5/10 Update: Fanatics President of Retail confirmed on SiriusXM Happy Hour with Kevin Harvick on 5/9 that starting at Charlotte Motor Speedway, 11 haulers will begin rolling. Further Fanatics will change the large tent layout on the outside and move more inside of the track to smaller tents while reevaluating their model in light of slowing sales.
Two years ago when NASCAR signed on with Fanatics for a 10 year agreement to provide merchandising to the trackside experience things changed and things changed fast.
First to go were the noticeable haulers bringing the driver and team merchandise to the tracks, replaced with large tents with what was to be a wider array of more driver and NASCAR gear.
A more open type of shopping experience with more checkout lanes and more interaction experiences with drivers and yes the possibilities of race winning gear on demand once the checkered flag fell.
This however hasn’t sat right with many fans that over time have made continuous calls to have the tents broken down and the haulers make a return. Well that just mike happen if the rumors are correct that are floating around social media.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. this weekend following the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway stoked the fires of a possible return of the haulers at a NASCAR event near you.
Quite possibly sooner rather than later according to other outlets such as the Sports Business Journal who are reported as recently as today that details are possibly in the works for a return.
.@Fanatics is looking at changing its trackside superstore model in #NASCAR, industry sources tell @sbjsbd. @DaleJr first reported.
— Adam Stern (@A_S12) May 8, 2017
.@Fanatics @sbjsbd @DaleJr .@Fanatics is still figuring out the changes but they could vary by track, involve everything from tents to haulers to brick/mortar stores.
— Adam Stern (@A_S12) May 8, 2017
.@Fanatics @sbjsbd @DaleJr .@Fanatics is making the changes amid declining merchandise sales linked in part to lower attendance thus far this year at #NASCAR races.
— Adam Stern (@A_S12) May 8, 2017
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