Olympic Feds Debate Rio Olympic Revenues

(ATR) ASOIF members will finalize the revenue distribution model for Rio 2016 at their general assembly next month.

The IOC announced a new revenue-sharing formula for the 2016 Olympics in May 2013. The Executive Board revised the composition of summer federations in the five groups used to distribute revenue. It has since been developed by the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF).

ASOIF director Andrew Ryan tells Around the Rings there was further debate about the model for division of Rio 2016 revenues at last week’s summer federations’ council meeting in Lausanne.

"We reviewed a number of possible revenue distribution models and agreed one which we will finalize and present to the general assembly in Sochi," he told ATR.

"We looked at lots of different permutations and ways to do it… how to divide the money."

For London 2012, around $525 million in revenues was distributed – a 75 percent increase on the $296 million windfall from Beijing 2008. The IAAF received about $40 million, Group B federations $22 million apiece, with $16 million going to each Group C member and $14 million each to Group E sports.

Ryan said Rio 2016 revenues would likely show a small increase on London 2012.

He said the groups will play a "signficant role but are not everything" in deciding which federations receive what from Rio revenues.

Chaired by its president Francesco Ricci Bitti, the ASOIF Council also discussed progress on the IF Sports Data Platform project.

Backed by the IOC, the initiative aims to offer a one‐stop‐shop for historical sports data worldwide on behalf of the Summer Olympic international federations.

The goal is to significantly improve data standards, data integration and quality for the Olympic Games and facilitate greater media exposure for the Summer Olympic sports across all platforms.

The IOC’s wish to collaborate more closely on the project, implementing elements of Agenda 2020, has increased the scope and complexity of the project. It will now play an important part in the Olympic TV Channel initiative currently being undertaken by the IOC.

ASOIF is currently working on license agreements with each of its member federations. The final implementation phase of the project will be discussed at the general assembly in Sochi.

The ASOIF Council will meet on April 21 on the sidelines of the SportAccord Convention. The general assembly takes place the following day.

As first reported last week by ATR, ASOIF will hold a special summit on April 23 to debate issues and concerns related to the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Officials from the IOC and the two OCOGs will be invited to participate.

Reported by Mark Bisson

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