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Visa Unveils Roster Of Olympic Endorsers Ahead Of Tokyo Games

USWNT F Megan Rapinoe and Gold Medal-winners Simone Biles and Katie Ledecky headline Visa’s global team of Olympic endorsers heading into next year’s Tokyo Games. The list features athletes from 43 countries -- the broadest roster in Visa’s 32 years as a global Olympic sponsor -- and includes more than 30 sports, including new additions surfing, skateboarding and sport climbing. Visa Chief Brand & Innovation Marketing Officer Chris Curtin said Visa had also sought to emphasize sports who mark the Olympics as their true highest calling. As the Games have expanded, the Olympics include more events that are eclipsed by other properties in their sport, like the Rugby World Cup or professional golf’s majors.

“Increasingly, we’re putting a pronounced emphasis on finding athletes whose sport is, in the context of the Olympics, the culmination of that sport,” Curtin said. “That’s more a guideline than a rule, because there’s some exception to that, but nonetheless we think that’s where the magic is.” Other Americans on the list include paracyclist Oksana Masters , sprinter Noah Lyles and surfer Carissa Moore . Visa is a traditionally prized endorsement among athletes because of the brand’s commitment to major media buys during the Olympics and general prestige as a sponsor, offering a coveted promotional boost.

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Quote of the Day
It doesn’t take account of all the investments we make in many things, the costs of delivering the Championships to the standard that we deliver it to -- which, of course, builds a value in our brand, which, particularly for the top-10 players, they’ll see the benefits of when you look at the kind of contracts that they will have personally. Our business model, really carefully balanced over 150 years, has delivered that value -- yes, to us, yes, to British tennis -- but also back to the players.
-- All England Lawn Tennis Club CEO Sally Bolton, on how a source of frustration for AELTC leadership is the player group’s proposed revenue share structure as the mode of deciding the total prize money pool.
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