Johnson & Johnson Terminates Talks to Sponsor 2002 Salt Lake City Games
The Wall Street Journal
By Thomas Goetz, Staff Reporter
April 19, 1999
Johnson & Johnson stepped away from a $30 million deal with the USOC to sponsor the 2002 Winter Olympics.
A company spokesman said the recent scandal involving payoffs from organizers of the Salt Lake City games to members of the International Olympic Committee was a factor, but not the primary factor, in calling off a deal.
OPUS raised $548M in commitments from "top-dollar sponsors in 18 months," John Krimsky stressed that patience is key. and that the SLOC must aid the USOC's campaign to generate support for the Olympics:
"I realize that within the state of Utah much of this scandal has been effectively closed and concluded and people are moving on. But that's not quite true in the rest of the United States. We cannot sit quietly and wait for the press to die down, and then expect the sponsors to come flooding back.
OPUS, the U.S. Olympic Committee's marketing arm, hired IMG in the wake of the worst corruption scandal in the history of the Games. The news that Salt Lake City organizing officials made improper payments to International Olympic Committee members who vote on host cities has delayed the signing of sponsors, said John Krimsky Jr., CEO of OPUS. OPUS is looking to to raise $300 million to $350 million for the Salt Lake Olympic Games and the U.S. Olympic team.
OFFICIALS: 2002 GAMES SECURE
Article from CBS News
By CBSNews.com Staff
January 9, 1999
IOC, USOC and Salt Lake City Olympics officials all deny the city potentially could lose the 2002 Winter Games because of the bribery scandal, following the suggestion by IOC member Marc Hodler that the games could be moved or even canceled if Salt Lake can't raise the remaining $350 million needed to meet their $1.45 billion budget because of the scandal -- gifts and scholarships allegedly were given to IOC members and their relatives to entice them to select Salt Lake to host the 2002 Winter games.
Olympic Winter Games Records Broken as Part of Salt Lake 2002
Salt Lake City, Utah
February 23, 2002
The IOC announced that the marketing programmes for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games succeeded in all areas, reflecting unprecedented public interest in the Olympic Winter Games.
Record ticket sales, global television broadcast ratings and licensed merchandise sales, combined with the most successful sponsorship and general marketing programme in Olympic Winter Games history, demonstrated the success of the Salt Lake 2002 Games.
TURNAROUND -- Crisis, Leadership, and the Olympic Games
Mitt Romney's account of the scandal that threatened to sink Salt lake and the turnaround of the 2002 Winter Olympics. USOC marketing executive and OPUS President John Krimsky, as quoted by Mitt Romney, head of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee (SLOC) --:
"We seem to be preoccupied with the budget at the moment . . . I am calling for an end to political rhetoric . . . We can’t chill the sales and marketing agreement and drive sponsors away because they feel these will not be the best Games ever – for whatever reason.”
Johnson & Johnson Terminates Talks to Sponsor 2002 Salt Lake City Games
The Wall Street Journal
By Thomas Goetz, Staff Reporter
April 19, 1999
In another ripple from the Salt Lake City Olympic scandal, Johnson & Johnson stepped away from a deal valued at about $30 million with the U.S. Olympic Committee to sponsor the 2002 Winter games.
John McKeegan, a spokesman for the New Brunswick, N.J., health-care company said that after lengthy negotiations, the company failed to reach terms with the USOC. The primary obstacle, he said, was deciding how to "incorporate all our brands" into the pact. He said the recent scandal involving payoffs from organizers of the Salt Lake City games to members of the International Olympic Committee was also a factor in calling off a deal.
"It certainly was in the backdrop," Mr. McKeegan said. "It was in the back of people's minds."
A deal would have placed Johnson & Johnson in the front rank of Olympic sponsors, alongside companies such as General Motors Corp. and AT&T Corp. Since the scandal broke late last year, however, many firms have expressed concern that it has tarnished the value of sponsoring the Olympics. Still, no companies have moved to terminate their sponsorship, since few events offer the wide reach and exposure of the games.
