IOC official downplays Chicago selling point

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LAUSANNE, Switzerland – Gerhard Heiberg of Norway, one of the International Olympic Committee’s leading money men, seemed to minimize the impact of a Chicago selling point when he said today that sponsorship and marketing possibilities would not and should not affect the race for the 2016 Summer Games.

‘I don’t think commercial aspects will play a great role here,’’ Heiberg said. ‘I’m the IOC marketing director, and I’m not going to them [the four candidate cities] asking what kind of sponsorships we can get and what kind of TV deals we can get. I would like to keep commercial aspects out of the race as much as possible.’’

Heiberg’s statements, made to a small group of reporters outside IOC headquarters, came a day before each of the bid cities makes a 45-minute presentation to the IOC members.

In an interview with the Chicago Tribune last week, Chicago 2016 CEO Patrick Ryan said he would cite commercial aspects during the presentation.

‘We will certainly highlight the marketing opportunity and the sponsorship opportunity that is presented by the Fortune 500 and international [corporate] headquarters concentration in Chicago and the Midwest,’’ Ryan said. ‘We believe that with Chicago and the Midwest we can demonstrate -- and I think we did to the EC [IOC Evaluation Commission that visited in April] -- that there is a unique opportunity for sponsorship support that will be lasting and an opportunity for the Olympic movement to establish long-term relationships with this corporate world.’’

Heiberg said today that he would ‘not start comparing what each city can get for TV rights and sponsorships.’’

An Olympics in the United States traditionally draws larger TV rights from a U.S. network, although there is a feeling that U.S. broadcasters would pay almost as much for an Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, because it is just one hour ahead of New York during the dates projected for the Olympics. In the past, U.S. companies also have been more interested in a home-soil Games, although that generally has more impact on domestic sponsorships for the U.S. Olympic Committee than IOC global sponsorships.

Heiberg, a member of the IOC executive board and chief executive of the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympic Organizing Committee, said there was no timetable to begin negotiations with U.S. networks for the 2014 and 2016 Olympics. NBC holds U.S. rights through 2012.

‘Can you tell me when the economic climate in the U.S. gets better? That is when we will start negotiating,’ Heiberg said.

Heiberg described Wednesday’s presentations, to be followed by a 45-minute question period, as ‘an important learning experience’’ for both the cities – Chicago, Rio, Madrid and Tokyo -- and the IOC members.

‘They need to make us believe they can do it, and they can listen to find out if there is something they could improve and should improve [before the Oct. 2 vote],’’ Heiberg said.

These presentations, to focus on technical aspects of each bid, were added to the bidding process last year as a result of restrictions placed on interaction between members and cities in the aftermath of the votes-for-bribes scandal that was revealed in December 1998. A year later, the IOC decided to prevent members from making individual visits to the cities and cities from visiting individual members.

‘A lot of the IOC members have complained they don’t know enough [about the bids], and they are right,’’ Heiberg said.

-- Philip Hersh