Rogge signs marketing deal for 2018

IOC President Jacques Rogge has signed a deal allowing South Korean organizers to sign up domestic sponsors for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

The signing ceremony took place Wednesday in Seoul hours after Rogge arrived in South Korea from China.

The joint marketing agreement gives South Korean organizers the right to use Olympic symbols and other intellectual property to draw sponsorships.

Organizers are seeking to raise $1 billion in revenues through the deal.

Pyeongchang defeated Munich and Annecy, France, in 2011 to bring the Winter Games to South Korea for the first time. South Korea hosted the 1988 Summer Games in Seoul.

Pyeongchang is located in the mountains east of the capital. Rogge is scheduled to travel there later this week to attend the Special Olympics for the intellectually disabled.