John Krimsky Jr., USOC deputy secretary in charge of fundraising, said the committee was "disappointed" about the failure to come to terms with Johnson & Johnson, but added that he doesn't "attach any long-term effect" to the committee's effort to recruit other sponsors. More than $550 million has been raised for the Salt Lake games, he noted, "the most in the history of the Olympics."
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Johnson & Johnson Terminates Talks To Sponsor 2002 Salt Lake City Games - WSJ
Is there a Rift Between SLOC/USOC OVER OPUS FUND RAISING?
Sports Business Journal
Staff Report
April 13, 1999
Salt Lake City officials "were questioning marketers' revenue goals nine months before" the recent bribery scandal "scared sponsors into hiding," according to documents obtained by Linda Fantin of the SALT LAKE TRIBUNE. A March memo to SLOC execs showed that OPUS had "secured" $96.1M of its $250M cash goal, "leading" then SLOC CFO Jerry McClain to write, "OPUS revenues are being finalized at a slower pace than outlined in the marketing plan." The budget now calls for $290M in cash from OPUS's fund raising, but so far SLOC has received commitments for "only" $154M.
New SLOC CEO Mitt Romney said last week that OPUS' budget appears "very optimistic," and noted that OPUS has "raised just" $13M since June and "has run out of repeat sponsors to sign." OPUS "also has lagged in recruiting second-tier sponsors and Utah suppliers." OPUS' total fund-raising goal for 2002 is $859M, which is split among various divisions.
USOC Secretary General & OPUS President John Krimsky "worries the funding issues could polarize" the USOC and SLOC "at a time when they should be working together."
Krimsky: "We have to stand shoulder to shoulder to figure out how to make the additional $300 million necessary to make the Games successful so that nothing of an essential nature is cut" (SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, 4/13).
WHO'S IN CHARGE HERE? Fantin writes that one "problem" in the relationship between the two groups is that the USOC and SLOC are "divided on how much, if any, responsibility Salt Lake organizers have to help with fund raising."
Former SLOC President Tom Welch said that Romney "needs to get a hold of the sponsorships." Welch: "Too much time has gone by already. He can't wait to see if Krimsky can do it." Krimsky "takes exception to insinuations that OPUS has turned complacent in selling sponsorships or that revenue projections were overblown." OPUS raised $548M in commitments from "top-dollar sponsors in 18 months," and he stressed that patience is key.
Krimsky added that the SLOC must aid the USOC's $9M promo campaign aimed to generate support for the Olympics: "I realize that within the state of Utah much of this scandal has been effectively closed and concluded and people are moving on. But that's not quite true in the rest of the United States. We cannot sit quietly and wait for the press to die down, and then expect the sponsors to come flooding back" (S.L. TRIBUNE, 4/13).
Is There a Rift Between SLOC/USOC Over OPUS' Fund Raising?
IMG confident Olympics deals will sell
Sports Business Journal
By Liz Mullen
April.26,.1999
The man who has been hired to step up efforts to raise $300 million to $350 million for the Salt Lake Olympic Games and the U.S. Olympic team expects to start inking new deals fairly quickly, despite the lingering scandal.
"There are a couple of deals coming right down the pike, so I don't expect [signing sponsorships] is going to be any big problem," said Robert Prazmark, senior vice president of new business development at IMG.
OPUS, the U.S. Olympic Committee's marketing arm, announced last week that it hired IMG in the wake of the worst corruption scandal in the history of the Games. OPUS has not signed a single sponsor since the news broke late last year that Salt Lake City organizing officials made improper payments to International Olympic Committee members who vote on host cities.
IMG was hired because the scandal has delayed the signing of sponsors, said John Krimsky Jr., CEO of OPUS.
IMG confident Olympics deals will sell
OFFICIALS: 2002 GAMES SECURE
Article from CBS News
By CBSNews.com Staff
January 9, 1999
Reference – https://www.cbsnews.com/news/officials-2002-games-secure/
International, U.S. and Salt Lake City Olympics officials all deny the city potentially could lose the 2002 Winter Games because of the bribery scandal.
