A bombshell to start the work week on Aug. 22.
United States Olympic Committee chief communications officer Patrick Sandusky Tweeted that there would be no bid for the 2020 Summer Olympics from the United States. That means by 2020 it will have been 24 years since the U.S. hosted the Summer Olympics, at Atlanta 1996.
"I can confirm the U.S. will not be bidding for 2020 Olympic Games," Sandusky wrote.
"With such little time left, we don't believe we could pull together a winning bid that could serve the Olympic and Paralympic movement."
The International Olympic Committee deadline for applications is Sept. 1, which is two years and two days before the Sept. 7, 2013 host city election at the 125th IOC Session in Buenos Aires. Four cities have applied: Rome, Madrid, Tokyo and Istanbul.
Another reason for the U.S. non-bid is that talks on a new revenue sharing agreement between the USOC and IOC are stalled. The USOC has collected 20 percent of all Games sponsorship revenue and 12.75 percent of TV rights revenue, because of the size and number of American sponsors and broadcasters involved in the Olympic movement. But National Olympic Committees elsewhere want a bigger piece of the pie.
There were varying degrees of interest in a 2020 bid from boosters in Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, New York and Tulsa. IOC president Jacques Rogge emphatically encouraged an American bid after the June 7 announcement of a $4.38 billion deal with NBC to broadcast and webcast the Games through 2020. What else was Rogge to say?
The elephant in the room, however, is the debt crisis plaguing the federal government and various states.
Los Angeles 1984 pioneered the private funding of an organizing committee through sponsorship and broadcast revenue. But scarce public funds would be needed for venues, infrastructure and security. Any politician backing a bid for a multi-billion-dollar mega-event in this climate of economic fear and chaos would be committing political suicide.
One can only wonder about the financial fitness of several of the declared candidates.
Rome hosted 1960. Madrid is a three-time bid loser, most recently to Rio de Janeiro for 2016. Tokyo was the 1964 host and was another 2016 loser. Istanbul, Turkey is trying for a fifth time. It was an unsuccessful candidate in the race for 2000 and 2008. Doha, Qatar may make it a five-city race.
Italy and Spain are suffering their own debt crises and Japan is struggling to rebound from its triple whammy of March 2011 disasters.
South Africa, buoyed by the 2010 FIFA World Cup, was mulling a bid, but said it will be on the sidelines for now. Delhi, India was hoping to use the 2010 Commonwealth Games as a springboard to an Olympic bid for 2020, but that strategy backfired. Suresh Kalmadi, the chairman of the Indian Olympic Committee and Commonwealth Games' chief organizer, was jailed in a corruption investigation. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India slammed Kalmadi and company in a scathing, August-released report.
A group in Toronto lobbied Mayor Rob Ford, but the 2010-elected Ford rejected their overtures. A sensible decision to walk before running. The city, still coming to terms with the G20 riots of 2010, is scheduled to host the 2015 Pan American Games.
* * * * *
By 2020, it will be 18 years since the United States last hosted a winter Olympics. That was Salt Lake 2002.
Reno-Tahoe and Denver are considering bids for winter 2022, but will obviously need the USOC nod to make the IOC application. The 2022 process won't begin until 2013, after summer 2020 is awarded.
"Not considering winter at this point, either," Sandusky said Aug. 22.
By 2022, it will have been a dozen years since the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. "Canada's Games" were the last such mega-event in Canada or the U.S.
Vancouver also has the distinction of being the last city in North America to host a world exposition.
There have been 11 world expositions since Vancouver hosted Expo 86. None of them were held in North America.
Edmonton's bid for 2017 was kiboshed suddenly in November 2010 when Canada's Conservative federal government refused to underwrite $700 million in costs for fear of alienating other parts of Canada, namely Quebec.
Showing posts with label USOC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label USOC. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Saturday, January 15, 2011
IOC back to business with first 2011 meeting
The International Olympic Committee's Executive Board met Jan. 13 at the five-ring headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland -- 11 months after the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics and one year before the 2013 Youth Olympic Winter Games in Innsbruck, Austria.
Executive Board doesn't release minutes. No information was released on whether VANOC was discussed behind closed doors. The Vancouver 2010 final report will be delivered to the 123rd IOC session July 1-9 at Durban, South Africa. That is where the host of the 2018 Winter Games will be chosen from among either Annecy, France, Munich, Germany or PyeongChang, South Korea. Only three bids were received. By comparison, there were eight candidates for the 2010 Games.
Executive Board added to the minimum requirements for cities to bid on the Games. The prospective host national Olympic committee must be compliant with the World Anti-Doping Agency and accept the jurisdiction of the Court of Arbitration in Sport to settle disputes.
"Without that there is no candidature," Rogge said.
Executive Board also decided there could be "a waiver for the rule of the dates of the Games because of climactic and geographic issues," Rogge said.
But would the IOC move the 2022 Winter Olympics if FIFA decides to hold the 2022 Qatar World Cup in January?
"We have not had contacts with FIFA for the very good reason this is a very hypothetical discussion, FIFA has not yet taken the decision in principle to shift to winter months.
"The situation for the IOC is very clear: the IOC would organize the Winter Games in the winter obviously. The bracket we're having is roughly, last week of January and the month of February. There is no way you can organize Winter Games in December or in March.
"For us it's clear that is the bracket for the games. It would be sensible once a decision would be envisioned by FIFA, to sit around the table to see it is not harmful for either of the two partners.
"As of today we think it is far too premature."
