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Rio 2016 to seek less sponsorship profit

(Agencies)
Updated: 2011-04-07 09:56

LONDON - Rio 2016 will not use sponsorship to drive profit at the Olympic Games, organisers said on Wednesday, promising to "declutter" the list of potential partners once they have met their financial targets.

Rio 2016 CEO Leo Gryner said they needed to raise around $1.2 billion from sponsorship to ensure they would not need financial help from the government.

"As a nation we are not looking for profit and will reduce the number of sponsors rather than go for more money," Gryner told reporters in London. Gryner said two deals involving top tier partners in banking and telecommunications had already raised over $600 million.

"The minimum figure we were looking for in banking was $320 million and the winning bid was beyond that number," Gryner said. "This was a world record for any Olympic Games."

He added: "The target is not to need any funds from the government. We want to only use private money.

"If we manage to get the money we need to stage the Games we will look to reduce the number of sponsors, to reduce the clutter and make it better for our partners."