Organizers for The Goodwill Games began their one-year
countdown for the '98 event yesterday with a press
conference in New York City. Swatch Timing, a member of the
SMH Group, was named as the official timekeeper and results
provider for the Games (Goodwill Games). In addition to
Swatch, Chrysler, Kodak, Canon and Discovery Card were
announced as sponsors (USA TODAY, 7/18).
OTHER INFO: Tickets for the Games will go on sale
September 20, with more than 600,000 tickets available,
ranging in price from $10-60. The Games' ticket partners
are Ticketmaster, MSG and Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
Time Warner Vice Chair Ted Turner also announced the
SuperChallenge, a joint campaign of the Goodwill Games and
TBS, and a fund-matching program designed to generate one
million hours of volunteer time and $1M for the Boys & Girls
Clubs of America. A special ad campaign on TBS will promote
the SuperChallenge. Time Warner will also make a donation
to UNICEF on behalf of the Games (Goodwill Games).
SMALL LOSS? Ted Turner, on the financial expectations
for the '98 Games: "We'd be ecstatically happy if they were
to break even, but we've budgeted for a small loss. We've
invested $100 million in the last three. That's a pretty
small price to pay for 6 billion people to be able to sleep
soundly at night. Only a few pennies per person" (BOSTON
GLOBE, 7/18). More Turner: "This is a free country and you
can focus on anything you want, but that's a pretty dumb
thing to focus on, profitability. Who really cares? The
main thing is the event" (NEWSDAY, 7/18).
