Who's the boss of the 2002 Winter Games? It's a longer list than most Utahns probably think, because now it includes the U.S. Olympic Committee.
"Don't worry. We're no patsies when it comes to defending our interests," Frank Joklik said Sunday before speaking to the USOC Board of Directors for the first time as the head of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee.But in the months since Joklik took over as president and chief executive officer of the organizing committee, the Colorado Springs-based USOC has started taking more control over the 2002 Winter Games.
USOC Executive Director Dick Schultz readily acknowledges playing a larger role. "We intend to do that. We have an agreement with Frank that is appropriate to do that," Schultz said.
Schultz is already putting together a group of USOC experts who'll help oversee the organizing committee's preparations for 2002. That group plans to meet before the end of the year.
Joklik prefers to describe the relationship as an equal partnership. "I've seen no evidence they want to exercise any control that would not be productive," he said.
That's very different from how the USOC was perceived by the organizing committee in the past, especially during the negotiations of a joint marketing agreement.
Former SLOC President Tom Welch and USOC Deputy Secretary General John Krimsky were at odds throughout the years-long effort to agree on how to split revenues raised from corporate sponsors.
It got so bad that the pair bickered over who would have the biggest office in Salt Lake City. Organizing committee employees gifted Welch with a voodoo doll of Krimsky, complete with pins.
Welch said then he had to stand up to the USOC to get the best deal for Salt Lake City. Privately, he and other organizing committee officials complained about the USOC's bullying tactics.
Those days are apparently over.
Joklik, who was backed in his push to become SLOC president by the USOC members who sit on the Salt Lake organizing committee's board of trustees, has since signed the joint marketing agreement.
Although it might look as if Joklik made a deal to get the job he wanted, he said he's simply turned to the USOC for much-needed assistance. "I talk to them practically every day," Joklik said.
Jim Easton, a member of the International Olympic Committee from the United States who also sits on the Salt Lake organizing committee's board of trustees, offered a similar explanation. "I don't think there was a trade-off," Easton said.
In fact, Easton calls Joklik "a shrewd businessman respected by everyone," and asserts that Joklik "is going to stick up for Salt Lake and they know that. They also know he's a very reasonable person."
"There's a built-in conflict between the two organizations," Easton said. "Salt Lake is short-term, `Let's this get done.' The USOC is looking at the long term."
So, Easton said, the new spirit of cooperation is good for everybody.
Nowhere is that more evident than in raising money. Salt Lake City organizers need more than $1 billion to put on the 2002 Winter Games, almost all of it from private sources such as corporate sponsors.
"The USOC is trying to watch more carefully so (SLOC) doesn't get itself into trouble. The biggest trouble is running out of money, which Atlanta started to do," Easton said.
Atlanta, host of the 1996 Summer Games, is, of course, another reason the USOC is so anxious to make sure organizers of the 2002 Winter Games do a good job.
Problems there - especially with what was condemned as the over-commercialization of the Olympics to raise last-minute dollars by naming, for example, official game shows - threatened future corporate sponsorships.
The USOC stepped in even before the 1996 Games in Atlanta to protect its long-term financial interests by setting up a joint marketing agreement with Salt Lake City organizers. That agreement would package sponsorships for U.S. Olympic teams along with sponsorships for the 2002 Winter Games.
The deal negotiated by Welch and signed by Joklik virtually guarantees Salt Lake City will raise about $250 million from its share of the proceeds. The rest will go to the USOC.
The terms of the sponsorships already signed with General Motors, US WEST, Texaco, Seiko and Home Depot have not been disclosed, but Salt Lake City is reportedly already halfway toward its goal.
Despite Welch's efforts, Easton said he's concerned that Salt Lake City didn't get enough from the deal. "Salt Lake took a cautious approach," Easton said. "I'm hoping the USOC will think about being more generous."
Joklik said he had no comment about any future renegotiation of the joint marketing agreement. But, he stressed, "I'm not going to be bashful about asking for money from anyone."
During his presentation to the USOC board Sunday, Joklik made it a point to refer to the relationship. "We in Salt Lake City are very conscious of, and very happy with, the partnership we have with the USOC," he said.
Joklik also alluded to the difficulties caused last summer when Welch, the state's longtime Olympic leader, resigned after being charged with spouse abuse.
"We've been through a little rough weather over the past few months," Joklik said. Despite the adverse publicity, he attempted to assure the sports leaders that the organizing committee "is in a very good position."
Joklik spent only a few minutes addressing the ballroom audience, but did meet privately with top USOC officials shortly after arriving in Orlando late Saturday afternoon.
He left within 24 hours for a meeting in North Carolina with NationsBank, which sponsored the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta and is likely to do the same for Salt Lake City.
Negotiations with the bank have been ongoing for some time. Organizers hope to secure at least a $150 million line of credit from what will become the official bank of the 2002 Winter Games.