Building the Copenhagen top 10

To be among the truly elite, you must be on the platform with Daley and Obama(s)

By Melissa Harris - CHICAGO CONFIDENTIAL

Whenever powerful people gather, a certain hierarchy takes shape, and the show of support for Chicago’s bid in Copenhagen will be no exception.

For starters, the International Olympic Committee limits Chicago’s official delegation to 60 people. Ten of those people, plus the two U.S. delegates to the International Olympic Committee, will be on the platform during Chicago 2016′s presentation to the IOC. The remaining 50 people will be on the floor of the Bella Center.

The rest will be tucked away in a viewing room.

Chicago 2016 has been guarding the list of the 60 people as if it were the ignition code to a nuclear weapon. But Chicago Confidential is going to take an educated guess at identifying the 10 VIPs who’ll grace the platform.

Patrick Ryan, Michelle Obama, President Barack Obama (if he shows) and Oprah Winfrey are shoo-ins. (Oprah isn’t going to travel halfway across the globe to sit in the audience or a viewing room.) Mayor Richard Daley and Lori Healey, Daley’s former chief of staff and president of 2016, also will be up there.

My hunch is that the remaining four spots will include someone involved in the Olympics year-round, such as U.S. Olympic Committee acting CEO Stephanie Streeter, and someone with political prominence, such as presidential adviser Valerie Jarrett.

The group also needs a former Olympian; Edwin Moses ‘ name has been floated. And it needs a Paralympian; Linda Mastandrea, a Chicago attorney and longtime wheelchair athlete, would be ideal for that spot.

More big names could appear in videos on Chicago’s behalf. When New York made its pitch for the 2012 games, President George W. Bush taped a message. And Paris’ presentation included a sleek film by acclaimed French director Luc Besson, in which French actress Catherine Deneuve made a cameo.

Then again, neither of those cities won.

A way to startChicagoan and 2016 board member Bob Berland has a tough start to his Copenhagen schedule.

The two-time Olympian and 1984 silver medalist in judo will take off on the official 2016 charter at 9:30 p.m. Monday and arrive in Copenhagen about 5:30 a.m. Chicago time (12:30 p.m. Copenhagen time).

He’ll then quickly change into his judogi and perform in a demonstration at a judo club.

Berland, the president of Berland Printing, said he always preferred training immediately after getting off an international flight to “acclimate quickly” but hasn’t done so in decades. The demonstration, however, forced him back into the judo club last week.

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Job hunt – USOC to begin search for new CEO

By NANCY ARMOUR (AP)

CHICAGO — The U.S. Olympic Committee will begin interviewing search firms to assist in the hiring of a new chief executive officer next month, and hopes to be talking with prospective candidates by the end of the year.

Larry Probst, chairman of the USOC, said Thursday the board hopes to move “rapidly and productively.” Stephanie Streeter has been acting CEO since March, when Jim Scherr was dumped in a messy departure widely criticized in Olympic circles.

It’s been a rocky start for Streeter and Probst, who took over as chairman almost a year ago. But problems are being set aside one by one, allowing the new leaders to focus on big-picture objectives.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

CHICAGO (AP) — The U.S. Olympic Committee has a plan for the future that doesn’t include upheaval, infighting or missteps.

Internal disputes and tension with the International Olympic Committee have dogged the USOC since the Beijing Games. But the federation has temporarily tabled problems that threatened to harm Chicago’s bid for the 2016 Games, and is making progress on improving relationships with disgruntled national governing bodies.

That’s allowed them to also refocus on other big-picture objectives — things like wooing new sponsors and preparing athletes. At a news conference Thursday, chairman Larry Probst said the new leadership is preparing the USOC for its long-term future, one of the main reasons given for the unexpected decision to make Stephanie Streeter the new CEO earlier this year.

“We have been consumed with resolving some issues and focusing on some shorter-term objectives like the bid, like the Vancouver Games,” Probst said at the Vancouver Olympics media summit. “Yes, there is some work and some thought going on within the USOC about the long-term strategic vision, what do we need to look like, what do we need to be doing 10, 15 years from now.”

