Lausanne (SUI), Jan 13, 2011: McDonalds extends Olympic Games, The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and McDonald’s Corporation announced today that McDonald’s has extended its global sponsorship agreement until 2020.
The announcement was made at the first ever Winter Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck, Austria, in the presence of IOC President Jacques Rogge and McDonald’s President and Chief Operating Officer Don Thompson.
Commenting on the announcement, President Rogge said: “We are delighted that McDonald’s, our long-time and valued Olympic Partner for more than 35 years, is continuing its ongoing commitment not only to help fund the Olympic Games but also to support the Olympic Movement around the world and ultimately the athletes themselves.”
Chief Operating Officer Don Thompson commented: “We share the Olympic ideals of teamwork, excellence and being your best. Those ideals are at the heart of what McDonald’s stands for and how we’ve brought the Games to life. Feeding the athletes is a tradition we are extremely proud of, and we look forward to continuing our role in helping to make the Games possible.”
As a TOP Sponsor and Official Restaurant of the Olympic Games, the agreement with the Olympic Movement includes sponsorship of the National Olympic Committees and their Olympic teams for the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games, Rio 2016 Olympic Games, PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games and the 2020 Olympic Games, for which the host city has yet to be elected.
The agreement also includes the Youth Olympic Games (YOG): the current Innsbruck 2012 Winter YOG, Nanjing 2014 YOG, Lillehammer 2016 Winter YOG and the 2018 YOG and 2020 Winter YOG, for which the host cities have yet to be elected.
IOC Marketing Commission Chairman Gerhard Heiberg added: “We are very pleased to continue our long-standing relationship with McDonald’s, and we appreciate the quality menu that McDonald’s delivers at the Olympics as the Official Restaurant of the Games. We believe that the long-term agreements we have in place with leading companies are a testament to the continued strength and appeal of the Olympic Games as a global marketing platform for sport.”
About McDonald’s
Olympic History
McDonald’s commitment to the Olympic Movement began in 1968, when the company airlifted hamburgers to U.S. athletes in Grenoble, France, after they reported being homesick for American food. Since then, McDonald’s has served its menu of choice and variety to millions of athletes, their families and fans. McDonald’s is the only branded food service retailer to feed the athletes, coaches, media and spectators on site at the Games. McDonald’s is dedicated to serving great-tasting, high-quality food with a focus on choice and nutrition.
London 2012 Olympic Games Highlights
As a current Worldwide TOP Partner, McDonald’s is supporting many aspects of the London 2012 Olympic Games. McDonald’s will build four new Olympic venue restaurants in The Olympic Park featuring the latest European restaurant designs. One will be located in the Olympic Village to feed the athletes, one for the media in the Main Press Center, and two for spectators.
McDonald’s will continue its longstanding tradition of featuring the McDonald’s Olympic Champion Crew — its best-of-the best restaurant employees and managers from around the world – to serve the world’s best at McDonald’s Olympic venue restaurants. The London 2012 Olympic Games will mark the largest-McDonald’s Olympic Champion Crew team in Olympic history, totaling more than 2,000 members– 1,800 from the UK and up to 200 from around the world.
Launching for the London Games is the company’s new global program called “McDonald’s Champions of Play”. McDonald’s will bring the Olympic experience to life for children worldwide in a variety of new and exciting ways through ‘fun play’ and ‘balanced eating’ activities.
McDonald’s is also the first-ever presenting partner for the ‘Games Maker’ programme. LOCOG is tapping into McDonald’s expertise in people development to help attract and train up to 70,000 people who will be volunteering to make the Games a success. McDonald’s has a proven track record in people development, and the expertise to help attract, select and train the diverse workforce that will be needed to make the Games a success.
McDonald’s is the world’s leading global food service retailer with more than 33,000 restaurants serving more than 64 million customers in 119 countries each day. More than 80% of McDonald’s restaurants worldwide are owned and operated by independent local men and women. To learn more about the company, please visit www.aboutmcdonalds.com —- IOC
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.