PARIS – Capping months of speculation, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton on Monday signed on to grow to be a premium partner of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, guaranteeing the world’s biggest luxury group prime visibility throughout the planetary event, including its eagerly awaited opening ceremony.

While LVMH didn’t disclose the financial terms of the sponsorship deal, sources with knowledge of the matter said it had put 150 million euros on the table. Organizers are billing the Paris Games as “the largest event on the earth,” expected to attract 4 billion TV viewers, 13 million spectators and 20,000 journalists.

Several major LVMH houses will play a special role throughout the Games, with jeweler Chaumet designing the medals, and Louis Vuitton, Dior, Berluti, Sephora and the Moët Hennessy wines and spirits division also collaborating, the group said.

As well as, LVMH will sponsor athletes including French swimmer Léon Marchand, who this weekend broke Michael Phelps’ last individual world record. Those relationships will pave the way in which for sports stars to ink brand ambassador contracts with its houses.

“This unprecedented partnership with the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games will contribute to heightening the appeal of France around the globe. It was only natural that LVMH and its maisons be a part of this exceptional international event,” LVMH chairman and chief executive officer Bernard Arnault said in a press release.

“The values of passion, excellence and inclusion championed by high-level sports are cultivated every day by our teams, motivated by an unwavering desire to surpass limits. Sports is an incredible source of inspiration for our maisons, which can unite creative excellence and athletic performance by contributing their savoir-faire and daring innovation to this extraordinary celebration,” he added.

The Paris 2024 Olympic Committee was keen to sign LVMH because it inches closer to its goal of 1.4 billion euros in sponsorship deals, out of a complete budget of 4.4 billion euros.

Antoine Arnault, head of communication, image and environment at LVMH, described the negotiations as a courtship dance that lasted greater than a 12 months.

“Such a vital and wide-ranging partnership is a primary for LVMH, so there have been long negotiations, not only with the International Olympic Committee and the Paris 2024 Olympic Committee, but in addition internally to work out the very best option to develop this partnership,” he told WWD in an interview on Monday on the headquarters of Berluti, where he’s CEO.

“It was vital for us to be a know-how partner, and a partner that actually contributes something to those Olympic and Paralympic Games, and never only a sponsor who signs a check after which completely steps back from the event,” he said. “When you consider the amounts which were committed, it doesn’t seem disproportionate either when it comes to time spent.”

Arnault said the thorny issue of international rights had been resolved. Unlike global partners similar to Coca-Cola, Omega or P&G, premium partners earn marketing rights for the country where the event is held. LVMH joins a cohort that features retailer Carrefour and telecommunications operator Orange.

“These games happen in France and the visibility will start from France, but we obviously have international rights. We will’t inform you exactly and intimately all the pieces that has been negotiated, but you’ll find out because the partnership is unveiled,” Arnault said.

While the LVMH logo will appear on sponsorship materials, one other sticking point was defining the precise roles of its various brands as purveyors of specialised know-how, under the tag line “Artisan of All Victories.” Arnault said it was vital to respect existing partnerships, which explains why none of its watch brands can be taking an energetic role.

Chaumet will design the medals, on account of be unveiled early next 12 months. “It’s the primary time that a jeweler has designed medals, in association with the Paris Mint,” Arnault said.

He hinted that Dior could be within the highlight throughout the opening ceremony, on account of happen on July 26, 2024. For the primary time within the history of the Summer Olympic Games, the event — conceived by artistic director Thomas Jolly — will happen not in a stadium but on the Seine River and in key locations in central Paris.

“We’re the craftsmanship partner of those Olympic Games, and craftsmanship and know-how being one among the specificities of France, almost a matter of national pride, this ceremony across Paris could have different themes and moments, and we hope that one among those moments will highlight France’s craftsmanship, know-how and artistic outlook,” Arnault said.

Moët Hennessy, home to 25 wines and spirits brands including Moët & Chandon Champagne, Hennessy cognac and Château d’Yquem wine, will provide its wares as a part of hospitality programs. While French law prohibits the sale of alcohol within the sports stadiums and other venues where Olympic events can be held next summer, there are exceptions for VIP suites.

“There are private hospitality zones across Paris by which Moët Hennessy’s products can be available,” said Arnault, noting these weren’t limited to competition spaces.  

