Nbc Blasts Olympic Sponsor

The head of the Olympics’ biggest revenue source accused a major sponsor of damaging fund raising for American athletes through “cynical … self-serving” attacks on the IOC.

NBC Sports president Dick Ebersol described David D’Alessandro, the president of John Hancock insurance and the most vocal corporate critic in the Salt Lake City scandal, as a “bully” motivated by a thirst for publicity.

“I think it’s motivated by his own desire to be on a soapbox,” Ebersol said Tuesday.

In a telephone interview, D’Alessandro said Hancock was dedicated to helping athletes directly and will continue to support Olympic organizers in Sydney and Salt Lake.

D’Alessandro said he had not spoken with Ebersol during the scandal. He called the NBC chief’s statements a “desperate and sad commentary.”

“If I were Dick Ebersol and had hitched my career to the Olympics, I’d be pretty scared, too,” D’Alessandro said.

NBC has a $3.5 billion deal with the IOC for the U.S. television rights to five Olympics between 2000 and 2008.

Hancock pays more than $40 million for a berth in the International Olympic Committee’s highest-level sponsorship program.

Earlier this year, D’Alessandro pulled out of negotiations with NBC for $20 million in ads during Olympic telecasts to protest the IOC’s handling of the Salt Lake crisis.

Evolution, not revolution, was the theme as the International Olympic Committee opened debate on ways to change in the wake of its biggest scandal.

Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was among several speakers who called on the IOC to be more open, accountable and representative.

But the opening session of the IOC’s new reform commission was also tempered by words of caution about moving too far too fast.

Delegates warned against radical change in a 105-year-old organization which has survived world wars, terrorism and boycotts.