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British athletes will be allowed to thank their personal sponsors up to three times during this summer’s Olympic Games in Tokyo after reportedly reaching an agreement with the British Olympic Association (BOA).
A group of around 20 Team GB Olympians, including the sprinters Adam Gemili (pictured) and Dina Asher-Smith, filed a legal compliant against the BOA late last year after the body released updated Rule 40 guidelines in October that restricted athletes to just one thank you message per sponsor during the Games.
But, according to the Times, a compromise has now been reached under which British athletes will be permitted to thank sponsors once per event, and a maximum of three times in total. The paper adds that the likes of Laura Muir, Mo Farah and Katarina Johnson-Thompson – all of whom are sponsored by Nike – were among the athletes who supported the legal challenge.
Rule 40 governs how athletes and their personal sponsors can use their image or name in any advertising – including print, online and digital – during the Olympics.
The regulation is intended to protect the marketing exclusivity of Olympic partners, including those that support the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and national bodies, but many athletes have long complained that the rule prevents them from capitalising on the most important, and potentially most financially rewarding, periods of their career.
The IOC amended its Rule 40 guidelines last June after a landmark ruling by the German Cartel Office deemed that its restrictions were too far-reaching, but enforcement of those rules is the responsibility of each country's national Olympic committee (NOC).
The BOA, a not-for-profit organisation which is funded entirely through private revenue streams, argues that it has a duty to protect the commercial rights of its existing partners, whose support has helped fund over 700 Team GB athletes in the current Olympic quadrennial.
Its decision to relax its Rule 40 guidelines, which include advice for athletes, agents and non-Olympic sponsors, follows similar moves made by NOCs in Germany and the USA, whose athletes are now able to thank sponsors as many as seven times.
The BOA, which has an exclusive apparel deal with Adidas, among other sponsorships, claims it needs to raise in excess of UK£60 million to support Team GB athletes during the four-year cycle up to Tokyo 2020.
In December, a BOA spokesperson said the body was “open to dialogue” with athletes concerned about the new guidelines and that it was committed to “reaching a positive outcome that balances the desire for individual athletes to maximise their personal sponsorship revenues with the need to preserve and enhance a system that has collectively sold rights for the benefit of the whole of Team GB, including smaller sports and less high-profile athletes.”
Yet the spokesperson added that despite “encouraging conversations”, the BOA had been “dismayed by the ongoing legal tactics ” of the group of athletes and vowed to “fully and robustly” respond to the legal challenge.
British athletes will be allowed to thank their personal sponsors up to three times during this summer’s Olympic Games in Tokyo after reportedly reaching an agreement with the British Olympic Association (BOA).
A group of around 20 Team GB Olympians, including the sprinters Adam Gemili and Dina Asher-Smith, filed a legal compliant against the BOA late last year after the body released updated Rule 40 guidelines in October that restricted athletes to just one thank you message per sponsor during the Games.
But, according to the Times, a compromise has now been reached under which British athletes will be permitted to thank sponsors once per event, and a maximum of three times in total. The paper adds that the likes of Laura Muir, Mo Farah and Katarina Johnson-Thompson – all of whom are sponsored by Nike – were among the athletes who supported the legal challenge.
Rule 40 governs how athletes and their personal sponsors can use their image or name in any advertising – including print, online and digital – during the Olympics.
The regulation is intended to protect the marketing exclusivity of Olympic partners, including those that support the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and national bodies, but many athletes have long complained that the rule prevents them from capitalising on the most important, and potentially most financially rewarding, periods of their career.
The IOC amended its Rule 40 guidelines last June after a landmark ruling by the German Cartel Office deemed that its restrictions were too far-reaching, but enforcement of those rules is the responsibility of each country's national Olympic committee (NOC).
The BOA, a not-for-profit organisation which is funded entirely through private revenue streams, argues that it has a duty to protect the commercial rights of its existing partners, whose support has helped fund over 700 Team GB athletes in the current Olympic quadrennial.
Its decision to relax its Rule 40 guidelines, which include advice for athletes, agents and non-Olympic sponsors, follows similar moves made by NOCs in Germany and the USA, whose athletes are now able to thank sponsors as many as seven times.
The BOA, which has an exclusive apparel deal with Adidas, among other sponsorships, claims it needs to raise in excess of UK£60 million to support Team GB athletes during the four-year cycle up to Tokyo 2020.
In December, a BOA spokesperson said the body was “open to dialogue” with athletes concerned about the new guidelines and that it was committed to “reaching a positive outcome that balances the desire for individual athletes to maximise their personal sponsorship revenues with the need to preserve and enhance a system that has collectively sold rights for the benefit of the whole of Team GB, including smaller sports and less high-profile athletes.”
Yet the spokesperson added that despite “encouraging conversations”, the BOA had been “dismayed by the ongoing legal tactics ” of the group of athletes and vowed to “fully and robustly” respond to the legal challenge.
