Dick’s Sporting Goods has signed a deal to become the official sporting goods retail sponsor for the U.S. Olympic Committee and Team USA. The alliance was announced yesterday at Dick’s headquarters in Pittsburgh, attended by executives from the company and the USOC. Financial terms of the alliance were not shared.
The pact will be supported by multi-platform marketing, an in-store employment program and sporting goods equipment donations, as needed, to U.S. Olympic Training Centers. The Dick’s Team USA Store Ambassador Program would “provide U.S. Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls with flexible work opportunities in Dick’s stores to accommodate their training schedules.”
Dick’s said it would also offer sponsorships and sporting goods equipment from their stores to several Team USA athletes “to help them pursue their Olympic and Paralympic dreams.”
“At Dick’s, we believe in the spirit of athletes and the power of their dreams,” Lauren Hobart, svp/CMO for Dick’s Sporting Goods, said during the event. “We plan to be there to support the athletes who need it most, in a way that no other sporting goods retailer possibly can.”
The next Olympics are the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro and the 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChan, South Korea.
According to Lisa Baird, CMO for the USOC, “We are thrilled to welcome Dick’s Sporting Goods to our great family of USOC partners. Dick’s support of Team USA athletes, including opportunities for employment in the communities where they live and train, opens up new pathways for America’s elite athletes to achieve their dream of competing on the biggest stage in sport.”
