Active International and Indianapolis Motor Speedway Establish Alliance to Build Indy Racing League Sponsorships

PEARL RIVER, N.Y.--(BW SportsWire)--Feb. 15, 2001

Active's Sports and Event Marketing Division to Work with its Clients

on Sponsorship Opportunities in the Indy Racing League and to

Establish Trading Transactions that will Benefit Both Organizations

Active International, the world's largest corporate trading company, today announced it has established an alliance with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Corporation (IMSC) and concluded its first trading transaction with the organization The announcement sets the stage for Active and the IMS to work more closely to help Active's clients and other potential sponsors utilize trading relationships with Active to fund current or expanded racing sponsorships.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Inc. is the governing body of the Indy Racing League (IRL), parent of the Indy Racing Northern Light Series. The series has 13 races set for 2001, including the Indianapolis 500, the largest spectator sporting event in the world.

Active, through its new Sports and Event Marketing division, will focus on opportunities for its clients to utilize their excess or underperforming assets to help finance their major motorsports sponsorships. Active's corporate trading clients include many of the most widely recognized brands actively involved in or evaluating sponsorship programs in auto racing. This new alliance will partner clients with high visibility sponsorship opportunities--in many cases without adding additional cost to their budgets.

The initial corporate trading transaction between IMS and Active calls for Active to acquire an inventory of dated consumer-oriented merchandise. Active will provide IMS with a range of different goods and services.

"We're very happy to be working closely with the Indy Racing League," said Active's Chief Operating Officer, Fredrick Fuest. "With sponsorships exceeding $23 billion per year in the U.S. alone and sports sponsorships generating the bulk of that, we believe motorsports is an excellent brand-building opportunity for our clients. The Indy Racing League's Northern Light Series offers a great amount of exposure and marketing capability for those among our clients who become team or league sponsors."

According to Fuest, many companies are plagued by limited budgets for sponsorship marketing, especially in a weakening global economic picture. However, the IRL and the race teams still have significant operating requirements. Active's Sports and Event Marketing programs can establish a partnership between the sponsor company and the property with Active acting as the facilitator to create the funding needed. Sponsor companies can utilize their excess and underperforming assets as well as their own purchasing to help sponsor a race team or the league without additional cash outlay.

Bob Reif, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing and Chief Marketing Officer of Indianapolis Motor Speedway Corporation, called the new alliance significant in its ability to create funding for team and league sponsorships. "Active International has demonstrated its ability to use trading as a means to fund a wide range of media and non media programs for the past 17 years. In fact, our recently concluded trade with Active allows us to use our excess inventory for some services we would have paid cash for. Now, racing sponsorships through the Indy Racing League provide Active's clients an opportunity to use the trading relationships already in place and helps those companies without the budgets for desired sponsorships to be able to do so as well. "

For more information on Active's Sports and Event Marketing programs, contact Joe Allen at (845) 732-8822 (jallen@activeinternational.com) or Steve Porath at (845) 732-8610 (sporath@activeinternational.com).

Founded in 1983, Active International is the largest global corporate trading company dedicated to developing effective, problem-solving trading programs to transform underperforming assets into future cash flow savings and profits. The company employs more than 370 people in 15 countries. Active can be found on the web at http://www.activeinternational.com.

Bob Reif Active International Indy Racing League IRL