International Olympic Committee (IOC)
Features
Terrence Burns | Brands need to seize 2026 World Cup and 2028 Olympics opportunities now
Terrence Burns, Olympic and global sports marketing veteran, argues that the sooner US brands seize on the opportunities presented by two major events in their own backyard, the greater their chances for success
Demand starting to catch up with supply in China’s new winter sports infrastructure
SportBusiness looks at what China is doing to get ready for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, and the impact preparations are having on local engagement with winter sports.
Ben Cronin | Mission accomplished for Agenda 2020?
The IOC recently declared 85 per cent of the recommendations laid out in Agenda 2020 have been achieved. Ben Cronin asks if the programme has succeeded in its core objective of controlling the cost of the Olympics
Lee Gibbons | What Olympic sponsorships can teach brands in the Covid-19 era
Self-confessed 'Olympophile' Lee Gibbons, managing director of the Sport Unlimited agency, explains why the values and strategies attached to Olympic sponsorships translate so well to today's market in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
IOC’s Carroll focused on ‘flame-to-flame’ Olympic engagement
Kevin Roberts speaks to Christopher Carroll, the IOC's director of digital engagement and marketing, about how the postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games has challenged the IOC to raise its games and accelerate its digital engagement and marketing programme.
IOC to enter talks with ‘preferred candidate’ Brisbane for 2032 Olympics
The International Olympic Committee is to begin talks with Brisbane about its bid to host the 2032 Summer Olympics, after selecting the Australian city as a non-binding 'preferred candidate' for the event
IOC set to name Queensland as ‘preferred candidate’ for 2032 Games
The innovative region-wide bid from the Australian state of Queensland is set to receive a major boost to its hopes of hosting the 2032 Olympic Games, after it emerged that the International Olympic Committee…
IOC Executive Board proposes new 2020+5 strategic roadmap
The International Olympic Committee’s Executive Board has proposed a new strategic roadmap, Agenda 2020+5, which will be put to next month’s IOC Session.
Tokyo 2020 president Mori resigns over sexist comments
Yoshiro Mori has today (Friday) resigned as president of this summer’s Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games following sexist remarks he made earlier this month.
Terrence Burns | When a game is more than a game
Terence Burns remembers how a game of table tennis thawed relations between the US and China and shows how the Olympic Games can provide an antidote to an increasingly polarized world.
Why withdrawing from Tokyo 2020 was “toughest decision” for Canadian Olympic Committee
Canada was the first nation to announce it would not send a delegation to the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics if they went ahead as scheduled this summer. It was a 'heartbreaking' decision but the right one, says the COC
Reliability the watchword as Los Angeles takes long run at the Olympics
The unusually long build-up to Los Angeles’ Olympics has given the city the opportunity to build a sporting strategy that drives benefits for a society. Bradley Rial reports.
How Tokyo 2020 smashed the domestic sponsorship record for the Olympics
In the second of a trilogy of interviews with the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee, SportBusiness spoke to Masahiko Sakamaki, the executive director of the committee’s marketing bureau.
“It’s like a wave that hits you” | British Olympic federations on their commercial preparations for the Games
British Gymnastics chief executive Jane Allen, British Swimming chief executive Jack Buckner and UK Athletics chairman Chris Clark discuss their organisations' plans for the final run-in ahead of Tokyo 2020 and explain how to ensure a strong commercial return from the Olympic Games.
African Games: ANOCA and TV MEDIA SPORT Partnership
Since August 16th, 2019, TV MEDIA SPORT (TVMS) markets and distributes the 12th edition of the African Games “RABAT 2019” after winning and signing an agreement with the ANOCA (Association of National Olymp…
Driverless cars and robot helpers | Tokyo looks to Olympics to promote technology and spark event hosting resurgence
Bradley Rial looks at how the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games are being used by Tokyo to illustrate the city’s resurgence as an event-hosting destination.
Dropouts from 2026 Winter Olympics bidding race show impact of IOC reforms is yet to reach the public
The IOC is undertaking a range of reforms designed to make bidding for and hosting the Olympics less costly and less complex. Jonathan Dyson asks whether any progress is being made, including in the current 2026 Winter Olympics bidding race, and looks at what more needs to be done.
IOC develops global e-commerce platform to build licensing programme between Games
• Ambition to create licensing programme set out in Agenda 2020
• Organisation creates three categories to trade on heritage, iconography and values of the Olympics
• L
Angela Ruggiero: Athlete data will inform in-play betting
Angela Ruggiero, chief executive and founder of the Sports Innovation Lab, and former Olympic gold medallist spoke at the recent SportBusiness Summit in Miami about the impact of sports betting on athletes and the technology sector.
Rule yourself | The IOC’s athlete marketing restrictions risk death by a thousand cuts
The IOC and the German Olympic Sports Confederation have been forced to relax the implementation of Rule 40 governing athlete endorsements in Germany after the country’s federal cartel office took action against them. Ben Cronin looks at the gradual erosion of the rule and the implications for the IOC’s TOP sponsorship programme
Downhill struggle | A commercial preview of the Winter Olympic Games
Adam Nelson looks into Pyeongchang 2018's commercial work, and finds that some of the concerns that dogged the Games late last year are easing.
China Digest | WTA Finals will move to Shenzhen
In this week's China sports industry round-up: WTA Finals will move to Shenzhen; China Open becomes second £1m snooker event; and more details about Wanda's IPO.
Opinion | Winter Olympics will push sports social media forward
Four years is a lifetime in social media, notes Richard Clarke, and the “greatest show on earth” is an opportunity to demonstrate the state of the art, and then attempt to nudge it a little further.
Opinion | Be Careful What You Wish For, Mr Presidents
Autocrats and populists have always sought to exploit the profile of ‘mega events’, says Tim Crow. But sport tends to resist.
Opinion | Why it’s time for a stripped-back Olympics in 2032
Former Synergy chief executive Tim Crow argues the International Olympic Committee has little to lose and everything to gain by taking on the financial burden of a smaller, smarter Olympic Games.
Opinion | Olympic bidding
The benefits of staging the Olympic Games are not being sold persuasively enough, according to Kevin Roberts.
REPORT | The Future of Olympic Games Media Consumption – Executive Summary
A free report, commissioned from SportBusiness by the Budapest 2024 Olympic Games bid, surveying attitudes to, and media consumption habits around, the Olympic Games.