U.S. Olympic Board at Turning Point

(ATR) The U.S. Olympic Committee Board of Directors meets Monday in San Francisco in a familiar situation – searching for a corporate leader and the international prestige needed to win an Olympic bid.

Since the last meeting of the 11-member USOC board in September, any hopes that the group will be planning to be part of a Chicago Olympics in 2016 have been dashed with the first-round rejection of the U.S. bid at the IOC Session in October. And so gloomy seem the prospects for an Olympics in the U.S. that 2022 or 2024 may be the earliest possible dates for another bid.

Board members will have to recalibrate plans for the next 10 years or so that will be absent the financial boost and the team inspiration hosting an Olympics provides to an NOC.

Though marked "Confidential" at the top of the page, the agenda for the meeting is available at the USOC website, www.teamusa.org. Minutes of the board meeting will be made public. The move toward transparency is a result of pressure from the U.S. national governing bodies which say they need to be better informed about USOC decision making.

Acting CEO Stephanie Streeter is expected to bid her farewell at this meeting. In October she withdrew from consideration as a candidate for the post on a permanent basis.

According the Chicago Tribune, six names are on a short list for the position:

Sandy Alderson, former vice president for Major League Baseball

Scott Blackmun, who once help the USOC job on an interim basis

Mark Lewis, President of Jet Set Sports

Chuck Wielgus, CEO of USA Swimming

A sixth un-named candidate is reported to be the only one of the group from a strictly corporate background outside the Olympic Movement.

The board will hear the latest on the CEO search, but is not expected to take any action until the search committee interviews the candidates for the job this week. USOC chairman Larry Probst has said that he hopes to name a finalist by the end of the year.

Probst is also expected to report on the task force he created in November which is supposed to review possible changes to the USOC governance structure. Former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue is the chair for the task force, which has yet to meet. Probst has indicated that the USOC may want to look at expanding the size of the board and making corporate changes that would solidify the presence of the USOC in Olympic organizations.

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Written by Ed Hula.