IOC to Let Bids Begin

The International Olympic Committee intends to conduct negotiations in early June for the U.S. television rights for the 2010 Winter and 2012 Summer Games, officials said Wednesday.

Talks will take place the first week of June in New York, officials said after a meeting here of IOC television and marketing figures. Also taking part in the meeting was a delegation from the U.S. Olympic Committee, which traditionally has enjoyed a lucrative slice of the U.S. rights deal.

ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and Turner Sports have all indicated interest in bidding for the 2010 and 2012 Games. NBC is paying $3.5 billion to televise the Games from 2000 through 2008.

The U.S. TV deal has served in recent years as the key piece in the IOC’s revenue puzzle. NBC is the IOC’s single-largest financial backer. The U.S. deal also sets a benchmark for negotiations with broadcasters elsewhere in the world.

By holding negotiations in June, the IOC has clearly signaled its desire to have a deal for the 2010 and 2012 Games wrapped up in time for its selection -- in July, in Prague -- of the 2010 Winter Games city.

Three candidates are in the running for the 2010 Games: Vancouver, Canada; Pyeongchang, South Korea; and Salzburg, Austria.

New York is the U.S. candidate for 2012. The IOC will pick the 2012 site in 2005, at a meeting in Singapore.

Meantime, IOC officials cautioned Wednesday that they feel no imperative at the June meetings to produce a deal.

The USOC’s share of the U.S. TV deal, which in recent years has amounted to 10%, goes to 12.75% as of the Athens 2004 Games. Such an arrangement has helped secure USOC finances for years.

Recent months have seen rumblings from within the IOC that the USOC share should be trimmed.

Speaking Monday to reporters from the United States and Canada on a conference call, IOC President Jacques Rogge asserted that “as long as the economic model is in place and functioning,” there is “good reason” to maintain such an arrangement.

“If the economic model would decline,” he said, “then it would be open to different situations.”

The USOC team here Wednesday included Paul George, a USOC vice president, and the meeting touched -- briefly -- on the turmoil that in recent weeks has enveloped the USOC.

“They acknowledged some issues they have to address, and assured us they will take care of them,” said Neal Pilson, a former CBS sports president who is serving as consultant to the IOC.