Rio 2016 confident of exceeding London’s sponsorship revenue
Rio 2016 has said it has matched London 2012’s domestic sponsorship revenues for its staging of the Olympic Games and expects to surpass this figure.
Renato Ciuchini, the chief commercial officer of the Rio 2016, said the organising committee has already earned R2.6bn (€811.8m/$1.01bn) in sponsorship sales, amid fluctuating exchange rates. London 2012 raised around $1.1bn from domestic sponsors. “We matched the numbers of London already,” Ciuchini said, according to the Associated Press news agency.
Ciuchini said Rio had reached about 85 per cent of its local sponsorship sales goal despite the challenges posed by a slumping economy, the distraction of a recent presidential election, and corruption allegations surrounding Petrobras, Brazil's state-run oil giant. He said Brazil’s staging of football’s 2014 Fifa World Cup was “a good thing for us” in boosting interest from sponsors.
Rio 2016’s commercial department has been set a goal of making up around half of the $3bn operating budget for the Games. Ciuchini said any shortfall in reaching a balanced operating budget might be made up for with a “bit of higher revenue in ticketing.”
Rio has secured six major sponsors in the shape of Banco Bradesco, Bradesco Seguros, Embratel, Claro, Nissan and the government-run postal service Correios. Ciuchini said this list is unlikely to be added to.
Responding to claims that some companies have stepped back from sponsoring the Games due to the high rates demanded by Rio 2016, Ciuchini said 19 new contracts will have been signed this year with lower-tier sponsors. “If we were that expensive, how could we sign 19 contracts in 12 months?” he added.