USOC Announces It Will Not Bid on 2020 Games

I find this news extremely frustrating. The USOC can't get it's act together enough to allow an interested city to bid on the 2020 games. According to ESPN:

The U.S. Olympic Committee has notified all interested cities that it will not submit a bid to host the 2020 Olympics, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press on Monday.   

Chicago, New York and Dallas were among those that had expressed interest in putting forth a bid to host the games, but any bid was contingent upon the USOC working out a long-simmering revenue-sharing deal with the International Olympic Committee.

It feels like more and more the USOC has become the "Anti-Olympic" committee. I really hope they can get it together and resolve this soon. With South Africa and the US officially out of the running it looks like the remaining contenders are Rome, Tokyo, Istanbul, and Madrid.

USOC says it has no plans to revive idea of cable network

From the AP:

Any attempt by the U.S. Olympic Committee to launch a cable network would be in the distant future and would only come with approval from the International Olympic Committee and cooperation with its American broadcasting partner.

USOC chief executive Scott Blackmun told The Associated Press on Wednesday there are no immediate plans to revive the idea of the network, which was widely criticized and eventually quashed last year because of political pressure.

“We are not having any discussions internally or externally about the network,” Blackmun said. “It's not on the back burner. It's not on the radar screen today.”

Blackmun was responding to reports that the USOC was eyeing a revival of the idea and planned to bring it up in negotiations with the IOC next year.

via

Denver, Lake Tahoe-area eyeing 2022 Winter bid

Denver and the Lake Tahoe area want to host the 2022 Winter Olympics but have been warned that any future United States bids are on hold pending a new revenue sharing deal with the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Read more @ reuters

USOC faces backlash after shock of failed bid

Whether the U.S. Olympic Committee deserves all, some or only a little of the blame for Chicago's embarrassing first-round ouster from the voting for the 2016 Olympics, the federation's home office in Colorado Springs will not be a happy place the next few months.

The International Olympic Committee sent a message to the USOC with Friday's humiliation, one that Swiss IOC member Denis Oswald called "a defeat for the USOC, not for Chicago."

Some of the biggest issues that have been hurting the USOC's efforts for years, both on Olympic and geopolitical levels: the Salt Lake City bid scandal and the over-commercialized Atlanta Games, the Iraq war and America's role in the tanking global economy. Via.

*Previously: Chicago 2016 bid officially submitted

Olympic Network to debut in 2010

The Hollywood Reporter ran a story recently with the title Olympic Network to debut in 2010 and subtitle, "Will air live events, archival footage and lifestyle shows."

I'm all in!! I am so excited about this and I hope that this is a regularly available channel and not a premium one that is only on expensive plans.

The NY Times later ran a story with the title Olympics Channel Draws a Rebuke From the I.O.C. and they went on to say that "Richard Carrión, an I.O.C. executive board member from Puerto Rico, said the U.S.O.C. had been told that it was proceeding hastily into the venture and that it should not assume it would get the rights it wanted."

I have also read somewhere that this may jeopardize Chicago's 2016 Summer Olympics bid. I really hope this is not the case. This would only benefit the Olympic Movement and bring positive attention to sports as a whole. I hope any issues get sorted out and things proceed without affecting Chicago's chances when the votes are cast this fall.

Both articles (which are linked above) are worth a read if you have a sec.

UPDATE: USOC postpones TV network plans (8/16/09)

President Obama Announces New White House Office of Olympic, Paralympic and Youth Sport

WASHINGTON – Today, President Barack Obama announced the formation of the White House Office of Olympic, Paralympic and Youth Sport.

This permanent White House office will promote the values of the Olympic Movement and encourage increased youth participation in athletics. The primary function of the Office will be to enhance awareness of the Olympic Movement through promotion of its fundamental principles at the federal level.

President Obama said, "It is an important goal of my administration to give our nation’s children every possible tool they need to grow, learn and succeed in life. A key part of this is increasing access to healthy, constructive activities like sports for our nation’s children. Too many American kids – particularly those in urban areas – have no access to organized sporting activities. Sports are an important way to instill values, judgment and teamwork in our nation’s kids, and this new office reflects our commitment to giving all our children a chance to thrive. As the International Olympic Committee moves forward with their selection process we hope that this new office can serve as a model for youth involvement worldwide."

