U.S. companies again foot a lot of the Olympic bill

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News and comment:

News: U.S. Olympic Committee sponsor Proctor & Gamble will announce Wednesday that it has become an International Olympic Committee global sponsor as well.

Comment: Another plus for the USOC in its efforts to regain international favor -- especially if, as I suggested last week, it forgoes some or all of its share of the P&G and Dow Chemical deals to help resolve a longstanding revenue-sharing conflict with the IOC.

Coincidentally, with the addition of Dow two weeks ago, the majority of IOC global sponsors -- six of 11 -- will once again be U.S.-based multinationals. So much for the irrational ranting of some European IOC members who try to minimize the significance of U.S. sponsors in the big picture.

Even more significant: Dow and P&G both are paying for their sponsorship in cash -- about $75 million to $90 million over four years. The other four USOC sponsors also pay primarily cash, while at least two international sponsors -- Atos Origin and Omega -- give the IOC all value-in-kind, and Acer gives primarily value-in-kind.
It’s also worth noting that the USOC is the only country in the handful (Germany, France and Italy among them) with individual IOC global sponsorship revenue-sharing deals that takes some of its share in value-in-kind.

For more news and comment, check out the Globetrotting blog.

-- Philip Hersh