IOC President Thomas Bach, second from right, at last week's IOC Session

Surging International Olympic Committee (IOC) sponsorship revenue has yielded a multi-million-dollar windfall for the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC), according to the IOC’s newly-published financial accounts.

A note on revenue distribution in the financial statements which were made public during last week’s IOC Session in Lausanne puts sums distributed to the USOPC in 2018 at $213.8 million (£170.2 million/€189.4 million).

When added to the 2017 distribution of $90.8 million (£72.3 million/€80.4 million), this increases the IOC’s contribution to the National Olympic Committee (NOC) in the past two completed financial years to more than $300 million (£240 million/€265 million).

At the equivalent stage of the last four-year Olympic cycle, the IOC’s contributions to the USOPC had reached $176.2 million (£140.3 million/€156.1 million).

This amounts to a cycle-on-cycle increase for the USOC of close to 73 per cent.

The main driver of this impressive advance is the IOC’s The Olympic Partner (TOP) worldwide sponsorship programme.

This generated $1.1 billion (£876 million/€975 million) of revenue for the IOC in 2017 and 2018, up from $450.5 million (£358.6 million/€399.1 million)  in 2013 and 2014 – a cycle-on-cycle jump of more than 140 per cent.

MIlan and Cortina d'Ampezzo were elected to host the 2026 Winter Olympics and Paralympics at the IOC Session ©Getty Images
MIlan and Cortina d'Ampezzo were elected to host the 2026 Winter Olympics and Paralympics at the IOC Session ©Getty Images

Under an agreement, the USOPC gets broadly 20 per cent of this global sponsorship revenue.

According to the new accounts, this amounted to $89.3 million (£71.1 million/€79.1 million) in 2018 and $90.8 million (£72.3 million/€80.4 million) in 2017.

Equivalent figures for 2013 and 2014 were $32.1 million (£25.6 million/€28.4 million) and $45.3 million (£36.1 million/€40.1 million), respectively.

The new accounts show that remaining NOCs received $245.9 million (£195.7 million/€217.9 million) from the IOC in 2017 and 2018.

This was also up from $220.2 million (£175.3 million/€195.1 million) in 2013 and 2014 – a cycle-on-cycle increase of 11.7 per cent.

The accounts indicate that the lion’s share – $161.7 million (£128.7 million/€143.3 million) – of the 2017-18 contribution to these NOCs also came from the TOP programme.

This compared with $65.9 million (£52.5 million/€58.4 million) in 2013-14.

The amount of IOC revenue that ends up with the USOPC has been a bone of contention in the past.

In 2012, a new deal with the IOC was announced.

Beginning in 2020 and set to run for 20 years, this is expected to see the USOPC’s cut of both global sponsorship revenue and US broadcasting rights deals reduced on any increase over 2020 levels.

Read more on the IOC's newly-published accounts here.