Speaking during the opening sessions at SportAccord in Lausanne, Payne, the IOC’s director of global broadcast and media rights, said federations wanting to become a regular on the schedules needed to harness the mainstream media to capture the public imagination.
Said Payne: “Federations need to PR their sports to become television friendly.
“They need to get their stars on the front covers of magazines instead of people from Survivor and Big Brother.”
SportAccord became the centre of attention for the global sports industry yesterday - and the world's media - when it played host to the announcement of the final cities selected by the IOC to compete to host the 2012 Olympic Games.
Moscow, Madrid, London, New York and Paris all made it through to what will surely be an intense year of campaigning, leading up to a final decision next July.
