[Slintreeoost]

June 4, 2008, 12:42 pm

Chicago Becomes 2016 Finalist as Dispute Flares Between I.O.C. and ‘Immoral’ U.S.O.C.

By Jeff Z. Klein

The International Olympic Committee has announced that Chicago is among four cities selected as finalists to play host to the 2016 Summer Games, along with Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo.

Prague; Baku, Azerbaijan; and Doha, Qatar were eliminated from contention by the I.O.C. decision, which was made in Athens today. “All the bids were of a very high standard,” said I.O.C. President Jacques Rogge. “It is a tribute to the health of the Olympic Movement that the field was so strong.”

The selection comes as a rift widens between the I.O.C. and the United States Olympic Committee. In another sign that declining U.S. economic strength is taking its toll on what was once America’s hegemony in the world of sports, the I.O.C. said earlier today that it aims to lessen the “immoral” share of funds the U.S. Olympic Committee receives from domestic television rights and international marketing revenue.

The I.O.C. maintains that the roughly $100 million the U.S.O.C. gets annually from its 13 percent share of American television rights fees and 20 percent share of worldwide marketing revenue, an arrangement negotiated in an era when the U.S. dollar was the world’s strongest currency and American networks held unrivaled power in international television, must be revisited.
AP Photo/Robert F. BukatyInternational Olympic Committee member Hein Verbruggen: “How you can justify that the rest of the world has to pay for the training of American athletes? Are we out of our minds?” (Associated Press / Robert F. Bukaty)

Hein Verbruggen, an I.O.C. member from the Netherlands, called the deal “immoral” and said he was “angry with these people,” meaning the U.S.O.C., for their reluctance to renegotiate. “I simply do not understand how you can justify that the rest of the world has to pay for the training of American athletes,” he said. “Are we out of our minds?”

Supporters of the U.S. position point out that 60 percent of the I.O.C.’s revenues still come from American TV and sponsors. But as Reuters reports, I.O.C. members from other countries complain that the American Olympic Committee does not contribute to costs for the Court of Arbitration for Sport or the World Anti-Doping Agency.

Moreover, the news agency adds, “the sponsorship situation has changed considerably with Chinese, Canadian, Japanese and South Korean companies penning global deals with the I.O.C. and broadcasting revenues increasing around the world.”

As Joe Nocera reports in the current issue of the Times’s Play magazine, a Chinese sporting goods company most Americans have never heard of, “>Li-Ning, will be as much of a presence in the run-up to Beijing 2008 as older giants in the field like the U.S. company Nike. With markets like that of China’s 1.3 billion people, as well as the rising economic power of other large countries like Russia, India and those of the European Union, it’s easy to see why American business no longer rules the roost in world sport.

Some officials associated with the Chicago bid have expressed concern that the dispute with the I.O.C. could hinder the city’s chances for the 2016 Games.

However, as the Chicago Tribune reports, I.O.C. President Jacques Rogge says a “sign of goodwill” from U.S.O.C. officials on resolving the revenue dispute “could be very good for Chicago.”

Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company