Long before any specific wrongdoing in the Larry Nassar sex abuse case, former USOC CEO Scott Blackmun decided to give NGBs a wide range of freedom -- operational leeway that helped Nassar evade justice for so long, Ropes & Gray investigators said in their report yesterday. Blackmun’s “service-oriented” approach helped repair a tense political situation within the USOC after he was hired in ‘10, but it amounted to the USOC giving sports groups resources without accompanying oversight, the report said. It also contributed to the USOC’s generally slow pace to respond to problems in other sports and the drawn-out creation of the independent U.S. Center for SafeSport. “As a result of this approach, the USOC was not in a position to know whether the NGBs were implementing strong, effective policies,” the report states. “And the NGBs, operating independently, enacted a wide range of policies and procedures, many of which failed to conform to best practices.”
MORE MOMENTUM FOR USOC'S PUSH: This passage, while not as sensational as the accounting of the steps Blackmun and former USA Gymnastics CEO Steve Penny took to hide the Nassar investigation, will add further momentum to the USOC’s ongoing push for more control of NGBs under new CEO Sarah Hirshland and incoming BOD Chair Susanne Lyons. Blackmun was extremely popular with NGB leaders, many of whom believed the USOC was meddling in their affairs before he arrived. Blackmun told Ropes & Gray investigators that he wanted “to change the nature of the dialogue a little bit.” The report states, “He reasoned that having high-performing athletes ‘is much more dependent on a healthy NGB than it is a healthy USOC.’” But there was a cost. The USOC deferred to USAG, which then “engaged in essentially no oversight of Nassar.” “Nassar thrived in this loose governance model,” the report reads. Ropes & Gray said there has been a “long running debate” within the USOC on the question of NGB oversight for years, with some wanting to take a stronger hand than Blackmun had.
BLAME PRE-DATES BLACKMUN: Changes to the Olympics industry pre-dating Blackmun are also to blame, the report suggests. From the ‘80s to the early ‘00s, USOC governance changed from a 400-member “house of delegates” to a modern nonprofit corporate model with 15 professional BOD members. Those changes had clear benefits to the corporate side, allowing streamlined strategic planning and corporate execution that led to rapid growth in revenue and performance. However, that centralization of power, combined with the USOC’s singular focus on winning medals, led to a sharp decline in meaningful athlete involvement in governance. Additionally, tools from the ‘78 Amateur Sports Act designed to help athletes air their grievances -- such as the Athletes Advisory Council and the athletes’ ombudmsan -- struggled to act as intended.
