Michael Payne, former head of marketing at the International Olympic Committee (IOC), has said that the organization requires "serious" cultural change.
Payne, who spent 17 years heading up the IOC's marketing efforts, also believes the IOC will bring Russia formally back into the fold this year (having banned the Russian Olympic Committee in late 2023, while Russian athletes must currently compete at the Olympics under a neutral flag), and that that original suspension was "a mistake."
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He spoke on a wide range of topics at the SportsPro Summit in London yesterday.
On the IOC in its current guise, Payne – who now chairs the Volleyball World commercial venture – said: "I think the IOC needs serious change in its culture …
"The IOC is so big and bureaucratic and run by lawyers, and it has to get a culture of innovation back."
He added that while the IOC's top-tier 'TOP' partnership program – currently containing 12 brands – "has been very successful, it needs to evolve quickly to stay in tune with the marketplace."
Prior to the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics earlier this year, sponsorship revenues at the IOC were counted at the lowest level since 2020.
Payne was heavily involved in creating the TOP – The Olympic Partner – program in the mid-1980's.
Earlier this week, JPMorgan Chase was added to that program, becoming its 12th member, in a deal stretching through the 2028 and 2030 Olympics. It thus becomes the first global banking sponsor in the history of the Olympics.
When it comes to the IOC's commercial approach, Payne also said it is "absolutely crazy" that athletes are not currently permitted to post content of them competing at the Olympics on their own social media and digital channels.
Athletes are majorly restricted in terms of what they can post – they are only allowed to share videos of two minutes in length or less, and only from the opening and closing ceremonies, and training venues.
No sharing of live action is permitted, while no content from competition venues is allowed past an hour before their event starts.
Payne said, on this front: "The power the Olympics has in terms of its position, its brand and its ability to reach around the world is unique – is the IOC fully exploiting that power? Is it fully exploiting the potential of the athlete?
“I think it’s crazy that the athletes … are not allowed to have any access to their visual images."
He said that allowing athletes to access their own imagery and video from their events "would be a simple fix, and you'd suddenly have 100,000 brand ambassadors … The technology's there."
On the subject of Russia's potential re-inclusion, meanwhile, Payne commented: "I’d be very surprised if the decision was not taken this year to bring Russia back – [IOC president] Kirsty Coventry is adopting a different strategic mindset to [her predecessor] Thomas Bach, and there’s a view that all athletes should be allowed to compete.
He added: "I think the original suspension of Russia was a mistake – it opened Pandora's Box, and that decision now means people ask more about [the potential suspension] of countries including Israel and the USA. It’s a no-win situation.
"We’ll see the decision taken this year because qualifying for the LA28 games takes place next year."
Currently, the Russian flag, anthem, and symbols are all banned from Olympic events; however, the IOC is now known to be considering its approach towards that complex geopolitical issue.
