It would see the countries who finished first and second in the Olympic medal table at Rio 2016 compete against each other in a number of sports and could be launched in 2019. 

Sweeney held talks with the USOC both on Tuesday (March 28) and yesterday and was relatively upbeat when asked here at SportsPro Live, in a session entitled "Team GB and the National Lottery: Where next for British sport's biggest success story?", about the outcome.

"The idea of a potential Ryder Cup of Olympic sports was floated in Rio," Sweeney said.  

"It seems pretty self-explanatory.

"You have a core number of sports and we'll compete against the US.

"It will be a 'who is best' across the range of different sports.

"It's really complex.

"It’s hard enough to actually bring our own sports together for something in the UK.

"To combine that with another country across the Atlantic is difficult, but they're very interested and very keen.

"But there’s an awful long way to go on that."

The US finished top of the medal table at Rio 2016 with 46 golds, 37 silvers and 38 bronzes.

Great Britain surprisingly beat China to come second in the overall standings.

They won a total of 67 medals, 27 of them gold, marking their best-ever Olympic performance outside London.

The US won more than half of their gold medals in two sports, claiming 16 in swimming and 13 in athletics.

Britain's most successful sports, meanwhile, were cycling and rowing, where they won six and three gold medals respectively.

The sports selected to take part in the new event would be carefully chosen to ensure that both teams were competitive.

Sweeney also spoke here about a new televised "Olympic Trials" qualification system that could take place across two cities a month before the start of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. 

The BOA has previously claimed to have UK Sport backing for the idea and are currently attempting to gain the support of national sporting federations.

Under current plans, it is hoped that around six or seven sports will compete in a multi-sport event taking place across two weekends in June 2020.

Sweeney revealed in December how gymnastics, swimming, taekwondo and triathlon have already expressed support and that discussions were still ongoing with others, including athletics.

"We're looking to introduce a trials event here, which will take place in 2020 and that will be an Olympic trials event where you can see the potential athletes that are going to compete in 2020," he said today.

"It will be part of the selection process for going to Tokyo.

"That's a hugely successful enterprise for them in the US.

"It generates an awful lot of money.

"So that's something that is in development.

"We're half way through a four-year feasibility study on that, but there are a number of cities more than interested in hosting that in the UK."

The Ryder Cup is a men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the US.

The competition is contested every two years with the venue alternating between courses in Europe and the US.

Originally contested between Britain and the US, the first official Ryder Cup took place in 1927 at Worcester Country Club in Massachusetts in America.

Britain's team competing in the Ryder Cup was extended to include players from continental Europe from 1979 following several years of US dominance.