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IOC gives category fresh eye

Professional services firm on TOP wish list

The International Olympic Committee has resurrected plans to sign a worldwide sponsor in the professional services category, hoping to find a partner to bolster its analytical capabilities and standardize back-office operations across multiple Olympic Games.

Deloitte, Ernst & Young, and PricewaterhouseCoopers are considering the opportunity, according to multiple sources. The IOC circulated a briefing memo outlining the details of a possible arrangement in the first quarter of this year and held talks with the parties at the IOC session in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, that ended Aug. 3.

Thomas Bach changed the direction of the IOC, which earlier rejected offers in the category.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
Representatives from the IOC and from Ernst & Young declined to comment. PricewaterhouseCoopers and Deloitte did not return messages.

Two sources said Deloitte, which has sponsored the U.S. Olympic Committee since 2009, is seen as having an edge on the others, but talks with all parties are ongoing.

The IOC’s preferred duration and price for a deal are not known, but the current benchmark for a four-year deal in its prime TOP (The Olympic Partner) program is between $175 million and $200 million. A deal in the professional services category would include extensive value-in-kind services and allow the firm to use Olympic marks and events in its marketing anywhere around the globe.

If executed, a TOP deal would remove professional services from local organizing committee inventory once it goes into effect. The IOC similarly centralized a new category earlier this year, signing Toyota as its worldwide mobility partner in an eight-year deal worth a reported $865 million, consolidating rights to the automotive industry.

According to the briefing document that was circulated earlier this year, the IOC wants a partner that would advise its headquarters staff on global issues such as brand reputation, societal impact, cyber threats and risk mitigation. The sponsor would also be asked to help analyze bids from cities wanting to host future Olympics.

In 2010, the IOC turned down offers from Deloitte and another unknown firm to join the TOP program, which generated $950 million in total between 2009 and 2012. At the time, Timo Lumme, the IOC’s director of television and marketing services, said the Olympics’ business model was better served by selling the professional services category at the local organizing level for Olympic Games.

These deals have been valuable to local organizers. For instance, Ernst & Young is the official professional services provider of the Rio 2016 Games. Deloitte worked with Vancouver 2010 and London 2012. PwC worked with Beijing 2008 and Sochi 2014, and won the work for Pyeongchang 2018.

These firms typically provide expert consulting in human resources, risk management, accounting, procurement and other fields around particular events, or for individual countries’ Olympic committees. In the United States, Deloitte consultants helped the USOC assess opportunities for new revenue and cost savings after joining its sponsor roster six years ago.

But much has changed since IOC executives decided against the category offers in 2010. Then-IOC President Jacques Rogge was succeeded in 2013 by Thomas Bach, who now is attempting to make the relationship between the IOC and Olympic host cities more collaborative as part of a far-reaching reform plan called Agenda 2020.

“The more you don’t have to reinvent something new every Games, the better off you’ll be,” said Scott McCune, former Coca-Cola vice president of global partnerships and experiential marketing who is now an independent consultant. “If you look into the Agenda 2020, one of the things President Bach is doing is providing more leadership and consistent operations that were based on learnings from the past, not just building a new startup every two years.”

If the IOC does sign a deal in the professional services category, the winning firm would be the 13th worldwide rights holder in the TOP program, joining stalwarts such as McDonald’s, Visa and Coca-Cola.

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