IOC President Thomas Bach wants local governments to resist promoting independently run sports events that he believes go against the Olympic ideal.
The organizers of profit-driven sporting ventures are "cherry picking" events without sharing the International Olympic Committee's duty to use profits to help athletes around the world, Bach told Olympic leaders on Tuesday at their annual meeting.
Citing a global zeitgeist that encouraged "narrow self-interest," Bach criticized "a purely market-based approach to sport that ignores the values we stand for." "This is why are calling on public authorities to take this distinction into consideration whenever they take decisions that affect sport," the IOC president said.
In swimming, three elite athletes filed an anti-trust case against governing body FINA and others risked bans by supporting a privately owned league which had a launch event planned in Turin, Italy.
FINA then withdrew the ban threat, increased prize money and launched its own new top-tier competition series. Basketball governing body FIBA has also been in a long-running dispute with the club-controlled EuroLeague competition.
"Sport without values is just entertainment," Bach said.
"Yes, Olympic sport must be entertaining, but it must not be just entertainment."
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