The disavowals came Monday after Marc Hodler, the International Olympic Committee's senior member and head of the oversight panel for the 2002 Games, suggested the games could be moved or even canceled if Salt Lake can't raise enough money because of the scandal. Gifts and scholarships allegedly were given to IOC members and their relatives. Holder raised doubts about the ability of Salt Lake organizers to raise the remaining $350 million needed to meet their $1.45 billion budget.
The spin put on that by other Olympic officials was to focus on the money already raised -- not on that still needed.
"Salt Lake has already raised 75 percent of the revenues we need to put on the games, so we're well on our way," said Robert Garff, chairman of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee. If Salt Lake City should fall short in raising money, "we may have to scale back the games to fit the old-time Olympic program," he said.
He said they could downsize venues or cut cultural programs or recruit more volunteers." We are not panicking, " he said.
John Krimsky, deputy secretary general and managing director of business affairs for the U.S. Olympic Committee, said Hodler's remarks "certainly make it more difficult" to satisfy sponsors. But he said 72 percent of the budget was made, all of the television contracts were made and sponsors were prepared to ride out the scandal.
"Their principal concern is a speedy resolution to the four independent investigations, " Krimsky said. The allegations are being investigated by the Justice Department and separate committees of the IOC, USOC and SLOC.
Krimsky said he expected within days to secure the $5 million payment US West has said it would withhold pending a more complete answer from SLOC to the phone company's questions about the scandal.
Elsewhere Monday:
- The IOC hired a public relations firm to soothe sponsors and improve its image. Michael Payne, marketing director, met with officials of Hill & Knowlton Inc. in New York and was to discuss the scandal this week with sponsors.
- Payne on Monday also discounted Holder's conjecture about the games being moved or canceled. He said the games could be moved from Salt Lake City "only in the event of war, earthquake or civil disturbance. "
- Gov. Mike Leavitt hit the television talk show circuit, saying Utah's image will be restored by the investigations and that there will be no more new allegations beyond those that have already come to light, which include hundreds of thousands of dollars in scholarships, cash payments and expensive guns and skis.
Meanwhile, the New York Times reported Tuesday that relatives of IOC members from Ecuador and Finland were employed by the Salt Lake City bid committee while it pursued the 2002 games.
The newspaper, citing unidentified Olympic officials, said the daughter of Agustin Carlos Arroyo, an IOC member from Ecuador, and the husband of Pirjo Haggman, an IOC member from Finland, worked briefly for the bid committee.
Salt Lake Mayor Deedee Corradini, already hammered by two previous, unrelated scandals and under fire in the Olympics scandal, announced she would not seek re-election this year.
She said it was just coincidence that her announcement came amid the Olympics scandal -- and the suggestion of two City Council members that she resign. She said she'd been thinking for six months of not seeking re-election.
Corradini was a member of the bid committee that won the 2002 Games and is a member of the current organizing committee. She has had little to say about the bribes scandal, and some council members have criticized her for not being forthcoming.
In another development Monday, Rene Paquet, who headed Quebec's bid committee, which lost to Salt Lake City, said his city might sue the IOC for compensation because rules of a contract signed with the organization were broken. He also said IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch should resign.
Anita DeFrantz, an IOC vice president from the United States, said Monday that the organization's probe of the scandal is almost complete. She said letters have been sent to the members "who apparently have abused their privilege, " and they have 10 days to respond before a report is completed and a news conference is held Jan. 25.
"By that point, we believe that we will have folks who need to resign clearly identified and, I hope, resignations in hand, " she said. "So I expect there are going to be fewer members of the IOC. "Asked how many committee members will be forced out, she said: "I believe it will be less than a dozen."
She does not believe the scandal will cause Salt Lake City to lose the games. She said there is not enough time to make a change and the city would have won even without the "apparently compromised votes."
Reference –
CBS News https://www.cbsnews.com/news/officials-2002-games-secure/
Olympic Winter Games Records Broken as Part of Salt Lake 2002
IOC Media Release
Salt Lake City, Utah
February 23, 2002
- The International Olympic Committee (IOC) today announced that the marketing programmes for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games have succeeded in all areas, reflecting unprecedented public interest in the Olympic Winter Games.
Record ticket sales, global television broadcast ratings and licensed merchandise sales, combined with the most successful sponsorship and general marketing programme in Olympic Winter Games history, demonstrate the success of the Salt Lake 2002 Games.
