LONDON, England (AP) — US and international Olympic officials made “good progress” yesterday in their latest round of talks on the revenue-sharing dispute that is holding up potential American bids for the games, an IOC negotiator said.

The two sides met for about five hours in Innsbruck, Austria, in a new effort to resolve an issue that has divided the US Olympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee for several years.

“We had very good talks,” Gerhard Heiberg, one of the three IOC negotiators, told The Associated Press by telephone. “We have good progress. We are optimistic and little by little we continue to move in the right direction.”

USOC CEO Scott Blackmun also gave an upbeat assessment.

“We had very good meetings today (yesterday) with a very good tone of discussion with the IOC,” he said. “We look forward to future discussion.”

The negotiations, which began more than a year ago, are aimed at resolving the dispute over the US share of Olympic television and marketing revenues. The IOC believes the American cut is excessive and should be redistributed.

Under a long-standing contract, the USOC receives a 20 per cent share of global sponsorship revenue and a 12.75 per cent share of US broadcast rights deals. Any new formula would go into effect after 2020.

Both sides had hoped to reach an accord last year, but the talks hit a roadblock.

“Little by little we will get the breakthrough,” Heiberg said yesterday. “We feel… that yes we’re going to make it. I think we’re getting closer.”

No date was set for the next round of talks.