Page 18 - aruba-today-20170617

A18 SPORTS
Saturday 17 June 2017
No longer a combo: McDonald’s

ends Olympic sponsorship deal

By EDDIE PELLS IOC marketing director chester, England, said Mc-
AP National Writer Timo Lumme says “we un- Donald’s could be ending
Eds: Updates throughout derstand that McDonald’s the deal for a number of
with details. Adds byline. is looking to focus on differ- reasons: geopolitical con-
Drops dateline With AP ent business priorities.” cerns, the doping problems
Photos. McDonald’s will, however, in Olympic sports, the grow-
The Olympics and McDon- remain a national sponsor ing influence of companies
ald’s used to go together of the 2018 Olympics with in China and throughout
like a hamburger and fries. domestic marketing rights Asia, who have been will-
They are no longer a com- in South Korea, and will ing to pay more for these
This Oct. 21, 2011 file photo shows the golden arches of
McDonalds, in Omaha, Neb., McDonald’s has ended its Olympic bo. operate restaurants in the deals.
sponsorship deal three years early. In a surprise move, the In- Olympic park and village. “This is such a fragmented
Associated Press ternational Olympic Com- Some of the chain’s deci- and rapidly changing envi-
mittee announced Friday sions may have been has- ronment, that for a sponsor
it was ending its Olympic tened by an increasingly trying to understand how
sponsorship deal with the tense relationship between best to activate a deal with
fast-food giant three years the parties over the last two the IOC, it requires a huge
before it was supposed to Olympics. amount of resources and
expire — severing a rela- McDonald’s was among some smart strategic think-
tionship that dated to 1976. the many sponsors who ing about where to place
No financial details were had supply issues at the So- your bets,” Chadwick said.
released, though as part of chi Games. In Rio, McDon- “It’s an incredibly complex
the IOC’s top-tier program, ald’s got little cooperation market. In many ways, that
McDonald’s signed a con- from the IOC or local or- could mean this type of
tract extension in 2012 ganizers and barely had a deal is no longer economi-
that was reportedly worth presence inside the Olym- cally viable for a corpora-
about $200 million. pic gates. One of the few tion like McDonald’s.”
Much of that will be re- McDonald’s operating on The IOC’s top-tier sponsor-
placed by new sponsors in Olympic turf was in the Ath- ship program gives com-
new categories. The IOC lete’s Village, and it typi- panies exclusive worldwide
has new deals with Bridge- cally had lines running out marketing rights and per-
stone, Toyota and Alibaba. the door, up to 100 athletes mission to use the Olympic
The Sports Business Journal deep. rings in advertising. Those
reported that Intel is set to Among the chain’s big- sponsors contribute about
announce a deal with the gest fans: Usain Bolt, who 40 percent of the IOC’s to-
IOC next week , and a per- claimed Chicken McNug- tal revenues.
son familiar with the nego- gets were his main staple The IOC said there were
tiation confirmed that to during his record-setting no immediate plans to re-
The Associated Press. That runs through the 2008 place McDonald’s in the
person was not authorized Games in Beijing. fast-food category and
to speak publicly because Simon Chadwick, profes- that it would review that
the deal has not been an- sor of sports enterprise at sponsorship segment going
nounced. University of Salford in Man- forward. q

Paul George All of those factors, and “They’re all crazy,” he said.

Continued from page 17 George’s occasional dis- “But all are to be expected.
satisfaction with what’s I’ve been dealing with this
He’s averaged 18.1 points gone on inside the organi- since last season, but I’m
and 6.3 rebounds over zation, has led to specula- just living in the moment.”
seven NBA seasons and tion that the 27-year-old But Indiana fans and Pac-
is considered one of the star could sign with his ers executives are still
best two-way players in the hometown team and lead searching for answers
league. the Los Angeles Lakers to about George’s long-term
The last two seasons have another title. At the Febru- plan.
been the best of his ca- ary trade deadline, there Kevin Pritchard, Bird’s
reer. Since returning for was speculation that he successor as the team’s
the final six games of the could be headed to Bos- top decision-maker, and
2014-15 season, after grue- ton or Atlanta. This summer, coach Nate McMillan need
somely breaking his left rumors have surfaced with to know how to proceed
leg, George has taken his all sorts of possibilities: In- during this crucial summer.
game to new heights. He diana dealing George to So far, George hasn’t said
averaged 23.1 points and Cleveland for Kevin Love, much publicly.
7.0 rebounds in 2015-16. trading George to the Bos- He has, however, met with
Last season, he scored 23.7 ton Celtics for the top pick Pritchard and McMillan
points and grabbed 6.6 re- in next week’s draft, even multiple times. George said
bounds, not quite enough George and LeBron James he has reiterated his desire
to earn a spot on the three pairing up with the Lakers to lead the Pacers to an
all-NBA teams and perhaps after next season. NBA title and provided in-
costing him an additional George doesn’t buy any of sight on what he believes
$75 million from the Pacers. them. the Pacers need to do it.q