A company that makes tubs of protein-shake powder for bodybuilders is suing the organizers of the upcoming Mr. Olympia contest to try to block them from making major sponsorship deals with the manufacturer’s competitors, the Wall Street Journal reported today. With its lawsuit, Connecticut-based Ultimate Nutrition Inc. said that the organizers of Mr. Olympia — the top U.S. bodybuilding competition, held in Las Vegas — are advertising new sponsorship deals for companies that want their “brand front and center” at the Sept. 17-20 event. Those offers infringe on Ultimate Nutrition’s exclusive sponsorship deal, the company said. Officials for Ultimate Nutrition, which makes nutritional supplements to enhanced athletic performance and fitness, signed a $626,800 sponsorship contract in May, enabling it to become the “exclusive title sponsor” for a seventh year, according to documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Hartford. The deal meant Ultimate Nutrition will have its logo “prominently placed” on the competition’s stage, at the press conference setup and throughout a fitness expo that runs throughout the weekend. The new sponsorship opportunities “substantially undermine the prominence that the Ultimate Nutrition logo is required to be given by Olympia,” Ultimate Nutrition’s lawyers said in court papers.
