New sponsorships helping USOC pad bottom line

A handful of recent sponsorship deals have padded the pocketbook of the U.S. Olympic Committee, which reported Tuesday it has generated $110 million in revenue since Scott Blackmun replaced Stephanie Streeter as chief executive officer in January.

The Colorado Springs-based organization boasts a growing stable of corporate partners, with first-time agreements with BP, BMW, Dow Chemical and Procter & Gamble and a renewal with Jet Set Sports, offsetting the loss of Bank of America and The Home Depot.

USOC employees account for 264 jobs in town and $27 million in payroll and benefits, a number Blackmun expects will slightly decrease because of budget cuts in the past year. Local national governing bodies comprise another 458 jobs and $28 million in payroll.

“It’s very, very important to me that we be engaged in the community, that we be part of the community,” Blackmun said at a luncheon at The Broadmoor hosted by the Colorado Springs Regional Economic Development Corp. and the Colorado Springs Sports Corp.

The city shelled out $53 million to keep the USOC in the Springs, providing the USOC with sparkling headquarters on Tejon Street, giving NGBs renovated office space next to America the Beautiful Park and planning improvements to the Olympic Training Center.

“Please hold us accountable to return your investment many times over,” Blackmun told hundreds of sports and business leaders, who also listened to Pacers president Jim Morris.

Blackmun said he wants the USOC to be “much more transparent and really increase the level of communication between us and the community and us and the NGBs. … We feel really good about where we are, and we feel really good about where we’re going.”

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