London 2012 Olympic bid to seek commercial backers

The success of the Commonwealth Games in Manchester has re-established the UK as a venue for top-class international sporting events, and made an Olympic bid more likely.

Commercial backers of a bid for the Games will be asked to lend financial support and marketing expertise in an attempt to improve London's chances of staging the world's premier sporting event for the first time since 1948. Each partner will be expected to pay thousands of pounds for a role in the bid process.

The BOA has been working with the government and Greater London Authority on the feasibility of staging the Olympics in the capital.

The BOA must inform the International Olympic Committee of its intention to submit a bid by July 2003, with a decision made in 2005.

However, Tim Crow, a director of sponsorship consultancy Karen Earl, warned that cynicism about sports politics fuelled by the controversial Wembley and Pickett's Lock projects, meant brands would need to tread carefully in linking with an Olympics bid.

This article was first published on Marketing