Going For The Gold

Entering the merchandising game starts with the application process, which begins several years before a particular Olympics. While Olympic marketing is organized as a joint venture between the host country's Olympic sports governing body and the host city's Olympic organizing committee, you should contact the organizing committee's licensing division directly to get an application and learn its particular procedures.

Be patient. Nothing is going to happen quickly. If you are accepted, you'll pay, in advance, a percentage of your total expected retail sales. You'll also pay a certain percentage of predetermined royalties from your Olympic products.

The 1998 Winter Olympics will be held in Japan, followed by the 2000 Summer Games in Australia and the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City. It's never too soon to get started; the Salt Lake City Olympic Organizing Committee is already accepting applications.

©For the 1998 Winter Olympics in Japan, contact the Organizing Committee for the XVIII Olympic Winter Games, Nagano 1998, KT Bldg. 3109-63, Kawaishinden, Nagano City, 380 Japan, or call 81-26-225-1959.

©For the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, contact the Sydney Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games, Penny Baker, Retail Product Manager, GPO Box 2000, Sydney 2001, Australia, or call 61-2-297-2000.

©For the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, contact Rod Hamson, Director of Marketing, 257 E. 200 South, #600, Salt Lake City, UT 84111, or call (801) 322-2002.

"We welcome new opportunities and ideas," Hamson says. "We'd like to find companies with different ways of distributing their products to the market. We're looking for products that enhance the winter sports."

This article was originally published in the July 1996 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Going For The Gold.