The struggle for financial autonomy: The IOC and the historical emergence of corporate sponsorship,1896--2000.
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文摘
Today,with the insurgence of vast revenues generated through a phenomenon referred to as "Olympic marketing," composed largely of the sale of television broadcast rights,corporate sponsorship funding,licensing,tickets sales,coins,and philatelic programs,the financial instability that once existed within the IOC is difficult to imagine. Where once only leaders of sport tread,lawyers and marketing experts in increasing numbers now walk the halls and foyers of the IOC Secretariat at the Chateau de Vidy in Lausanne,Switzerland. This dissertation provides a detailed,critical analysis of the historical evolution of the IOCs approach to revenue generation through corporate sponsorship. It pursues a thematic approach which examines the roles played by individuals and organizations leading the IOC to evolve from a practically destitute institution for over a half century,to one that now generates quadrennial revenues in excess of four billion U.S. dollars,some 40% of which is generated by corporate sponsorship. Although the work examines a one-hundred year span,its focus falls on the period following the Games of the XXth Olympiad in Munich in 1972. The Olympic Movement today is quite different from what it was in 1980. Although the principle aims of the Olympic Movement remain unchanged,the IOCs marriage to commercialism has indelibly altered its administrative existence,which has also come with its own set of consequences. The recent Olympic crisis is a case in point. However,as one IOC official has recently stated: "No political accommodation,whether in sport or politics in general,can occur without making choices,and each choice has its own set of consequences." Despite the international stature of the Olympic Games,most of the recorded scholarly work analysing the IOCs shift toward commercialisation has relied on various secondary sources. This dissertation relies heavily on primary source IOC archival material in Lausanne,as well as the personal archives of the Chairman of the Commission of New Sources of Financing,since 1985,the chief architect of the IOCs marriage to corporate interests. Thus,this investigation examines the subject from a perspective of the IOC "outward," rather than from the corporate sponsors/media "inward."