The Tokyo Games postponement has left the USOPC with a $200M "cash crunch that could leave athletes without the modest living and training stipends they rely on," according to Keh & Futterman of the N.Y. TIMES. The deficit "comes while the committee simultaneously makes a push" for the new '21 Tokyo Games and the '22 Beijing Games. The "looming crisis is a result of the USOPC's unique financial structure, which relies so heavily" on nearly $200M it "receives every other year from its share of the U.S. media rights fees that NBCUniversal pays the IOC to televise the Olympics." Unlike other national Olympic organizations, the USOPC "receives no government funds." The problem for the USOPC is that it "does not get its share of the NBCUniversal money until after the Games occur." That money represents about 40% of the USOPC's budget and "allows it to distribute annually" about $100M, including $13M in "stipends directly to athletes" and more than $75M to the NGBs for their sports. The $13M in direct payments "helps roughly 2,000 athletes pay their rent and eat, using stipends that range from a few thousand dollars to as much as $21,000." The USOPC "could try to tap the United States Olympic Endowment," which has net assets of $185M. What happens to the USOPC's finances during the next 18 months "may hinge on a delicate series of negotiations between the IOC and NBCUniversal" (N.Y. TIMES, 4/4).
