Small companies 'bitter' over Olympic sponsorship gag

 
Deal sealed: A deal for West Ham to take over London Olympic stadium is expected to be confirmed later
26 March 2013

Some small companies who worked on the London Olympics have been left "bitter" and "cynical" because they are still unable to discuss their involvement for fear of breaching sponsorship rights, MPs were told today.

The Culture, Media and Sport select committee heard that companies were travelling to Rio to bid for work on the Games in 2016, but they felt that they they could still not promote their involvement in London 2012.

Matthew Griffiths, chief executive officer of PLASA, a trade association for people who supply technologies and services to the event and entertainment industries, said that businesses understood the importance of protecting sponsors when they signed up.

But he said: "What no-one thought would happen was that, post the Olympics, that ban would stay in place or that there wouldn't be a relaxing of that ban."

He said that a scheme put in place following the end of the Games in September last year, to allow companies to talk had failed to work in practice.

"Post Olympics, it would seem only fair and right that companies that took part would be able to say that they took part," he said.

He added: "People are going to Rio to try to bid for the Games there ...but they're not allowed to talk about the work that they've done in the Olympics technically because of these restrictions....It's ridiculous."

He said: "There's a company that built the iconic Olympic rings that went up. they're not allowed to talk about it...

"Everybody understood why the restrictions were there but it has blown up in our faces.

Many of the companies now felt "bitter (and) cynical about it", he said, adding: "They've given up on it really."

He told MPs: "We can say 'we provided X Y and Z to the Olympics'. That's not the same as going out there and promoting and pitching for contracts by showing what you did at the Olympics."

Mr Griffiths said that there was no evidence that any "ban has been enforced (following the Games)".

But he said he wanted official permission for companies to promote their work as "my understanding from the contracts was that the ban was in place forever".

Mr Griffiths said that the British Olympic Association (BOA) was now looking after sponsorship rights after London 2012 organisers Locog had been wound down.

Culture committee chairman John Whittingdale offered to contact the BOA for clarification.

"I'm very happy that we pursue this with the BOA and try to get some clarification because it sounds completely daft," he said.

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