Covid-19: Visa (payments) extends athlete partnerships by 1 year after postponement of the Olympics

Visa, a US-based payment solutions and financial services group, has extended its athlete partnerships for another year, until 2021, following the one-year postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic Games, according to the US news agency The Associated Press on 29/03/2020. The next Tokyo Olympic Games (JPN) will be held from 23/07 to 08/08/2021.

"The athletes were contacted on Friday (27/03/2020) to be given the option of extending their sponsorship terms with Visa. It is the first clear commitment by a major sponsor to extend such sponsorship support after the unprecedented delay to the Olympics by a year was announced last week by the IOC," said the news agency. Visa is a Top Partner of the International Olympic Committee until 2032.

"The credit card giant's Team Visa scheme features 96 athletes across 27 sports, including soccer star Megan Rapinoe (OL Reign, National Women's Soccer League), gymnast Simone Biles (USA) - a quadruple gold medalist at the Rio de Janeiro Games - and two-time defending 800-meter Olympic champion David Rudisha (KEN)," added The Associated Press.

"We…