It’s February 2026, and the Winter Olympic games in Italy are in full swing. And if you think the competition on the slopes and on the ice is fierce, it’s got nothing on the sponsors and advertisers trying to get your attention while you’re looking up the latest medal counts.

Unless you’re really close to the Games, you might not realize that athletes are highly restricted in what they can do or say to promote their individual sponsors. It’s all governed by the IOC’s Rule 40, which is designed to protect the Games’ TOP sponsors.

The rise of social media, though, has forced the IOC to re-evaluate how it applies Rule 40, which has created new opportunities for Olympic athletes.

To break down these changes, I had a chance to connect with Dr Andrea Geurin, Professor of Sports Business at NYU’s Tisch Institute for Global Sport. Dr Guerin is an expert in marketing the Olympics and the application of Rule 40. In our conversation we break down the original intent behind the rule, how it’s being modified, and what athletes can do to take advantage of relaxed restrictions.

ABOUT THIS PODCAST

The Sports Business Conversations podcast is a production of ADC Partners, a sports marketing agency that specializes in creating, managing, and evaluating effective partnerships between brands and sports. All rights reserved.

YOUR HOST

Dave Almy brings over 30 years of sports marketing and sports business experience to his role as host of the "1-on-1: Sports Business Conversations" podcast. Dave is the co-Founder of ADC Partners.

FOLLOW US

Here's where you can find us:

• LinkedIn: adc-partners
• Instagram: adc_partners_podcast
• Threads: adc_partners_podcast
• Youtube: @adcpartners
• Homepage: adcpartners.com/podcast

00:01

Andrea Geurin

Hey. This is Dr. Andrea Guerin, professor of sport business at NTY Tisch institute for global sport. And this is the sports business conversations podcast from ADC partners.

00:31

Dave Almy

00:55

Dave Almy

Can do or say to promote their individual sponsors.

00:59

Dave Almy

It's all governed by the IOC's Rule 40, which is designed to protect the game's top sponsors. The rise of social media, though, has forced the IOC to reevaluate how it applies Rule 40, which has created new opportunities for Olympic athletes. To break down these changes, I had a chance to connect with Dr. Andrea Garam, professor of sports business at NYU's Tisch Institute for Global Sport. Dr. Geurin is an expert in marketing the Olympics and the application of Rule 40. In our conversation, we break down the original intent behind the rule, how it's being modified, and what athletes can do to take advantage of relaxed restrictions. So thanks for listening in on my conversation with Dr. Andrea Geurin, professor of sports business at NYU's Tisch Institute for Global Sport.

01:49

Dave Almy

Hope you enjoy. Dr. Geurin, before we dive into the meat of the conversation, I want to get a little sense of how you came to this field of study about Olympics and Olympic athletes. How did it first get on your radar and what made you think, like, this is something that I want to dive into for a field of study?

02:12

Andrea Geurin

02:52

Dave Almy

And all of them, every last one, every single one.

02:56

Andrea Geurin

And the reality is just so different from that. So when I started doing research and was, you know, working on my PhD, that was around the same Time that social media was becoming a thing. It was, it was more than just Facebook for people with a, you know, university account. And so I really saw social media as potentially being kind of more of an equalizer for athletes like those in the Olympic Games who, you know, heavily rely on sponsorships or their family or, you know, working one or two jobs to fund their training and their competitions.

03:32

Andrea Geurin

And so for me, it was just really interesting to see kind of how was social media being used and then with Rule 40, which I know we're talking about a lot today, that sort of prohibits athletes from posting about their sponsors during the biggest competition of their lives. So I was really drawn to it. I think just having worked in Olympic sport, having seen the reality of a lot of athletes and then seeing how social media could actually really help them in terms of their careers.

04:04

Dave Almy

The Olympics are sort of famously controlling of the images associated with the Games. I mean, that's obviously notoriously protective of the rings, but also I don't think people really understand how protective they are of the athletes and the images of themselves. So you're seeing social media and that sort of democratization of how people could control their own images and create their own stories and transmit those out on their own behalf really sort of ran up against what you just referenced, Rule 40. So before we dive in, for people who aren't familiar with Rule 40, what is it and how did it kind of become a defining part of the Olympics messaging?

