The unstated message of the 1984 Olympics; the Los Angeles games will show U.S. private enterprise at work

Nation's Business, March, 1984 by Henry Eason

THE LOS ANGELES Olympics are proving to be an effective worldwide advertisement for capitalism. But Peter Ueberroth, president of the Los Angeles Olympics Organizing Committee, politely rejects making any propaganda capital out of this accomplishment. Ueberroth frowns on mixing politics with sports--as occurred in 1980, when 62 nations refused to participate in the Moscow games in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

"We don't want to give out the message in a political sense," says Ueberroth. "We are not interested in being labeled the private enterprise games."

The Olympics committee initially sought funding from the city government, but the people of Los Angeles voted overwhelmingly in a 1978 referendum to prohibit spending tax dollars on the games. Corporate America then rushed into the breach.

Twenty-nine companies paying a minimum of $4 million each for the privilege of using the Olympics theme in their advertising, became official sponsors. The committee raised the additional amount needed primarily from the sale of television broadcasting rights (a record $225 million from the American Broadcasting Company) and through ticket and souvenir sales.

The total budget is expected to be about $500 million--small compared with Soviet expenditures in 1980 of $9 billion. The Los Angeles group performed this fiscal sleight of hand by winning the donation of Southern California playing fields and dormitory space, thus saving the cost of constructing an Olympics village.

This year's games "promise to provide a compelling look at America's freedom and life-style," says Dennis Long, president of Anheuser-Busch, which has contributed more than $11 million to the Olympics. Ueberroth, who has a business background himself--he formerly headed a large Los Angeles travel agency--says Anheuser-Busch is one of America's best examples of a corporate sports sponsor.

The beer company is, of course, winning promotional benefits for its efforts. But it is doing so with a light touch. Anheuser-Busch did not exercise its right to the imprimatur "official beer of the Olympics," because it did not want to convey the impression that beer consumption in any way contributes to athletic prowess. Instead, the company's ads identify it as a "proud sponsor."

Ueberroth's committee, in a conscious effort to downplay commercialism, decided to limit the number of corporate sponsors. Ueberroth says sponsorship of the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid by 381 companies gave too much of a commercial flavor to the events.

Most corporate sponsors this time are adding in-kind services to their cash support.

International Business Machines, for example, is donating use of its new Audio Distribution System. This will allow the more than 10,000 athletes and 2,000 coaches to coordinate daily schedules through recorded messages. COMPANIES have hired 40 of the 592 participating American athletes. The athletes hold down regular jobs, for which they are paid full salaries and given customary company benefits. But they are permitted to train and participate in preparatory events during much of the workweek.

Tom Petranoff, the world record-holding javelin thrower, is on the employe relations staff at Anheuser-Busch's Van Nuys, Calif., brewery.

For him, says Petranoff, his job's "bottom line is paying rent, paying bills, being able to travel to international competitions." He hopes more companies will help meet athletes' economic needs.

The Los Angeles games, to be held July 28 through August 12, are expected to have a $3.3 billion economic impact on southern California, generating many millions of dollars in tax revenues.

Says Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley: "Private sector contributions have made the Olympics possible. We are greatly in debt to the corporate citizens of this country who have stepped forward to finance the games."