The USOC "is on pace to compile a projected combined
deficit exceeding" $107M during the next four fiscal years,
"severely diminishing [the] USOC's ability to fund and
support" American athletes training for the Olympics,
according to documents provided to some USOC exec committee
members and cited by Scott Reid of the ORANGE COUNTY
REGISTER. The figures show that the USOC, which has an
annual projected budget of $138M, will post deficits of more
than $57.9M in '01, $7.4M in '02 and $72.3M in '03, "leaving
USOC swimming in more than $137 million worth of red ink"
heading into the '04 Games. Reid: "Even projected record-
setting revenues of more than $168 million in 2004,
including a record $104.4 million in broadcasting revenue,
will still leave USOC with a projected deficit of
$107,013,623 for the 2001-2004 quadrennium." USOC VP Sandy
Baldwin said the budget issue "is like a railroad train
coming straight at us." In documents and interviews, USOC
officials "reveal a budget that has been outstripped by
skyrocketing administrative costs and a drop in fund-raising
revenues in the wake of the Salt Lake 2002 bribery scandal
and a series of drug controversies." The USOC Exec Board
"will take a look at" the budget at meetings later this week
in DC. The budget "concerns" and talks of cuts come" at a
time when a USOC committee has proposed bonuses" for senior
USOC staff of more than $2.8M. Meanwhile, Reid notes other
expenses that the USOC has incurred over the year, including
paying Marriott Corp. $868,357 for janitorial services at
USOC facilities in '99 and paying $550,000 to IL-based
McKinsey & Company to conduct a study on how the USOC "could
be more efficient" (ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, 11/29).
