood used to serve as counsel to former NASCAR driver Robby Gordon, who was sponsored by Monster, which made him familiar with the company.
Covington noted that Monster Senior Sports Marketing Manager Cari Cellini, who has headed up Monster’s NASCAR program in recent years when it was solely a team sponsor, will continue to head up Monster’s hospitality and trade-guest activation programs.
Monster does the vast majority of its sports marketing in house, but it does do some work with North Carolina-based Hirschfeld Marketing Solutions, which provides on-site hospitality assets. That relationship will continue moving forward, Covington confirmed.
Norwood will have to hit the ground running, as NASCAR and Monster have to fit about six months’ worth of work into two months before the start of the '17 season. Monster is continuing to negotiate with tracks and media partners to figure out activation for what sources have said is a two-year deal with a two-year option worth about $20M in annual rights fees.
Prior to landing the entitlement, Monster mostly hosted large hospitality gatherings at races and did not have much consumer-facing activation aside from having Monster Energy girls roam pit road.
