Olympics: Samsung extends Olympics sponsorship to 2028 - IOC

[December 04, 2018]    BERLIN (Reuters) - South Korea's Samsung has extended its sponsorship contract with the International Olympic Committee by eight years and will remain a top sponsor until the 2028 Los Angeles Games, the world governing body said on Tuesday.

Yoshiro Mori, president of the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee, attends a countdown event to mark the two years until the opening of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 in Tokyo, Japan, July 24, 2018. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

Samsung, who first signed up as a top sponsor with the IOC in 1998 and was a local sponsor at the 1988 Seoul Olympics as well, will support all Games up until and including the Los Angeles summer Olympics.

"I am delighted that we will be building on two decades of partnership with Samsung for another 10 years," said IOC President Thomas Bach at the signing ceremony in Seoul.

"Together, we are able to connect with and inspire Olympic athletes and fans around the world, and we look forward to working with Samsung to build the digital future of the Olympic Games."

Samsung is one of 14 top sponsors of the Olympics that also includes Coca-Cola, Intel and Panasonic.

Many of them have signed on till 2028 or beyond. In September, German insurer Allianz became the latest addition to the group, signing up to 2028.

No financial details of the deal were released but media reports have said the IOC has been seeking around $50 million per year for similar deals.

The 2022 winter Olympics will be held in Beijing, while the 2024 summer Games will be staged in Paris. The hosts of the 2026 winter Games will be announced next year.

(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; editing by Sudipto Ganguly)

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