IOC VP Dick Pound opened his address at Sport Summit in
N.Y. yesterday by saying, "The IOC is stronger than ever. I
am very bullish on the future. What a difference a year
makes." Pound added the "end result of the [bid] crisis is
that the IOC enters the 21st century renewed, more
transparent, more responsive and more accountable." More
Pound: "We use the crisis to instill many changes that may
have taken us years or even decades to achieve. ... The
crisis made people remember how much and why they love the
Games" (THE DAILY).
A PLACE TO LAY YOUR HEAD: As reported in THE DAILY
yesterday, Marriott has signed on as the official lodging
supplier of the 2000 Winter Games in a deal that also covers
the 2000, 2002 and 2004 U.S. Olympic Teams. In UT, Lisa
Riley Roche reported that while terms of the deal were not
disclosed, SLOC President Mitt Romney said that the "value
is more than" $5M. Roche added that Marriott is a "supplier
to the Olympics, not a sponsor," as sponsors "must come up
with at least" $20M in "cash, goods and services," while a
supplier's contribution "typically ... does not include
much, if any, cash." But Romney called the deal Marriott's
"largest ever for a sporting event" (DESERET NEWS, 1/19).
NEW CAMPAIGN: Pound told CNNfn's Beverly Schuch that
the IOC's new ad effort was not a "big budget campaign."
Pound: "We got a lot of volunteer contributions including
... Robin Williams." Pound on Schuch's suggestion that the
line, "you don't win your silver, you lose your gold," was
directed toward Nike: "We didn't direct the [ads] towards
anyone. It's the concept of the Olympics. It's not
absolutely necessary that you win, and a lot of these pieces
in this series don't revolve around winners. They revolve
around the human stories that make the Olympics different
from most sports properties" ("Biz Buzz," CNNfn, 1/19). IOC
Marketing Dir Michael Payne said yesterday at Sport Summit,
"If anyone out there is thinking the campaign is in response
to the [bid crisis], let me stop you there. This is about
communicating the value of the Games, the values they
represent. This isn't about the IOC." Payne told THE DAILY
that Nike was aware of the IOC's campaign (THE DAILY).
JUAN MORE TIME: The AP reports that for the "second
time in two months," IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch
"plans to talk to U.S. authorities investigating" the SLOC
bid scandal. Samaranch said that the "exact date" of his
meeting with the Justice Department and the FBI has not been
"100 percent fixed," but it "would be in around two weeks'
time" (AP, 1/20).