New Olympic Consulting Firm Arises in Atlanta

(ATR) A new consulting firm is created from the demise of the Atlanta office of Paris-based Helios.

Renaissance Sports was formed by Kevin Donovan after the Helios office in Atlanta closed in May..

The company hopes to chase Olympic bids along with emerging corporate sponsors and sports property rights holders.

"To a certain degree, we are shifting our positioning of the company towards emerging brands or companies that are involved in sports already that may need to reposition their brand and get more out of their sports investment," Donovan told Around the Rings in an interview.

So far, no new hires have been made from outside those who were let go by Helios, but Donovan said the company has some new hires "waiting in the wings" if business continues to expand.

"We were in a situation where there were still numerous opportunities and there was a lot of talent here, so the thinking became, 'Let’s start something new. Let’s keep going.'"

The company also will not be pursuing any Olympic bids until the Olympic Agenda 2020 changes take effect. Donovan noted the field for 2024 is looking strong, but the company is "watching and waiting right now."

"What really needs to happen now for the Olympic Games to drive demand is they need to strengthen those financial incentives for cities to want to host the Games. Atlanta in hindsight is one of the great models for that, and I hope people recognize that."

Donovan said the company would not stick just to the Olympics, and would work on other major events such as the World Cup.

"We worked on the successful bid for Brasilia 2019 and [the World University Games] have a bid every two years so there is some opportunity to help them expand beyond Europe."

Renaissance Sports recently launched its website, which can be found here.

Written by Aaron Bauer

Homepage photo: Getty Images

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