The challenges facing Sebastian Coe at the British Olympic Association

When he is voted in unopposed as the chairman of the British Olympic Association on Wednesday, Lord Coe will be at once joining an organisation on the crest of a wave and in some difficulty. On the one hand, it has just played a major part in delivering the best British performance at an Olympic Games in over a century, under the unremitting glare of a home Games. On the other, it faces long-running questions over its finances and remit amid a looming debate over the post-Games sporting landscape. But the appointment of Coe, London 2012's figurehead with a large reservoir of political, public and international goodwill to draw on, will give it the best opportunity possible to face those challenges – assuming he can devote enough time to them amid his portfolio existence. Among the challenges in his in-tray are:

Finances

Before taking the job, Coe sought assurances that the BOA's creaky finances would not damage his ability to do it. Dismal sales of BOA scarves and medallions during the Games, not to mention a long-running row with Coe's Locog over the deal that originally licensed the Olympic rings to the 2012 organisers, left the BOA's balance sheet in a parlous state. Its 2011 accounts revealed a £411,000 loss but the more serious impact will be felt this year when the full cost of delivering the 550-strong British team to the Games are taken into account. In its recent accounts, it revealed that it had extended its overdraft to £5m for the first quarter of next year. There is also an ongoing debate about whether it should lobby for a share of public money for some areas of its operation – such as the museum it wants to build on the Olympic Park and the Get Set educational programme it has inherited from Locog – or remain entirely independent of government.

Legacy

Coe was once fond of saying it was for others to deliver on the legacy created by the Games. But his decision to accept an offer from the prime minister David Cameron to be a government adviser and cheerleader for the Olympic legacy and an entreaty from the sports minister, Hugh Robertson, to take on the BOA role have left him among those who will be judged on whether the promises he made to secure the Olympics are being kept. The success of the Games has not only given the BOA a platform to exploit but also left Britain's standing at an all-time high among the global sporting community. A bid for the 2018 Youth Olympic Games has already been submitted on behalf of Glasgow, but it will be for Coe to decide how else best to capitalise.

Role

A long overdue debate on the respective roles and responsibilities of the alphabet soup of British sports administration bodies had been put off until after the Games. A full-blown merger of UK Sport, the Olympic funding agency with which the BOA under outgoing chairman Lord Moynihan regularly clashed, and grassroots body Sport England is likely to be put on ice in favour of streamlining their operations and moving to new offices. Before the Games, Moynihan had spoken ambitiously about the BOA taking a lead role in coaching, school sport and a host of other areas that could lead to clashes and overlap. Coe's task will be to define what sort of organisation he wants the BOA to be and where it should sit in the overall sporting landscape. Given his success at bringing together previously warring factions to deliver the Games, Coe will be expected to build a consensus – nationally and internationally. His task is likely to be helped if long-time friend and ally Sir Keith Mills takes on a role as chairman of both UK Sport and Sport England, as some in government want.

Staff

Ahead of the arrival of the new chairman, the BOA chief executive, Andy Hunt, presented a restructuring plan to the board designed to streamline the number of senior staff and save money – and potentially cement his own position in the process. The departure of Sir Clive Woodward, although by his own volition, will also help save money. Under the plan, the number of divisional directors will be reduced from 11 to seven and the overall headcount from 87 to 52, including an unspecified number of redundancies. Coe will have to pilot the organisation through this morale-sapping period and emerge the other side with a clearer idea of its future role.

Commercial

The rationale behind the investment by Moynihan and Hunt – who expanded the commercial team ahead of the Games – was the lure of the rewards on offer once the rights to the Olympic rings return to the organisation at the beginning of next year. But aside from a new contract with Adidas and a marketing deal with the International Olympic Committee's commercial partners, which will bring in £13m over the next four years, there has been little progress in getting other deals over the line. The hope is that Coe's longstanding links at the highest levels with some of the biggest multinationals, and Locog's success in delivering more than £700m of sponsorship incomedespite the global recession, will help seal more of those deals.

By Owen Gibson

Source: www.guardian.co.uk