Security costs at the 2002 Winter Olympics are down from $28 million to $25 million. A final figure should be agreed upon by November 28 and will be presented to SLOC’s managment committee December 15. A contract must be signed by the end of this year. SLOC’s chief operating officer Fraser Bullock estimates the budget is about 90 per cent complete but uncertainties remain about security personnel.
While security costs are down, Utah now estimates it will make $56.4 million less from the 2002 Olympics after paying government expenses associated with the Games, and taking more in taxes and fees because of the Games. State Olympic officer Lane Beattie predicts that the Salt Lake Organizing Committee will break even on the $1.3 billion Winter Games and leave no taxpayers’ debt or unpaid bills. Money will be raised from television rights, corporate sponsorships, merchandise deals, and the federal government.
About 9,500 people needing as much as $1.2 million in food, shelter and medical care, are expected at the 2002 Winter Olympics looking for Olympic jobs, but then they will become stranded for various reasons. Salt Lake’s Travelers Aid now houses 700 people per night, but the number could double or triple before and during the Games. Demand for soup kitchens, emergency pantries and Utah Food Bank services could see similar increases, requiring expanded hours and budgets. Christoper Viavant, committee member and chief financial officer for Wasatch Homeless Health Care Inc. said if the city plans for the influx, it can deal with it.
The 2002 Winter Games, less than 15 months away, is facing financial woes and hotel cutbacks. The city will have more than 17,300 hotel rooms available next March, but many hotels are cutting employees and expenses because there are too many rooms and too few customers now. And because of sponsor defections, Games’ organizers are pushing for an Olympic decoration program they want financed by area businesses and local governments, pleading poverty in the wake of sponsor defections because of the bribery scandal. For now SLOC is $66 million shy of its $1.3 billion budget target and is only assuring $200,000 worth of banners for the airport and dowtown business district.
The Salt Lake Tribune reports that Salt Lake’s bid officials were advised by lawyers to keep their records vague to protect the committee from lawsuits. The imprecise records could undermine the usefulness of the minutes in the investigation into the bribery scandal surrounding the 2002 Games. Attorney Kelly Flint, the board’s secretary who often took the minutes of executive committee meetings, said they were intentionally kept vague to protect trustees from potential litigation. The newspaper did not say how or where it obtained documents used for its story.
Athens 2004 Olympics organizers are in the midst of negotiations with International Sports Broadcasting (ISB), the company selected to cover the Athens Games. The general framework of the contract, which is said to be complicated, is expected to be completed this week, shortly before a visit of the International Olympic Committee, headed by vice-president Jacques Rogge to evaluate Greece’s progress for the Games.
And finally, in an interview published in The Daily Telegraph, International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch said he believes the Olympic movement was not permanently damaged by last year’s bribery scandal. Samaranch said “we have moved on. The success of Sydney was crucial in moving away from the scandals. We have new sponsors and already many cities wanting to host the 2012 Games. But I will never forget how difficult this time was … it was the most difficult time in my presidency”.