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Top USOC official: Chicago may NOT be in the lead

Bob Roberts Reporting
WBBM Newsradio 780

CHICAGO (WBBM) – The chief executive officer of the U.S. Olympic Committee said Wednesday that she does not believe Chicago is in the lead in its bid for the 2016 Olympics.  But Stephanie Streeter believes it can finish first.

“What you want to do is be in the lead on the last day, after the vote is taken, not necessarily going into the competition,” she said, in an exclusive interview with WBBM.

Streeter said she believes Chicago is peaking at the right time.  She called the Chicago bid “spectacular,” said Wednesday’s unanimous Chicago City Council vote to make financial guarantees erased one potential obstacle, and said the unanimity speaks far louder than the recent Chicago Tribune poll that showed Chicagoans nearly evenly split over support for the bid.

There is one thing Streeter said she wishes she could do over again. It is  the way the USOC handled the announcement of a U.S. Olympic Television Network, not a mistake on the part of the Chicago 2016 bid committee.

“If I had it to do over again, I would think seriously about that partnership with the IOC and probably would have tried to wait in order to announce that at the proper time,” she said.

Streeter also said that while it would be a significant show of support for President Obama to go to Copenhagen for the Oct. 2 IOC vote — joining the chiefs of state from Brazil, Spain and Japan, the other finalists — it will not necessarily be fatal if he does not.

She said she expected Mr. Obama to make a decision on going “at the last minute.”  So far, the White House has announced only that senior Obama aide Valerie Jarrett, another former Chicagoan, will represent the Obama administration.

Streeter said the USOC renewed its plea earlier this week to the President to commit himself to a Copenhagen trip for the IOC vote.

She also said that she is not worried about leadership inexperience at the top of the USOC.  Streeter is new in her job, as is USOC Chairman Larry Probst, but she said many of the senior executives that have had close contact with the IOC in the past year are seasoned veterans.

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Chicago bid spurs truce in U.S. Olympic family feud

By Philip Hersh

In the interest of avoiding any negative publicity that could affect Chicago’s Olympic bid, the leaders of the U.S. Olympic sports federations — called National Governing Bodies in Olympic world parlance — have declared an informal truce in their Olympic family feud with the new USOC leadership

“Chicago 2016 is the most important objective for everyone in the (U.S. Olympic) movement, and that is the one thing that brings complete consensus at this time,” said Steve Penny, president and CEO of USA Gymnastics.

Penny also is a member of the NGB Council, meeting this week in Chicago as part of the annual U.S. Olympic Assembly.  He has been outspoken in expressing reservations over the USOC board’s decision to dump CEO Jim Scherr and replace her on an acting basis with board member Stephanie Streeter.

Other NGB leaders also have been very critical of the leadership change, which occurred in March.  Many wondered why it could not have waited until after the Oct. 2 vote for the 2016 host city, since the switch only added to a long-held worldwide impression that years of USOC leadership instability were back.

Streeter alluded to the dissatisfaction in her Wednesday keynote speech to the Olympic Assembly, saying, “Changes were made that the board believed would strengthen the organization, some of which were greeted enthusiastically, some of which were not.”

Streeter also scored points for acknowledging a major criticism of the way the USOC board has operated since it was reorganized after the 2003 leadership turmoil that led to Congressional castigation of the USOC’s management.  NGB Council chair Skip Gilbert, the executive director of USA Triathlon, had complained loudly that the federations, who are directly involved in the training of Olympic athletes, were being ignored by the new USOC management.

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Hopes Dashed for Baseball and Softball in 2016 Lineup

Today the IOC Executive Board announced their decision to allow Golf and Rugby to move on for a full IOC vote in October to be included as Olympic Sports for the 2016 Games.  The sports of Baseball, Softball, Karate, Roller Sports and Squash were eliminated from further consideration.

