Although Turin 2006 organizers are scrambling to sell tickets, find sponsors, and close a budget shortfall of nearly $100 million; in Beijing where the 2008 Summer Games will be held, sponsors are signing on at record levels for what is expected to be the most profitable and well-attended Olympics in history, reports The Washington Times.
David Carter, executive director of the University of Southern California’s Sports Business Institute said, “the Beijing Games are just tantalizing for corporations. I’m not sure if they’re downplaying (Turin) but they certainly are shifting their focus. It does seem like there’s a disproportionate amount of attention being paid to Beijing”.
The Beijing 2008 Games reportedly will likely receive more than $1 billion from corporate sponsors – more than double the amount received from sponsors by the 2004 Athens Summer Games and two-thirds of the entire budget for the Turin Olympics.
Joe Goode, a spokesman for Bank of America, an official sponsor of the U.S. Olympic teams in 2006 and 2008, said, “sponsors look at (the Beijing) Games as a tremendous opportunity. It’s a burgeoning market, the opportunities are boundless”.
Michael Lynch, Visa’s senior vice president of event and sponsorship marketing, one of the longest running sponsors of the Games said, “the doors to China are open with a property like the Olympic Games. We can hardly imagine the potential for a company like ours”.
According to the Washington Post a direct comparison between Turin and Beijing is difficult. The Summer Games are larger and the population of Turin is less than one-tenth that of Beijing. However Turin appears small even when compared to previous Winter Games said the newspaper.
Jan Katzoff, chief executive officer of SportsMark Management Group, which represents several top Olympic sponsors, said, “corporations look at this as the next big platform to take their business to the next level. It’s the enormous potential of the Chinese consumer and the population”.
Sponsors will face restrictions in Beijing. Their advertising can’t contain the Chinese flag or emblem and may not include anything the government deems to be harmful to the public interest or likely to promote social instability. And it can’t make certain claims about a product that would be standard elsewhere, such as calling it “the best”.
Sponsors say the Olympic Games offer great exposure, regardless of where it is held. Several companies, including Coca-Cola, have signed contracts to be Olympic sponsors through 2020, for events for which host cities have not been chosen.
Katzoff said once the Games are over in March “you’re going to see an unbelievable focus like we’ve never seen before on Beijing”.
