The Associated Press reported that executives from both parties made substantial progress towards a new deal during the latest meetings in New York. At the heart of the talks is the USOC's 20% share of global sponsorship revenues and 12.75% cut of US broadcast rights deals, with any new formula to take effect after 2020. "We are getting very close," said Carrion.
USOC chief executive officer Scott Blackmun added that, if there is further progress in talks, the two organisations could sign a "term sheet" or memorandum of understanding within the next couple of weeks. "There's a really strong mutual desire on both sides to get this done sooner rather than later," he said.
"We have surfaced some new ideas that I think are causing us all to be optimistic that there's an approach to this that's going to be acceptable to the working group," Blackmun added to The Associated Press. "The next step for both of us is to go back to do some due diligence and crunch some numbers."
He continued: "We don't even have a tentative agreement yet but we're encouraged by the fact that we have a new idea on the table. We have a structure that we're optimistic about." The US has not hosted a Summer Olympics since the 1996 Atlanta Games, but a new deal would remove a major barrier to future bids.
National Olympic Committees have until September 1 to submit the names of any 2020 applicant cities to the IOC. "As each day goes by, the chances of us submitting a bid decreases, but as long as there is some possibility I don't want to rule it out," Blackmun said.
