VANCOUVER – Team Canada has new jerseys to don at the 2010 Winter Olympics, while Games organizers have brought those uniforms’ maker into the sponsorship fold.
Nike Canada has signed on as one of the last sponsors of the 2010 Games.
On Monday, the Vancouver organizing committee announced it had signed a deal with Nike giving it the “high performance sport clothing” category.
The arrangement, worth between $3 and $15 million, came at the same time Hockey Canada unveiled new Nike-made jerseys for Team Canada at the 2010 Games.
With this deal secured, Vanoc has officially reached its goal of raising $760 million in sponsorship revenue. Vanoc CEO John Furlong said the committee may yet sign other sponsors and suppliers, but that it had now reached its financial target.
Vanoc had long wanted to sign Nike as a sponsor. But it took an argument between the International Olympic Committee and Hockey Canada to crystallize the opportunity.
Last year the IOC clamped down on a rule banning the logos of national sport federations from being carried on the front of athletes’ uniforms. Hockey Canada has a logo of a Maple Leaf with a hockey player inset, and it argued it was an innocuous design. The IOC disagreed, and Hockey Canada said it would come up with a new design.
That new image, unveiled Monday at the UBC Thunderbird Arena, is only a little different from the original logo. In place of the hockey player is a series of aboriginal images designed by Musqueam artist Debra Sparrow.
Hockey Canada signed a marketing deal with Nike to produce the jerseys, which it believes will be hot ticket items for patriotic Canadians. The uniforms – in red for home and white for away teams – will sell for $135. Hockey Canada will get a royalty on each jersey sold.
The arrangement also gave Vanoc the opportunity to bring Nike into its corporate fold. Dennis Kim, Vanoc’s director of licence and merchandising, said the deal will allow Nike to also brand other types of sports wear with the 2010 Olympic logo.
“Nike is associated with high performance and has been a big supporter of Canadian athletics. This is sign again of Nike stepping up and helping Canada succeed and us succeed,” Furlong said.
“I wouldn’t necessarily say it will be the last (sponsorship signed). This is another partner and it has taken us to the place we were hoping to in the marketplace, and we will keep pressing on looking for new friends and partners to put on the Olympic Games the best way we can. “
The Vanoc deal involves some cash and the provision of a number of jerseys Vanoc will sell or market, Kim said. He would not give details. He said Vanoc will also get royalties.
Vanoc’s logo will be affixed to the left sleeve. Part of Vanoc royalties will also go to the IOC and the Canadian Olympic Committee.
Bob Nicholson, Hockey Canada’s president, believes the simple jersey will become popular as Team Canada’s men’s and women’s teams again go for gold. The jersey will also be worn by Canada’s defending gold medal champion Paralympic sledge hockey team.
“This is about the jersey that we are all going to put on with so much pride," said Nicholson. “When our men’s team, women’s team and sledge team put this jersey on, we want every youngster to have dreams. We will have many more players who will want to be playing in the Olympics in the future because of this partnership."
Read Jeff Lee’s Olympic blog at www.vancouversun.com/insidetheolympics
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