USOC Will Not Bid For '20 Olympics

The USOC does not plan to put forward a bid for the '20 Olympics. Speaking after a BOD meeting in California yesterday, USOC CEO Scott Blackmun said that the organization plans to resolve its revenue-sharing negotiations with the IOC before it will consider putting forward a bid city for a future ...

Crown Royal Ending NASCAR Deals

Crown Royal today announced it will end its official sponsorships of NASCAR and Roush Fenway Racing's No. 17 Sprint Cup Series car after this season. The brand follows Jack Daniels, Jim Beam and others who have exited the sport, bringing an end to a six-year run that saw spirit brands dot the hood ...

Marketing Agency Opens Sao Paulo Office

New sports marketing agency Encompass International announced that it opened an office in Såo Paulo, Brazil. The agency, which is led by former IOC marketer  Davis Butler , will be focused on serving sports properties and sponsors working on the '14 FIFA World Cup and '16 Rio de Janeiro O ...

USATF Continuing CEO Search

USA Track & Field's BOD announced today it plans to continue its search for a CEO and reiterated that the new CEO will not come from the board member ranks. The organization has been searching for a new CEO since its previous CEO, Doug Logan , was fired last fall. It narrowed a list of more tha ...

Best Buy Begins "Retailgate" Effort

Best Buy kicked off a 12-market promotion around its Sprint Cup race team called “Retailgate” last Sunday, hosting 70 local customers and 30 local employees at Michigan Int’l Speedway for the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400. It was the first of 12 hospitality programs it will run ...

Tags: Marketing and Sponsorship, Best Buy

NBCU Tells Employees How It Kept Olympics

NBCUniversal's top execs last week held a town hall meeting at 30 Rockefeller Center to tell the entire company about how it retained the Olympic TV rights. The meeting was led by CEO Steve Burke, NBC Sports Group Chair Mark Lazarus and NBC Olympics President Gary Zenkel. Broadcaster Bob Costas also ...

Tags: Media, NBC

BMW Launches Team USA Promo

Team USA sponsor BMW Thursday rolled out a national promotion designed to drive consumers to dealerships to test drive cars. The "BMW Drive for Team USA" program will see the company's North America division donate $10 to Team USA for each person who test drives a car at one of 276 dealerships. The ...

Tags: Marketing and Sponsorship, BMW Inc.

Dominique Dawes Signs With PMG Sports

Former Gold Medal-winning gymnast Dominique Dawes, who competed in the '96 Atlanta and '00 Sydney Games, has signed with PMG Sports. She joins a list of former Olympians represented by the agency that includes Mark Spitz, Janet Evans and Bruce Jenner. Dawes has been working in media the last few yea ...

Tags: Labor and Agents

NBC Secures Olympic Rights Through '20

NBC secured the rights to four Olympic Games from '14-20 with a whopping $4.38B bid that does not include the expected $200M TOP sponsorship from GE. IOC Exec Committee Member Richard Carrion said that GE would negotiate its sponsorship separately. Carrion: "We hope to reach an extension of the TO ...

Comcast/NBC Wins Olympic TV Rights

NBC has won the U.S. television rights to the Olympic Games in a four-games deal, for ‘14, ‘16, ‘18 and ‘20, worth more than $4B. Sources said bids from ESPN and Fox fell short of the $2B that the IOC is currently receiving for the ‘10 and ‘12 Games. The bid marks ...

Tags: Media, IOC, NBC, Fox, ESPN