- U.S. Olympic officials are preparing to secure sponsors for Utah's 2034 Games.
- Talks with companies like Delta Air Lines and Starbucks could start soon.
- Sponsorships are crucial, expected to generate $1.8 billion of the $4 billion needed.
SALT LAKE CITY — U.S. Olympic officials are already preparing to line up sponsors for Utah's 2034 Winter Games.
Talks with companies like Delta Air Lines, Honda and Starbucks that are already domestic sponsors for the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles could begin just months from now, the CEO of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, Sarah Hirshland, told reporters Wednesday.
Such sponsorships are the largest single source of revenue for Utah's Organizing Committee for the 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, anticipated to bring in $1.8 billion toward the $4 billion price tag for hosting, revenues that would be split with the USOPC.
"Starting in January of 2027, we have the opportunity to begin renewal discussions that would take us back after the LA Games in 2028," Hirshland said. "There is some relatively timely work being done with us and with the Utah organizing group to prepare ourselves."
The preparation that's underway is "to start to have that partnership come into play and renewal discussions to start to happen. Whether there will be a renewal or not this year, I don't know," she said.
"But certainly, as we start in 2027, our expectation is we will begin to focus in earnest on the '29 and beyond period of time and will do that in close partnership with the Utah organizing committee, for sure."
Brad Wilson, the organizing committee's CEO, had told the Deseret News recently that current domestic sponsors may be approached in the coming year to renew for 2034. Organizers are counting on private sources of revenue to pay for the state's next Winter Games.
Besides domestic sponsors, those sources include tickets sales as well as a share of the money made from broadcast rights and global sponsorships that are handled by the International Olympic Committee.
Technically, the organizing committee can't sign domestic sponsors until 2029 under the terms of the host contract with the IOC, said Fraser Bullock, the organizing committee's president and executive chair.
Bullock said the deals will be made through a joint venture with the USOPC that is still being put together, similar to how domestic sponsorships were sold for Utah's 2002 Winter Games as well as LA's Summer Games.
"The USOPC has the right in 2027 to enter negotiations relative to Team USA that would become effective post-LA," Bullock said. "We, however, as an organizing committee, cannot enter into negotiations until after LA"
Utah organizers are "so thrilled with the success that LA is having because we believe it will open doors for us when it's our turn," he said, adding that they're also cheering on the USOPC and Team USA. "We're very optimistic for them."
The list of sponsors for what will be the third Olympics in Los Angeles includes everything from the $400 million deal in 2020 that made Delta the official airline for Team USA to an official chocolate and confections provider, Hersheys.
Some of the corporations most closely associated with the Olympics, like Coca-Cola and Visa, are global level sponsors. The IOC is reportedly in discussions with a U.S. bank, JPMorgan Chase, even though banking has previously been a domestic sponsor category.
