From July 10th to August 14th 2015 close to 7,000 athletes from across Latin America, South America, the Caribbean and North America will gather in Southern Ontario to put years of intense training,and commitment to the test in world-class competition in 36 Pan Am sports and 15 Parapan Am sports at the TORONTO 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games.
The Pan American and Para Pan American Games
The Pan American and Para Pan American games are the world’s third largest international multi-sport Games; surpassed in size and scope only by the Olympic Summer Games and the Asian Games. The Pan Am Games have been hosted in a dozen countries throughout the Americas, and Canada has hosted them twice; both times in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
The funding for events such as the Pan American Games comes partially from sponsorship. To ensure funding goals are met, organizing committees typically engage professionals with proven success and high expertise securing games sponsorships.
The acquisition of major sponsors is complex and time consuming, taking up to three years. For example, my most recent assignment with the Organizing Committee for the Toronto 2015 Pan American Games that started in the summer of 2010 (after the Olympic Winter Games) just wrapped in spring of 2013.
The assignment, which I undertook in collaboration with my colleague Leila Bell Irving, was composed of three key deliverables – the sponsorship business plan, the acquisition of the first two sponsors, and assistance in hiring Games senior staff. .
Sponsorship Business Plan
The first step in acquiring sponsors is to create a business plan or “road map” that will lead the Games to their sponsorship revenue objectives. The sponsorship business plan for Toronto 2015 included researching past Olympic, Commonwealth and Pan American Games sponsorship revenues, developing the sponsorship rights and benefits package, recommending investment levels for each tier, identifying prospects and developing specific strategies for each sponsorship category.
The Acquisition of the First Two Sponsors
Traditionally in Olympic and other International Games the first few sponsorship agreements that are signed set the tone and establish the bar for the entire sales program. The acquisition of CIBC and Chevrolet represented the two largest sponsorship agreements in the history of the Pan American Games. We worked with the Games President and Senior Vice President of marketing and Revenue through the entire sales process to acquire these two important sponsors.
Read the announcements: CIBC Announcement | Chevrolet Announcement
Assisting in Hiring the Games Staff
The Toronto 2015 Organizing Committee will grow to over 400 sports professionals committed to delivering the best ever experience for all of the Athletes and Participants.
Our final mandate was to assist in the Games Committee with the hiring of the Games Vice President of Sponsorship Sales and Service and the Director of Sponsorship Sales. Once those roles were in place, we worked for several months to ensure a seamless transition.
Since we completed our assignment in Spring 2013 the Organizing Committee have attracted many more top Canadian and Global companies to their roster of sponsors.
The Toronto 2015 Pan American Games will be fantastic. VIVA PAN AM!
