APNewsBreak: People familiar with deal say IOC set to announce Procter & Gamble sponsorship

AP Sources: IOC set to name P&G as global sponsor

LONDON — The International Olympic Committee is ready to announce a new global sponsorship deal next week with the world’s largest consumer products company.

A news conference is planned for Wednesday in London, where IOC president Jacques Rogge will unveil a multi-million-dollar agreement with American-based giant Procter & Gamble Co.

The IOC and the company wouldn’t name P&G as the new sponsor, but two people familiar with the deal confirmed it to The Associated Press. They did so on condition of anonymity because the announcement hadn’t been made yet.

P&G will become the 11th global sponsor of the 2012 London Olympics, matching the number from the previous cycle that covered the 2006 Turin Winter Games and 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. The deal could be for multiple years and cover other future games.

It will be the second Olympic sponsorship announcement in two weeks. Dow Chemical was confirmed as a global sponsor July 16 in a deal through 2020.

Financial terms aren’t announced, but each IOC sponsorship deal usually sells for up to $100 million for four years.

The IOC said this year it had secured close to $900 million in sponsorship revenue for the current four-year cycle and was hoping to break the $1 billion mark.

Other global sponsors for the London Games are Coca-Cola, Acer, Atos Origin, GE, McDonald’s, Omega, Panasonic, Samsung and Visa. Atos Origin, Panasonic and Samsung are signed up through 2016. Coca-Cola, Omega and Visa are signed up through 2020.

IOC sponsors have exclusive worldwide marketing rights to the Olympics.

P&G’s global brands include Pampers, Gillette shavers and Pantene shampoo.

P&G executives said previously they were very pleased with their sponsorship of the U.S. Olympic team for this year’s Vancouver Winter Games and were interested in expanding their Olympic ties.

Asked about the IOC sponsorship, P&G spokesman Paul Fox in Cincinnati said the company wouldn’t comment on “speculation.”

IOC marketing commission chairman Gerhard Heiberg confirmed that a new sponsor would be announced, but declined to confirm the name of the company.

“We’re very happy that we will have No. 11,” he said. “It’s very good news. It shows the effects of the financial crisis is less and less and companies want to be associated with the Olympics.”

Heiberg said the IOC remains hopeful of signing a 12th sponsor by the end of the year.

BMW has been mentioned as a possible IOC sponsor, but the U.S. Olympic Committee plans to announce its own deal with the German car company Monday. That deal, reported to be worth about $24 million through 2016, will make BMW the first foreign carmaker to sponsor the USOC.

With BMW also a domestic sponsor of the London Games and other national Olympic committees, it seems unlikely the German firm will also become an IOC sponsor. Other car companies could be in contention, however.

The new global sponsorships are expected to help solve some of the long-standing financial issues between the USOC and IOC.

The sides are trying to agree on how much the USOC should pay toward the administrative costs of putting on the Olympics.

Adding new sponsors puts more money into the pot and makes it easier for the USOC to contribute to the games costs.

Beyond that, the two organizations are to begin negotiations in 2013 on a new revenue-sharing formula to go into effect in 2020.

The USOC gets a 20 percent share of global sponsorship revenue and a 12.75 percent share of U.S. broadcast rights deals. Many international officials think it’s too big a portion.

AP Business Writer Dan Sewell in Cincinnati contributed to this report.