Yesterday
Rich and poor
The postponement of the Olympic Games to 2021 is a painful step, but probably the only one possible in a pandemic. The problem, however, is that this transfer is fraught with a serious crisis for the international Olympic movement.
The reasons for this crisis are largely rooted in the long-established structure of financing world sports. It is no secret that a number of international sports federations make ends meet only thanks to direct payments from the IOC, which are received once every 4 years – almost immediately after the end of the next summer Games.
Consider the situation that has developed in the closest federation to us and our readers – World Sailing. Here is what Yacht Russia magazine wrote a couple of years ago (since then, believe me, little has changed):
“The World Sailing Federation is almost complete and long-standing bankrupt (moreover, this circumstance has been fairly neatly hidden from the general public). WS's annual expenses are about twice as high as the organization’s revenues, which in the non-Olympic years are only two to three million pounds, with only one and a half to four million pounds for administrative expenses (that is, just for the maintenance of the apparatus). Only a little large amount goes to the direct profile expenses of the federation: competitions and various sailing and near-sailing events.
As a result, the annual budget of WS is catastrophically deficient: the annual shortage of funds amounts to millions of pounds. Moreover, the magnitude of this deficit is quite stable year after year, only growing. "
And further:
“So at the expense of what does World Sailing live, the reader will ask?” And everything is very simple – this deficit is covered solely due to the fact that during the years of the Olympics, direct payments from the IOC are of the order of ten million pounds, compensating WS for all losses of past non-Olympic years. ”
We give specific data. After the 2012 Games, the amount that the IOC transferred to the Sail Federation amounted to 8 million 807 thousand pounds. After the Games-2016 – 11 million 772 thousand pounds. This year, the "Olympic tranche" should have amounted to 12 million 240 thousand. But…
But the Olympics were postponed until next year. "Money infusion" was also postponed. For World Sailing (and for a number of other international federations) this is a real disaster, and almost the only way out in this situation is to ask the IOC not to wait another year or more, but to transfer funds this fall.
The IOC has not yet responded to these requests (at least officially). Although he definitely has money, and considerable. For the previous Olympic cycle (2013 – 2016), the International Olympic Committee earned $ 5.7 billion!
The logical question is: why, then, in the current critical situation for a significant number of international federations, the IOC should not make early – and, of course, saving – payments? And why, if there is money, do not increase these payments, facilitating the existence of a number of sports?
It seems to us that in the not too distant future, the International Olympic Committee will have to respond to this problem. He simply has no other choice.
111 Yesterday # 10075
Chief Editor
poorRich
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