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©1998 SpeedCenter Internet Publishing, Inc. Detroit, Michigan / Lucerne,Switzerland - Championship Auto Racing Teams has appointedISL as its exclusive worldwide marketing agent for the sale of allsponsorships of its open wheel racing series - the FedExChampionship Series, PPG Dayton Indy Lights Series and theKool Toyota Atlantic Championship - until 2007. The deal is thelongest and largest such relationship ever announced by a racingentity. Championship Auto Racing Teams Inc. (CART) Chairman &CEO Andrew Craig and ISL CEO Heinz P. Schurtenberger todayannounced the relationship, a nine year deal worth a minimum of$215-235 million. The deal builds upon ISL's existing relationshipwith CART, which gave ISL responsibility to sell a limited numberof sponsorships for the FedEx Championship Series in 1998. "We are tremendously excited by this ground breakingagreement," said Craig, "ISL is one of the largest and mostsuccessful sports marketing agencies in the World and the scaleof this partnership shows not only how far CART has come, butalso how far we can take the sport in the future. The agreementwith ISL will result in a significant increase in sponsorshiprevenues for CART in 1999 over 1998." Schurtenberger sees CART as "not only a core element of ISL'sNorth American business but also as an important component ofISL Worldwide's global growth strategy. CART is already themost exciting motor sports series in the world and we believe ithas the long-term potential to become the most popular series aswell." Anyone who bought a can of Coke, pack of Kodak film or used aVisa card during the Atlanta Olympic Games saw the results ofone of Swiss-based ISL's most well known programs - theWorldwide Olympic sponsorship program known as TOP whichwas developed and marketed from 1985 through 1996 by ISL inco-operation with the International Olympic Committee. Today,ISL's flagship property is the soccer World Cup, now taking placein France, which it has marketed since 1982 and where thecompany continues to hold the marketing and TV rights until theWorld Cup 2006. CART Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer,Randy Dzierzawski, noted, "CART is now a public company andour major focus is on growing our audience in the US andinternationally while maintaining and enhancing the quality of ourproduct on the track. Our partnership with ISL allows us to focuson these crucially important areas over the next decade, securein the knowledge that our sponsorship sales are in the bestpossible hands." ISL USA, based in Norwalk, CT, will open an office in Detroit inJune to service the CART project and soon will name the newproject head. Overall responsibility for the ISL / CART partnershiprests with Darren Marshall, Senior Vice President of InternationalMotor Sports and General Manager of ISL USA. "CART alreadyhas a number of outstanding sponsors - FedEx and PPG inparticular", commented Marshall. "Our task is to bring newcompanies to the sport and continue to add value for existingsponsors by applying the innovative approach whichcharacterizes ISL." CART owns, operates and markets the FedEx ChampionshipSeries, North America's premier open wheel racing series. CARTconducts 19 race events in five countries and on four continentsin 1998 and features drivers such as Michael Andretti, BobbyRahal, Al Unser, Jr., 1996 series champion Jimmy Vasser anddefending champion Alex Zanardi in 850-horsepower carscapable of speeds of more than 240 miles per hour. CART also owns, operates and markets the PPG Dayton IndyLights Championship, a 14-race series of open-wheel events, aswell as the KOOL Toyota Atlantic Championship, a 12 race,open-wheel racing series. Many events in both series areconducted in conjunction with FedEx Championship Series racesthroughout North America. ISL, the leading independent sports event media & marketinggroup, markets on behalf of international sports federations andother governing bodies on an exclusive worldwide basis eventmedia and marketing rights including TV, video and otherelectronic media rights, sponsorships, licensing & merchandisingrights and all related services. ISL's major business partnersinclude the International Federation of Football Associations(FIFA), the Union of European Football Association (UEFA), theOlympic Council of Asia (OCA), the International AmateurAthletic Federation (IAAF), Championship Auto Racing Teams(CART), the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), theInternational Gymnastics Federation (FIG), the InternationalCycling Federation (UCI) and the International SwimmingFederation (FINA). ISL and its affiliate companies SRi and IVSare part of the ISMM Group. The Group serves its businesspartners and sponsor clients since 1982 with 300 staff membersin 11 offices located in the world's major markets. For further information on CART, please contact Ron Richards at(+1) 248 362 8800. CART has filed a current report on Form 8-Kwith the Securities and Exchange Commission relating to theagreement with ISL which can be accessed throughwww.sec.gov/cgi-bin/srch-edgar. For the ISMM Group Fact File and further information on ISL,please contact Evelyne Jaeger at (+41) 41 228 95 95. Source: CART News Service | ||
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