Corporate U.S. Olympic Sponsors Should Let Their Money Talk Instead Of Groveling To The International Olympic Committee
Only a few days remain before the beginning of the Beijing Winter Olympics on February 4 and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), its siblings and corporate sponsors have done what they always do: Pretend that they are above politics, thus providing worldwide propaganda platforms for totalitarian countries.
Awarding its game to China, a country denounced by worldwide human rights and democratic countries for it abusive policies toward Chinese citizens that support democracy was not an anomaly from the IOC’s normal conduct. It was a continuation of the IOC’s long, sorry history of befriending totalitarian governments.
The most horrendous action by the Olympic committee was standing by silently during the 1936 Berlin Olympics, despite knowing that the Nazi government had set up concentration camps several years earlier. Instead of listening to American politicians and a U.S. member of the IOC who asked that the games be taken away from the Nazi regime, the American Olympic Committee permitted Nazi Germany to host both the Summer and Winter Olympics Games despite knowing about Hitler’s evil policies. And the U.S. Olympic committee member who opposed holding the games in Germany was axed.
Even World War 2, started by Germany three years after the Nazi Olympics, didn’t change the IOC's position about totalitarian governments. In 1968 the IOC awarded its game to Mexico, despite the country’s single-party, authoritarian government. Twice, the IOC awarded its games to Russia in 1980 and again in 2014 and another totalitarian government Yugoslavia hosted the games in 1984. In 2008, China was given the Summer Olympics and will also host the soon to begin 2022 Winter Beijing Olympics, which will be televised in the U.S. by NBCUniversal beginning February 3, although February 4 is the official beginning of the games.
What do all of these Olympic Games have in common? They were all awarded to totalitarian regimes by the Olympic powers and American sponsors meekly “followed the athletes,” no matter where the games were played.
In 2014, NBC Universal bought the broadcast rights from the IOC to televise the Olympic Games in the U.S. through 2032 for $7.75 billion. The deal gave the Peacock Network exclusive broadcast rights to the six Olympic Games from 2022 to 2032. The IOC obtains about 73% of its income from selling broadcast rights; about 18% comes from Olympic sponsors. NBC provides about 40% of all IOC income, reported the Associated Press.
Cities that have already been awarded future Olympic Games are Paris (France), 2024; Milan/Cortina d’Ampezzo (Italy), 2026; Los Angeles (United States), 2028; and Brisbane (Australia), 2032.
Now is the times for NBCUniversal and U.S. corporate sponsors to use their economic muscle and tell the IOC to stop awarding its games to totalitarian countries before choosing a site for the 2034 games, because the ensuing negative media stints their marketing opportunities, as evidenced by their curtailed plans during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, and the current Beijing, China games, because while democracy might not be that important to the IOC, its subsidiaries and sponsors, money always is.
About the Author:Arthur Solomon, a former journalist, was a senior VP/senior counselor at Burson-Marsteller, and was responsible for restructuring, managing and playing key roles in some of the most significant national and international sports and non-sports programs. He also traveled internationally as a media adviser to high-ranking government officials. He now is a frequent contributor to public relations publications, consults on public relations projects and was on the Seoul Peace Prize nominating committee. He can be reached at arthursolomon4pr (at) juno.com.
