No deal: U.S., IOC still lack agreement on revenue

LONDON | Despite nearly a year of negotiations, international and U.S. Olympic leaders have been unable to resolve a long-running financial dispute that is blocking any American bid for the games.

Both sides had hoped to reach an agreement on the revenue-sharing issue by next week's IOC executive board meeting, but now appear resigned to missing that informal deadline and extending the protracted talks into 2012.

"It is taking longer than what we originally thought," International Olympic Committee marketing commission chairman Gerhard Heiberg told The Associated Press on Friday.

Heiberg is a member of the three-man IOC group that has been negotiating with the U.S. Olympic Committee on a new long-term deal covering the split of marketing and television money. Formal talks began in January and have continued periodically throughout the year.

At the heart of the dispute is a longstanding formula that gives the U.S. Olympic Committee a 20 percent share of global sponsorship revenue and a 12.75 percent share of U.S. broadcast rights deals. Many international officials believe the U.S. share is excessive and should be redistributed.

Heiberg will report on the status of the talks to the executive board, which meets in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Wednesday and Thursday. He acknowledged that signing a deal by then was unlikely.

"We had hoped that it would be possible," he said. "It's probably not possible. But we are talking. We have meetings. We have correspondence. We are on very good speaking terms.

"We are close, but the last part of the distance has to be solved and we still hope to solve it. We are not in a hurry."

The IOC and USOC agreed last year to negotiate a new revenue-sharing formula that will take effect in 2020.

The USOC, meantime, agreed to contribute about $18 million toward the administrative costs of staging the 2010 and 2012 Olympic Games.

USOC chairman Larry Probst will be in Lausanne next week for separate meetings of the Association of National Olympic Committees, although no formal talks with the IOC on revenue are scheduled.

USOC CEO Scott Blackmun, who has led the negotiations from the American side, will not be in Lausanne.

"We continue to be communicating in good faith, and it remains a priority for both organizations," Blackmun told the AP. "This is an important issue for us to resolve before we consider a bid."

Earlier in the year, both sides spoke optimistically of reaching an agreement by the summer, but a deal never came through and the negotiations seemed to hit a roadblock.

Blackmun since has talked with IOC director general Christophe De Kepper, and the sides have exchanged proposals and counterproposals. Details have been kept confidential.

"We are still hoping. We are still positive, so let's wait and see," Heiberg said.

International resentment over the USOC revenue share was considered a key factor in Chicago's humiliating first-round loss in the IOC vote in 2009 for the 2016 Olympics, which were awarded to Rio de Janeiro. That followed New York's defeat in the race for the 2012 Games, which went to London.

The USOC has said it will not consider another Olympic bid until the revenue issue is resolved. After attempts to complete a deal by September fell through, the USOC decided against any last-minute entry for the 2020 Summer Olympics. The next possible bid would be for the 2022 Winter Games, with candidates to be submitted in 2013.

"Now 2020 is gone, but the Americans still have time for 2022," Heiberg said. "We don't have to hurry."