USOC chairman backs new CEO's pay package

FILE - In this July 28, 2009, file photo, USOC acting CEO Stephanie Streeter, announces that the Oklahoma River has been named a U.S. Olympic and Paralympic training site for rowing, canoeing and kayaking, during a news conference in Oklahoma City. The chairman of the U.S. Olympic Committee says acting CEO Stephanie Streeter is doing a "terrific" job and deserves her pay package, which could be worth more than $1 million a year.

DALLAS -- The chairman of the U.S. Olympic Committee says acting CEO Stephanie Streeter is doing a "terrific" job and deserves her pay package, which could be worth more than $1 million a year.

The USOC board recently approved a $560,000 base salary for Streeter and is negotiating a bonus package that could bring the total salary to seven figures if she meets a number of goals. Former CEO Jim Scherr made $619,507 in 2008, with a base salary of $428,243.

Chairman Larry Probst, who signed off on the salary, told The Associated Press on Saturday that Streeter's salary was appropriate for her position.

"Stephanie's compensation is commensurate with the duties and responsibilities associated with the acting CEO position," he said. "She is doing a terrific job and is fully deserving of the compensation she is receiving."

Details about Streeter's salary were first reported in the Chicago Tribune.

Probst's statement corresponded with earlier comments from Stanford athletic director Bob Bowlsby, who heads the USOC board's compensation committee. Bowlsby would not speak to the AP, saying in an e-mail that he had nothing to add to his earlier comments.

Not everybody in the Olympic movement agrees with the board members.

The USOC had to lay off about 13 percent of its staff earlier this year and is still trying to renew multimillion-dollar sponsorship deals with key companies for the next Olympic cycle.

Streeter has been criticized almost nonstop since her sudden, unexpected ascension to the CEO position in March. Most recently, her critics have latched onto the USOC's announcement of its new TV network, which has riled the International Olympic Committee and NBC.

The critics also want more details about the search process for a permanent replacement for CEO, which is supposed to begin in the final quarter of 2009.

All this comes with the selection of a host for the 2016 Olympics looming seven weeks away. Chicago is one of four finalists, along with Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo. Observers are wondering how the shake-up at the USOC might affect the Windy City's chances.

"The No. 1 priority of the U.S. Olympic movement has been and should be doing everything possible to get the games back in the United States," said USA Gymnastics president Steve Penny, a key player among leaders of the national governing bodies. "There's a significant level of concern that the timing of this whole thing, the impact of this whole thing, as well as other things that are occurring, doesn't help that priority."