Gavin Du Venage
THE Cape Town Olympic Bid committee is about to clinch the two crucial sponsorship deals that will bring it close to the R80-million it needs to fund its bid to host the 2004 Olympic Games.
The two sponsors, almost certainly Sun International and South African Airways, are expected to announce their backing within the next few weeks. SAA is apparently planning a lavish ceremony to announce its support.
The bid committee has already secured support from major corporations like Mercedes-Benz, Unifruco, Eskom, Caltex and Nedbank. However, R80-million is the minimum the committee has to raise if it hopes to present a credible bid.
Bid representative Paul Johnson would not confirm either SAA or Sun International’s participation. He did say that official announcements could be expected soon from a major airline and hotel group.
“The procurement of sponsors is ongoing,” he told the Mail & Guardian. “Estimates of how much money we need have ranged from R75- million to R90-million, but the most recent audit showed that R80-million was the cut-off mark.”
The bid committee has tried to woo sponsors by offering a package of exclusive marketing rights. These include the right to use Cape Town’s Olympic bid logo — a map of Africa made up of the South African colours over the words: Cape Town 2004.
Another drawcard was to accept only one major sponsor from a specific industry sector. Hence Mercedes Benz will be the only motor manufacturer to support the bid. SAA as the only large South African airline was the sole credible candidate for the committee. It would not even have had to come up with a generous package to have its name attached to the bid, although it would have to do better than suppliers.
Suppliers get to label themselves according to the service they provide. However, to be recognised as a supporter would take substantial financial support. Sun International is already an official sponsor of the South African Olympic team taking part in Atlanta.
Sponsorship runs until September 1997 when the winning city is announced. After that, sponsorship has to be renegotiated with the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
The immediate challenge facing the committee is the presentation of its bid book, which takes place in August. The book, to be published by Churchill Murray, is a technical manual written to specific requirements setting out the bidding city’s proposals on how it will provide transport, sports facilities and various other essential elements of hosting the games.
The IOC will select a shortlist of candidates on the strength of the bid books from the 11 competing cities. About half will be eliminated after the books have been analysed.
Deposed South African Rugby Football Union (Sarfu) chief executive officer Edward Griffiths is to edit the book. Griffiths told the M&G he took the job as a stop-gap until his fight to get his post back was settled.
“My priority is my reinstatement with Sarfu,” Griffiths said. Sarfu president Louis Luyt fired Griffiths without explanation last month. He said he had no plans to stay on after August, although he would consider extending his commitment if he failed to win back his Sarfu job.
Griffiths payed a major role in organising the Rugby World Cup, experience which will no doubt greatly benefit in planning the bid presentation.
Griffiths dismissed critics who say the event is too large for Cape Town to handle: “A year before the world cup there were great fears that we could not manage such a large event. What happened was we hosted the most successful world cup ever. The bid will take an enormous amount of work, but the underlying success of South Africa is its ability to think big. It can be done.”
Griffiths said even if Cape Town did not win the bid to host the Games, “the impressive thing about the bid is that it will transform a city of two halves into a single entity.”