Mark Miles, the CEO of IndyCar has disclosed that renewal talks with Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) will be held soon.
Some experts have expressed that Verizon’s deal is estimated at about $10 million annually. It will be reaching its expiry at the end of 2018. The time frame within which a proper replacement is found is a sensitive matter, however. Most of the properties are duly informed about the title sponsor’s future plans early in advance.
Miles went ahead to give his acknowledgement. He stated that he expected the matter to be addressed in a few months to come. He added that the sanctioning body would soon fathom which way the negotiations were headed without much difficulty.
The top company executive according to some trusted sources has been serving the provider for about five years. He holds a strong stand in the fact that media-rights negotiations with NBC Sports and ABC/ESPN might soon culminate into the anticipated replacement.
Verizon has recently made a lot of changes in its operations. For instance, it has changed several executives that have been serving it for years. It is part of business transformation and strategy. An analyst was interviewed yesterday by a top media house. He expressed that indeed the renewal would prove more challenging to secure than a lot of people initially thought.
2014 witnessed the two sides delve into a multi-year deal. Miles strongly believes that quite a significant change has been witnessed since then. It will be remembered that this was the same period that the CEO of Verizon, Dan Mead left the company. He had been very instrumental in helping the provider strike important deals.
While speaking to some reporters recently, one of the top officials working with Verizon said, “IndyCar and Verizon intend to increasingly focus on its Hum product, which connects cars with the digital world, instead of on the overarching Verizon brand. Hum can provide drivers such services as emergency assistance, maintenance reminders and vehicle diagnostics.”
At the moment, there might be a lot of speculations and uncertainty. However, the involved parties will soon give a clear report regarding the matter according to Bizjournals.