Athletics, speed skating bodies lose major sponsorship deals

TWO major Olympic sports are hunting for new sponsors after key commercial partners announced the end of their partnerships right in the middle of the global economic slump.

The IAAF world athletics federation lost South Korean electronics giant Samsung as the sponsor for its series of top Diamond League track meets at short notice following last year’s London Olympics.

The International Skating Union (ISU) is forced to look for a new multinational after Dutch energy supplier Essent said it would end its longstanding backing of speed skating following the 2014 Sochi Winter Games.

“To be honest, it is not easy,” ISU president Ottavio Cinquanta said. “The international market is not in the very best condition. One has to admit, there is some problem.”

Football still has the money-making abilities in times of crisis as Manchester United proved over the weekend when they clinched a major eight-year sponsorship deal with insurance firm Aon estimated to be worth $230m. But annual sponsorship commitments such as Samsung or Essent are counted in a few million dollars annually. It doesn’t make the income any less essential though.

The ISU was lucky in a way, too, since Essent gave it a full year’s warning that it was ending a 16-year relationship.

Often sponsorship is an obvious cost-cutting division, making the hunt for new sponsors in a bad economic climate even harder, especially for a sport such as speed skating that can only count on global attention when the Winter Olympics come around.

When it comes to timing, the IAAF faces a tougher task. The Diamond League kicks off in Doha on May 10. “The Diamond League and the IAAF are confident that another title sponsor will be secured in the near future,” said Nick Davies, a spokesman for the IAAF.

Almost at the same time, Samsung announced a sponsorship partnership with Usain Bolt, “who is, above all else, a symbol of the sport of athletics”, said Davies.

Sponsorship experts saw the Samsung deal as a hardheaded business decision that could be based on the idea that it could get bigger exposure from a straight affiliation with Bolt rather than the Diamond League. Sapa-AP