USOC CEO Norman Blake has proposed a plan that would
"redeploy funds to sports that traditionally produce the
highest medal counts while paring funds to less successful
sports," according to Richard Sandomir of the N.Y. TIMES.
Blake: "We have to look at the sports where the payoffs
would be the greatest." Blake "refused to say" which sports
would see financing cuts, and he "denied" an AP report that
biathlon, field hockey and table tennis "were among those in
the budgetary cross hairs." But he said, "Generally about
half would benefit, half would get less support." Blake:
"We're not cutting off any sport at the knees. This is not
a cold turkey situation. This will be phased in, and we've
done a lot of homework to understand the infrastructures
that will be needed to keep the sports viable." Blake said
he has "ranked sports by capability and medal potential."
Blake: "I'm looking at the N.G.B.'s as business partners and
the U.S.O.C. as an investor in them. We have a portfolio of
sports to evaluate in terms of how best to serve the
American public's interest in terms of winning at the
Games." Blake is expected to present the proposal to the
USOC's transition committee, and, upon approval, then to all
or part of the USOC's Exec Committee tomorrow (N.Y. TIMES,
4/13). Blake: "There are certain sports that are not
indigenous to the [U.S.], so the available feedstock of
potential athletes is limited, the amount of support
available in the U.S. from a fundraising standpoint is
limited, and we are therefore disadvantaged" (AP, 4/13).
