USOC and IOC officials said that leaders "made progress in negotiations on a new revenue-sharing deal Thursday that could lead to a last-minute American bid for the 2020 Summer Games," according to Stephen Wilson of the AP. USOC CEO Scott Blackmun and Chair Larry Probst "met for more than an hour over lunch" with a delegation including IOC Marketing Commission Chair Gerhard Heiberg, Finance Commission Chair Richard Carrion and Director General Christophe De Kepper. They agreed Thursday to "meet again in the next few weeks in New York with the goal of concluding a deal." Agreement on a revenue-sharing plan "would remove a major impediment to a U.S. Olympic bid." National Olympic Committees "have until Sept. 1 to submit the names of any applicant cities to the IOC." The USOC has repeatedly said that it "would not mount a bid until the money issue is resolved." U.S. cities mentioned as potential bidders include N.Y., L.A., Dallas, Minneapolis and Tulsa. U.S. IOC member Anita DeFrantz said that a U.S. bid is "overdue." DeFrantz: "It's not too late. We have cities that could host the games in two years if necessary" (AP, 7/7). YAHOO SPORTS' Chris Chase wrote, "The 2020 bid is there for the taking. Why pass it up? Forget about the lingering bitterness over the spurning of Chicago." A "potential bump in the road" is NBC's recent TV rights deal with the IOC. Chase: "The IOC got the billions it wanted from the United States. Why would the organization need to give the U.S. an Olympics now?" Still, it is "worth the risk" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 7/7).
INTERNATIONAL INTRIGUE: Carrion on Friday said that Istanbul "will be trying for a fifth time [to] host a summer Olympics ... when the Turkish city bids to host the 2020 Games." REUTERS' Karolos Grohmann noted so far only Rome has been "officially confirmed as a candidate" (REUTERS, 7/8). Spanish IOC member Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr. said that Madrid "could launch plans for a 2020 bid within the next two weeks." Following Annecy, France, losing out on the '18 Winter Games, there is "no interest in a bid from Paris for the 2020 Olympics" (AROUND THE RINGS, 7/7).
