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| Here's hoping that "Stealing Cable" becomes the new "Busch-wacker" or "Claim Jumper" |
This Wednesday Nascar is expected to announce the naming of Xfinity--the cable and internet service of Comcast--as the new title sponsor of the Nascar Nationwide Series. But who is this oddly-named corporation? Let's take a look:
--As stated above, Xfinity is the brand-name of Comcast's internet and cable services (which were previously known simply as Comcast). The name change happened a few years back in order to associate "Xfinity" was infinite speed, as opposed to "Comcast", which was/is associated primarily with evil.
--The title sponsorship (expected to be worth approximately $10 million per year) is actually part of a larger brand-activation deal between Nascar and NBC (which is also owned by Comcast). So basically it was, "Televise the second half of our series today! BUT WAIT!!! Agree to terms now and we'll throw in title sponsorship of our second-tier series for FREE! (plus processing and handling)".
--Comcast is based out of Philadelphia, where they own a controlling stake in the Philadelphia Flyers hockey franchise. This makes sense, since the Flyers are known as the "Broad Street Bullies", and bullies seem to be the only people that succeed in Nascar's lower series.
--Comcast's most-visible ownership stakes are in Universal Studios and the many networks of NBC. So a slight change in marketing direction could've led to us having the Love Actually Series or the Oxygen Network Series.