Payne’s three rules

International Olympic Committee (IOC) marketing director Michael Payne was in town recently to confer with three bidders for the Philippine TV rights to the Athens Olympics.

For the record, Payne is a legitimate IOC bigwig. He was described as a "senior IOC paper-shuffler" and referred to as one of the IOC’s top six officials by Andrew Jennings in his book "The Great Olympic Swindle." Payne intimated that IOC president Dr. Jacques Rogge himself dispatched him to iron out the kinks of the Athens coverage in a seven-nation, five-day trip to Asia.

It was Payne who negotiated the $2.3 Billion blockbuster deal that delivered the rights to the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics plus the 2006 Winter Olympics to the giant NBC network. The deal was negotiated in 1995 when the IOC hadn’t even decided which cities would host the three Olympics. That’s how shrewd and astute a negotiator Payne is.

In Jennings’ book "The New Lords of the Rings," Payne justified the deal by explaining that "it clearly provides considerable financial security to the movement and to future cities bidding for the Games, knowing they already have the financing locked up."

For Payne to bother to visit a small market like the Philippines is an indication that the IOC is committed to a comprehensive global TV coverage for Athens.

A former professional free-style skier, Payne joked that he gave up the sport as a career to concentrate on marketing because it was easier to package sponsorship deals than to win on the slopes.

Payne was accompanied by Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) sports director John Barton here. They were feted at a lunch hosted by National Broadcasting Network (NBN) chair Mia Concio and general manager Joey Isabelo in Makati last Wednesday.

A press conference was held after the lunch. But there was no announcement as to which bidder won the rights. Barton said he would return "soon" to make the announcement.

When asked what the status was of the negotiations, Payne said he follows three rules in answering a question of that nature. First, he never commits to a timeline. Second, he never divulges who the bidders are. And finally, he never discloses what are the terms of the negotiations.

One thing is certain, Payne added, the Athens Olympics will be televised in the Philippines. He also said there is no truth to reports that the Philippines has been blacklisted by the IOC as an TV destination.

Rumors of the blacklisting spread when it became widely known that NBN has not been able to pay off its obligation for the TV rights to the Sydney Games four years ago. The scuttlebutt is the network still owes about $1.2 Million.

IOC representative to the Philippines Frank Elizalde said there has been a "partial" payment of the obligation but lamented a long history of foot-dragging in the government network settling outstanding debts dating back to the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

Payne said money isn’t the primary consideration in the IOC deciding on the winning bid. He stressed that the IOC is not involved in marketing as a business. The more important factor is the bidder must share in the Olympic vision of promoting and developing sport on a long-term basis. He said a vital component is a program to enhance the Olympic brand and treat the Olympics not just as a once-in-four-years spectacle but as an ongoing movement.

A reason for his trip to Asia was to determine the extent of the financial difficulty that some countries are experiencing particularly with regard to the deteriorating value of their local currencies in relation to the US dollar. Payne, an Englishman married to a Spaniard, appeared to be sympathetic to developing countries like the Philippines where there is popular appreciation of the Olympics.

More on Payne’s visit in Sunday’s column.