Beauty retailer Sephora can be a partner for the Olympic Torch Relay, set to kick off within the southern French city of Marseille on May 8, and can offer activations for the general public all along the relay route, in addition to at group locations along the itinerary and at stops.

While Arnault declined to comment on the role of Vuitton, the world’s biggest luxury brand has a history of sports collaborations, producing trophy cases for partners including the NBA, America’s Cup, the FIFA World Cup and the Rugby World Cup, and lengthening into esports via a partnership with Riot Games, the maker of the “League of Legends” video game.

The brand is prone to have some involvement with the Olympic medal ceremonies, sources said.

Meanwhile, Arnault said Berluti could dress the French delegation for the opening and shutting ceremonies, since these will not be covered by French athletic brand Le Coq Sportif’s contract as official supplier of the French Olympic and Paralympic team uniforms, designed by Pigalle Paris founder Stéphane Ashpool.

Along with Marchand, who set a recent record on Saturday within the 400 meters individual medley on the World Aquatics Championships in Japan, LVMH expects to partner with one other 4 or five athletes, Arnault said. They’ll profit from financial support and privileged introductions to the group’s houses.  

“They’ll not wear an LVMH logo,” he said. “It’s the beginning of a relationship and after that, they may have the ability to forge links more specifically with the homes they’re fascinated about. They grow to be LVMH athletes after which, progressively, it will spread across the group through their meetings and interactions with the varied houses and their leaders.”

Vuitton has been stepping up its partnerships with sports stars. Last 12 months, its campaign featuring soccer stars Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo playing chess went viral, and it recently signed tennis phenomenon Carlos Alcaraz as brand ambassador. Meanwhile, Dior’s current campaign for the Lady 95.22 handbag features champion wheelchair fencer Beatrice “Bebe” Vio.

LVMH can also be teaming up with one among its existing partners, French charity Secours populaire français, on an initiative to enable access to sports for 1,000 children and young people aged 4 to 25 who live in vulnerable situations. The group will provide funding for sports association memberships, training programs and beginner classes.

Tony Estanguet, president of the Paris 2024 Olympic Committee, told a press conference last week that it had recently crossed the edge of 1 billion euros in sponsorship deals, and expects to finish the 12 months with 92 percent of the partnership budget secured.

“From the very outset of our project we’ve wanted the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games to contribute to promoting the image of our country and France’s many remarkable talents. Today, with the LVMH group, Paris 2024 has taken a decisive step forward,” he said within the statement.

He noted that in 2016, LVMH was one among the official sponsors of the French capital’s bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics.

“With its exceptional know-how, the LVMH group will bring its immensely creative talent to this project and enable us to learn from its extensive experience. This partnership also sends a strong signal that France’s leading businesses are behind the Paris 2024 Games, which can let our country shine brightly around your complete world,” Estanguet said.

With revenues of 79.2 billion euros in 2022, LVMH could appear well-placed to support the Games, but Antoine Arnault emphasized it was a primary for the posh group.

LVMH has been stepping up its efforts to be seen as corporate citizen amid mounting anti-rich sentiment in France, which was shaken by a series of violent protests this spring against the federal government’s pension reform, including an indication in April that spilled over into its corporate headquarters on Avenue Montaigne.

“I do know we’re the largest French company, but we never do this sort of huge partnership at group level, just because our group is sort of a confederation of homes, so it doesn’t really make sense,” he said.

“We’re doing it for the primary day out of a way of responsibility, because we predict it’s vital that as ambassadors for France, we’re present for these Games which promise to be exceptional in Paris. It’s also a source of pride to represent France and to be a partner of this planetary event which can be a showcase for France throughout 2024,” he said.

Arnault minimized the expected disruption attributable to the Games, which have prompted the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, French fashion’s governing body, to maneuver forward the dates of the autumn 2024 edition of Paris Couture Week.

“We’ll work around it,” he said. “We’ve made it through COVID-19, we’ve overcome worse things than the traffic disruption attributable to the Olympic Games.”

He said the group’s 75 houses had already requested tickets for his or her staff and partners to attend events, indicating that despite grousing from Parisians about the fee and impact of the event, there can be strong domestic support for the Games.

“Athletes and craftspeople have numerous things in common: a passion for perfecting repeated gestures, all the time wanting to do higher, and these vital moments which for the athlete is the day of the competition, and for the craftspeople, the launch of a product,” he noted. “The closer we get to the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the more it looks like it was meant to be.”