Motorsports Authentics scrambles to avoid bankruptcy

[morphius7777]

Interesting article on fox this morning.

Motorsports Authentics looks to avoid bankruptcy - NASCAR News - FOX Sports on MSN

"Plagued by declining sales, annual losses and heavy management turnover, a new-look MA would likely stick to what it does best -- trackside retail -- while spinning off the die-cast car division, according to team and league officials involved in the talks. Stakes in ownership of the die-cast entity could be taken by the teams, or a third party could be brought in to run the company. "

[moparbob]

Originally Posted by morphius7777

Interesting article on fox this morning. Motorsports Authentics looks to avoid bankruptcy - NASCAR News - FOX Sports on MSN "Plagued by declining sales, annual losses and heavy management turnover, a new-look MA would likely stick to what it does best -- trackside retail -- while spinning off the die-cast car division, according to team and league officials involved in the talks. Stakes in ownership of the die-cast entity could be taken by the teams, or a third party could be brought in to run the company. "

Yes it is an interesting article... Not surprised... Probably old news

[NEW2]

hey, thanks for the link Morphius, first I've seen the article but undoubtedly not the first I've seen MA and the signs of struggle...classic case of riding the wrong horse into the ground...instead of carefully diversifying their production and limiting numbers, they put all their eggs in two or three cars and when failure to compete became the achilles heel...they were left high and dry with greed and overstock...that's what happens when you produce 60,000 pieces of one car and zero pieces of a variety of others...had they looked big picture and average sales and kept numbers just short of TRUE demand (and if they can't calculate TRUE demand for each driver...they have insurmountable issues...it's pretty simple math...how many did you sell, how many did you warehouse as overstock...how many did you slash to ebay and GMB at the end of the year....) it's not rocket science...but the efforts to push every single kyle busch car because he was the hot thing...only to have his self destrcution in the chase last year bottom out sales, they ate a huge loss on that debacle... stupidity at the top, greed across the board, and poor planning were their downfall...I personally would love to see a sunken ship and have a new company or competitor emerge with a bigger/better product and plan...just my thoughts...again thanks for posting the article, really appreciate that...I knew they were struggling, it's just a matter of time.

[morphius7777]

New, I think you're spot on with what has happened to MA since they bought out Action and Team Caliber. Personally it's been frustrating when MA started producing only the top drivers, none of which I really care that much about.

I've pretty much decided that I will stick to backfilling some of the older stuff I like and see if things change.

[NEW2]

Originally Posted by morphius7777

New, I think you're spot on with what has happened to MA since they bought out Action and Team Caliber. Personally it's been frustrating when MA started producing only the top drivers, none of which I really care that much about. I've pretty much decided that I will stick to backfilling some of the older stuff I like and see if things change.

and it's a shame that TC was bought out, I realize Roush kept his focus on the race teams themselves which is where his absolute genious should be...that said, TC did a great job of producing high quality cars, a variety of schemes, and did a good job at keeping production quantities in check...to me I have NO problem with 250 of a car being produced...and MA showed the error of it's ways a little to late as they started reducing production numbers DRASTICALLY even for the big names...they spun themselves into a world of hurt and again, greed and STUBBORN A&& LEADERSHIP at the top sat on their business degrees and fat salaries thinking they knew more than their consumers...well guess what boys...IT'S THE CUSTOMER WHO IS ALWAYS RIGHT and drives your business..because without us...all they have is overstock and warehousing...wouldn't shed a tear if they went under...

[kspool]

What they don't understand is that it's not necessarily the name that sells a car. Granted, I bought all of Jr.'s diecast last year (minus the fantasy cars), but I also bought some driver's I wouldn't normally buy because they ran some damn nice schemes or had some good raced versions. (Kurt Busch comes to mind.) I think I own 1 Kurt Busch diecast now with one on pre-order!)

They would have made a killing with those Transformers cars, but they really need to figure out their licensing issues. If you can't get a license for it, don't let them run it.

[partsman]

Blame the teams and Nascar for the license issues. The transformers program did not have anything to do with M/A. It was the teams who took the money from Hasbro and Nascar who allowed them to race the cars on the tracks knowing that Hasbro had exclusive rights and would not allow any diecast to be produced.

[NEW2]

and that being said...how much money does Action/MA still owe drivers and teams? If I were on the team/driver side...I'd take the money too...I know they are millionares, but money is money and getting paid is why they make appearnaces and do what they do...blame goes a lot of directions...when a company can't deliver...time to seek other opportunities...I'd say it's why you are seeing HMS teams doubling down with CFS...and why Hamlin has an independently run trackside trailer, and why PRS pulled out of the mix as well...you don't make tons of money by making poor business decisions over and over and failing to view consumer trending and breaking down personal failings...while they SEEM to be making efforts to right the ship...the cargo hold is half full and the stern is sinking...

[NEW2]

Originally Posted by kspool

What they don't understand is that it's not necessarily the name that sells a car. Granted, I bought all of Jr.'s diecast last year (minus the fantasy cars), but I also bought some driver's I wouldn't normally buy because they ran some damn nice schemes or had some good raced versions. (Kurt Busch comes to mind.) I think I own 1 Kurt Busch diecast now with one on pre-order!) They would have made a killing with those Transformers cars, but they really need to figure out their licensing issues. If you can't get a license for it, don't let them run it.

and the ONLY reason that atlanta winner was produced is because of intense lobbying...they weren't even considering it due to perception of typical floundering sales with a less than popular driver...they also made the excuse that the operation homefront diecast couldn't be produced because artwork was submitted too late in the process...yet he wins at texas in a one off scheme and the ball shifts...funny how that works....

[spdkillz]

I read this on the nascar site and just laughed to myself.. After my dealings and listening to the guys that represent RCCA talk out of both sides of their mouths its not suprising. I couldn't agree with you more NEW2