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USOC Statement on Golf, Rugby Recommendation By IOC Executive Board

Stephanie Streeter, Chief Executive Officer, U.S. Olympic Committee

The U.S. Olympic Committee would like to offer its congratulations to the sports of Golf and Rugby which were recommended by the IOC’s Executive Board to go before the IOC’s full membership vote in October for inclusion into the 2016 Olympic Games. We also would like to reach out to our Olympic Family sports of Baseball, Softball, Karate, Roller Sports and Squash to praise the quality efforts each put forth in this process. They are great sports and I would hope each one of them would keep up their efforts to gain status as an Olympic sport. “

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Read more about these developments -

Baseball is better off without the Olympics

Women’s boxing among events added for 2012 Games

Golf, rugby backed by IOC board for 2016 Games

Finch: Softball’s fight isn’t over

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USOC CEO – Chicago 2016 is our only focus

United States Olympic Committee (USOC) CEO Stephanie Streeter issued a statement Monday in which she said “there will be absolutely no consideration of any future bids – winter or summer – from the U.S. while Chicago is on the international stage. Let me reiterate that position in the most adamant terms. Chicago is not only our current bid city, it is our only bid city, and it is the sole focus of our efforts”.

Streeter was referring to recent news reports that indicated a number of U.S. cities are considering future Olympic bids.

Streeter added, “we are now 52 days from the decision on the 2016 Host City. All of our hopes and dreams for bringing the Olympic Games back to the United States are anchored in Chicago 2016 an the IOC decision on October 2.

“Through our enduring bidding partnership, Chicago 2016 has earned our gratitude and respect. The City of Broad Shoulders has placed the United States in a great position to bring home the world’s greatest celebration of humanity”.

She praised Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and Chicago 2016 Chair and CEO Pat Ryan saying the accomplishment in their quest for the Games “is nothing less than extraordinary”, and that they have developed “a magnificent plan for the Games” that will deliver a “spectacular” experience for the athletes.

The statement continued, “with less than two months to go before the IOC’s decision in Copenhagen, two months in which it is essential for us to capture the attention of the global Olympic Family, it is equally essential that the USOC sustain a 110 per cent on the needs of Chicago 2016″.

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U.S. Olympics chief’s pay under scrutiny

Stephanie Streeter’s package could double that of Jim Scherr

By Philip Hersh

Despite the recent loss of three major sponsors and uncertainty over its revenue streams beyond the 2012 Olympics, the United States Olympic Committee is paying acting chief executive Stephanie Streeter a base salary 30 percent higher than that of the CEO she replaced, Jim Scherr.

The Tribune also has confirmed Streeter’s total compensation package could exceed $1 million, perhaps double the $619,507 Scherr received in salary, bonuses, benefits and other compensation in 2008, according to the USOC tax filing.

“She would have to hit it out of the park in every way for [a total more than $1 million] to happen,” USOC compensation commitee head Bob Bowlsby said Friday via telephone.

The USOC board of directors already has approved Streeter’s base annual salary of $560,000, Bowlsby said.

Bowlsby, also Stanford’s athletic director, said the compensation committee still is discussing the incentive package for Streeter, who took over as CEO when the USOC board forced Scherr to resign in March. Bowlsby declined to comment on what the maximum for Streeter could be.

Neither Streeter’s salary nor her potential compensation previously have been revealed.

Scherr made a base of $428,243 in 2008, with $178,500 in additional compensation, excluding non-taxable benefits. That additional compensation could have been just above $200,000 if Scherr had met all incentive markers, according to Tribune sources.

What had been just rumors about the board’s remuneration for Streeter already had led to discontent among leaders of the National Governing Bodies of individual Olympic sports.

“I can see how reasonable people can disagree on this,” Bowlsby said. “The board will have discussions going forward as to the appropriate level of compensation.

“The base salary is not out of line for a position like this. It is a lot of money — and a lot of responsibility. If you are going to have people who are highly respected running the organization, you have to pay salaries at a marketplace level.”