04:48

Andrea Geurin

Yeah. So Rule 40, I think we can kind of look at it from two perspectives when we describe what it is.

04:54

Dave Almy

All right, I'm settling into my chair for the two perspectives. Here we go.

04:58

Andrea Geurin

From the IOC's perspective, so the International Olympic Committee, it is anti. Ambush marketing, basically protective mechanism that protects their official sponsors. And, and for anyone who doesn't know what ambush marketing is, it is a form of marketing where a brand who is not an official sponsor attempts to associate themselves with a large event to capitalize on something like the Olympics or the World cup or the, you know.

05:27

Dave Almy

NCAA Final Four, kind of sneaking on in without the rights to do so.

05:31

Andrea Geurin

Yes, exactly. And so Rule 40, it. It began as a way to prevent that from happening in the Olympics. And then it also from. From an athlete's perspective. So that's the second perspective. It really is a rule that prohibits them from fully recognizing their own personal sponsors when they are competing in the Olympic Games. So it. And again, that's to prevent those personal sponsors from sort of benefiting from that Olympic affiliation. And the IOC 30% of their revenue comes from their, what are considered their top SPonsors. And they contribute over a four year cycle, over $2.2 billion. So they really want to protect those associations.

06:19

Dave Almy

This is also like for athletes and we're talking about, this is obviously being recorded during the Winter Olympics. But I think everybody's kind of familiar with the individual athletes, right? The individual, the skier comes to the bottom of the hill. The first thing they do is they raise the skis over the top of their heads. And that's, it's not so much a celebratory moment, it's clearly celebratory, but it's also to build recognition for the ski company that supported the beginning of this journey. And, and that kind of stuff does not fly at the Olympics. Right? Because to your point, controlling. I think one of the most famous examples of this is like Michael Jordan draping the flag over the Reeboks logo because he was a Nike athlete.

06:52

Dave Almy

It was all this back and forth and again, the IOC protecting its main sponsors, the people who underwrite your game. To your point, you said what, 30% of the revenue comes from the sponsors.

07:06

Andrea Geurin

Yeah, 30%, right.

07:07

Dave Almy

07:27

Andrea Geurin

08:20

Andrea Geurin

And there were a host of protection.

08:22

Dave Almy

Sounds tortuous, right? Trying to figure out how to do.

08:24

Andrea Geurin

The post, use the word gold. They couldn't use like gold, silver, bronze in the. So, so it's basically just a generic post. But it was better than what they've been able to do in the past.

08:37

Dave Almy

Had it in previously just sort of been aligned with the two weeks of the Games. Right. Like during the two weeks of the game or is with all the preceding time as well. They couldn't make any reference to the fact that, oh my gosh, I'm looking forward to the Rio Games coming up.

08:48

Andrea Geurin

Yeah, there's a blackout period is what. Is what it's commonly known as. And so you've got the Olympic Games and then it's usually like seven to nine days before the Games begin and then a few days after it ends. So that's the protected period. And it's, you know, relying on athletes to know that because otherwise. Yeah, they are going to slip up and probably violate the rule and not even need to.

09:12

Dave Almy

I mean, I think it's safe to say it. I'm not surprising anybody when I say that the. The IOC is sort of famously litigious over the protection of the rings. Did that extend into Rule 42 had there been athletes who got a foul of the law for the rule, for lack of a better term?

09:30

Andrea Geurin

09:53

Dave Almy

Oh, really?

09:54

Andrea Geurin

10:23

Dave Almy

Like, what does that slap on the wrist look like? Is it a fine? Is it restriction from performance? I mean, it was a case by case.

10:32

Andrea Geurin

I think it's case by case. And the interesting thing is that enforcement is up to each individual National Olympic Committee. In the US athletes are essentially policed by the usopc, the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee. Yeah. And so, like, you know, in the uk, the athletes there are being policed by sport England or UK sport. So it's up to each individual country. And I think the interesting part about that is, like, what country actually wants to punish their athletes.

11:10

Dave Almy

Well, and I'm also assuming you get varying degrees of wrist slapping.

11:16

Andrea Geurin

Yes, and also with social media, I mean I've done research where we look at what athletes post during the Olympic Games and we're talking like thousands of posts from just one country, like tens of thousands of posts being made. How does a, how does a National Olympic committee even keep up with that?

