UP352 Olympic Succession: Bach's overtures and that Seb Coe rumour

At the recent IOC session in Mumbai a number of IOC members called for IOC President Thomas Bach to go another term in the job.This would give Bach a further four years. The optics aren’t great. It’s all a bit North Korea.Jens Sejer Andersen of Play the Game wrote this: Eight-to-12-year term limits for Presidents to prevent accumulation of power are the single most important principle of governance reforms across Olympic sports. If Thomas Bach’s term is extended, hundreds of sports Presidents at the national and international level will be inspired to follow suit."So,  ripple effects. But did the calls for four more years arise organically or is it an idea planted by Thomas Bach’s people?Bach’s response was to wave away the calls for another term. Yet the idea is now out there, in the air. A conversation has begun. The Second Bounce - The Coe conundrumSuccessors to Bach are positioning themselves for election, scheduled for 2025.These include Juan Samaranch Junior, son of former President, which is another tricky optic for the IOC’s comms dept to handle. And then there’s Seb Coe.The problem for Coe has been conflict of interest.His ownership stake in sports marketing agency CSM is often whispered as a barrier to his elevation to the top job. A few weeks ago, that problem went away, when CSM was bought by Casey Wasserman’s company. So Seb Coe no longer chairs a major sports agency. Fast forward to that IOC session, and the idea of Thomas Bach going again is mooted by fawning IOC members who owe their place in the room to, erm, Bach. If Bach goes four more years to 2029, Coe will be aged out. The Bach-Coe relationship is described as ‘frosty’. The President would prefer his legacy candidate to be Kirsty Coventry.It’s all a bit Succession.So we asked two hugely experienced Olympic insiders for some guidance as to what's really going on.Michael Payne was the IOC's first marketing and broadcast rights director, from 1983 to 2004 and was awarded the Pierre de Coubertin Medal by the IOC for services to the movement. Jon Tibbs OBE is Chairman and founder of JTA, a leading international relations and communications agency specializing in the area of international sport and particularly clients linked to the Olympic Movement.  Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry. To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartnerWe publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. Our entire back catalogue of 500 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify and every podcast app. If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series and live events, you can reach us via the website.