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Olympics

IOC Rethinking How To Present Future Games To Bid Cities

Stockholm is one of four cities that has expressed interest in hosting the '26 Winter GamesGETTY IMAGES

The IOC is doing a "total rethink" over the way future Games are presented to potential host cities, and "how they're sold to the public," according to Stephen Wade of the AP. The IOC is "trying to rebrand, billing itself as user friendly and at the service of host cities -- and not the other way around." IOC officials are "talking up flexibility and cost cutting, trying to change the IOC's image of pressuring cities to build new sports venues that quickly become unused 'white elephants.'" Four cities have "shown preliminary interest" in hosting the '26 Games: Stockholm; Calgary; Sion, Switzerland; and Sapporo, Japan. IOC Olympic Games Exec Dir Christophe Dubi said that Norway, Austria and the U.S. had also "shown some interest" -- if not for '26, then for '30. But USOC officials said that the country "won't bid" for the '26 Games. Salt Lake City, Denver and Reno are "expected to consider" '30 bids. Former IOC VP John Coates joked that "letting cities talk informally before bidding formally with the IOC eliminated 'the schmoozing' and back-scratching that has gone on, driving up costs for cities that eventually win the bid -- and even for losing cities that don't." The IOC last year awarded two Summer Olympics simultaneously to Paris and L.A. -- '24 and '28 -- in "one bid process." But Dubi said that it was "'too early to speculate' if it might do the same" for the '26 and '30 Winter Games (AP, 2/14).

CHECKING THINGS OUT: CTV NEWS' Jackie Dunham noted Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi this week has been touring the Pyeongchang Games on a "fact-finding mission" to determine Calgary’s suitability for hosting the Games. Nenshi said, "We’ve done a ton of work and we’re very confident we can host an excellent Games, the question is: should we?" Nenshi and the rest of the delegation have been "meeting with IOC organizers in Pyeongchang to see how the Olympics operate and how any lessons learned from the current Games might apply to Calgary." The hope is that the city will be "able to cut down on costs by using its existing infrastructure" (CTVNEWS.ca, 2/13). A CALGARY HERALD editorial notes Nenshi is "among eight officials sent by the city, in addition to delegates" from Canmore, Canada and the provincial and federal governments. Nenshi said one of the big reasons for the trip was to "really look eyeball to eyeball with the folks involved in the Olympic movement to try and understand that commitment to reform a bit better.” He added, “I am much more comfortable now, having been here, that they are, in fact, entirely sincere and really, really want the Olympics to change, for the Olympics to be different, to be more cost-effective, to be more efficient” (CALGARY HERALD, 2/14).

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Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

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