The U.S. Olympic Committee Scores a New Sponsorship

The Colorado Springs-based U.S. Olympic Committee announced a major sponsorship deal yesterday with Procter & Gamble, which owns such common brands as Cover Girl, Pantene, Secret, Pepto-Bismol, Vicks, Charmin, Pampers, and Crest, among a slew of others (via Reuters). The deal includes individual athlete partnerships, print and TV ad campaigns, public relations, and Team-USA-branded, in-store merchandising. The sponsorship, which runs through the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics and the 2012 London Summer Olympics, couldn’t have come at a better time, after Home Depot dropped its 16-year run as the group’s main sponsor (via Bloomberg). The deal is worth anywhere between $15 million and $25 million over the next four years, reports The New York Times. The USOC stands to make roughly $255 million in television revenue alone for the next two Olympic events and is sitting on a $100 million cash reserve. That sounds like a lot until you take into account the $150 million annual operating budget. Which is why the loss of Home Depot’s $4 million to $5 million per year, along with other major defections such as General Motors’ $7.5 million annual sponsorship, hurt so much. And now you know why your toilet-paper packaging will be sporting Olympic rings.