F1 poaches IOC media chief

Payne is known to be unhappy about a recent restructuring of the IOC's marketing operation, in which he has been engaged for 21 years. He became involved in 1983 as the Olympics project director for ISL, then the IOC's marketing agency. He was responsible for developing the strategy leading to the launch of the money-spinning TOP programme, which has subsequently become a model for other global sports properties.

Payne joined the IOC staff after the 1988 Seoul Games as the marketing director, reporting to VP Dick Pound, who chaired the organisation's marketing and TV rights negotiating commissions. His wide-ranging role included broadcast and new media rights and, with Pound, he was instrumental in convening the IOC Conference on Sport & New Media in Lausanne in 2000.

His appointment as international broadcast director in 2003 removed him from direct responsibility from a marketing operation which he had helped to conceive. This was widely seen as a 'sideways' move.

Payne's last high-profile negotiation was a US$800m deal with the EBU for the media rights to the 2010 and 2012 Olympic Games, concluded last week. The magazine says that he will help to realise the full commercial potential of F1 racing, which can claim to be one of a handful of sports properties genuinely to command a global audience.