Sport is Business, Business is sport

From the reserved lounges of the IOC to media maneuvers, to power plays among sponsors, governments, and television: Michael Payne reveals what really happens behind the scenes of the world's most watched sporting event, the Olympics. Payne – a former athlete in the World Cup circuit of freestyle skiing, and for twenty years the marketing director of the International Olympic Committee – lifts the curtain on global strategies, billion-dollar negotiations, and twists straight out of a spy story.

We thus find Muhammad Ali lighting the Olympic flame, Queen Elizabeth launching (almost) alongside James Bond, and the behind-the-scenes story of the richest television contract in history. It’s a meeting to understand how sports has become a billion-dollar industry and to question how this coexist with the values and principles of the Olympic spirit.

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Michael Payne has been the head of commercial strategy for the International Olympic Committee for over twenty years. He created the TOP program, which transformed the Games from a struggling event into a multi-billion-dollar brand. He then worked alongside Bernie Ecclestone to revitalize Formula 1 and founded a consulting firm that has advised major global sports institutions. Today, he is considered one of the most influential figures in the sports business. He is the author of Olympic Turnaround and Toon In!, and collaborates with Financial Times, CNN, and CNBC.

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