Fifteen years after Birmingham hosted soccer preliminary matches during the '96 Atlanta Games, the USOC “wants the city to take down” the Olympic rings atop Legion Field, according to Joseph Bryant of the BIRMINGHAM NEWS. USOC Communications Dir Mark Jones said that his organization “must protect its licensing rights, the funding mainstay for America's athletic teams.” Jones: "A lot of our sponsors invest in Team USA in order to gain commercial rights to the Olympic rings in the United States. It's a piece of intellectual property that we attempt to safeguard for the exclusive use of our sponsors. It's critical for our survival." Alabama Sports Foundation Exec Dir Gene Hallman, who served as the Birmingham Soccer Organizing Committee CEO in '96, yesterday said that the city “has a right to the rings and he has the papers to prove it.” Hallman: "I find it unbelievably amazing that 15 years later they're making an issue of it. It would take a great deal of work to find the archived files from the Olympic games, but I will attempt to do so, and I'm 100 percent sure we received the approval to put them up and leave them up." Bryant notes while the USOC “has not threatened Birmingham with a lawsuit, the committee is known for its protection of the Olympic name and images associated with the games” (BIRMINGHAM NEWS, 11/15).