11:35

Dave Almy

Yeah, most of them are not fully staffed on a good year. So they're not going to have anybody combing through athletes social media posts.

11:42

Andrea Geurin

12:26

Dave Almy

It's on the bottom of the board.

12:27

Andrea Geurin

Yeah, she's like, the bottom of the board is really important and you know.

12:30

Dave Almy

You don't understand how this whole snowboarding thing works.

12:33

Andrea Geurin

Y. exactly. So.

12:36

Dave Almy

So she was. She forced to change gear.

12:38

Andrea Geurin

She, she basically, she pulled out of the competition, she refused to change the board, couldn't cover it up, and just said, I'm not competing.

12:47

Dave Almy

13:37

Andrea Geurin

Yes. So it's interesting because since the Olympics are still going on, when I do research on this A lot of times it's like it's after the Olympics because we want to look at everything that has been posted over that.

13:49

Dave Almy

We're doing this in real time. Dr. Garnish.

13:51

Andrea Geurin

We are doing it in real time. And, and so I want to just back up quickly in case listeners don't know this, but the current rule allows each National Olympic Committee to basically set their own restrictions on what athletes can and can't post. But they have to follow, no matter what they decide to do, they have to follow certain guidelines from the ioc. So now athletes are allowed to make what are called generic thank you posts to their sponsors. These posts. So, so like in the US they allow athletes to make up to seven total thank you posts over the course of the Games. Other countries like Germany has no restrictions. It's like athletes, you can be posting a thank you post every minute of every day and we're fine with that. So every country kind of has their own way.

14:38

Andrea Geurin

But the athletes cannot be in an Olympic uniform. They cannot be on like an Olympic venue.

14:46

Dave Almy

So they can be podiums or. Yeah, okay.

14:48

Andrea Geurin

Yeah.

14:49

Dave Almy

Not outside the skating rink or anything like that.

14:52

Andrea Geurin

Yeah. And so, and they can't use obviously like the protected, the Olympic rings, that kind of thing. So it has to be a very generic setting. But they can thank their sponsors. So when we look at kind of what are athletes doing? So one thing that has changed in the US is the USOPC now has an athlete marketing platform where they're operating. I think it's been a very good thing for athletes, but it allows athletes to kind of enter almost like a portal where they can then be considered for sponsorships and partnerships with USOPC sponsors.

15:25

Dave Almy

And they've got almost like a brokering.

15:28

Andrea Geurin

16:20

Dave Almy

So he's blending the two really well.

16:22

Andrea Geurin

Is and he's also blending it with a little bit of his own original content that he's taken at the Olympic Games that has nothing to do with sponsors.

16:30

Dave Almy

So yeah, it's just amazing that I feel like the, the athletes, as much as they need to perfect their sport, they also have to perfect their communication abilities.

16:41

Andrea Geurin

They do. It's, it's bizarre I think but I think today's athletes, like the young athletes, they don't know anything different. Like they've come up with it. You know, I got really interested in that around the Rio Games and I did interviews with athletes who were preparing to compete in Rio just to talk about their strategies for using social media. And for a lot of them it was just second nature. It was like part of the job, part of what they had to do.

17:06

Dave Almy

They just understood it as a part of what their training is all about. Making sure that there are communicating it, tracking it, posting it and doing all the pieces. It's almost organic to younger athletes now than it is to.

17:19

Andrea Geurin

Yeah, I think so. I mean they talk about, they track their posts, they know which posts are getting more engagement and we know which ones are going to perform better. Everything like that.

17:30

Dave Almy

I mean it's enough pressure to hone your craft to try to make it to the Olympics. Do you feel like this adaptive to the needs of sponsors on an individual level and making to the Olympics and the pressure to do that? Has that changed the nature of what it means to be an athlete? From what where their priorities lie or is it just assumed that this is just part of the gig now?

17:53

Andrea Geurin

I mean, I think it is assumed that this is part of it. I think it's just part of being an athlete. I think if we compare it to obviously 20, 30 years ago, no, that was not part of being an athlete.

18:05

Dave Almy

Because you didn't have the ability to do it.

