NBCUniversal and LA 2028 have set a far-reaching advertising partnership that allows for the coordinated sale of sponsor opportunities for four Olympic cycles culminating with the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.
The deal calls for NBCUniversal to make a significant financial commitment to LA 2028 and its effort to raise $2.5 billion in sponsorship dollars to help pay for the 2028 games in the Golden State.
Casey Wasserman, chair of the non-profit LA 2028 organizing group, approached NBCUniversal last year with an idea for a partnership with the U.S. Olympic Committee that would allow NBCUniversal to offer long-term deals to partners for TV, digital, live event advertising, as well as brand activations and associations with Team USA, among other Olympic “touchpoints,” as NBCU put it. The events covered under the deal include the Olympic and Paralympic games coming to Beijing in 2022 (winter), Paris in 2024 (summer), 2026 (winter, host city to be selected in June) and Los Angeles in 2028.
“This creates an opportunity to go to marketers with sponsor opportunities that offer the most relevant and straightforward and effective opportunities at a time when advertisers needs that most,” Wasserman told Variety. “NBCUniversal understands the value of storytelling and the value of the Olympic games. They understand the challenges advertisers face. They can create opportunities with the most important sports event in the world and with the scope and scale of NBCUniversal.”
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The sales effort will be steered by NBCUniversal, under the direction of ad sales chief Linda Yaccarino, and the team Wasserman has assembled at LA 2028. The early advertising push is part of the larger effort to make the 2028 Summer Games — which will mark the first summer Olympics in the U.S. in 32 years — and impressive and financially successful event. LA 2028 struck a deal with the U.S. Olympic Committee to help steer sponsorship rights to Olympic and Paralympic events.
“Nothing brings people together like the pure emotional power of the Olympic Games. This partnership between NBCUniversal and LA 2028 is a true first for the industry, and gives marketers the opportunity to make an unrivaled economic and cultural impact,” said Yaccarino, NBCUniversal’s chairman of ad sales and client partnerships. “Together, we’re building what’s never been available before—the chance to be an exclusive partner of a monumental global movement for the next decade, culminating with the first Summer Games in the U.S. in more than three decades.”
Wasserman, who is chairman-CEO of Wasserman Media Group and a sports biz veteran, said the comprehensive approach to sponsorship deals over a long period will only help bring stability to the Olympic movement and its funding needs in the U.S.
“Our responsibility is to deliver an extraordinary Olympics while minimizing as much risk as possible,” Wasserman said. “There are areas where we can be more creative and more aggressive in our ability to monetize the assets we have.”
(Pictured: Linda Yaccarino, Casey Wasserman)