Otherwise, how are IOC and FIFA relations after FIFA president Sepp Blatter accused the IOC of being a non-transparent organization that handles its finances like a "housewife"?
"The incident that arose is closed, it is the past, I don't think about it and I'm very glad the relationship is very good," Rogge said.
Rogge admitted the IOC is probing allegations of corruption against Issa Hayatou, who is an IOC member and FIFA vice-president. Andrew Jennings reported that Hayatou was among those involved in the ISL bribery scandal in the 1990s during the FIFA's Dirty Secrets documentary aired by Panorama in December 2010:
"We have referred this to the Ethics Commission of the IOC and the Ethics Commission is collecting information, they are discussing with the BBC. I believe that the BBC, under the condition that the identity of the sources would be preserved, would be willing to give information, and we need that information."
That Ethics Commission saw Spanish ambassador Jose Luis Dicenta Ballester replace former United Nations secretary general Javier Perez de Cuellar.
If Tottenham Hotspur FC wins the bid to take over the London Olympic stadium after the 2012 Games, it might demolish and rebuild on the same site. Rogge said "this is not our business" because it is a matter for LOCOG, the Olympic Park Legacy Society and U.K. Athletics.
"If a solution could be found for the track, we would be happy," he said. " Don't expect the IOC to intervene forcefully anyway in this issue where we are not responsible."
Rogge said discussions with the United States Olympic Committee over revenue sharing are accelerating. A truce was announced at the 2009 SportAccord convention in Denver. Smaller NOCs want a bigger piece of the revenue pie, but the USOC argues that American broadcasters and sponsors are the biggest funders of the IOC.
Rogge said "pretty soon" the IOC would meet with American broadcast companies about bidding for rights to air the Games of 2014 and beyond.
"After that meeting then there will be a decision how we are going to tender out , what the format and specifications are going to be," Rogge said.
The IOC normally sells packages in pairs, but U.S. companies want to buy four at a time if the price is right. NBC is the incumbent. It paid $2.2 billion for Vancouver 2010 and London 2012.
The IOC's finances are "solid" with reserves of US$550 million.
.
Executive Board doesn't release minutes. No information was released on whether VANOC was discussed behind closed doors. The Vancouver 2010 final report will be delivered to the 123rd IOC session July 1-9 at Durban, South Africa. That is where the host of the 2018 Winter Games will be chosen from among either Annecy, France, Munich, Germany or PyeongChang, South Korea. Only three bids were received. By comparison, there were eight candidates for the 2010 Games.
Executive Board added to the minimum requirements for cities to bid on the Games. The prospective host national Olympic committee must be compliant with the World Anti-Doping Agency and accept the jurisdiction of the Court of Arbitration in Sport to settle disputes.
"Without that there is no candidature," Rogge said.
Executive Board also decided there could be "a waiver for the rule of the dates of the Games because of climactic and geographic issues," Rogge said.
But would the IOC move the 2022 Winter Olympics if FIFA decides to hold the 2022 Qatar World Cup in January?
"We have not had contacts with FIFA for the very good reason this is a very hypothetical discussion, FIFA has not yet taken the decision in principle to shift to winter months.
"The situation for the IOC is very clear: the IOC would organize the Winter Games in the winter obviously. The bracket we're having is roughly, last week of January and the month of February. There is no way you can organize Winter Games in December or in March.
"For us it's clear that is the bracket for the games. It would be sensible once a decision would be envisioned by FIFA, to sit around the table to see it is not harmful for either of the two partners.
"As of today we think it is far too premature."
Otherwise, how are IOC and FIFA relations after FIFA president Sepp Blatter accused the IOC of being a non-transparent organization that handles its finances like a "housewife"?
"The incident that arose is closed, it is the past, I don't think about it and I'm very glad the relationship is very good," Rogge said.
Rogge admitted the IOC is probing allegations of corruption against Issa Hayatou, who is an IOC member and FIFA vice-president. Andrew Jennings reported that Hayatou was among those involved in the ISL bribery scandal in the 1990s during the FIFA's Dirty Secrets documentary aired by Panorama in December 2010:
"We have referred this to the Ethics Commission of the IOC and the Ethics Commission is collecting information, they are discussing with the BBC. I believe that the BBC, under the condition that the identity of the sources would be preserved, would be willing to give information, and we need that information."
That Ethics Commission saw Spanish ambassador Jose Luis Dicenta Ballester replace former United Nations secretary general Javier Perez de Cuellar.
If Tottenham Hotspur FC wins the bid to take over the London Olympic stadium after the 2012 Games, it might demolish and rebuild on the same site. Rogge said "this is not our business" because it is a matter for LOCOG, the Olympic Park Legacy Society and U.K. Athletics.
"If a solution could be found for the track, we would be happy," he said. " Don't expect the IOC to intervene forcefully anyway in this issue where we are not responsible."
Rogge said discussions with the United States Olympic Committee over revenue sharing are accelerating. A truce was announced at the 2009 SportAccord convention in Denver. Smaller NOCs want a bigger piece of the revenue pie, but the USOC argues that American broadcasters and sponsors are the biggest funders of the IOC.
Rogge said "pretty soon" the IOC would meet with American broadcast companies about bidding for rights to air the Games of 2014 and beyond.
"After that meeting then there will be a decision how we are going to tender out , what the format and specifications are going to be," Rogge said.
The IOC normally sells packages in pairs, but U.S. companies want to buy four at a time if the price is right. NBC is the incumbent. It paid $2.2 billion for Vancouver 2010 and London 2012.
The IOC's finances are "solid" with reserves of US$550 million.
.
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