John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance President & CEO
David D'Alessandro said that "one of the major reasons John
Hancock reentered the Olympic business is because it was
needed," according to Will McDonough of the BOSTON GLOBE.
D'Alessandro, on the IOC: "They are having a tough time
raising money in Australia ... and Utah .... They need
money. They need help. ... We came to the conclusion that
if we dropped out completely, and some others did the same,
then eventually the ones who would be hurt the most would be
the athletes of the future" (BOSTON GLOBE, 2/26).
IT'S GGGGRRRRREAT! The SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL's Andy
Bernstein writes that the MI-based Kellogg Co. has been
named an official supplier to the 2002 Winter Games and will
be the official cereal of the U.S. Olympic Team through
2004. U.S. athletes and the Olympic rings will appear on
boxes "later this year." While official Olympic suppliers
must commit at least $5M in cash or value-in-kind, Bernstein
writes that deal is "thought to have only a small barter
component, since there's only so much cereal the Olympic
contingent can eat." USOC Deputy Exec Dir of Marketing Dave
Ogrean said that OPUS "is now less than" $100M away from
meeting its budgetary requirements, after signing 19 new
sponsors or suppliers in the last nine months
(SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 2/28 issue).