18:08

Andrea Geurin

No, there was no way to do it. And so athletes really could just focus on the training, on the competition and there wasn't all of this kind of creating their own personal brand and you know, appealing to sponsors and things like that. So it's like these athletes have to be very savvy business people.

18:26

Dave Almy

You talk about Brady making that personal brand and that's clearly one of the defining strategies associated with having an effective social media presence that attracts sponsors, that generate revenue, where you have to start thinking about things like Rule 40 because that's what you're going to do. In addition to establishing that brand. Are there other takeaways that athletes should be looking at for if I want to find success with partners, what are some of the examples that I should be doing, including, like, building that brand and being on my authentic self and things like that? What else have you seen in your research about the effectiveness and what lessons they should take?

19:02

Andrea Geurin

So I think partnering, I feel like this is common sense, but partnering with brands that have very similar values to what the athlete has, because if the athlete tries to pretend that they value something that they really don't, eventually that comes out. And I think it. People can sniff out that it's inauthentic. One thing that I've noticed in my research, because I've done for several Olympic Games, we've looked myself and colleagues, we've looked at Rule 40 and kind of, are athletes following it? Are athletes violating it? And we look at really what they're posting before, during, and after the games. And a missed opportunity that I see with a lot of athletes is when the games are over, that's when a lot of interest in them is at its peak.

19:45

Andrea Geurin

They've undoubtedly developed new followers over the course of the Olympic Games, and that's a great time to kind of capitalize on this new audience that they have and also to, you know, because they've been so restricted in what they can post about personal sponsors during the Games. Afterwards, when they've developed this greater following, that's a really good time, I think, to highlight their current sponsors. But what we tend to see is, I think, athletes, it's like the games are over. They breathe out a sigh of relief, and they just kind of shut off for a while, and so we don't see as much.

20:17

Dave Almy

So it's almost like they get too focused on messaging during the Games that afterwards they're just looking for that break. But that's really where you and your research and your colleagues are saying, like, look, if you're gonna strike, that's the time to do it. Right. That's when the most attention is being placed there. Yes.

20:32

Andrea Geurin

And especially if they've experienced any kind of success, you know, however they define that, whatever that success was, that's also a good time that they might be able to engage new potential partners.

20:43

Dave Almy

Okay, it seems like Rule 40 has a lot of parallels to what's happening in college sports right now with name, image, likeness. Right. You've got, you know, okay, we're making some accommodations at the Olympic level. Clearly, the craziness that's happening in college sports right now, I Guess I'm curious what your impression is that this means for the. Just the concept of amateurism. I mean, is it even relevant anymore? I mean, it's so transactional now, and there's so much money being put into it. Where. Where does amateurism even fall now?

21:18

Andrea Geurin

That is a great question.

21:20

Dave Almy

Yeah, you're the doctor.

21:23

Andrea Geurin

I don't know that the concept of amateurism is even. I don't think it exists anymore. I mean, maybe in high school athletics, maybe. But definitely not in college, but the Nil and Olympics. And it's interesting that you bring this up. Right now I'm teaching a class that's all freshmen. And so, you know, they're 18, 19 years old and they don't know anything. They don't understand amateurism. So I was trying to explain it the other day and explaining how in the past, you know, Olympic athletes had to choose between capitalizing on their success after the Olympics or going to college, but they couldn't do both. And. And yeah, it was just like, imagine.

22:06

Dave Almy

They must have looked like you were trying to explain what the Yellow Pages were like.

22:10

Andrea Geurin

Oh, my gosh. Yeah. Okay, so I don't think they know that.

22:16

Dave Almy

22:57

Dave Almy

Rule 40 will still be in place, but probably not in the same format that it has now. So I'm wondering, like, what does that evolution potentially look like to you? Does at some point the ui. So you just say, nah, it's done. There's no way to police it.

23:11

Andrea Geurin

Yeah, honestly, I think at some stage we will reach that point on the athlete side where I think that the IOC will just say, you know, post what you want to post and promote your sponsors. I don't know if we'll be there by la, but it does seem like at the moment, the athletes, the National Olympic Committees, they're getting better at understanding how to promote sponsors, how to, you know, really capitalize on the athletes commercial opportunities. So I, I don't think we'll ever see a scenario where the IOC says to non sponsoring brands, hey, run an ad campaign during the Olympics and feature all of the athletes. I think that part of Rule 40 will stay pretty much in place because it really hasn't changed much over the years.

