With the International Olympic Committee (IOC) moving Tuesday to postpone the Summer Olympics in Tokyo until 2021, it joined a long list of sports leagues, film studios and other groups whose meticulously constructed event, marketing and promotional  calendars have been thrown into disarray by the global pandemic.  And it’s had a potentially chilling effect on a host of licensees and promotional partners attached to those events.

Olympian effect

Merchandise tied directly to the Olympics themselves is largely sold in the country in which the games themselves are staged. But around the world hundreds of local licensees tap into the patriotic fervor of Team USA, Team GBR, Team Germany and the like. Much of the merchandise tied to the games and individual countries’ Olympic teams has already been manufactured or is in production. So licensees will end up holding the goods in inventory as they await news of the 2021 dates.

One saving grace: While the Games won’t happen until 2021, the Associated Press reports that the games will “still be called the 2020 Olympics,” so the goods can still be used.

The interruption of virtually the entire global sports calendar is obviously unprecedented; individual U.S. leagues occasionally have had their seasons upended by labor disputes, but according to licensees – we were unable to reach any of the leagues directly – contracts don’t directly address the current situation (unless, of course, somebody attempts to invoke force majeure).  How licensing agreements will be handled by leagues approaching their playoffs (i.e. the NBA and NHL) or the wave of business surrounding MLB’s Opening Day (planned for next week), for example, depends on how “leagues want to be either proactive or reactive” in their licensee relationships, said one manufacturer.

Film delays

There also are the delays around big films with big licensing programs. Rarely if ever do agreements include language about guarantee adjustments if release dates slip. And the sheer number of spring and summer films being delayed promise to create a logjam at retail, as well as in consumers’ psyches.

“None of us have seen anything even approaching this before, so we all are kind of navigating this without a map and learning on the fly,” said one licensing executive.

Says one licensee with long experience with entertainment properties: “I feel we all need to be smarter and include a clause [about delays] into our contracts going forward.”

In some cases, a licensee has little choice but to move forward.  The Popsicle website features packaging (which will hit shelves in the next couple of weeks) featuring Minions: The Rise of Gru. Unilever is locked into retailers’ seasonal reset of the frozen confection business,  and is going ahead with the program even though the film’s planned July 3 has been postponed.

In the case of MGM’s James Bond: No Time to Die, whose release was pushed from the planned April 10 to Nov.r 25,  apparel licensee Changes’ suppliers hadn’t begun production in China yet aside from some small orders that already have shipped, says VP Will Thompson.  If suppliers had started production, Changes would have mothballed the inventory until the film was released since “I highly doubt our retail buyers would want inventory six months prior to release to place into stores with little or no foot traffic,” says Thompson.

So in a world turned upside down,  challenges will abound. Licensing agent Stuart Seltzer shifted the focus of the licensing course he teaches at New York University:  Rather than having the 25-student class develop a licensing program for a favorite brand, Seltzer is dividing them into seven groups that will be tasked with finding “new opportunities for sports leagues, teams and players to revive and generate sales of sports merchandise.”