GM in $1-Billion Deal to Sponsor Olympics

General Motors has signed a nearly $1-billion deal to sponsor the next six Olympics, through 2008, in an agreement that dwarfs any previous sports package created for an advertiser, sources familiar with the negotiations said Monday.

Under the deal, which is to be announced Wednesday, the U.S. Olympic Committee is designating GM as the only U.S. auto maker allowed to use its five-ring Olympic logo and “official” sponsor status for the next decade of Summer and Winter Games.

GM also will be the only domestic car maker running ads on NBC during the network’s coverage of the Games. Last year, GM bought the TV rights for $3.55 billion. The agreements cover the Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, in 2000, as well as the Summer Olympics in 2004 and 2008 and the Winter Olympics in 2002 and 2006.

While GM will be a USOC sponsor of the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, CBS, which is televising them, has signed up Ford and Chrysler--but not GM--to run ads during its coverage, sources said.

The sources said the $1-billion GM deal, including about $700 million in actual payments to the USOC and NBC, also involves the cost of donated vehicles, promotional programs and tie-ins. All of GM’s automotive brands, including Saturn, are covered.

The size and duration of the deal reflects the growing importance to advertisers of events like the Olympics and Super Bowl that draw huge audiences.

Those advertisers say the mega-events allow them to launch campaigns that stand out from the normally crowded advertising arena. The events capture lots of viewers in an age when consumers might ordinarily be split among network TV, cable and even video games, videotapes, the Internet and other activities.

“People are bombarded with so many different media messages that it is very hard to have a clear channel of communications with the consumer,” said Dean Rotondo, a GM spokesman, who declined to discuss details of the agreement, as did USOC and NBC, until Wednesday’s announcement.

Although Olympic sponsorships sometimes gain little public awareness, other giants, including Coca-Cola, Anheuser-Busch and McDonald’s, also are expected to sign long-term deals. Last year, Coke signed a deal with the International Olympic Committee that runs through 2008.

In perhaps the biggest sports package until GM’s new deal, Coke made a five-year agreement with the National Football League that runs through the next Super Bowl, for a reported $250 million.