Red Sox not the only Fenway champ

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Even with a World Series sweep in hand, the offseason has yet to begin at Fenway Park. There's still money to be made by the owners of the Boston Red Sox, and much of it has nothing to do with baseball.

The ownership group of the Red Sox also runs Fenway Sports Group, or FSG, a sports marketing firm that in February this year bought half of one of the top racing teams in NASCAR, Roush Racing.

Carl Edwards, the leading driver for Roush Fenway racing, had the Red Sox name on the hood of his car in one of his races earlier this year.

The NASCAR season has a few more weeks to go, which means millions of dollars more in potential winnings for Roush Racing's drivers and FSG.

Carl Edwards, who drove a car with the Red Sox name on it in New Hampshire earlier this year, is a lock to win the Busch Series championship, the sport's second circuit, and moved into fourth place for the chase for the Nextel Cup, NASCAR's top prize.

FSG also has signed a number of other marketing clients, including Boston College, which has the No. 2 ranked college football team in the latest polls.

If Boston College wins its remaining games, it likely would wind up playing for the national championship in January. But even if BC loses, the school is certain to receive an invitation to a big bowl game and FSG plans to be selling travel packages for their fans to attend whatever postseason game the school ends up in.

FSG is one three separate wholly-owned units of New England Sports Ventures: the Red Sox and Fenway Park are the other two. In addition, NESV owns 80 percent of the regional sports network that carries most Red Sox and Boston Bruins games, New England Sports Network, or NESN.

It's safe to say that of the four units of the sports empire, FSG is the least well known among Red Sox Nation. But it could become of growing importance, especially as the team seeks new sources of revenue to tap.

"The team has operated on its own. It's not like we're cutting a check from FSG to the Red Sox to sign players," said Sam Kennedy, the senior vice president of sales and marketing for both the Red Sox and FSG.

"That said, the financial health and well being of the parent is in the team's best interest," he added. "The concept for creating FSG was to diversify the parent's interest. We had all the eggs in those two baskets, and we needed to look for revenue streams outside of baseball and cable television."

And the sales that come in to FSG are exempt from baseball's revenue sharing rules, which takes about 31 percent of each dollar that the team brings in through ticket sales, sponsorship and other traditional sources.

FSG has a number of low-profile ventures as well, such as FanFoto, which sends photographers out to take pictures at Fenway and 13 other stadiums across the county and allows fans to view and buy the photos online when they get home from the game.

FSG is also cashing in on the already gold-plated Red Sox brand as well. The unit has put together trip packages for Red Sox fans to go to road games from the Bronx to Phoenix during this past season.

This is a smart move since the Red Sox, despite its on-field and off-field success under the current ownership group led by John Henry, face some significant money challenges going forward.

The rival New York Yankees are set to move into a new stadium in 2009, one which could bring that team $100 million in additional ticket and luxury box revenue from two years ago, according to filings related to the bonds sold to finance the new home.

The Red Sox are locked into Fenway Park, which is among the smallest stadiums in baseball and has a limited ability to grow ticket and luxury box revenue.

"I think FSG is an opportunity to keep up with the Yankees," said Kennedy. "Their new park will be off the charts and their resources will continue to be dramatic. We're the little brother, trying to keep up with them."

FSG looked at buying into a NASCAR team for three years before it closed the deal with Roush just before the start of this year's racing season.

And that, not the Red Sox, may be the best investment the Red Sox ownership made in the past few years -- even though Roush's drivers, unlike the Red Sox, are likely to come up a bit short in the standings this year.

The top drivers of what is now known as Roush Fenway Racing are on track to win about $30 million this year. The team's owners get about 55 to 60 percent of those winnings, according to common practice in the circuit, meaning that Fenway Sports Group share could come in at little more than $8 million.

While that's less than the estimated $15 million to $20 million in extra revenue that the Red Sox might get for its World Series championship, it comes at a much cheaper price.

Fenway Sports Group paid a little north of $60 million for its stake in Roush Racing, according to estimates, while the group that bought the Red Sox six seasons ago paid an estimated $380 million for the baseball team.

Now Kennedy said FSG is looking at possibly making another purchase in the field of sports or entertainment, and not necessarily in the Boston market.

"If the right opportunity is out there, we would set up shop overseas, or in other parts of the United States," he said. "We're always looking for the next big opportunity."

Red Sox fans like to refer to the rival Yankees as the "Evil Empire." But today the true sports empire appears to be growing in Boston, not the Bronx.