USOC reorganizes staff with TV network in mind

By EDDIE PELLS DENVER
Olympic News, AP - 2 months ago

The U.S. Olympic Committee reorganized part of its management team, a move that will allow chief operating officer Norm Bellingham more time to focus on starting an Olympic television network sometime in the next few months.

When the USOC hires a new chief marketing officer to replace Rick Burton, who resigned earlier this month, that person will report to CEO Jim Scherr instead of Bellingham. Bellingham is in charge of developing the TV network. Last month, he said the long-planned network could be up and running in 100 days.

"We've reached a critical juncture in that effort, we've got a lot of momentum and a great deal of progress is being made," USOC spokesman Darryl Seibel said Wednesday. "In fairness to Norm, we need to give him the opportunity to focus almost exclusively on that."

Seibel said there is no specific timetable in which to fill Burton's old job. Scherr, meanwhile, will oversee the federation's marketing and development programs even after the new COO is hired.

Another part of the restructuring calls for dividing the USOC sports division into two sections: one for operations and logistics and another for athletes and national governing bodies.

Operations will be run by Steve Roush, who oversaw the entire sports division through the Beijing Olympics. A leader for athletes and NGBs should be chosen by the end of the year.

Seibel said none of these restructuring moves will result in immediate job losses and neither were done because of tough economic times.

Last month, however, Scherr acknowledged that the USOC was taking a second look at its 2009 budget. Though the USOC is in solid financial shape, Scherr used the words "very stringent" and "prudent on the expense side" to describe the 2009 budget. He said administrative cutbacks were possible.

The budget is expected to be presented at the board of directors' meeting next month in California.

Meanwhile, Bellingham has been in New York several times in the past weeks trying to finalize a deal that would bring the USOC's long-held vision of its own TV network to fruition.

The idea came up two years ago and was given a working title, the U.S. Olympic Sports Network. The plan is to air live events and archival footage, along with a few shows that mix sports and lifestyle topics.

The goal is to increase exposure for Olympic sports, many of which are quickly forgotten once the games end.

The USOC had wanted to have the network up and running before Beijing. Now, if Bellingham's recent projections are correct, the network could be formally launched before the Winter Games in 2010.