Less is more
IOC looks to limit commercialization at future Olympics
Posted: Friday August 14, 1998 02:20 PM
LONDON (Reuters) -- The International Olympic
Committee (IOC) said Friday it was working hard to protect
the Olympics from over commercialization despite needing vast
sums to stage a modern Games.
”Too much money is considered by some to be the biggest
threat to sport,” IOC Marketing Director Michael Payne said in
a column written for Reuters.
“Whether it is selling out to the highest bidder or
compromising what is good for the sport in the name of
generating revenue, money is becoming the dilemma of the new
millennium.”
Payne said the IOC had put in place long-term partnerships
with sponsors, marketing programs and closer control of
product merchandising to generate the huge sums needed to
finance the Olympic Games while allowing the IOC to protect its
image and “look beyond revenue.”
IBM said Friday it had decided to end its 40-year sponsorship of the Olympics
after the Sydney 2000 games, saying it could not reach financial
terms with the International Olympic Committee.
”The level of commitment they want from us in the future is
just too large. It's simply a question of cost,” IBM's Eli
Primrose-Smith said.
The 1996 Games in Atlanta were the first to be entirely
privately financed and ran into a storm of criticism from sports
officials, commentators and even IOC President Juan Antonio
Samaranch for their tawdry commercialism.
”We need commercialization but this commercialization must
be controlled,” Samaranch said at the time.
Payne said future Olympic merchandising would be driven by
an “Image Model - offering only products that contribute to the
image of the Games.”
“Beginning with the 2004 Games [in Athens], all city
billboards will carry Olympic messages. Street vending will be
controlled with programs that implement an appropriate “look
of the games” throughout the city,” Payne said.
In Atlanta, almost 400 vendors were licensed to sell
everything from ice cream and sausages to T-shirts and
handcrafted items at city-owned locations near the Olympic
Stadium and Olympic Village.
Payne said the Sydney 2000 Games would cost over US$2 billion
to stage.
“The challenge of protecting the integrity of the Olympic
Movement while balancing the budget is ongoing,” he said.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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