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Opinions about USOC TV Network

FROM PHILIP HERSH’S BLOG

Watching Universal Sports’ live stream of the World Swimming Championships, with picture quality that is clearer than ever, also makes it clearer than ever that the U.S. Olympic Committee should have thrown in with NBC-owned Universal rather than create its own U.S. Olympic Network (referred to hereafter as USON).  Not only did the USOC get on the wrong side of the International Olympic Committee on the network issue, it likely will spend at least $25 million a year — with no return in the near future, if ever — on the USON.  That could quickly wipe out the $100 million cash surplus with which the USOC began the 2009-2012 period and be even more telling after 2012, when USOC revenues are expected to be substantially lower than the current quadrennium.

I asked USON major domo Norm Bellingham, the USOC’s chief operating officer, for comment about the financial risk involved (and five other questions), and he politely declined comment on any of them in an effort to “work quietly and effectively with our Olympic partners.”  That clearly referred to problems with the IOC, which had blasted the USOC for going forward with the network announcement after being told to hold off.  “Since the announcement of our network, there have been several conversations and exchanges of information between the USOC and the IOC,” Bellingham told me in an email sent the day before I left on holiday.  “Both sides have expressed a determination to reach a solution that is in the best interests of the Olympic movement in the United States and worldwide.”

More belated fence-mending attempts:  The USOC leadership gave the National Governing Bodies no advance warning on the network announcement, but acting CEO Stephanie Streeter sent those national sports federations an invitation a day later to be part of an “NGB Advisory Council” to “assist the USOC in launching the network.”  Wrote Streeter in an email to “NGB Leaders,” a copy of which was sent to me: “Specifically, I view the NGB Advisory Council as a means to receive your ideas about the programming we can air; to discuss possible on-the-air talent; and to hear your thoughts about sponsorship issues and other commercial arrangements.  I recognize that several NGBS have existing relationships with other media companies and we want to work together to answer any questions that may arise about these and any other issues.”

The sentence I underlined is the key one:  all the big sports (track, swimming, gymnastics, figure skating), have such relationships, and they would be crazy to give up exposure on the likes of NBC and Universal Sports to be part of the USON.  If need be, those federations would stop calling their Olympic selection meets “Olympic trials” (figure skating does that already) to avoid having to cede control over them to the USOC.

One of the major points former USOC chairman Peter Ueberroth stressed in the press conference announcing the USON was how it would provide exposure for sports that get little.  But Gordy Sheer, the marketing director of USA Luge, which for years has been a management model for small sports federations, does not buy Ueberroth’s argument.

“Personally, the network never really made sense to me from Day One,” Olympic silver medalist Sheer (left, front) told me in an email.  “I have always been a supporter of the USOC buying time on existing networks on a consistent basis rather than building a network of Olympic programming.  Buying large blocks of time on an existing network (like NBC) would give the athletes more exposure and, if done properly, a new revenue stream for the USOC.  The financial rewards might not be as high, but we’d get a lot more eyeballs, and the risk would be considerably less.”

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How Olympic TV Might Kill Chicago’s 2016 Bid

By Sean Gregory

On October 2, members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will meet in Copenhagen to decide the host city for the 2016 Summer Olympics. Officials from Chicago, which is competing against Rio de Janeiro, Madrid, and Tokyo for the Olympic prize, are working feverishly to perfect their pitch down the homestretch. The Chicago delegation just returned from Africa, where it made a presentation to the Olympic executives of that continent. President Obama himself sent a video message, asking the Africans for their vote.

Chicago’s bid has received positive feedback, and many consider the Windy City the favorite to win the Games. So why, less than three months before the vote, is the Olympic governing body of the United States ticking off the very officials that will decide Chicago’s fate, in a move that could cost an American city the Games?

The U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC), on July 8, announced that it had signed an agreement with Comcast to form the U.S. Olympic Network, which will provide year-round coverage of Olympic sports. According to the USOC, the network would launch sometime after the 2010 Vancouver Games. One problem: such a network could compete with NBC, which is paying $2.2 billion to broadcast the 2010 and 2012 Olympics. The network accounts for roughly half of the IOC’s global broadcast rights fees, and NBC will surely be among the bidders for the 2014 and 2016 Olympics as well. Plus, NBC wanted the USOC to partner with its own cable network, Universal Sports, for Olympic programming. NBC is irked, and the IOC doesn’t like to see its sugar daddy sulking.

