| |
An early start General Motors prepares to kick off Olympic sponsorship
Posted: Tuesday May 11, 1999 05:56 PM
DETROIT (AP) -- As some corporate sponsors back away from the Olympics because of the Salt Lake City bribery scandal, General Motors Corp. called on gold medal winners Dorothy Hammill, Carl Lewis and Kristi Yamaguchi to kick off its own $1 billion Olympic sponsorship program Tuesday. They and fellow U.S. gold medalists Evelyn Ashford, Grant Hill and Bob Mathias will serve on a committee advising GM and the United Auto Workers union on aid for the families of U.S. hopefuls. The world's No. 1 automaker will launch 17 months of 2000 Olympic summer games advertising during next month's NBA Finals, GM's marketing chief said Tuesday. "Nothing quite captures center stage like the Olympics," said GM Vice President Phil Guarascio. The early ad launch is a way of "avoiding the Olympic clutter with other sponsors -- be there where they ain't." GM pulled out all stops at a news conference Tuesday to show its continued confidence -- and investment -- in the Olympic games. In addition to bringing in six Olympic gold medalists -- Hill was absent because of his Detroit Pistons' NBA playoff series with Atlanta -- it hired NBC sportscaster Bob Costas as master of ceremonies. "The Olympics have taken some shots of late. Some of those shots are deserved," Costas said. "But what endures about the Olympics is the athletes." He said those who strive to be the world's best before a worldwide audience of billions make a lasting impression "no matter how much bungling people in suits are guilty of." Ten International Olympic Committee members have resigned or been expelled in the scandal over favors and payments allegedly given to win the 2002 games for Salt Lake City. Johnson & Johnson broke off U.S. Olympic sponsorship after the scandal broke, and other business interest has slackened. "Certainly it slowed down the sale of our sponsorships," said John Krimsky, deputy secretary general of the U.S. Olympic Committee. "But I will tell you that we have put that behind us." NBC sports head Dick Ebersol denied the network has felt any heat from the scandal. "We've been pretty much untouched," he said. Certainly, GM's solid and substantial support -- much of it going to buy ad spots on NBC -- should go a long way to shore up U.S. corporate backing of the Olympics. GM's 10-year, $1 billion sponsorship agreement buys it rights as the official vehicle-maker to the U.S. team. It also will be the only domestic automaker advertising during NBC's 2000 Olympic coverage. The rights extend to Olympic coverage on NBC's 13 network-owned and operated stations. While discussing the megadollars going toward its Olympic ad campaign, GM sought to spotlight a more modest program to supply cars and trucks to the families of U.S. Olympic hopefuls. "Team Behind the Team" is a $3.5 million joint project with the automaker's principal union, the UAW. The program will give cars to the families of 100 U.S. athletes preparing for the 2000 summer Games in Sydney, Australia, and another 100 for those aiming for the 2002 winter games in Salt Lake City. The seven Olympic medalists will select the recipients. On Tuesday, the athletes talked about the sacrifices their families made to aid their sports careers. "My mother never got that carpet for the living room," said Lewis, winner of nine track-and-field gold medals in the 1988, '92 and '96 Olympic games. "The money went to send us to track meets." "My parents spent a lot of time away from the rest of the family," said Yamaguchi, 1992 figure-skating gold medalist. Hammill said her mother fed her breakfast in bed, then chauffeured her on two daily 2 1/2-hour round trips from their Connecticut home to an ice rink in New York. "I received all the glory, but my family and coach worked just as hard," the 1976 figure-skating gold medalist said.
| |||||||||||||||||
Copyright © 1999 CNN/SI. A Time Warner Company. Terms under which this service is provided to you.
| |||||||||||||||||
