Alibaba sponsors six Olympic Games

by time news

Alibaba Group, founded by Jack Ma and specializing in e-commerce, will become a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) “global sponsorship program” by 2028 along with such giants as McDonald’s, Coca-Cola and Visa. Under the terms of the deal, Alibaba will also provide IT services to the Games organizers and will create a digital television “Olympic Channel” to promote the Olympic movement to young sports fans. The company intends to adapt this channel for a Chinese audience. Alibaba is using its technology to “help the Olympics advance in the digital age,” Ma said.

Until now, Western corporations predominated in the list of sponsors of the Games, the Chinese company got there only once: Lenovo sponsored the 2008 Games in Beijing. However, the IOC was interested in forging links with Asian companies, hoping that this would help to better promote the committee’s activities around the world. Asian cities should host the next three Olympic Games: Pyeongchang and Beijing will host the Winter Games, Tokyo – Summer.

The financial details of Alibaba’s deal with the IOC were not disclosed, but judging by the proceeds from previous sponsorship deals, it could be in the hundreds of millions of dollars in exchange for marketing opportunities. A person close to the talks said the IOC has signed new four-year deals with former sponsors such as Bridgestone and Panasonic for at least $ 200 million. The deal with Alibaba could be assumed to be larger than that amount.

According to preliminary estimates of the IOC, 12 leading sponsors provided the committee with more than $ 1 billion in revenue for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and the Summer 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. The total revenue from the sale of broadcasting rights, etc. for that period was $ 5.6 billion.

Over the past two years, Chinese businesses have invested billions of dollars in sports companies, European football clubs and broadcasting rights agencies. This investment was initiated by the President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping, who called for turning China into a “great sports nation.” In 2016, the Wanda Group, which is controlled by Wang Jianlin, China’s richest resident, signed a sponsorship agreement with FIFA for the next four world championships.

Alibaba was also looking to expand into the sports field. In particular, she is a co-owner of one of the Chinese football clubs. The company has also been negotiating sponsorships with FIFA and Barcelona Football Club, hoping that such partnerships will help it promote its brand globally.

Thomas Bach, elected president of the IOC in 2013 for an eight-year term, tried to reform the committee to make it easier to organize the Games. Nevertheless, several cities, including Oslo, Rome and Boston, refused to fight for the right to host the Games, explaining this by the prohibitively high cost. The IOC shares sponsorship revenues with the Games capitals to reduce their financial burden.

Translated by Alexander Silonov

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