USOC Inks Deal With Account Firm Deloitte For '09-12 Quadrennial

Deloitte yesterday formally announced a deal to sponsor the USOC that includes sponsorship of the '10 and '12 U.S. Olympic and Paralympic teams, '11 U.S. Pan American team and '10 U.S. Youth Olympic team (Deloitte). SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL's Tripp Mickle writes the deal, "a mix of value-in-kind services and cash," makes the accounting firm the USOC's first new sponsor of the '09-12 quadrennial as well as its first-ever sponsor for audit, tax, consulting and financial advisory services. The addition of Deloitte "highlights the USOC's effort to expand its sponsorship base by adding new categories in areas where it has never had a partner or has been without a partner for a long time." The USOC "plans to continue to look at other categories such as energy or oil and gas." In a separate agreement, subsidaries of Deloitte also have been "engaged to provide pro bono services to Chicago 2016 as it bids" for the '16 Summer Olympics. Meanwhile, Mickle notes the deal is the "first that the USOC has announced since" hiring CMO Lisa Baird in January (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 3/30 issue).