Theme_Park_Insider
03-04-2009, 04:10 AM
By Robert Niles: This was inevitable, given the current state of the economy, but Jason Garcia makes it official with his report that GM is looking to end its sponsorship of the Test Track (http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/orl-biztesttrack04030409mar04,0,4184081.story) attraction at Walt Disney World's Epcot (http://www.themeparkinsider.com/reviews/epcot/).
GM's in deep doo, asking the federal government for billions in bail-out money, while staying just steps away from bankruptcy. With millions of Americans now without bubble-money home equity loans to pay for cars, GM's market has dried up. Throw in a recession depression, and GM's barely gonna have enough cash for one of those little tree-shaped air fresheners, much less a multi-million-dollar theme park sponsorship.
Even if GM gets enough cash from the feds, it'll have a hard time justifying a theme park deal. After all, the money would be to bail out GM, not Disney. Other companies that took federal cash have been excoriated for spending that money, even in part, on sponsorships. Northern Trust just got excoriated in the press and on Capitol Hill for sponsoring a PGA tournament in LA last month. Chrysler opted to bury all references to itself during the tournament in Palm Springs it sponsored a few weeks before that.
But without GM, what does Test Track look like? The entire theme is bound to GM, not to mention the pre- and post-shows. Perhaps if another car maker stepped forward... but there aren't exactly many (okay, any) with extra cash to spend these days.
More... (http://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/200903/1083/)
GM's in deep doo, asking the federal government for billions in bail-out money, while staying just steps away from bankruptcy. With millions of Americans now without bubble-money home equity loans to pay for cars, GM's market has dried up. Throw in a recession depression, and GM's barely gonna have enough cash for one of those little tree-shaped air fresheners, much less a multi-million-dollar theme park sponsorship.
Even if GM gets enough cash from the feds, it'll have a hard time justifying a theme park deal. After all, the money would be to bail out GM, not Disney. Other companies that took federal cash have been excoriated for spending that money, even in part, on sponsorships. Northern Trust just got excoriated in the press and on Capitol Hill for sponsoring a PGA tournament in LA last month. Chrysler opted to bury all references to itself during the tournament in Palm Springs it sponsored a few weeks before that.
But without GM, what does Test Track look like? The entire theme is bound to GM, not to mention the pre- and post-shows. Perhaps if another car maker stepped forward... but there aren't exactly many (okay, any) with extra cash to spend these days.
More... (http://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/200903/1083/)