IOC hopes to sign 3 new major sponsors before Vancouver as economic climate brightens

IOC hopes to sign 3 new sponsors before Vancouver

COPENHAGEN — With the economic climate showing signs of recovery, the IOC is hopeful of signing up to three new major sponsors before the Vancouver Winter Olympics.

Marketing commission chairman Gerhard Heiberg said Thursday the International Olympic Committee has renewed negotiations with potential new sponsors in the last few months because of “more confidence in the markets.”

Nine sponsors have already been signed for a total of $883 million, and adding a couple more would bring the IOC’s total contracts above the targeted $1-billion mark for the 2009-2013 cycle.

“Things have improved in the last month and now we are negotiating again with partners, hoping that we’ll have No. 10, No. 11 and maybe No. 12 before the Vancouver Games,” Heiberg said. “One or two would be fine. Three would be wonderful.”

The IOC’s talks with potential partners stalled at the start of the financial crisis, but several companies asked to renew the negotiations in recent months.

“Little by little, I feel it’s getting easier to talk to companies,” Heiberg told The Associated Press. “The confidence in the future is much better than for instance three months ago.”

The IOC will vote on Friday whether to include golf and rugby on the Olympic program for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games. If approved, those are sports that could help the Olympic movement even more in its marketing efforts, Heiberg said.

“Not in the months running up to Vancouver, but in the long run, yes,” he said. “We need to find sports attracting young people and being interesting for TV audiences.”

The global sponsors for 2009-13 are Acer, Atos Origin, Coca-Cola, GE, McDonald’s, Omega, Panasonic, Samsung and Visa. The Panasonic and Samsung deals run through 2016, while Coke and Omega are signed up through 2020.