100 Days From Vancouver, USOC Looks for a Leader

The leaders of the U.S. Olympic Committee are going through the kind of year that won't look good on their resumes.

They're taking the blame for Chicago's failed, $70 million run at hosting the 2016 Summer Games — a bid that sent President Barack Obama on an unsuccessful trip to Copenhagen to pitch Chicago's effort. Back in Colorado Springs, insiders point to a revolving door of executives to show that the USOC has gone from a relatively smooth-running operation to a dysfunctional mess.

With the Vancouver Olympics only 100 days away as of Wednesday, the search is on for a new boss, who will need more than 100 days to fix what's wrong at the USOC. That CEO will replace Stephanie Streeter, who is winding down a tenure that began in turmoil in March and never found its stride despite her best intentions.

Her replacement could make $1 million a year or more — and will earn every penny for what some view as a full-fledged rehabilitation project.

"The USOC's international standing is not only abysmally low, but now engulfed in crisis," said Michael Lenard, a 1984 Olympian in team handball who has played an active role on the domestic and international Olympic scene for 25 years.

At the new CEO's command will be a staff of 375 and a budget of about $180 million a year, 85 percent of which will go toward Olympic sports organizations and their athletes. About 700 of those athletes will become part of Team USA at the Olympics over the next four years.

It is the richest, largest Olympic organization in the world, a committee whose success or failure drives TV and advertising revenue for both the Winter and Summer Games, which in turn can make or break the global Olympic movement. But wealth has brought resentment from Olympic committees in other countries.

"Our role in the world can't be made by our economic might anymore," said Dick Ebersol, NBC Universal Sports and Olympics chairman, whose company will pay $2.2 billion to televise the 2010 and 2012 Olympics. "It has to be made by very trained, experienced people who've proven they're diplomats and who the rest of the world wants to know."