Sponsor Spotlight -- Atos Origin Tests Vancouver IT; Sponsorship Opportunities for USOC

USOC CEO Stephanie Streeter . (ATR/Panasonic:Lumix)Atos Origin Test IT System Before 2010

Six months before the start of the Winter Games, TOP Sponsor Atos Origin completed testing on the IT system last week in Vancouver.

The testing was the last round of live testing before the Olympics in February.

“Testing at this event was one of the remaining key milestones to ensure a flawless execution of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games on the world stage,” Magnus Alvarsson, Atos Origin’s Chief Integration Officer for the 2010 Games, said.

The tests were held with the Women’s 2009 Ice Hockey Canada Cup and allowed Atos to test with a live event.

Atos’ IT system will provide results to media, athletes, organizers and spectators in less than 0.3 seconds at the Winter Games.

Sponsorships Tough in Sports World

U.S. Olympic Committee chief executive officer Stephanie Streeter said a number of sponsorship categories for the USOC are still open, including several "that we're not far enough along to talk about who or what they are."

Streeter made the comments at the quarterly meeting of the USOC’s board of directors in Chicago on Thursday.

She said she recently had a conversation with representatives from the NFL and Major League Baseball "and both said, they're not having that much trouble with ticket sales, but where they are having trouble is with sponsorships. I think every sports entity in America is having some difficulty with sponsorships and it's still a very tough market."

She said when the USOC can talk to sponsors about new activation ideas using the value of the Olympic brand, "we're at least getting some traction, but it's still a very tough market."

Visa Reveals Plans for U-20 World Cup

Visa revealed a number of promotional activities that will be part of its sponsorship of the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup football tournament at a press conference in Cairo, Egypt, the host for the event, on Friday.

The tournament will be held in Cairo Sept. 25-Oct. 16.

The credit card giant said it would hold a Swipe & Win campaign that would offer cardholders an opportunity to win tickets to the tournament. Fans would also get a chance to take tours of the stadium and watch the players warm up before the matches from the sidelines.

Tarek Elhousseiny, Visa’s general manager for North and West Africa, said Visa would also host a number of events related to the U-20 World Cup, including the Visa Penalty Kick Off tournament and the FIFA U-20 World Cup trophy exhibition at a number of local sporting clubs in Cairo.

“The FIFA partnership links Visa, the world’s leading payment brand, and football, the world’s most passionately followed sport, in a unique relationship that delivers tangible business for our shareholders, financial institution clients, their cardholders and the merchant community,” said Dan Griffin, head of sponsorship for Visa CEMEA (Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa) in a statement. DBS is the Official Banking Partner of the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games. (SYOGOC)

DBS Group Named YOG Official Banking Partner

Limited-edition commemorative pre-paid cards will be available for the Singapore Youth Olympic Games after DBS Group (DBS) became the Official Banking Partner of the 2010 Games.

DBS will also provide branch banking services and VISA, ATM services at the Youth Olympic Village and venues as part of the sponsorship agreement.

“As a home-grown financial institution and leading bank in Asia, we are confident that DBS will provide excellent banking services to the participants of this inaugural international multi-sport event,” Goh kee Nguan, CEO of SYOGOC, said.

DBS will provide 500,000 pre-paid cards for Singapore 2010 accredited personnel and ticketed spectators.

Written by Greg Oshust and Isia Reaves.

This coverage is proudly presented by Chicago 2016