Does the USOC receive an "immoral amount" of IOC cash? - Peter Ueberroth spanks the guy who suggested just that!

From Boston.com:

"... "An immoral amount," declared IOC member Hein Verbruggen of the Netherlands.

It's pretty simple math," Ueberroth said in his farewell speech at the US Olympic Assembly.

The USOC gets 12.75 percent of the domestic TV fee and 20 percent of the sponsorship cash, which added up to $300 million over the past quadrennium (half of the committee's budget) and will increase to $450 million for the upcoming quad. Still, it's only a fraction of what the Americans fork over to the IOC.

NBC paid nearly $900 million for the Beijing rights (twice as much as the European Broadcasting Union did) and signed on for another $2 billion for the 2010 and 2012 Games even before the sites were chosen. And half of the $866 million from the IOC's 12 global sponsors for the last quad came from US-based companies such as Coca-Cola, McDonald's, and Visa.

"Who pays the bill for the world Olympic movement? Make no mistake about it," Ueberroth said. ..."

[Link]

These figures are amazing. Both the IOC and the USOC are overwhelmingly, stinky, smelly, rich. I think they both should spread the wealth around a little bit more. Maybe throw some more money at the athletes.