The International Olympic Committee on the eve of the Paris Games is facing an increasing number of problems. Several of them are not related in any way to the upcoming Olympics, but threaten the IOC with very serious consequences.
Money “not being used effectively”
As reported by the Kyodo news agency, Toyota Motor Corporation intends to end its sponsorship agreement with the International Olympic Committee after the end of the Paris Olympics.
The current contract between Toyota Motor and the IOC was signed in 2015, with a value of about $640 million.
In particular, Toyota Motor provided organizers of the 2024 Olympics with 3,000 cars, including environmentally friendly models.
The corporation decided not to renew the contract expiring in 2024 due to the fact that the money transferred to the IOC “is not being used effectively to support athletes and promote sports.”
Toyota Motor was willing to continue working with the International Paralympic Committee, but this partial option didn’t suit the IOC.
The corporation does not plan to completely withdraw its support for sports, but now its efforts will be focused on helping Japanese clubs and national teams.
Raids and trials as routine
News of Toyota Motor’s sponsorship withdrawal came following reports of raids at the headquarters of the 2026 Winter Olympics organizing committee. Its leaders are suspected of financial irregularities.
The IOC tried to remain calm: “The IOC is aware that the investigation is not directed against anyone from the current committee. We also know that the committee has provided full support to investigators and is cooperating with them.”
Corruption scandals surrounding the Olympics have become a common occurrence and one of the reasons why there are fewer and fewer interested in hosting the Games.
The wave of corruption cases after the 2020 Tokyo Games led the Japanese Sapporo to abandon the idea of hosting the 2030 Winter Olympics. Raids were also conducted on the Paris Olympics organizers.
McDonald’s left in English style
Financial violations, political agendas, organizational chaos — all of this not only repels new sponsors from the Olympics but also those who have long been working with the IOC.
The readiness of the International Olympic Committee to delegate the right to host the Olympic Games with a long-term perspective is explained by a stable decrease in the number of interested parties willing to embark on this venture.
Not everyone noticed, but McDonald’s, which left Russia, had already left the Olympics much earlier. The corporation, a sponsor of the Olympics since 1976, parted ways with the IOC in 2017.
“In a rapidly changing business environment, we understand that McDonald’s is focused on other projects. Therefore, we decided to end our collaboration with them,” announced the IOC’s director of television and marketing Timo Lumme at that time.
It’s easy to say that “the squad didn’t notice the loss of a soldier,” but that’s not true. Perhaps there would have been more interested parties, but men in high heels carrying Olympic torches, support for the Western agenda, and similar things repel wealthy sponsors from countries with traditional values, so to speak.
Bach is doing well. But only good for him
By the way, the desperate resistance of WADA to USADA’s demands for a new hearing in the “Chinese swimmers case” is also directly related to money. If the “Chinese doping case” is opened, it will cause a withdrawal of Chinese sponsors from the IOC, finally turning the Olympics into a plaything of American corporations.
IOC officials reassure — today, the main income comes not so much from sponsors as from television rights sales. Hence the inclusion of “street” sports in the Games program, whose popularity with the audience is higher than that of traditional sports.
But if the competition decreases, the best athletes will be excluded for political reasons, who will need such a picture?
The problem is that the only beneficiary of the Olympics is the International Olympic Committee itself. And sponsors watching how Bach does business are very unhappy with what’s going on. Hence the breakup, which, obviously, will not be the last.