Pound helped rescue the IOC from financial ruin and then cleaned up some of sports’ biggest drug scandals.Phelan M. Ebenhack
Dick Pound was not happy.
It was the summer of 1992, and the 14-year member of the International Olympic Committee should have been enjoying one of his greatest successes at the Barcelona Summer Games. After all, Pound had been largely responsible for laying the groundwork for the IOC’s fledgling commercial empire that included selling the broadcast rights for around $400 million to NBC and lining up a dozen blue-chip brands as global partners, including 3M, Coca-Cola and Visa.
Those efforts had helped the IOC emerge from decades of political strife and financial difficulties. Yet it also brought new challenges to the Games. Mars, the IOC’s confectionary partner, had infiltrated Barcelona with all-encompassing marketing efforts. Its M&M…
