The USOC today announced a four-year sponsorship extension with BP. The deal makes BP the official energy partner of the U.S. Olympic Team through '16. The initial two-year BP agreement was valued in the low- to mid-seven figures. Financial terms of the extension were not available. BP first signed on as a sponsor of the USOC during the '10 Vancouver Games and planned to promote the relationship at gas stations nationwide, use it to boost morale of its more than 29,000 U.S. employees and leverage it to develop new business-to-business relationships. However, before the company ever began its marketing, one of the wells it operated in the Gulf of Mexico leaked 4.9 million barrels of oil into the water. The USOC stood by the company during the environmental disaster even as politicians and the American public's rancor rose. BP has done limited marketing and promotion of its U.S. Olympic sponsorship since then. It recently announced it would serve as the presenting sponsor of the USOC's Jack Kelly Fair Play Award, which is presented annually to an athlete or coach for an act of sportsmanship. GMR Marketing manages BP's USOC sponsorship.
