POSTED: April 5th 2011
NewsUpdate
Sochi pays price of Russian success in sports bidding process
KEIR RADNEDGE at SportAccord / Sports Features Communications
LONDON, Apr 05: Russia’s success in attracting major international sports events does have a downside. Sochi, venue for the 2014 Winter Olympics, had to scrap a $100m deal because the sponsor decided to sign up instead to the 2018 FIFA World Cup effort.
Dmitri Chernyshenko, president and ceo of the Sochi project, could talk freely about the decision of the Alrosa diamond company, which is 90pc owned by the Russian government, to change horses. Sochi, he said, had already contracted $1.1bn of domestic sponsorship with three years to go – roughly the same already as the totalled generated by the Beijing summer Games of 2010.
Another corporate which had pulled out of negotiations to join the Tier One sponsors – priced at a minimum of $100m - was the fuel giant Gazprom.
Chernyshenko said: “Gazprom decided, in the end, to confine its permanent support to the Russian Olympic team. We respect that decision. Also the decision of Alarosa. It felt the World Cup in 2018 offered a longer period of preparation and exposure.”
Sharper competition
He acknowledged that Russia’s success in attracting major events – including not only the World Cup but a Formula One race in Sochi itself – had created sharper competition in the sponsorship arena.
Chernyshenko remained confident, however, that other potential sponsors were ready to step up with Sochi, saying: “There are other potential sponsors in the pipeline such as chemical products – not connected with doping! – beer and others.”
He expected the licensing programme built around the recently-chosen mascots to generate a further $40m. But the profit for Russia from its sports bidding success would be evident in a wider context.
Chernyshenko forecast that the world sports event agenda would see the country evolve into a “more democratic, more open, society . . . which is showing a new face to the world.”
Keywords · Sochi · 2014 Winter Olympics · Chernyshenko
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