Visa International set records at the 2000 Sydney Games, with sales volumes representing 295,000 credit card purchases. Overseas Visa cardholders spending in Australia grew 23 per cent from this time last year, to a record $1.55 billion. The company is now motivated to raise the bar farther at the next Olympic Games in Salt Lake City in February 2002.
It could be a sell-out. Hours after the first tickets went on sale Tuesday, the Web site was swamped, phones rang of the hook and consumers were complaining about the complicated and time-consuming on-line ticketing system. It takes a while to order via the Internet. It’s a nine-step process that the Salt lake Organizing Committee says takes about 45 minutes, not including the time it takes to download and digest 19 pages of instructions. And if the lines are clogged it takes much longer. When the one million tickets available first went on sale overnight, the computer system temporarily crashed, but the SLOC said it was running at full capacity by early morning, processing 2,400 ticket orders simultaneously.
Glidden Paints has signed an exclusive partnership agreement with The Home Depot to become the official paint supplier for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City. Under the agreement, Glidden Paints will be promoted with themed advertising and in-store signage. Glidden will donate product to help paint Olympic venues for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games.
Jacques Rogge, the IOC executive in charge of the Athens 2004 Games, has called for a four-year “truce” among squabbling Greek organizers and government officials. The organizing committee is to meet with government ministers in Athens early next week. Expected topics include disputes over organizing committee salaries and expenditures, and efforts to start tapping into the expertise of the Sydney organizing team. Rogge said the IOC is waiting to see if Athens meets the deadline of appointing a host broadcaster by the end of this month. The host broadcasting company handles the global television feed for the Games. According to Rogge, the next test is whether Athens agrees to move up the deadline for completion of sports venues. About 30 per cent of the facilities still need to be built.
And finally, Athens still hasn’t signed a host city contract for the 2004 Paralympic Games, because the IOC wants too much money. The IPC had said earlier it was concerned about Athens hosting the 2004 Paralympics because Greek organizers had shown minimal interest in the Games. Takis Papaconstantopoulos, a member of the Hellenic Parlympic Committee said Sydney Paralympics organizers paid a little over $1.2 million in a lump sum to the IPC, while Athens has been asked to pay about $3 million.
