With the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris just two months away, the games might lose one of their biggest sponsors.
According to a report from Japan’s Kyodo News, Toyota will end its sponsorship with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) after the Paris games. The report cited unnamed “sources close to the matter.” Toyota has not commented on the Kyodo report, according to media sources.
Toyota’s deal, announced in 2015, is thought to be the largest sponsorship the IOC has ever signed. At the time, Japanese media said it was worth $835 million.
Kyodo’s report says Toyota is unhappy with how the IOC has used the money. The car company thinks the IOC isn’t doing enough to support the athletes and promote the games.
During the Tokyo Summer Olympics in 2021, the IOC was criticized for not supporting the mental health of its athletes.
Toyota sources told Kyodo that they want to keep sponsoring the Paralympic games. However, the IOC requires sponsors to support all its events.
Toyota is one of only 15 “TOP” sponsors in The Olympic Partner program, the highest level of sponsorship, limited to one company per industry. Other TOP sponsors include Coca-Cola, Samsung, Intel, Corona Cero, and Procter & Gamble.
Toyota pulled its commercials from the delayed 2021 Tokyo Olympics, and its executives did not attend the opening ceremonies because of COVID-19 safety concerns.
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Atharva Shetye.
