by Alison Brown
We all love the sport and the spectacle of the Olympics and Paralympics, but the greatest sports festivals in the world are big business. It takes thousands of professionals to make the Games happen. We have been lucky enough to speak to a few of these people who have given us insight into the business side of sports.
George Hirthler
Our latest podcast takes a look back at the Atlanta 1996 Olympics. Remember when Atlanta won the right to host? The Centennial Olympics, the ones that Athens desperately wanted to host and everyone thought Athens would win because the Olympics were born in Greece? And then Atlanta won, and everyone was surprised?
Well, we’ve got the story of how Atlanta shocked the world.
Writer and producer George Hirthler joins us to discuss his documentary “The Games in Black & White.” This Emmy award-winning film delves into the unlikely friendship of then-Atlanta mayor Andy Young and conservative lawyer Billy Payne, who joined forces to bring the Olympics to Atlanta and put the city on the world map.
Terrence Burns
Terrence has been on the show three times, first to discuss how the sponsorship and marketing of the Olympics has evolved, then about Olympic branding, then about his experience working on Bidding for the Olympics.
Terrence worked for Delta Air Lines in the 1980s and 1990s, and managed Delta’s sponsorship of the Atlanta 1996 Olympics. From there he went on to work at the International Olympic Committee’s marketing agency until the IOC brought that function in house. Now Terrence owns and leads T. Burns Sports Group, which helps companies with the business of sports, including sponsorship, marketing, branding, and bidding for events.
Pascal Wattiaux
While athletes continually strive to go faster, higher and stronger at the Olympics, technology is also an area of the Games that continually pushes the envelope. We spoke with Pascal Wattiaux, IT Consultant and former Director of Technology at the International Olympic Committee. He got his start with Olympics technology at Albertville 1992, and most recently he consulted with Paris 2024. He’s seen massive amounts of change in technology used at the Olympics–and what it takes to deliver it. He tells us all about the tech challenges of an Olympics, particularly the important elements that the public doesn’t generally see.
Michael Payne
The International Olympic Committee wasn’t always wealthy, and it took a lot of work to create the programs that brought the IOC from the brink of destruction to the global powerhouse it is today. Michael Payne was one of the people who helped the IOC right its course. As the organization’s first marketing director, he helped develop the TOP sponsorship program and also managed broadcast rights. After working at the IOC for 16 years, he left in 2004 to start Payne Sports Media Strategies, his own sports and entertainment strategic consulting firm.
Shannon Galea
We talk a lot about more nations getting involved with sports, or smaller nations having more presence at an Olympics or Paralympics. For a nation to be at the Games, they need to have a national governing body in the sport – but what does it take to start one? On this episode we’re talking with skeleton athlete Shannon Galea, who has dual citizenship with Canada and Malta, and who founded the Maltese Bobsled and Skeleton Federation with hopes of qualifying for the Olympics.
Ramsey Baker
Many national governing bodies seem like giant entities within sports, but the reality is that many NGBs have small budgets and and smaller staffs. We talked with Ramsey Baker, who spent 18 years in various leadership roles at U.S. Figure Skating before moving over to Aggregate Sports, a consulting firm specializing in helping sporting entities solidify sponsorship and broadcast partners to increase their revenues and better serve their members. We learned that managing an NGB is a tricky business, especially when you don’t have many resources to draw from.
Andy Spalding
We joke about people peddling steaks and watches as influence, but megasporting events do have some very public issues with corruption. Could the International Olympic Committee create reform when it comes to anti-corruption and human rights? Law professor Andy Spalding, head of the independent group Olympics Compliance Task Force joined us to talk about the work his group is doing to develop a new approach to these issues for the Olympics and the World Cup.
Alexis Schaefer
We love learning about the people behind the scenes who help expand the visibility of the Paralympics. We talked with Alexis Schaefer, the former Commercial and Marketing Director of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). Alexis joined the IPC in 2002 as Sr. Manager of Marketing and Broadcasting, when there were only a few employees. As a result, his role encompassed a wide range of tasks, and he was instrumental in the growth of the organization.