Blow for BOA with London 2012 accounts not expected to show profit
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UPDATED:
15:43 GMT, 21 September 2012
London 2012 chiefs are expecting to break even when they finalise their accounts for the operation of the Olympics and Paralympics – which spells bad news for the cash-strapped British Olympic Association.
Some running costs for LOCOG, the London organising committee for the Games, will continue until the end of the year but the bulk has been accounted for and organisers are understood to be confident there will be no call on public money.
There is unlikely to be any surplus left over either however – which would be a blow for the BOA who would be entitled to 20 per cent of any profit from the running of the Games.
Breaking even: But London 2012 is not set to record a profit
The share of any surplus was the cause of an acrimonious legal dispute between the BOA and LOCOG last year – the BOA unsuccessfully claimed the running costs of the Paralympics should not be taken into account.
Instead, LOCOG gave the BOA the rights to sell an 'iconic' item of merchandise – the BOA chose to sell branded scarves but sales of these fell well below the target.
The legal row marked a low point in relations between the BOA chairman Lord Moynihan and chief executive Andy Hunt and the LOCOG leadership, and if there is to be no surplus will go down as a costly and ultimately pointless episode.
The Government's Olympics contingency fund still has around 400million unspent but LOCOG are not planning to call on any of that money, meaning they will have been funded entirely from sponsorship, television money, and sales of tickets and merchandise.
Meanwhile, it is understood Lord Coe would want to make Sir Clive Woodward the leader of the British winter and summer Olympic teams if he is elected as BOA chairman in November.
Coe, the London 2012 chairman, is expected to win the election to succeed Moynihan.
Woodward's current position as BOA director of sport is under threat after a restructuring programme was agreed earlier this week, but Coe would be keen to retain the services of the man who guided England to the 2003 Rugby World Cup.
Woodward was deputy chef de mission (team leader) for the Olympics in Beijing, Vancouver and London, but Coe believes he would be the ideal leader for the Games in Sochi and Rio de Janeiro, and that the job could be done on a part-time basis.
That would also raise questions about Hunt's long-term position, given that he was chef de mission for the last two Games.
Coe, meanwhile, has been confirmed as the latest name to join the line-up of speakers at the Doha GOALS Forum
The event – which sees a gathering of leaders in sport – was created under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, and was launched during the Olympics.
