The Guardian reports Lord Sebastian Coe, chair of London 2012, told the London assembly that private sponsors for the London 2012 Games are still coming forward despite the economic downturn, as he reassured the assembly that the financing of the Games is still “on track”.
Coe said his committee has to far hit “all major milestones” and retained strong interest from sponsors, adding with 1,346 days to go before the Games, “we are where we want to be”, while admitting that the current state of the economy raises issues “for all of us”.
He said, “because we began tier-one negotiations early we have already secured the majority of our domestic sponsorship…we are not complacent and of course still have funds to secure.
“Despite the turbulent economic situation we continue to see strong interest from potential sponsors. 2012 still provides a unique opportunity and the success of Beijing demonstrated the power of being associated with the Games. We are still seeing a lot of interest”.
Referring to Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell’s comments last week that the government might not have supported an Olympic bid if it had taken place during the current economic downturn, Coe said it was vital to reinforce to the general public and Londoners in particular that 75 pence in every pound of taxpayers’ money spent by the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) would be going on regeneration and investment in east London.
He said “the only costs that are truly spent on nothing but the Games are ours, and continue to be raised from the private sponsorship”.
LOCOG chief executive Paul Deighton, also addressing the assembly, said LOCOG had hit two thirds of its sponsorship target and was now mainly looking for tier two and three sponsors which provide smaller amounts of cash and value in kind. He said revenue from tickets and goods at the Games would not be raised until 2011-2012, at a time “where we would expect the economic cycle is somewhat normalized by that point. So we are comfortable by that point that our target is achievable”.
Meanwhile, Deighton told the assembly that the planned new temporary 6,000-seat venue, which was to have hosted badminton and rhythmic gymnastics, could be “shifted” to save money, following a viability review by accountants KPMG.
Organizers want to keep the basketball venue within the Olympic Park. Deighton said it “did not make economic sense” to move the one remaining temporary venue from the park to a permanent site elsewhere.
Other sites reportedly under review are equestrian at Greenwich Park and shooting at Woolwich, although no details were given.
Fencing and volleyball have already been moved to existing permanent sites.