The White House Office of Olympic, Paralympic and Youth Sport will:

• Recommend federal policies and programs to the President to enhance opportunities and access for youth participation in sport, with particular focus on youth in urban areas
• Foster and encourage youth sporting, educational and cultural events involving Olympic values-based programs and the participation of U.S. Olympians and Paralympians

The Office will also work in coordination with appropriate executive departments and agencies, including the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services, to:

• Engage in outreach to state and local government officials, nonprofit organizations and the private sector
• Coordinate federal resources, and act as liaison to, any organizing committee for an Olympic and Paralympic Games hosted in the United States
• And work closely with the United States Olympic Committee and national sport governing bodies to increase access and opportunities for youth to participate in sports.

Pistorius cleared for Olympic bid!!

Fantastic news!!

By David Martin (Yahoo! Sports)

LAUSANNE, Switzerland — The Court of Arbitration for Sport has overturned a ban on double amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius competing against able-bodied athletes Friday, allowing him to immediately run in all International Association of Athletics Federation sanctioned events.

The arbitration panel’s unanimous ruling - that the decision of the IAAF be “revoked with immediate effect and Mr. Pistorius is currently eligible to compete in IAAF-sanctioned events” - means he can can now continue his goal of qualifying for the Beijing Games.

Pistorius, 21, now needs to clock the Olympic ‘A’ standard of 45.55 seconds in the 400 meters or the ‘B’ qualifier of 45.95 if no other South African should attain the higher one.

“I am thrilled with the panel’s findings and hope that it silences many of the crazy theories that have been circulating in recent months about my having an unfair advantage,” Pistorius said.

“My focus throughout this appeal has been to ensure that disabled athletes be given the chance to compete and compete fairly with able-bodied athletes. I look forward to continuing my quest to qualify for the Olympics.”

USOC working on TV network?!

SIGN ME UP!!

The AP Article:
By EDDIE PELLS, AP National Writer

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP)—The U.S. Olympic Committee’s aggressive plan to start its own cable network is moving forward, though officials are giving no indications that the network will be on the air before the Beijing Olympics, as the federation had once hoped.

The USOC has secured rights to televise events from more than half the individual sports, but the strategy of bringing them to air has been slow to develop and nobody inside the organization’s offices has been willing to provide specifics.

“I can’t comment on it now,” chief operating officer Norm Bellingham, who is in charge of the TV project, told The Associated Press this week at the USOC board meeting.

The idea was hatched two years ago and given a working title, the U.S. Olympic Sports Network. The plan was to air live events and archival footage, along with a few shows that mix sports and lifestyle topics.

The goal was to increase exposure for Olympic sports, many of which are quickly forgotten once the Olympics end. There was also a long-term hope of making the Olympics a more valuable commodity when negotiations for future network contracts come up. NBC owns the American TV rights through 2012 (at the cost of $2 billion total for 2010 and 2012), and the timetable for bidding for 2014 and beyond has not yet been announced.

Those are still the plans, but the USOC would not say whether its network will be on the air prior to the Beijing Olympics, which are less than three months away.

“The honest answer is, a lot is going on and a lot of work is being done, but we’re not in any place to give adjectives,” chairman Peter Ueberroth said. “We can’t say how it looks, how it doesn’t look, whether it’s close or not close. We’re just working hard.”

Like any newcomer trying to find a spot on the ever-expanding dial, the USOC is looking at three options: Starting its own network, acquiring another, or leasing blocks of time on an existing network for so-called “USOC” days.

Starting a network is doable, especially if there’s plenty of content available, but getting clearance on cable and satellite systems across the country is no guarantee, as the recent and well-publicized fighting between the NFL Network and providers has shown.

Buying an existing network would be expensive; deals to buy well-known cable networks and their assets can run into the hundreds of millions of dollars. And even if that network had a spot in current cable and satellite lineups, there’s no guarantee that spot would be held for the new USOC entity.

Leasing time might be the most viable option for the USOC, though that wouldn’t necessarily serve the purpose of creating an easily identifiable, one-stop outlet for Olympic programming.

No matter what the format, the USOC will be in for the same struggle as any network in this era: Finding an audience—one that’s loyal, if not necessarily huge.

“We’re taking the challenge for any marketer or TV entity, which is to find a way to get fragmented audiences that exist today and get them together,” CEO Jim Scherr said, in talking about the plan in 2006.

Speaking about the project again this week, Scherr said the goal remains the same.

“We’re still pursuing it. It’s still on the table. We’re still working at it and going forward,” Scherr said.