USOC Pleased With 2024 Interest

(ATR) The U.S. Olympic Committee is "pleased with the level of interest" shown by cities approached about a potential 2024 Summer Games bid, CEO Scott Blackmun said Friday after the first quarterly board of directors meeting.

The USOC sent letters to mayors of 35 cities last month, with two-time Olympic host Los Angeles expressing an enthusiastic "yes" and disillusioned 2016 candidate Chicago a resounding "no." San Francisco, Dallas and Boston have formed exploratory committees, while 2012 candidate New York has not taken a public stand.

"We’ve gotten a handful of really positive responses and a handful of, ‘Gee thanks for asking, but this isn’t the right fit for us,’" Blackmun said following the board meeting in New York. "We don’t want to get into any specific city responses, but it’s really going very well."

He added that the USOC is "not going to say which cities we’re talking to… for now," explaining that the organization will respect the privacy of cities that want to "engage in this process quietly."

Blackmun said the process will be "streamlined" and not as costly as the 2012 and 2016 bid campaigns, which resembled their international counterparts. Blackmun said Chicago and Los Angeles, which also wanted the 2016 Games, spent "significant sums," reportedly up to $10 million, as did New York four years earlier.

The USOC will hold informal discussions with interested cities as opposed to laying out a bid submission format and timetable. Discussions will take place this year and the USOC hopes that by early next year it can work with a short list of cities, maybe two or three, which Blackmun said can "result in us choosing the partner that we think gives us the best chance of submitting a winning bid."

An applicant city could be picked by the end of 2014, Blackmun said, but "the decision is really a long way off for us at this point."

The USOC has not committed to bidding for the 2024 Games, and could decide to go after the 2026 Winter Games instead. Board chairman Larry Probst said there was "no discussion" about 2026 at the board meeting.

Los Angeles hosted the Games in 1932 and 1984 and competed for thedomestic bid in 2012 as well as 2016. The IOC’s willingness to allow London to host the Olympics for the third time in 2012 is a boost to LA's hopes. Blackmun said the USOC has no "predisposition" toward a new city or a former Olympic host as its candidate.

"We’re delighted that LA has expressed an interest," Blackmun said. "Obviously LA can handle the Games; they’ve done a great job in the past.

He said London’s example shows that "it’s clearly not a disadvantage to have hosted the Games in the past and obviously we know that LA could do it."

Blackmun said that if the USOC does go forward with a 2024 bid, the board of directors would have to approve. However, he said it is still unclear if the USOC would recommend one city to the board for approval, or bring forward more than one city and ask the board to interact with the candidates and eventually vote.

"We haven’t gotten that far along in the process yet," Blackmun said.

Athletes get more control over likenesses

In collaboration with the NGB Council and the Athletes Advisory Council, the USOC board approved a policy regarding the use of athlete likenesses and images by the national governing bodies. "It marks an important step forward for us, being able to articulate when NGBs can use athlete images and when they can’t," Blackmun said. He said the agreement was reflective of a "more collaborative attitude" among the parties.

The NGBs have the ability to use athletes’ likenesses for non-commercial purposes, such as a program related to an event, its partners or its operations. However, if a sponsor wants to use an athlete’s image, that would require the athlete’s consent.

...Other Board Topics

...The board of directors discussed the interaction between the USOC and WADA. Edwin Moses and Travis Tygart represented USADA at the meeting.

...Whitney Ping, a 2004 U.S. table tennis Olympian, and Bill Marolt, a 1964 Olympic skier and chief of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association, formally joined the board

...Probst said the USOC was in "very good shape" in terms of financial health. The board had a discussion about a more aggressive fundraising and development effort going forward. The discussion was led by an outside consultant.

...Marketing plans and sports performance preparations for Sochi were presented to the board.

Written by Karen Rosen.

20 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.