Four more U.S. Olympic Committee sponsors have renewed through 2020: Smucker’s, Kellogg’s, United Airlines and building materials maker USG.
The Smucker’s, Kellogg’s and United deals were all signed in recent weeks, while USG quietly extended its contract earlier in the year. The flurry of renewals leaves the USOC with 11 partners whose contracts expire this year and have not declared publicly that they will end their deals.
United will continue to control rights in the airlines category, and USG fills the business-to-business building materials category.
“As we have done for more than 35 years, we are looking forward to helping athletes, supporters and fans travel to and from the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, and the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo,” United President and CEO Oscar Munoz said in announcing the deal.
Smucker’s and Kellogg’s category definitions reflect the complex consumer goods strategy employed by the USOC. For instance, Kellogg’s has controlled rights to “cereal, frozen waffles and pancakes, cereal bars, toaster pastries, fruit-flavored snack pieces, cookies and crackers.” Smucker’s had been defined as “packaged fruit and nut spreads, packaged ground or whole bean coffee, and packaged refrigerated/frozen hand-held sandwiches.”
USOC Chief Marketing Officer Lisa Baird said the category definitions in some cases have shifted in the renewals, but Smucker’s and Kellogg’s will continue to control rights to their core brand products. Terms of the deals were not disclosed and deals vary greatly by category, but most Team USA sponsorships are priced in the low seven figures annually.
Out of 27 current sponsors, 15 have renewed through 2020. BMW will be replaced in the auto category when Toyota assumes worldwide IOC rights in January. Eleven other current partners remain unsigned: 24 Hour Fitness, Highmark, BP, Citi, TD Ameritrade, Liberty Mutual, Airweave, AT&T, Budweiser, Dick’s Sporting Goods and Hilton.
