General Motors Chooses Not To Renew USOC Partnership After '08

GM Ending Longtime Partnership With USOC After ‘08

General Motors, which signed a $1B partnership with the USOC in ’97, “will not renew its agreement with the organization" beyond ’08, according to Tripp Mickle of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL.  A GM spokesperson said that the company had until July to “exercise an option to continue its relationship with the USOC and declined to do so.”  GM has been a USOC partner since '84, and sources said that the company “felt the cost of sponsoring the USOC was too expensive.”  GM Manager of Advertising & Marketing Communications Ryndee Carney said, “We feel we have other ways to reach the audience that views the Olympics without continuing an official relationship with the USOC.”  Mickle notes the move forces the USOC to “find a new partner to contribute the $5[M] that GM paid annually” for the automotive category.  GM also spent close to $100M every two years advertising on NBC’s Olympics telecasts.  Carney said that she “could not speculate on what GM’s plans would be for advertising during future Olympics.”  NBC declined to comment (SBJ, 8/6 issue).