Monday Memo -- Final 2018 Power Index; U.S. TV Rights; Rio Co Comm

One Month Until 2018 Vote

Around the Rings will release its final 2018 Olympic Bid Power Index on Monday, the one-month-to-go mark until the IOC host decision.

A commanding lead in public opinion helped PyeongChang top theprevious round of rankings, but changes are expectedin this final index.

IOC president Jacques Rogge will announce the winning bid at 5 p.m. on July 6 in Durban, South Africa.

The actual vote is slated for 3:35 to 3:50 p.m. local time, but with just three candidates and the IOC’s lightning-fast electronic voting system, the balloting could go even quicker. No more than two rounds will be needed to decide among Annecy, Munich and PyeongChang.

Olympic TV Rights Up for Grabs

A U.S. television deal for between two and four Olympics will be hammered out this week in Lausanne.

Top executives from the IOC, USOC and three competing networks will hunker down Monday and Tuesday at the Beau Rivage Hotel with future Games coverage at stake.

While the IOC will make the decision following two-hour presentations from Fox, ESPN/ABC and NBC/Comcast, a winning bid cannot be accepted without the consent of the USOC.

Networks can submit a bid only for the 2014 Sochi and 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, or they can make an offer for the next four.

The IOC reserves the right to ask for another round if unsatisfied, but lead negotiator Richard Carrion has said he wants to finalize the deal before next month’s IOC Session in Durban, South Africa.

IOC Returns to Rio

The IOC Coordination Commission will make its second inspection of Rio de Janeiro this week.

Though chair Nawal El Moutawakel and executive director Gilbert Felli were in town over New Year’s for the logo launch, this marks the full 18-member delegation’s first visit since May of 2010.

An organizing committee spokesman tells ATR a full day of meetings is slated for Tuesday with site visits reserved for Wednesday. Still more meetings will follow on Thursday, and a joint IOC-Rio 2016 press conference will cap off the three-day affair.

Like the Co Comm’s last visit, the proposed transformations the host city must undergo to stage the Olympics in just over five years’ time are expected to dominate the agenda, including transportation improvements and additional accommodation.

IOC members are also likely to see renovation efforts underway at Rio’s old port zone for the first time.

Also be sure to check out Tuesday Talk for a Q&A with Rio Paralympics chief Andrew Parsons conducted at the 2,000-days-to-go mark until the Games.

One Year to Euro 2012

Organizers in Poland and the Ukraine will celebrate one year until the European football championships on Wednesday.

Play kicks off June 8, 2012 at four cities in each host country and concludes July 1 with the final match at Olympic Stadium in Kiev.

Follow World Football Insiderfor complete coverage of Wednesday’s festivities.

Bid Decision Ahead for Turkey

A general election on Sunday is expected to factor heavily into Turkey’s future bid plans.

It’ll be up to the new government to decide whether to pursue the 2020 Olympics or 2020 European soccer finals. Istanbul tried for the 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 Games but sat the 2016 race out.

Unlike with past campaigns, Turkey is keeping uncharacteristically quiet this time around.

By the Book

As the July 6 vote for a 2018 Winter Olympic host city nears, ATR has compiled information from the bid books of Annecy, Munich and PyeongChang into a series of daily features known as By the Book.

The series continues this week with looks at the accommodation, technology and infrastructure proposed by each of the three candidates.

Written by Matthew Grayson.