Olympics postponement brings new opportunities for sponsors
Pushing back the Games to 2021 is a challenge for sponsors, but it also means they have another year to prepare for one of the world’s greatest sporting events.
The announcement this week that the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics will be postponed for a year due to the coronavirus crisis will have hit major stakeholders, sponsors and broadcasters pretty hard.
Plenty of organisations will have seen their carefully laid plans going up in smoke. Few will want to be seen to be complaining too loudly and any conversations about deferrals or even cancellations will be held behind closed doors.
The International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) top-tier partners, including Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble and Intel, were very quick to stand by the postponement decision and will no doubt strengthen their bonds with the Olympic movement over the coming year.
Chairman of the European Sponsorship Association, Andy Westlake, believes that the longer term advantages of being associated with Tokyo 2020 will comfortably outweigh the disadvantages.
