With the Delta deal, United's sponsor marks at the L.A. Coliseum will be covered up during the GamesGETTY IMAGES
Delta Airlines' new $400M combo sponsorship deal with the organizers of the '28 L.A. Games and NBCUniversal ensures it will play a key role in the first Olympics on American soil since '02 and also knocks out longtime Olympics incumbent United. Delta becomes the official airline of Team USA and the '28 Games from '21-28 and also gets extensive ad time on NBCUniversal platforms, with fees split evenly between the two. This is the first deal finalized under the joint sales strategy announced last April by NBCUniversal and U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Properties, the sales arm of the Games. Delta is represented by Octagon for sports marketing. The new jumbo packages that include LA28 are more than 10 times the price of USOPC sponsorships without a domestic Games. A media event is planned for L.A.’s Griffith Observatory on Monday with Delta CEO Ed Bastian and other VIPs. Delta will be the first sponsor officially confirmed by LA28, though Nike has already committed to a mega-deal extending its rights at least through '28.
FLYING AWAY FROM THE COMPETITION: Delta has been the No. 2 airline at LAX since '16, behind American, which recently signed a founding sponsorship of SoFi Stadium. United has been a domestic sponsor of the USOPC since '80 and will continue to hold the category through this summer’s Tokyo Games (Delta was a sponsor of the '96 Atlanta and '02 Salt Lake City Games as well). United had an exclusive negotiating window to extend its rights beyond this year, when all incumbent deals with USOPC expire, but it is not known if United made a serious effort to keep the rights. Last year, United landed the naming rights to the playing field at the renovated L.A. Memorial Coliseum. Both the Coliseum and SoFi Stadium are key venues for LA28, but their sponsor marks must be covered up during the Olympics under IOC rules.
WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING: The L.A. TIMES' David Wharton notes the agreement "represents the next step in a long-term effort by organizers who need to attract big-money partnerships as they seek to cover the estimated $7 billion required to stage the Games." The IOC has global sponsorship deals "in a number of major categories," leaving LA28 and the USOPC "to peddle sponsorships in other categories." However, the Delta deal was possible because the IOC "does not have an airline among its most-important sponsors, leaving the doors open for L.A. officials."
