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Commitments and Contingencies
12 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2016
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
Commitments and Contingencies
Note 16—Commitments and Contingencies
Commitments. The Company leases certain premises and equipment throughout the world with varying expiration dates. The Company incurred total rent expense of $159 million, $134 million and $136 million in fiscal 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively. Future minimum payments on leases, and marketing and sponsorship agreements per fiscal year, at September 30, 2017, are as follows:
 
2018
 
2019
 
2020
 
2021
 
2022
 
Thereafter
 
Total
 
(in millions)
Operating leases
$
155

 
$
119

 
$
68

 
$
64

 
$
57

 
$
163

 
$
626

Marketing and sponsorships
124

 
123

 
112

 
40

 
33

 

 
432

Total
$
279

 
$
242

 
$
180

 
$
104

 
$
90

 
$
163

 
$
1,058

Select sponsorship agreements require the Company to spend certain minimum amounts for advertising and marketing promotion over the life of the contract. For commitments where the individual years of spend are not specified in the contract, the Company has estimated the timing of when these amounts will be spent. In addition to the fixed payments stated above, select sponsorship agreements require the Company to undertake marketing, promotional or other activities up to stated monetary values to support events which the Company is sponsoring. The stated monetary value of these activities typically represents the value in the marketplace, which may be significantly higher than the actual costs incurred by the Company.
Client incentives. The Company has agreements with financial institution clients and other business partners for various programs designed to build payments volume, increase Visa product acceptance and win merchant routing transactions. These agreements, with terms ranging from one year to sixteen years, can provide card issuance and/or conversion support, volume/growth targets and marketing and program support based on specific performance requirements.
Client incentives are recognized primarily as a reduction to operating revenue in the period the related volumes and transactions occur, based on management's estimate of the client's performance in accordance with the terms of the incentive agreement. The agreements may or may not limit the amount of client incentive payments.
The table below sets forth the estimated expected future reduction of revenue per fiscal year for client incentive agreements in effect at September 30, 2017: 
(in millions)
2018
 
2019
 
2020
 
2021
 
2022
 
Thereafter
 
Total
Client incentives
$
5,049

 
$
4,654

 
$
4,117

 
$
3,658

 
$
3,102

 
$
5,080

 
$
25,660


The amount of client incentives that will be recorded as a reduction of revenue in future periods under the Company's incentive agreements is unknowable due to the inherent unpredictability of payment and transaction volume, and will likely change materially from the estimates above due to changes in performance expectations, actual client performance, amendments to existing contracts or the execution of new contracts. Increases in client incentive payments are generally driven by increases in payment and transaction volume and hence, an associated increase in revenue. As a result, in the event client incentives exceed the above estimates, it is not expected to have a material effect on the Company's financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.
Deferred purchase consideration. On June 21, 2016, the Company acquired 100% of the share capital of Visa Europe. In connection with the purchase, the Company will pay an additional €1.0 billion, plus 4% compound annual interest, on the third anniversary of the Closing. See Note 2—Visa Europe.