Besides selling corporate sponsorships to the 2002 Winter Games, U.S. Olympic Committee marketers will produce their own television coverage of sporting events, as well as other entertainment.
The new divisions of Olympic Properties of the United States, created to jointly market Salt Lake City's Games and the U.S. Olympic teams through 2004, were announced at the annual U.S. Olympic Congress here.It's all part of the USOC's effort to turn the Team USA logo into a brand that's as recognizable - and as desirable to consumers - as logos of other major sports teams, such as the Utah Jazz.
OPUS-TV will produce some 75 hours of programming annually for ESPN, Turner Broadcasting and other cable channels in conjunction with the Cleveland-based International Management Group.
The programming will include the new Olympic Cup competitions that the USOC will stage in various sports. Last week's match between the U.S. and Canadian women's hockey teams in West Valley City was the first such match.
The other new division, OPUS Arts and Entertainment, will commission music, posters and other Olympic-related products aimed at an audience of schoolchildren.
The new divisions will help sell T-shirts, but the USOC hopes they'll also attract additional money from corporate sponsors. The USOC needs to raise $806 million from corporate sponsors by the 2004 Summer Games in Athens.
The Salt Lake Organizing Committee shares in that money, of course, because the sponsors will also sign on for the 2002 Winter Games in the unique joint-marketing venture.
Organizers expect to raise about one-fourth of the $1 billion needed to put on the 2002 Winter Games from their cut of the revenues. They're about halfway to their goal.
Already, seven sponsors have signed up: General Motors, US WEST, Texaco, Seiko, Home Depot, York International and the latest, Blue Cross and Blue Shield. A total of 11 sponsors are expected.
Would-be sponsors were among the throngs at the two-day Orlando convention that ended Tuesday. Participants attended workshops in marketing and other topics and toured booths pitching products.
Mark White of the Salt Lake Convention and Visitors Bureau was among those selling places to hold competitions and meetings, a list that also included Fargo, N.D., and Tiajuana, Mexico.
"Our job is to not really interfere or get in the way of the 2002 Winter Games but to use it as a promotion," White said. "We're just realizing the importance of sporting events."
The U.S. Olympic Congress opened Monday, following a weekend-long meeting of the USOC Board of Directors. Elizabeth Dole, the president of the American Red Cross, offered a keynote address describing a new sports-safety program.