24:00

Andrea Geurin

But on that athlete side, I do think we will see greater, I guess, freedom to post what they want to talk about and what they want to Highlight.

24:11

Dave Almy

I'm with Dr. Andrea Gurren. She is the professor of sports business at NYU's Titch Institute for Global Sport. Dr. Gurren, thanks so much for the time, but before I let you go, I'm going to put you into the lightning round. I've got a series of questions for you. You just.

24:25

Andrea Geurin

Oh, no.

24:26

Dave Almy

Yeah, well, that's the appropriate reaction. Yeah, that is it. So are you ready? You're be ready as you're going to be, right? Okay, let's do this thing. You are a triple Hoosier. You got your BA, your Ms. Your Master of Science and your PhD. So did you celebrate the Hoosiers Football Championship three times as much as everybody else?

24:46

Andrea Geurin

Oh, yes, I did. I was, I was like the ultimate Super Hoosier. I got online, no face paint, but I did reteach myself all of the cheerleading moves to the school song, and I did those. And I, like, my friends were singing the song, playing the song, so I could do the moves. I got online the next day, I ordered four pieces of merchandise with national champions on it. If I didn't have this background, you would see a banner behind me. So, yeah, it was just the best thing ever.

25:14

Dave Almy

Okay. For those who are only listening on audio right now, there's a level of excitement that's going on for Garden of Futurism. So congratulations there. You list Spanish Club among your activities when you attended Mount Vernon High School. How was your, how was your fluency during the Bad Bunny super bowl halftime show?

25:35

Andrea Geurin

Very bad.

25:36

Dave Almy

Oh, see? Okay. Buino. All right. Very good. All right.

25:39

Andrea Geurin

So, yeah, my old Spanish teacher would be very proud of me right now.

25:42

Dave Almy

Yeah, I'm sure they're listening. What would be the Olympic Winter Olympic sport that you competed in?

25:48

Andrea Geurin

Ooh, you know what, Someone asked me this the other day. I think it would be figure skating.

25:52

Dave Almy

Oh, okay. Because you were a gymnast, so, like, I'm assuming it would sort of carry over to a certain degree.

25:57

Andrea Geurin

Yeah, I used to love figure skating. Like, as a kid, I never took lessons, but I would just go to the rink and play and I would do spins and I would do all kinds of things. Like, I was kind of fearless, kind of a natural.

26:07

Dave Almy

Well, if this professorship thing doesn't work out, maybe there's a return there. According to your buy, you've been to 34 countries. Which one do you wish you had avoided?

26:16

Andrea Geurin

Ooh, my gosh, that I.

26:21

Dave Almy

A stumper.

26:22

Andrea Geurin

I don't know.

26:23

Dave Almy

All right, we'll have to take a pass on that one.

26:25

Andrea Geurin

I've got to take a pass because I genuinely enjoyed every country.

26:28

Dave Almy

There's an aspect of enjoyment for all of them.

26:30

Andrea Geurin

Yeah.

26:30

Dave Almy

All right. Very good. So very good. All the countries are good. Last one. You label yourself as a wine enthusiast, and I live in Sonoma County, California. Which winery would you like me to visit on your behalf?

26:43

Andrea Geurin

Ooh. Oh, my gosh. Now I have to think about this. I.

26:50

Dave Almy

We're ending with a thoughtful one.

26:52

Andrea Geurin

You really are. I'm kind of. I'm looking at my. My wine rack over to the side in the office. I'm at home right now.

27:01

Dave Almy

Well, I want to see how the office is tricked out nicely.

27:05

Andrea Geurin

You know what?

27:05

Dave Almy

There's a.

27:06

Andrea Geurin

There's a winery called Roche R O C A and I like their wines, and I feel like they've managed to stay affordable over the years. They haven't, like, gone crazy and so. Yeah.

27:18

Dave Almy

Well, I'll send you a photograph from the Roche winery sampling their fine wares on your behalf. Dr. Andrea Geurin of the NYU Tisch Institute for Global Sport, many thanks for the time.

27:28

Andrea Geurin

Thank you so much. It's been a lot of fun.