N.C Senate leader Phil Berger, four other state senators and Rep. Kyle Hall traveled to Paris late last month to learn about organizing massive sporting events such as the Summer Olympics.
The nonprofit Opportunity for North Carolina paid for the July 25-29 trip, according to Woody White, the Wilmington lawyer who chairs Opportunity for North Carolina. He is a Senate-appointed member of the UNC System Board of Governors.
The group’s objectives include a “desire to attract major sporting events to North Carolina,” he said. The Olympics offered a chance to learn “about the infrastructure, security and other foundational undertakings required for a major sporting event at scale.”
Policymakers have supported efforts to recruit such events as this summer’s U.S. Open golf tournament in Pinehurst and the 2023 NHL Stadium Series game in Raleigh, White said.
Recently, there’s been talk of trying to land a Major League Baseball team in Raleigh. Former Berger Chief of Staff Brian Fork recently joined Hurricanes Holdings as CEO of the company owned by Dallas investor Tom Dundon, who has praised Raleigh as a potential MLB city.
And “there have been discussions of beginning to make long-term plans to try to recruit the Olympics to North Carolina at some points in the future,” White said.
Others making the trip with Berger and Hall were Sens. Bill Rabon, David Craven, Michael Lee and Danny Britt.
They stayed at the Victoria Palace Hotel, a Sixth Arrondissement inn on the Seine River’s left bank. It’s charging €216 a night (about $234) for a post-Olympics weekend stay toward the end of the month.
The group arrived July 25 and visited Atos, the Games’ IT partner, for a briefing on telecommunications and cybersecurity. They later had a dinner briefing from Opportunity for North Carolina “on the economic impact of successfully recruiting the World Military Games or the Pan Am Games” to North Carolina, White said.
Other activities included a lunch presentation from USA Field Hockey, whose national team trained at a UNC Charlotte field paid for by the state-funded U.S. Performance Center; meetings with USA Olympics officials and a presentation about the Games International Broadcast Center.
The last full day, July 28, included a presentation from the CEO of USA Table Tennis and a meeting with leaders of World Rugby. The group flew home on July 29.
Their itinerary included attendance at the Games’ opening ceremony.
White said the U.S. Performance Center did not fund the trip but had a role in the visit. The nonprofit formed by Charlotte’s Ike Belk and David Koerner has been trying to entice U.S. Olympic teams to operate in North Carolina. They have developed “the industry relationships to connect policymakers with Olympics organizers in Paris,” White said.
But “feedback from the [State] Ethics Commission” prompted White’s group to decide “not to allow” the center to foot the bill, and “eliminate any USPC influence over the trip.”
As a result, the group is reimbursing the Performance Center for expenses and took control of the itinerary. The group “went so far as to segment its own accounts to make certain that zero contributions from lobbyists or lobbyist principals paid for any part of the educational trip,” White said.
He forwarded a copy of a July 19 email from State Ethics Commission Executive Director Kathleen Edwards that said the state’s ban on direct or indirect gifts “would not apply to restrict OFNC, a non-lobbyist principal, from inviting and paying the expenses of legislators attending the trip.”
But she urged it to “eliminate [the Performance Center’s] influence over the trip’s activities and benefits provided to attending legislators.”
The Performance Center has been in the news this week because of its use of a $25 million state budget allocation in 2021, and $30 million in 2023 to an affiliated nonprofit, the N.C. Sports Legacy Foundation.
The Office of State Budget and Management’s internal auditors are reviewing the finances of both organizations, the News & Observer reported Wednesday.
Separately, The Assembly website reported that the nonprofit has spent $45.5 million of the $55 million as of June, citing the state budget office. The state money was supposed to fund capital needs, but only about $10 million has paid for facilities or equipment. Roughly $7 million went for the Charlotte field hockey pitch, which was built by Pembroke-based construction firm Metcon.
Otherwise, the Performance Center spent $9.8 million on its own consulting services, $4.5 million to outside consultants and $2.9 million in personnel costs, including $800,000 in salaries for Belk and Koerner over two years, the Assembly reported. Other money went to support various U.S. Olympic sports programs, none of which have relocated to North Carolina.
Center officials said the group is a finalist to host the 2027 Military World Games, which attracts athletes from 120 nations.
The Performance Center employs a lobbyist, Jarret Burr. The Sports Legacy Foundation also retained Burr, and The Southern Group’s Kevin Wilkinson.
Opportunity for North Carolina doesn’t have a lobbyist. White is a former New Hanover County commissioner and a former state senator.
Hosting rights for the Summer Olympics are locked up through 2032, with games set for Los Angeles in 2028 and Brisbane, Australia in 2032. Discussions are underway about 2036, with Indonesia, Turkey, India and Chile known to be showing interest.
Opportunity for North Carolina is a 501(c)(4) entity, which enables it to engage in political lobbyin and campaigning. Contributions are not tax-deductible, unlike 501(c)(3) organizations. The group reported about $34,750 in contributions in 2023 and listed other officers including vice chair Andrew Heath of the Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough law firm in Raleigh and secretary Ted Shipley, a lawyer at Live Oak Bank in Wilmington.
