He Knows How to Run the Circus

Remember Peter Ueberroth, the man who pulled the Olympic movement up by its bootstraps in 1984 by organizing a Los Angeles Olympics that had us all beaming like members of the chamber of commerce?

Well, he is back in the middle of the Olympic movement, still pulling on bootstraps.

Ueberroth, 68 now, is chief executive of the United States Olympic Committee and is in the catbird seat for much of the decision-making that could set the course for the Games of 2016.

That would not be his characterization, of course. Ueberroth seldom shows his cards, or flaunts his power.

Nevertheless, there are situations and scenarios worth discussing. Recently, Ueberroth’s USOC met with officials in several U.S. cities. Each city had indicated an interest in serving as host of the 2016 Olympics, the next Summer Games to be chosen. The 2008 Games will be in Beijing, the 2012 Games in London.

The USOC visited Philadelphia, Houston, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles. The USOC may choose one to submit for the finals of the International Olympic Committee vote, which will be taken in Copenhagen in 2009.

But there is an interesting twist. The USOC does not have to put forth a candidate. Matter of fact, it has made a point of saying that it will announce, by the end of the year, “if it will put forth a candidate.”

Logic says that the IOC wants, even badly needs, a U.S. city for the final vote. Much of what the IOC does is financed by U.S. television money, most recently huge rights fees from NBC. The tab for Summer Games in Beijing and London, and Winter Games in Vancouver in 2010, was a hefty $2.2 billion. But at the moment, there is no U.S. TV contract beyond the London Games.

When IOC members sit down in 2009 to vote on 2016, they will be aware that the Summer Olympics have not been in the United States since Atlanta in 1996. They also will be aware that NBC, although it does nicely with European-time-zone Games and gets through the Asian-time-zone Games as best it can, prefers a U.S. time zone, especially after 20 years of not having one for the Summer Games.

So having no U.S. city on the ballot would not please NBC. And if NBC is not pleased, it could bid less, or, conceivably, not at all.

Tossed in the middle of all this is a continuing discussion between the IOC and Ueberroth’s USOC that has the IOC suggesting that the USOC, which receives a percentage of revenue generated by TV and IOC sponsorship, take less. The proposed reduction would add up to a substantial decrease in resources Ueberroth uses to develop U.S. Olympians, which to him is the reason for having the job.

This, then, is called leverage.

It could be speculated that Ueberroth might suggest to the IOC that changing the split could mean no U.S. city to vote on and possibly no NBC continuing to stuff the IOC’s pockets.

If the cards fall right between now and early 2007, and the USOC picks a candidate for 2016, Ueberroth will then need to do another delicate dance.

He ran the L.A. Games, and no matter how much he protests to impartiality -- he is head of the USOC now, not the LAOOC -- he will be seen as the patron saint of the L.A. bid.

But he grew up in Chicago, graduated from San Jose State in the Bay Area and will be quick to point out those facts to any who see him as an L.A. booster only.

The Philadelphia and Chicago bids are still forming and are hard to read. The Houston bid probably has little chance, unfairly to Houston, because of the IOC’s memories of the Atlanta Games, which seemed to stamp Southern U.S. cities as too hot, humid and unsophisticated.

That leaves San Francisco, which resonates for IOC types, and L.A., which has the financial feasibility edge right now with more than enough existing facilities and even a new luxury hotel going up across from Staples Center, something the IOC thought was lacking here in the past. The main downside to the L.A. bid is the “been there, done that” feel to a third Olympics here.

So things will be buzzing in the months ahead in Olympic boardrooms. Lots of twists and turns are left.

But U.S. Olympic fans can rest well, knowing that the man pulling most of the strings on their behalf has a history of knowing which ones to pull.

As well as how and when.

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Bill Dwyre can be reached at bill.dwyre@latimes.com. For previous columns by Dwyre, go to latimes.com/dwyre.