The $200 Million the Olympics Postponement Took From Team U.S.A.

By ANDREW KEH AND MATTHEW FUTTERMAN from NYT Sports https://ift.tt/2V0nVBZ


The Summer Olympics in Tokyo has been postponed for a year. That means that nearly $ 200 million in funds, on which American athletes depend on their living and training expenses, will probably not come until next August.
A two-time Olympian in athletics, Wallace Spearmon got what he wanted when the International Olympic Committee finally gave in to pressure from athletes and national Olympic organizations and postponed the Tokyo 2020 Games for a year.

It made sense given the coronavirus pandemic. But the financial domino effect could jeopardize their ability, and that of thousands of other American athletes, to train for the Games.

"Hopefully athletes don't feel this, although we know we probably will," said Spearmon, who is training in Arkansas to compete in the 200 or 400 meters. "Many of us are already struggling to survive."

Anxiety is mounting because the postponement has left the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee with a $ 200 million cash crisis that could leave athletes without the modest living and training stipends on which they depend. The deficit occurs as the committee simultaneously runs the 2021 Summer Games and the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing.
Organizations that run individual Olympic sports in the United States, known as national government agencies, were already trying to figure out how they would manage without the revenue they should have received from thousands of events that were canceled due to the pandemic.

In the last days, the cycling of the EE. The USA He fired or suspended 40 percent of what had been a staff of 70 people. Rowing from USA USA It cut its staff by a third, also through a mix of leave and layoffs, and cut the wages of much of the remaining staff.
The impending crisis is the result of the unique financial structure of the U.S.O.P.C., which is highly dependent on almost $ 200 million that it receives every two years from its share of the U.S. media rights fees that NBCUniversal pays to the I.O.C. to televise the Olympics.