So the IOC publicly chided U.S. Olympic officials. “We were aware that the USOC had been considering a new ‘Olympic broadcast network,’ but we have never been presented with a plan, and we had assumed that we would have an opportunity to discuss unresolved questions together before the project moved forward,” the IOC said in a statement. “It is for this reason that the IOC is disappointed that the USOC acted unilaterally and, in our view, in haste by announcing their plans before we had a chance to consider the ramifications.” The IOC also said that the network “raises complex legal and contractual issues and could have a negative impact with other Olympic broadcasters and partners, including our U.S. TV partner, NBC.”(See TIME’s photos of the Olympic highs and lows in Beijing)

Ouch. This wrist-slap comes at the worst possible time for Chicago. The IOC and USOC were already squabbling about the USOC’s share of sponsorship and broadcast revenues: the IOC wants to reduce the funds flowing to the U.S., while the Americans are resisting. Both sides, however, had agreed to put those negotiations aside until after the 2016 decision was finalized. Now, all tensions are back on the table.

The IOC is a famously isolated, self-important organization whose members do not like to be slighted. Competition for hosting rights is fierce: a city needs a majority of the 107 members to vote in its favor to win. One ballot can tip the balance, and this dust-up could alter a member’s decision. “This is an absolutely unnecessary self-inflicted wound,” says Marc Ganis, a Chicago-based sports business consultant who has closely followed the 2016 bid. “It just serves to remind the IOC of their preconceived notion that the Americans are arrogant and self-serving.”

Indeed, the USOC’s strategy is mystifying. A Chicago win would be a financial boon to the USOC. Given the buzz around an Olympics in the States, greater levels of broadcast and sponsorship revenue would trickle down to the USOC and the governing bodies of the Olympic sports. The USOC needs this money, as it has lost valuable sponsors like Home Depot, General Motors, and Bank of America since the onset of the recession. So why not work with the IOC to resolve any issues with the network — or at least hold off on action until Oct. 2?

Norm Bellingham, chief operating officer for the USOC, insists that the IOC was informed of the network’s plans for months. “We never heard any negative feedback from them,” says Bellingham. “By the time we heard that they prefer that we hold off, we just did not feel like that was viable.”

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USOC words, actions, attitude do Chicago Olympic bid no favors

Since the April day in 2007 the U.S. Olympic Committee announced it had selected Chicago over Los Angeles as the U.S. candidate for the 2016 Summer Olympics, the USOC has done Chicago few favors.

In fact, USOC words and actions over the last year have possibly undermined Chicago’s bid and made a mockery of the USOC mantra of an “unprecedented partnership” between the national Olympic committee and a bid city.

It began last October, when Peter Ueberroth, in his final public speech as USOC chairman, rebuked the arguments of International Olympic Committee members critical of the USOC’s stance in a revenue sharing dispute with the IOC. Ueberroth also reminded everyone in no uncertain that the U.S. corporations still contribute more than 60%of IOC revenues.

Chicago 2016 had no advance warning of what Ueberroth would say, which was certain to offend some 2016 voters, no matter if  his points were valid.

Nor did Chicago 2016 have any clue the USOC was going to announce Wednesday the launch of its new television network, in partnership with Comcast, despite having received an IOC warning Tuesday not to move forward until a number of rights and marketing issues were resolved.

USOC Chief Operating Officer Norm Bellingham, his organization’s point man on the TV network, told me in a Wednesday telephone interview that Chicago 2016 was not involved in discussions about the U.S. Olympic Network, set to launch in 2010.

In the news release announcing the network deal between Comcast and the USOC, which carried the logos of both partners, there is a line that makes cryptic expression of what I have learned was Comcast’s concern over going public without IOC approval: ”The transaction is subject to closing conditions.”

It also was telling that no Comcast executive took part in the media conference call announcing the deal.

A Comcast spokesperson declined comment.

One of the IOC’s most powerful members, Richard Carrion of Puerto Rico, blasted the USOC, telling me in a Wednesday phone interview, “They [the USOC] just do what they want to do, and the Olympic movement be damned.”

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