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McDonald’s commits to IOC until 2020

13 January 2012 | Posted in Sponsorship, Olympics, Global | By David Cushnan McDonald’s commits to IOC until 2020

As expected, McDonald's has extended its global sponsorship agreement with the International Olympic Committee until 2020. No precise financial details were immediately available but the deal will certainly be worth hundreds of millions of dollars. 
 
The deal means McDonald's, an IOC partner since 1976, remains part of the TOP programme of worldwide Olympic sponsors. It covers the Sochi 2014, Rio 2016, PyeongChang 2018 and 2020 Games, the latter not yet having been awarded to a city.
 
Speaking at the announcement ceremony in the Austrian city of Innsbruck, where the first Youth Winter Olympic Games began on Friday, IOC president Jacques Rogge said: "We are delighted that McDonald’s, our long-time and valued Olympic partner for more than 35 years, is continuing its ongoing commitment not only to help fund the Olympic Games but also to support the Olympic movement around the world and ultimately the athletes themselves.”
 

Don Thompson, McDonald's chief operating officer, added: "We share the Olympic ideals of teamwork, excellence and being your best.  Those ideals are at the heart of what McDonald’s stands for and how we’ve brought the Games to life.  Feeding the athletes is a tradition we are extremely proud of, and we look forward to continuing our role in helping to make the Games possible."

McDonald's has the designation 'official restaurant of the Olympic Games' and will also cover five Youth Olympic Games between now and 2020.

Gerhard Heiberg, the chairman of the IOC's marketing commission who was involved in the negotiations, said: "We believe that the long-term agreements we have in place with leading companies are a testament to the continued strength and appeal of the Olympic Games as a global marketing platform for sport." 
 
Heiberg suggested earlier in the week that the IOC was currently unwilling to do deals beyond 2020 as it plans to re-model its partnership programme to reflect the changing sponsorship and media markets. The IOC has now tied up seven of its current 11 TOP partners through to 2020 - Coca-Cola, Dow, GE, McDonald's, Omega, P&G and Visa - with Atos, Panasonic and Samsung contracted until 2016.

An in-depth interview with Timo Lumme, managing director of IOC Television and Marketing Services, will be published in the March edition of SportsPro. To subscribe today click here.

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Contract Details

  • Length of contract: 8 years
  • Annualised value: US$25 million
  • Overall value: US$200 million
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