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Former U.S. President Bill Clinton at FIFA headquarters in Zurich December 1, 2010. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann
The U.S.'s recent failure to secure major international sporting events is more about governing bodies exploring new opportunities than a backlash against America, experts told Reuters on Friday."These bodies are more willing to go to places that haven't had the events before in a much more proactive way," said U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) spokesman Patrick Sandusky.
The U.S., once the glowing hosts of Olympics and other major events, missed out on the 2022 soccer World Cup on Thursday when the finals went to the tiny Gulf state of Qatar and failed to land the 2016 Summer Games which went to Rio de Janeiro.
"I honestly think it's less about anti-U.S. and more about looking at going into new frontiers, and you've seen that with Rio, Sochi, the South African World Cup to a Qatar World Cup," added Sandusky via telephone from Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Brazil will also host the 2014 World Cup while the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi has been chosen to stage that year's Winter Games. South Africa held the World Cup this year.
WINNING TOUGH
One of the other hurdles U.S. bids have had to overcome is that American bids are all privately funded while most other countries have the full financial backing of their governments.
"They become like national initiatives," said Sandusky, who also served as chief communications officer for Chicago's failed 2016 Olympic bid. "It makes it tough to win."
Chicago lawyer John Collins had similar views.
FIFA awarding the 2018 World Cup to Russia and 2022 to Qatar was consistent with the governing body's desire to expand the popularity of soccer worldwide, just as in 1994 when it awarded the tournament to the U.S., said Collins who has worked closely with American and international sports federations.
He disagreed with the notion that former U.S. president George W. Bush's foreign policy and the unpopular war in Iraq had cost the United States at the voting table.
"I don't buy that," Collins said. "I don't think people in sport really care about the other geopolitical stuff. In fact, the opposite is true."
U.S. president Barack Obama is 0-2 in supporting American Olympic and World Cup bids with ex-president Bill Clinton unable to persuade FIFA to give America the 2022 World Cup.
EARLIER SUCCESS
U.S. success in attracting major international sporting events was much greater in the 1980s and '90s.
Between 1980-2002, the United States hosted two Summer Olympics, two Winter Olympics and the 1994 World Cup.
"But when we previously got them, we didn't really bid," Collins said of the Olympics. "They pretty much asked us to do them." Now there is worldwide competition, he added.
But the U.S. has taken some wrong steps, Collins and Sandusky said.
Particularly irritating to IOC members has been an ugly revenue sharing row that has dragged on for years.
The International Olympic Committee wants to balance the distribution of funds from broadcasting and sponsorship deals, the bulk of which now flow to USOC coffers.
"It seems pretty clear the IOC will not award an Olympic Games to the United States until the USOC renegotiates its revenue-sharing agreement with the IOC," Collins wrote after Chicago's defeat.
New USOC leadership is working to correct that problem, said Sandusky who also noted that: "Right now we are not looking at bidding for anything.
"But we'll be there again," added Collins.
(Writing by Gene Cherry; editing by Ken Ferris
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