A total of $522.5 million (£345.8 million/€404.3 million) is set to be shared among the 26 Olympic sports that took part in London 2012, it was announced Tuesday.
While the exact figure must still be confirmed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), it was revealed that the sports will definitely share well over $500 million (£326 million/€386 million) here at the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) General Assembly.
The announcement marks a dramatic increase of the $296 million (£184 million/€227 million) the sports shared from Beijing 2008.
ASOIF is responsible for distributing the money to the International Sports Federations that appeared at the London 2012 Olympics, which is made up of the revenue collected by the IOC from broadcasters and sponsors.
“The first two payments from London 2012 have already paid in full to the sports federations, with that figure amounting to $475 million (£314 million/€367 million),” ASOIF executive director Andrew Ryan told the General Assembly. “A third and final payment is now due, which will be around 10 per cent of the first two payments ($47.5 million/£31.4 million/€36.7 million). This must still be confirmed with the IOC but we certainly expect it to be around this. The third and final payment will be made by the end of next month.”
A number of factors have led to the huge financial increase for the Olympic sports, most of which are down to the way the IOC negotiated the broadcast and sponsor rights for London 2012 differently from Beijing 2008.
Another major contributing factor for the increase was the huge success of the London 2012 Olympics for broadcasters and sponsors.
The figure for Rio 2016 is likely to be similar to that of London 2012 due to the fact that the IOC negotiated the broadcast and sponsor rights for both Games at the same time.
The next significant change will be between Rio 2016 and 2020 Olympic Games.
“Beijing to London was a huge jump in finance for many reasons, particularly the success of the Games” said ASOIF President Ricci Bitti of Italy. “However, we should not expect to go up so much again at Rio. We should perhaps expect the same payment after Rio.”
The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) will get the biggest single share based on ASOIF’s formula for distributing the money, although this formula is not publicly published.
The second-tier of ASOIF members are aquatics, basketball, football and gymnastics while the other 21 sports who participated at London 2012 are in the third and fourth tier.
The General Assembly also saw a final report on London 2012 by Denis Oswald, the former ASOIF President who chaired the IOC Coordination Commission for the Games last year.
“London 2012 was a great adventure for me, and a very awarding one to help build such a great Games from scratch,” he said.
“You International Sports Federations contributed so much, but special credit much goes to London 2012 – particularly their chairman Sebastian Coe, chief executive Paul Deighton and sports director Debbie Jevans, who gave so much to make the Games such a huge success.”
“London 2012, compared to previous Organizing Committees, did not stray from their original vision and delivered exactly what they promised in Singapore in 2005 when they were awarded the Games.
“London delivered the best possible environment for athletes to deliver their best and their athletes-centered approach was crucial to the success of the event.”
Jevans, who was also in attendance, also gave her “heartfelt thanks to all the innovative International Sports Federation for their friendship and for making London 2012 such a huge success.”
Contact the writer of this story at tom.degun@insidethegames.biz. To follow him on Twitter click here. Inside the Games is an online blog of the London Organizing Committee that staged the 2012 London Games. The blog continues to cover issues that are important to the Olympic Movement. This article is reprinted here with permission of the blog editors.