Seoul ’88 / Randy Harvey : USOC Gets 10% of Future TV Rights Fees

The United States Olympic Committee could be considerably richer after negotiations this week in New York among U.S. television networks, the International Olympic Committee and the organizers for the 1992 Winter Games in Albertville, France. For that, the USOC can thank Gen. George Miller, who, nevertheless, was forced out last year as the committee’s executive director.

When U.S. networks bought broadcast rights in past years, they also bought the five Olympic rings. For example, NBC’s logo for coverage of this year’s Summer Olympics displays its own trademark, a peacock, sitting atop the rings. Companies that advertise with the network during the Olympics also can use the logo.

Miller believed that was unfair to the USOC, which was selling the rings to its official sponsors for use in their advertising. It was more difficult for the USOC to attract sponsors when they discovered they were not buying exclusive rights to the rings but had to share them with network advertisers.

As a result of Miller’s negotiations with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the USOC will receive 10% of future rights fees paid by U.S. networks.

If that agreement had been in effect for 1988, the USOC would have benefited by $60.9 million, $30.9 million of the $309 million paid by ABC for the Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada and $30 million of the $300 million paid by NBC for the Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. As it is, Miller negotiated a one-time payment of $15 million for 1988.

For the most part, Miller was ineffective at the USOC. But considering the bottom line contribution he made in that negotiation alone, the USOC got off light when it paid $700,000 to buy out the 16 months remaining on Miller’s contract. The USOC should recoup a substantial portion of that when it sells the Colorado Springs, Colo., house it bought from him for $368,000.

How much money will the USOC realize from the Albertville negotiations?

The speculation puts committee officials in a much better mood today than it did a year ago. At that time, network officials estimated that they could buy the rights for as little as $100 million and no higher than $150 million.

But, in a recent news conference, Albertville’s representative, Barry Frank of the International Management Group, said he believes the figure will be closer to $225 million. Frank is paid to think high, but it could be that his estimate is conservative.

However, one network that won’t be participating in the bidding is ABC. In a statement, the network said it “has stated repeatedly for the past two years that it would not engage in a multi-stage auction.

The statement also said: “ABC Sports also expressed strong objections to language throughout the proposed contract, which erodes the ability of the network to protect its television sponsors and changes in operating procedures from previous Olympic Games.”

ABC Sports said it reached this decision “after reviewing a 70-page form contract” from the IOC and the Albertville Organizing Committee.

The negotiations in New York are scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, but there may be other meetings this summer before an agreement is reached. The role that cable networks might play is undetermined. Only the three major networks were invited to this meeting.

Comment: As a member of the IOC, one of the first international bodies to sanction South Africa, the USOC took the only acceptable moral action when its president, Robert Helmick, announced recently that the committee no longer will invest in companies with ties to South Africa.

Unfortunately, the U.S. Olympic Foundation, established with part of the surplus from the 1984 Los Angeles Games, does not appear to be traveling the same high road. Sources said as much as $15 million of the Foundation’s $150 million portfolio is invested in companies that conduct business in South Africa.

While 2 of the 15 trustees have publicly stated their objections to the investment policy, the Foundation’s president, William Simon, has taken a hard-line stance. His contention is that divestiture will not speed the end of apartheid.

Whether one agrees or not, his position is an affront to the Olympic movement.

In a world where Zola Budd is driven out of her sport because she merely watched races in South Africa and accepted flowers from children there, the Foundation’s grab for South African money is insensitive and hypocritical.

One of the most poignant moments of the 1988 Winter Games occurred when Canada’s Elizabeth Manley, 22, won the silver medal in women’s figure skating, losing only to East Germany’s Katarina Witt and upsetting the United States’ Debi Thomas. In a performance viewed on television by a Super Bowl-sized audience in the United States, Manley beat both in the long freestyle program.

Only a few years before, Manley was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. After her parents divorced, she gained 30 pounds, lost her hair, and she and her mother were living on $600 a month.

But after her success in Calgary, Manley signed a 3-year, $1-million contract with Ice Capades, her agent, Michael Rosenberg of Los Angeles, said last week. He also said that only U.S. gold medal winner Brian Boitano has received more raves on the 22-city exhibition tour, which played the Forum Sunday.

“She’s the blonde Rocky who beat two Carmens,” Rosenberg said.

