IOC and U.S. set framework for revenue-sharing deal 30/03/2009 |
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International Olympic officials and the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) agreed the framework for a new revenue-sharing agreement on Friday, heralding a fresh era of cooperation between the two governing bodies.
The announcement by International Olympic Committee (IOC) chief Jacques Rogge on the final day of executive board meetings defused an explosive issue within the Olympic movement that had threatened to derail Chicago's bid to host the 2016 Games.
"We feel this is a new era of cooperation and friendship between the USOC and the IOC," said Bob Ctvrtlik, the USOC vice-chairman for international relations and part of the four-member negotiating team.
"It's a very strong signal that the animosity or the lack of communication of the past is finished.
"This agreement has finally given some clarity to this process with a defined timetable." he added.
Senior IOC officials had argued USOC received more than its fair share from global marketing contracts and U.S. broadcasting revenues and sought a fairer distribution of the Olympic pie.
The USOC maintained it was entitled to a larger share because American television rights and sponsors keep Olympic coffers flush with cash, providing the IOC with more than 50 percent of its revenues.
The week began with high-ranking Olympic officials angrily submitting a resolution to terminate the current contract.
It ended with handshakes and the USOC agreeing to negotiate a new revenue-sharing deal and contribute more money to the cost of running the Olympic Games.
TWO-PHASE PROJECT
The USOC and IOC said they will meet again later this year to work out how much the United States will pay toward Olympic Games costs, which include items such as drug-testing.
The current revenue-sharing agreement, signed in 1996, will remain in place and in 2013 a new deal will be negotiated and take effect starting in 2020.
"This is a two-phase project," Rogge explained to reporters. "There will be a meeting before the end of the year when we will study the support of the USOC to the Games cost. The USOC has stressed they will participate at an appropriate level.
"We have the date of 2013 (for revenue-sharing) because we are now bound by contracts until 2020 under the current agreement and have sponsors signed on until 2020.
"They have signed under the agreement that was signed in 1996 and we want to respect that.
"We agreed there would be a new key to distribution for the revenues that come after 2020."
The agreement was welcome news for Chicago 2016 organizers.
Locked in a tight battle with Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo to host the Summer Games, Chicago bid officials feared a backlash from angry IOC members when it is time to vote on the host city in October.
Rogge said IOC members would not link the revenue-sharing issue and the race to stage the 2016 Olympics but some USOC members were not so sure.
"This (agreement) does take a little pressure off," said Ctvrtlik. "We never felt that the IOC membership would hold this against the bid.
"As the IOC president said, we never felt there was a strong linkage but in a race where one or two votes can make a difference we'd rather have this behind us which we feel we do at this point."
(Source: Reuters)
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