Parma, Italy – Barilla Holding SpA, the world’s largest maker of pasta, won’t renew its endorsement contract with U.S. skier Bode Miller, a former world champion who failed to win a medal in five races at the Winter Olympics two months ago.
Barilla said it had an option to renew the three-year deal with Miller by March 31 and didn’t take it. The contract is due to expire July 31. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
Barilla’s decision was unrelated to Miller’s results at the Winter Olympics in Italy, company spokesman Fabio Fortina said. The top-ranked male skier in 2005 and the first American to win the overall World Cup title in more than 20 years, Miller finished just two of his five races and was seen more often in bars than on the slopes.
“His results were extraordinary,” Fortina said in an interview Tuesday. “It’s hard to imagine anyone having done better.”
Miller’s agent, Lowell Taub, was traveling and unavailable for comment.
Fortina said Barilla typically sticks to three-year contracts and noted the company did the same with Italian skier Alberto Tomba in the 1990s.
“Our sponsorships are linked to an advertising cycle, and this one has come to an end,” Fortina said. “We were extremely satisfied. The returns in terms of coverage of Barilla were extraordinary.”
Barilla is one of about 12 companies that Miller had endorsement contracts with leading up to the Olympics. Others include Nike Inc., Visa USA Inc. and Bretton Woods ski resort in New Hampshire.
Nike spokesman Dean Stoyer said the company will continue to sponsor Miller through the end of the multiyear contract he signed in March 2005. Stoyer didn’t say when that contract ends.