The IOC praised the efforts and achievements of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee (SLOC), the Olympic Properties of the United States (OPUS) and the city and venue authorities for the marketing success and for the presentation of the Games.
"The 2002 Salt Lake Olympic Winter Games has set a new standard in Olympic Winter Games marketing," said Gerhard Heiberg, Chairman of the IOC's Marketing Commission.
"A new benchmark has been established for the Look of the Games achieved through a new level of co-operation between the Organizing Committee and City authorities. The visual impact of these Games has provided a unique stage for the athletes, stunning shots and footage for the global media and maintained the special nature of the Olympic experience.
We are very pleased and impressed with all marketing programmes - and importantly, the partners and sponsors are extremely satisfied with all key objectives met," said Mr Heiberg.
The IOC's Games-time surveys with spectators, athletes, corporate guests and media, conducted throughout the past two weeks by Sports Marketing Surveys (SMS), is already showing high marks for these Games. Top line results from the spectator and corporate guest surveys indicate high praise for the Olympic Games, for personal experiences at the Games and for opinions of sponsors and their involvement.
When asked about the key aspects enjoyed at the Olympic Games, results put ‘the atmosphere' first followed by ‘the people we've met' and ‘the volunteers' in second place. When asked about sponsors, 92% said that sponsors contribute greatly to the staging of a successful Games and 90% said they welcomed sponsorship as it helps the Games to continue.
Worldwide and national sponsors have reported significant success with Games' marketing programmes. Spectator attendance is high for sponsors' activities at the Games with thousands of people visiting Olympic Rendezvous@Samsung, Coca-Cola On Ice and other key sponsor-hosted activities all designed to enhance the spectator experience at the Games.
The IOC has also commended the successful and smoothly operated technology infrastructure delivered by a consortium of Information Technology partners. The delivery of Information Services has been effectively successful and validated the IOC's decision to move from working with a single vendor to a ‘one-team' consortium led by worldwide partner SchlumbergerSema.
The decision to return to a consortium of experts has allowed the IOC to significantly reduce overall technology-related costs.
Ticket Sales
According to the latest reports available, ticket sales have broken all records for an Olympic Winter Games with 95% of all available tickets sold. Over 1.52 million tickets have been sold so far resulting in a revenue of around US$182 million. The Salt Lake Organising Committee expects sales to have increased by the end of competition and the Closing Ceremony.
Global Broadcast audiences
Broadcasters around the world have reported record audiences for coverage of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games with significant audience increases on the 1998 Nagano Olympic Winter Games.
NBC has announced record-breaking audiences for its coverage of the Winter Games with 84% of all US television households tuning in. Ratings so far have peaked at 26.8.
Canadian broadcaster, CBC achieved an overall increase of 19% on the Nagano Games with 4 million people watching the figure skating pairs long program and 6.2 million tuning into the Women's Gold medal Ice Hockey game on Thursday this week - a number expected to be surpassed tomorrow.
Eurosport has broken all of its audience records with its 24-hour coverage of the 2002 Games. The network reports that 120 million different viewers are expected to have tuned in by the end of the Games with 30 million different viewers every day.
Other European broadcasters have all reported major increases over Nagano with the BBC gaining an audience of 5.7 million late at night for women's Curling and German broadcasters ARD and ZDF regularly exceeding audiences of 10 million.
The IOC will issue a complete overview of the 2002 global broadcast report when all data is available.
Licensing and Concession sales
Sales of merchandise have exceeded budgets with expected sales from all merchandise, coins and concessions.
Reference --
Turnaround: Crisis, Leadership, and the Olympic Games
Regnery Publishing
By Mitt Romney
2004
Mitt Romney's account of the scandal that threatened to sink Salt lake and the turnaround of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games.
USOC marketing executive and OPUS President John Krimsky, as quoted by Mitt Romney, head of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee (SLOC) --:
"We seem to be preoccupied with the budget at the moment . . . I am calling for an end to political rhetoric . . . We can’t chill the sales and marketing agreement and drive sponsors away because they feel these will not be the best Games ever – for whatever reason.”
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