Olympic Notes

Steve McFarland, a former U.S. national diving coach who will comment on the competition in Seoul for NBC, said U.S. divers should not be concerned about their losses to the Chinese at meets in Florida the last two weeks. “China is using a series of competitions, including these, for its Olympic trails,” McFarland said. “The Chinese are peaking now. The U.S. divers won’t peak until their trials about a month before the Olympics.” . . . Greg Louganis missed the competition last Thursday and Friday in Largo, Fla., because of a wrist injury. . . . The U.S. soccer team meets El Salvador Wednesday night in Indianapolis, but the game no longer holds significance. Before El Salvador’s recent loss to Trinidad and Tobago, the United States needed a victory in this match to qualify for the 16-team Olympic field. Now the United States is assured of playing in the Olympics for only the second time since 1972. It received an automatic berth as the host country in 1984.

Bislett Games track and field promoter Svein Arne Hansen reports he has Great Britain’s Steve Cram and Peter Elliott, Somalia’s Abdi Bile, the United States’ Jim Spivey and Steve Scott committed to the July 2 Dream Mile in Oslo, Norway. Hansen said he’s on his way to Morocco in an attempt to sign Said Aouita. He also said two of the world’s best quarter-milers, East Germany’s Thomas Schonlebe and the United States’ Harry Reynolds, have agreed to meet in Oslo. . . . The 400 field at the June 5 Pepsi Invitational at UCLA should be one of the best in the world this year. Signed are Reynolds, Roddie Haley and Antonio McKay from the United States, Nigeria’s Innocent Egbunike and the Ivory Coast’s Gabriel Tiacoh. That’s four of the top 10-ranked quarter-milers in the world last year. It’s too bad No. 4 Danny Everett of UCLA can’t be there to run on his home track, but he will be competing the day before in the NCAA championships in Eugene, Ore.

As for the money match of the year, maybe of the century, the world’s fastest men, Ben Johnson and Carl Lewis, might not meet in the 100 meters in France on June 27. Johnson’s agent, Larry Heidebrecht, said it’s 50-50 that Johnson will recover from a hamstring injury in time for the race, which was scheduled for Lille, France, about 130 miles north of Paris. Heidebrecht said he might ask to postpone the series of races against Lewis, two at 100 meters and one at 200 meters, until late August and early September. An unidentified Japanese sponsor has put up $1 million for the series. . . . One person close to the situation said there is a dispute within the Johnson camp about his training procedures. There is a feeling he needs to do more stretching exercises. He has pulled his left hamstring twice this year in meets.

Interpreted as a positive sign by the International Baseball Assn., Cuba requested and received an extension of the deadline from last Tuesday until this Tuesday for making a decision about whether to participate in the baseball tournament at the Summer Olympics. Although Cuba is boycotting the Olympics, it might compete in baseball because it is a demonstration sport. . . . In a surprise move, the British Olympic Assn. designated Manchester as its candidate for the 1996 Summer Games over Birmingham. Birmingham was the British bid city for the 1992 Games, which were awarded to Barcelona, Spain. . . . One candidate for the 1994 Winter Games, Lausanne, Switzerland, is having problems with environmental groups, who successfully petitioned for a June referendum on whether the city should continue its bid. The IOC will select the host city this September in Seoul. Another candidate, Anchorage, Alaska, might face an August referendum.

France has been added to the field for the June 22-26 World Cup of men’s volleyball at the Forum. Others competing are the United States, the Soviet Union and Japan. The defending Olympic champion United States won the previous four tournaments, but it lost twice to the Soviet Union in the International FIVB Cup last November in Seoul. . . . John Black of the Forum said tickets for the exhibition of Olympic figure skaters held Sunday was sold out months in advance. “It was like trying to get a Lakers-Celtics ticket,” he said. . . . Debi Thomas has retired from competitive skating, but Jill Trenary, the 1986 national champion and fourth-place finisher in the Olympics, probably will remain an amateur for four more years. Caryn Kadavy, the third U.S. woman on the Olympic team, might remain an amateur for at least one more year. Kadavy might be a better ice show performer than any of her contemporaries, including two-time Olympic champion Katarina Witt. But Kadavy’s market value isn’t high because she hasn’t won a major national or international championship.

Cyclist Janie Eickhoff, 17, of Los Alamitos was selected by the Women’s Sports Foundation as one of 10 “Up and Coming” women athletes. She won two gold medals at the 1987 junior world championships. . . . U.S. cyclists will meet the Soviets in a series of eight competitions between next Friday and June 12. They will race for prize money at the June 5 Las Vegas Sports Festival. . . . Seattle Mayor Charles Royer said security measures for the 1990 Goodwill Games may cost the federal government $20 million. The House has approved $5 million, but the Senate has not acted. Royer said an additional $15 million will be sought next year.