Toyota Set To End Its Massive Olympic Sponsorship Deal After Paris

Toyota signed one of the biggest sponsorship contracts with the IOC in 2015, reportedly valued at $835 million for four Olympics through the 2024 Paris Games – two winter and two summer Games starting with the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games in South Korea.

Japanese news agency Kyodo said Toyota was unhappy the way sponsorship money was used by the IOC. Quoting sources, Kyodo said Toyota felt the money was “not used effectively to support athletes and promote sports”.

Both IOC and Toyota haven’t confirmed the news officially despite requests from various news agencies.

In a statement, the IOC told the Associated Press: “We have an agreement with Toyota until the Olympic Games Paris 2024. We continue to work closely together in preparation for Paris and we look forward to bringing these plans to life.”

Toyota had pulled out all Olympic-related advertising during the 2020 Tokyo Games that were held in 2021. It felt “conflicted” with the public sentiment in Japan that the Games should not have been held at a time when the country was suffering from the after-effects of the COVID pandemic.

Toyota is supplying more than 2,650 electrified vehicles and 700 electric last-mile mobility solutions for the Paris Games, and using it as an opportunity to showcase inclusive and sustainable mobility.

The company is part of IOC’s TOP (The Olympic Partners) sponsors, which generates nearly 30 percent of the total IOC revenue of the $7.6 billion it made during the last four-year cycle ending with the Tokyo Games. Apart from Toyota, the TOP sponsors are ABInBev, Airbnb, Alibaba, Allianz, Atos, Bridgestone, Coca-Cola, Deloitte, Intel, Omega, Panasonic, P&G, Samsung, and Visa.