A senator floated the idea of revoking the U.S. Olympic Committee’s tax-exempt status if it fails to effectively combat the sex-abuse problem in Olympic sports. At a hearing Wednesday, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, said the USOC’s tax-exempt status and antitrust exemption could be at risk when Congress revisits the law that governs the federation. Blumenthal also suggested the position of athlete advocate and inspector general be added to the USOC. The federation has an athletes’ ombudsman position and recently revealed plans to give athletes more-accessible avenues to report abuse and other wrongdoing. Revoking the USOC’s tax-exempt status could potentially take a huge chunk out of an operation that brought in $336 million during the last Olympic year (2016) and uses much of that to provide assistance to athletes, either directly or through sports federations that train them.

Source: National Post October 03, 2018 23:50 UTC