IOC hopes to break billion-dollar mark for sponsorship

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) hopes to break the billion-dollar mark for revenue from top sponsors by the time of the London Olympics in 2012, medic IOC marketing head Gerhard Heiberg said. The IOC already has $960 million of sponsorship in place for the 2009 to 2012 timeframe and remains confident of adding one or two more major companies by the London Games.

“The market situation has relaxed considerably. I hope that we will reach the billion-dollar mark in the coming year,” Heiberg told DPA on the verges of the IOC Executive Committee meeting in Acapulco.

The IOC have managed to sign up Dow Chemical and Procter & Gamble in the last four months, bringing the number of top sponsors to 11.

The sponsorship programme brought in $866 million for the 2006 Winter Games in Turin and the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.