IOC’s Heiberg Happy with General Electric Sponsorship Renewal

The head of the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) marketing commission, Gerard Heiberg, says that General Electric’s (GE) extension of its partnership through 2020 is “very good news” for the Olympic Movement. He reveals that talks are underway to conclude similar deals with Acer and McDonald’s.

The extended agreement was signed in Moscow, giving GE sponsorship rights for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, Rio 2016 Summer Games and the Olympics in 2018 and 2020, the hosts of which are yet to be decided.

Heiberg said: “We are very happy. We have a good relationship with GE. This is very good news for us.”

Heiberg also revealed that sponsorship renewals are in the pipeline with Acer and McDonald’s, saying: “They are interested, so we are talking. We want to extend to Sochi 2014 and 2016, maybe 2018 and 2020. We hope to find a solution with them before too long but we are not in a hurry.”

Heiberg also revealed that he hopes to strike agreements with new sponsors “within a couple of months”, and an additional partner for London 2012.

The 11 global sponsors for London 2012 are: Coca-Cola, Acer, Atos Origin, Dow, GE, McDonald’s, Omega, Panasonic, P&G, Samsung and Visa.

He has previously talked about his ambition to bring a further sponsor on board to pass the US$1bn mark in 2012 sponsorship revenues, with the figure is currently around US$960 million.

“We are still talking to companies and in a couple of months time I hope to reach a deal with one more company,” he said.