Even if it is "more than a decade away," a Summer Games in L.A. in '28 "may be a boost" to the IOC's "efforts to extend its lucrative contracts with top sponsors" such as Visa and Coca-Cola, Olympic sponsorship experts said, according to Liana B. Baker of REUTERS. U.S.-based companies Visa, Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble, Dow Chemical and General Electric "make up about half of the IOC's top sponsors program," which contributes more than $1B in each four-year cycle to the Games. All of these brands' agreements with the IOC expire in '20 after the Tokyo Games. At least one U.S.-based sponsor said that it had been "eager" for the Games to return to the U.S. "after so many years." 21 Sports & Entertainment Marketing Group CEO Rob Prazmark said, "L.A. is a homegrown market, a U.S. market for these companies that gives a tremendous boost to the likelihood that they will continue to stay on as sponsors." With the next three Games in Asia, "some U.S.-based sponsors have bowed out of their official Olympic sponsorship deals" (REUTERS, 8/1).
