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Time for us to check out of the Olympics
Posted: Tuesday February 23, 1999 10:07 AM
To: Don
Logan
Chairman and CEO, Time
Inc.
Dear Mr.
Logan,
Not to get personal, but do you realize who you're sleeping with? You're in the
sack with IOC president Juan Antonio SamaRat, the Marquis de Graft, who stands
accused of running one of the most corrupt sports organizations in history, and
you need to get
out.
Eat the tens of millions that Sports Illustrated and Time
Inc., which owns SI, paid the IOC to be a TOP Sponsor of the Sydney Summer
Games. Don't sign any checks for Salt Lake City. Take the Olympic rings off the
company duffel bags and ski coats and souvenir boomerangs. Cancel the cruise
boat and the hotel space, and send back the truckloads of tickets. If you care
about the Olympics -- and you should -- make like Michael Johnson and
sprint, don't walk, away from this
weasel.
And not just you. All the other 500-pound-gorilla sponsors ought to walk away,
too, until SamaRat is run out of Switzerland on a mountain goat. Tell Coke to
put a cap on it. Get UPS to stop delivery. Have Kodak choose another moment.
Same with McDonald's, Samsung, Panasonic, Visa, IBM. Copy Xerox on this, will
you? Enough is
enough.
John Hancock COO David D'Alessandro is already taking a stand; why aren't you?
D'Alessandro has stopped negotiations with NBC on ads worth $20 million, about
twice the amount he spent with the network during the Atlanta Games. As a
sponsor, D'Alessandro has the right to buy as much as $60 million worth of ads,
but John Hancock isn't signing for a dime.
How can we be in business with a guy we're ripping weekly in our magazines? Or
do you somehow think this whole cash/fur coats/geishas/jewelry/sweetheart land
deals/under-the-table scholarships/bribes-for-votes scandal was just dreamed up
by
Geraldo?
This tells you how much SamaRat wants it all cleaned up: Just as the
mierda was hitting the fan, just as our own journalists were revealing
that IOC members have a funny habit of accepting first-class plane trips from
Patagonia to Salt Lake City with 20 days' worth of layovers in Paris, SamaRat
decides he's going to order an "independent investigation" into the
whole mess. Guess who's on the panel? All IOC
members!
Independent IOC investigator: Prince Abdullah, am I quite right in assuming
you purchased this handsome new cherry-red convertible Corvette by liquidating
your Christmas Club
account?
Prince Abdullah: No. I also used S&H Green
stamps.
You don't think SamaRat knew? You don't think a guy who appointed 90 of the 111
IOC members knew? You don't think a man who insists on presidential suites and
likes people to call him Your Excellency sets the tone for what is and isn't
acceptable? (Rule of thumb: If it fits in an airplane hangar, accept
it.)
This can't wait. This is only going to get greasier. Twenty-four IOC members
have been paint-balled by this scandal already, and there are three big reports
to come. I know you may have to write off millions to get out of this deal, but
the right thing rarely comes cheap. Our parent company, Time Warner, is a
multibillion-dollar corporation. So sell the company Concorde. Ask Madonna for a
loan. If you take a stand, I'll do my part: There'll be no Spectravision on my
expense account for a
month.
It's not like SamaRat's going to quit. Are you kidding? He learned from Generalissimo Franco. Dictators don't quit. They get carried out either in solid-gold coffins or on the ends of bayonets. The Olympics can't get clean until he's out. Same for all his cronies. Start over. Bill Bradley would be a nice IOC president. He's as clean as Rush Limbaugh's fork, and he's a former Olympic athlete. Remember athletes?
Look, SI doesn't sell waffle irons or condos or three-woods. All we have to trade on is our integrity. Every day we help fund this corruption, we lose a little more.
In conclusion I'd like to say something from the heart, as someone who cares about the future of this company and his place in it, whether you agree with my opinion and especially if you do not, and that is: Please don't have me fired.
Logan issued the following statement concerning the IOC:
"As an Olympic sponsor, Time Inc. continues to be deeply concerned about the serious allegations of misconduct and improprieties involving the IOC and the overall selection process for host cities. We have insisted that the IOC undertake a complete and vigorous examination -- and do whatever else might be necessary to restore the integrity of the Olympics.
"In the Time Inc. tradition of journalistic independence, SI's writers and editors will continue to aggressively pursue this story, unencumbered by any commercial interest the company may have."
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