Visteon to leave teams to the dogs?
 

I just heard the disturbing rumor that Visteon will only be handing out $50,000 to the 6 teams ($8333 a piece). This is a severe cut back from the $30,000 we recieved last year. Just in the beginning of Sept we were told we would recieve another $30,000 ($20,000 short of our normal operating budget). What happened? Halfway through Oct without money does not leave our team in a good position. Especially when our school's technology millage didn't pass. Though there is a slight possibility that this rumor is incorrect, I am told that Melinda Bostwick(in charge of team financing for Visteon Corp.) said it herself. We have a few large corporations in our area, but how well do people respond to "Will you give us $22,000?" I fear that our team will fold, is there any light at the end of the tunnel? Anyone out there dying to be a sponser? -- Nick Wagers

PS any other Visteon teams have any info?

I'm sorry to hear about the possible reduced sponsorship from Visteon.

I would think that it might be easier to get $10,000 from two different sponsors than it is to get $20,000 from one sponsor. My team has never had a sponsor give us more than $6,000 in a year. My team is out asking for $5,000 sponsorships from larger companies in our area, but we're also going to local pizza places trying to get them to give us free food in return for us putting their logo on our stuff (it worked last year). I'm not quite sure if this is useful advice, but I thought I'd give it a shot.

Re: Visteon to leave teams to the dogs?
 

Nick,
Due to the fact that I am working to some degree with a Visteon team(470) this year, I can shed a little light on this. Yes, you are correct in saying that each team is only getting $8333 this year. However, there is a little more back story to it. Originally, the higher ups(not sure exactly who that includes, but anyway) had the set amount to give to all the teams, and the new rookie teams for 2002 that the various branches of Visteon had helped form were not going to get anything from Visteon. However, the existing Visteon teams rallied together and said they would give up some of their funding to divide the whole amount between all of the Visteon teams, both new and old. How the numbers exactly break down, I can't quite say. However, based on what I have heard from 470, the $8333 number from Visteon is correct.

Yes, all the rumors are true. 201 is also sponsored by Visteon, and we are indeed getting less funding. Bob Jenkins, who is involved in the team sponsorship stuff, happens to be one of our team leaders, and he told us the disturbing news about a month ago. The $50,000 from Visteon is being split among all the teams, but apparently the UAW is making an additional contribution that should bring the total per team contribution up to $12,000 or so. This is in no way an official announcement, and the final numbers could change, but at this time it appears to be somewhat more than the original $8,300.

hmm... 12,000, I was due for some good news (not fully counting on it though). That's definately an improvement. Doing some math, i figure the worst that could happen would be our team not participating in Nats, though it would break my heart... we have a couple of prospective sponsors so I hope for the best. My condolences to the other Visteon teams...

Again, that was a rough estimate. Don't hold me to that figure, though I am somewhat sure about it. I don't want someone to come complaining to me if that changes.