The budget for the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Games got a big boost through a donation from a Utah banking family to the tune of $8 million.
The donation, increasing the budget by more than one-third, transforms the signature Olympic event into something “great, superb”, said Mitt Romney, president of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee.
The donation will fund a 130-foot-tall Olympic cauldron to be lit during the ceremony.
Spence Eccles, whose uncle, George S. Eccles founded First Security bank in 1928 as Utah’s non-Mormon bank said, “the cauldron simply wasn’t measuring up, nor was the opening ceremony”.
Eccles said image is everything when it comes to showcasing Utah to the world during ceremonies that could draw 3 billion television viewers. “This is our opportunity to tell our story to the world. This will define us as a state and a people forever”, said Eccles.
Meanwhile, Romney says costs of the Olympic Games are growing out of control and the pageantry surrounding the Games should be scaled back. He was responding to a General Accounting Office (GAO) report made public Thursday, and said he plans to give IOC President Jacques Rogge a series of recommendations to hold down costs.
The GAO, Congress’ auditing agency, said the 2002 Winter Games are expected to cost $1.9 billion compared to the last Winter Olympics held in the United States at Lake Placid, N.Y. which cost just $363 million when adjusted for inflation.
Romney said the Salt Lake Paralympic Games, which are now held in conjunction with the Olympic Games, will have more competitors, spectators and events than the Lake Placid Games.
He added that since he took over as president of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee in 1999, he carved $200 million from the budget and worked to keep costs down.
Romney said they tried to reverse the trend of having each Olympic Games be bigger and better than the one before. Instead, the goal is to refocus the Games on the basics of sports…the surrounding elements of the Games…the pageantry and many associated programs… “we’ve sought to reduce and eliminate whenever possible”.
He said other costs could be eliminated “if the Games were structured differently, beginning with the bid process”.
