IOC, USOC leaders meet to begin healing relations and settling money disputes

IOC, USOC begin talks on improving relations

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — U.S. and international Olympic leaders opened discussions Monday in a bid to improve relations and settle the financial issues that have isolated the Americans from the rest of the Olympic movement.

Scott Blackmun, the U.S. Olympic Committee’s new chief executive officer, and USOC chairman Larry Probst met with International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge and other officials to begin the new dialogue.

Probst and Blackmun met for about 20 minutes with Rogge in his hotel office. Also attending were the two IOC members from the United States, Anita DeFrantz and Jim Easton.

“It was a good, friendly and positive meeting,” IOC spokesman Mark Adams said.

USOC spokesman Patrick Sandusky called the talks “very friendly, very positive.”

Blackmun, who served as the USOC’s interim CEO in 2000, was appointed to the full-time position last month and will be in charge of turning around the committee’s international fortunes.

The USOC’s troubled standing was brought home in October by Chicago’s humiliating first-round defeat in the vote for the 2016 Games, which were awarded to Rio de Janeiro. That followed New York’s humbling defeat in 2005 for the 2012 Olympics.

The USOC officials also met separately Monday with the three-man IOC group dealing with the revenue-sharing and other money disputes that have caused resentment among many IOC members.

IOC executive board member Gerhard Heiberg, who is on the panel along with Denis Oswald and Mario Vazquez Rana, told The Associated Press that progress was made in the financial talks. He declined to give details.

“It was a short meeting, but it was very positive,” Heiberg said. “We will meet again to continue the discussions.”

Many IOC members and international officials are annoyed the USOC still receives a 20 percent cut of global sponsorship revenue and 12.75 percent share of U.S. broadcast rights deals.

The two sides agreed last year to begin formal negotiations on the revenue-sharing dispute in 2013. Also at issue is how much the USOC should pay toward so-called “games-time” expenses, including the cost of anti-doping operations and the Court of Arbitration for Sport.