ACOG's "uphill struggle" to raise $1.59B in
"nongovernmental" revenue for the '96 Games is profiled by Jerry
Schwartz of the N.Y. TIMES. Although ACOG is expected to sign
40-50 corporate sponsors, each paying up to $40M, only 33
companies have joined "and marketing experts say that time is
growing short for both the committee and potential sponsors."
ACOG is confident of reaching their goal and "three new sponsors
could be announced in the next few weeks," but "hundreds of
companies have balked." Ken Roberts, CEO of Lippincott &
Margulies: "We've talked to some of our clients about Olympic
sponsorships, and they just haven't been able to make sense out
of the options for worldwide sponsorship, Atlanta sponsorship,
Olympic team sponsorship ... The Olympic movement may have
overwhelmed itself with complexity at this stage." If ACOG's
fund raising efforts lag, they will "probably ask current
sponsors to help recruit others, to call on politicians to join
the sales pitch and to appeal to American corporate patriotism"
(N.Y. TIMES, 8/31).
