Sainsbury's said that it "is pulling out of a four-year contract" to sponsor British Athletics midway through the deal, according to Ed Osmond of REUTERS. The contract was signed in '13 and the announcement "came just days before the start of the world championships in Beijing." The partnership "will end once the current athletics season is over." Sainsbury's said that BA "had been notified about the decision in March, adding that it had nothing to do with recent doping allegations in the sport." The company "had an option to review the contract at its halfway point" (REUTERS, 8/15). The BBC reported in May, the supermarket giant "reported its first full-year loss for 10 years" -- £72M ($112M) in the year to March 14. Sainsbury's said in a statement, "Sainsbury's has been a proud supporter of British Athletics since 2013, following our sponsorship of the London 2012 Paralympic Games. We wish British Athletics all the best with their future events programme" (REUTERS, 8/15). In London, Ben Bloom wrote the supermarket "was announced as British Athletics’ major events partner with much fanfare in 2013, agreeing to put its name to the biggest domestic meetings for a fee thought to be around" £5M per year. That deal was supposed to last until '17, "but the contract included a break clause at the halfway point, which Sainsbury’s has decided to exercise and withdraw its support less than a year out from the Rio Olympics." The decision "leaves British Athletics with the prospect of attempting to find a new sponsor after a summer of doping stories." Sainsbury’s decision "could barely come at a worse time for British Athletics, which will try to find a new sponsor before the start of the indoor season next February." The departure of Sainsbury’s -- which officially takes place in October -- "leaves British Athletics with the BBC, Nike, National Lottery, MG, Polar and Unilever as its sponsors" (TELEGRAPH, 8/14).
