April 15, 2008 Boston Marathon to put ads at start, finish

BOSTON (AP) - The Boston Marathon is breaking with a 112-year tradition and putting corporate ads on the starting and finish lines to help its two main sponsors extract more value from ties with the world's oldest marathon.

The changes highlight distance running's growing dependence on sponsors to provide lucrative prize money to attract leading athletes and raise its profile, said Guy Morse, executive director of the Boston Athletic Association, the race's organizer.

They also demonstrate Boston Marathon's need for support to meet operating expenses and make donations to the eight cities and towns that provide public safety and other services to runners passing along its 26.2-mile route, Morse said.

"We continue to feel the ever growing pressure of recruiting elite athletes and costs of putting on the first-class product," he said, adding that organizers want to keep sponsors happy and encourage them to "continue to support the event which becomes more and more expensive every year to produce."

The arrangements were made under terms of existing contracts with John Hancock Financial Services and German sports equipment and apparel maker Adidas AG, and no new money was exchanged. However, the logo placement could form a basis for pressing for even more lucrative terms in future sponsorship contracts, Morse said.

Boston-based John Hancock helped the marathon evolve from an amateur to a professional event in 1986,

The company's sponsorship expires in 2018. Adidas, which became another main sponsor in 1989, has a sponsorship contract through 2010.

Officials at the two companies did not immediately respond to calls seeking comment Tuesday.

Dorothy Ferriter, head of the marathon committee in Hopkinton, the town where the race begins, is taking news of the ads in stride. She said she was wary of signs overwhelming the start, but the limited ads might be a reasonable price to pay for corporate support.

"It's not like they are up in the air, blocking anyone's view or anything like that," said Ferriter, who has been involved with the race since 1983.

Few other such venerated spots in sports remain free of advertising.

The finish-line archway at the Chicago Marathon is branded with logos of the main sponsors on its sides, and the last 300-400 yards feature A-frames with ads from other official backers. The New York Marathon's finish also is branded with the colors and logos of its main sponsors.

Even Fenway Park's famous left field wall, known as "the Green Monster" has billboard-sized ads hanging above the seats that sit atop it, and ads along both sides of the scoreboard at the wall's base. The Boston Red Sox began advertising space above the wall in 2002 - marking the first time signs were displayed there since the wall was painted green in 1947.

Boston Marathon's ads, however, will be limited to those painted on the ground, the press bridge from where photographers capture images of athletes taking the final grueling and the sides of the VIP sitting area, Morse said.

"That's significant for the Boston Marathon because it has been, by design, very much noncommercial up until now, and we are still going to be noncommercial relative to ... any other marathon," Morse said.

Bill Rodgers, a four-time Boston Marathon winner, said sponsors deserve recognition for their support.

"Sponsorship helped the sport grow, prize money helped the sport grow in the U.S.," Rodgers said.

Associated Press reporters Mark Jewell and Jay Lindsay in Boston, Ann Levin in New York and Tammy Webber in Chicago contributed to this story.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)