After this year’s Olympics in Paris, carmaker Toyota is expected to sever its enormous sponsorship agreement with the International Olympic Committee, according to Japanese sources.
When it was first announced in 2015, Toyota’s contract through the 2024 Paris Games was reportedly worth $835 million. It started with the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea and continued until Paris, encompassing four Olympics.
It is reportedly the biggest sponsorship agreement ever signed by the IOC.
Toyota was not thrilled with the way the IOC spent sponsorship money, according to Japanese news agency Kyodo, which cited “sources close to the matter.”
The money was “not used effectively to support athletes and promote sports,” according to the news agency, which cited the sources.
Toyota withdrew their Olympic advertising from Japan in 2021, postponing the Tokyo Games due to a pandemic. It claimed it was reacting to the nation’s strong anti-Olympic sentiment and the IOC’s campaign to host the games.
The IOC stated, “We have an agreement with Toyota until the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024.” “We look forward to realizing these plans and we are excited to continue working closely together in preparation for Paris.”
To showcase its green technology, Toyota is supplying 3,000 fuel-cell cars for the Paris Games.
91% of the IOC’s revenue comes from sponsorships (30%) and the sale of television rights (61%).
After the Tokyo Games, the latest four-year cycle ended with $7.6 billion in revenue for the IOC. During that time, the 15 IOC “TOP sponsors” contributed more than $2 billion.
In the upcoming cycle, the amount is anticipated to surpass $3 billion.
If Toyota withdraws, Burton predicted the IOC will likely look for a different automaker. It would be preferable, he suggested, to locate a replacement as soon as possible.
The top sponsors in addition to Toyota, are Coca-Cola, ABInBev, Omega, Panasonic, P&G, Samsung, Allianz, Atos, Bridgestone, and Deloitte.
Laptops 1000At least half of the $13 billion Japan officially spent on the Olympics in Tokyo came from public funds. According to a government audit, the actual cost was twice that amount.
Approximately $1.8 billion was contributed by the IOC.
Corruption allegations involving local sponsorships and contract awarding engulfed the Tokyo Games. The Tokyo Olympics’ marketing arm, Dentsu Inc., a massive Japanese marketing and public relations firm, raised a record-breaking $3.3 billion in local sponsorship money. This has nothing to do with TOP sponsors.
Prosecutors in France also investigated claims of vote-buying in the 2013 IOC decision to select Tokyo as the host city for the Olympics.
