The economic crisis has forced the U.S. Olympic Committee to cut its administrative costs by 10 percent in 2009, although athletes will see their funding increased by the same amount a year ahead of the 2010 Winter Games.
The proposed 2009 budget will be presented to the USOC board on Saturday, when new chairman Larry Probst runs his first meeting since succeeding Peter Ueberroth in October.
The USOC hopes to reduce its 450-member staff through attrition and by not filling open positions, chief executive Jim Scherr said Friday. He would not provide a specific number of positions to be cut.
Staff travel, meetings and professional training also will be curtailed to achieve the necessary cost reduction, USOC spokesman Darryl Seibel said.
“We’re also looking at a reorganization throughout the U.S. Olympic Committee to make us more effective and that reorganization will result in a few less people,” Scherr said.
At the same time, some national governing bodies and athletes competing in winter and summer sports will see their funding increased next year. Scherr said some NGBs will have their funding cut, although he declined to specify which sports would be negatively affected.
“This is a global economic crisis and I think it’s going to impact every company and every individual on this planet,” Probst told a small group of reporters.
“Most companies are taking a look at their entire organization. One of the things that I’m sure will be looked at are sponsorships. That’s a discretionary expense. We’re in pretty good shape. We’re going to have to work harder. We’re going to have to make sure that we’re nurturing the existing relationships and we’re going to have to double-down to find some new relationships and hopefully be first in line when the economy turns in a positive direction.”
Despite the success of U.S. athletes in Beijing, a huge television audience and increased visibility and interest among Americans during the 17-day games, the faltering economy has walloped the USOC in various ways.
Scherr said it’s affecting sponsorship renewals and the ability to attract new sponsors, private donor fundraising, direct mail and major gifts, and contributions from private individuals.
Scherr said a long-planned Olympic television network would be launched next year, although no signed deal is yet in place. The USOC has signed deals with 35 NGBs to include their content on the network, but that doesn’t include swimming, track and field, gymnastics or figure skating, which have their own television deals. He said the four glamour sports are willing to share some content with the new network.
Probst, who remains chairman of the video game firm Electronic Arts, is eager to see the Olympics represented in video games that would broaden the games’ appeal beyond the actual competition.
Earlier this week, the British government agreed to cover more than a third of a funding shortfall for the country’s Olympic sports at the 2012 London Games.
Chicago’s bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics “is very solid” despite the economy, Scherr said.
“They have solid fundraising,” he said. “The bid is very solid on its revenue side and has got guarantees.”
The bid is also helped by the lack of major construction needed because many venues already exist, Seibel added.
source: google.com
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