The efforts to unite Washington and Baltimore in a bid
for the 2012 Summer Olympics "has become bogged down by
disputes over finances and future control" of the event,
"threatening a cooperative campaign that most participants
believe is the region's best chance to host the Games,"
according to Scott Wilson of the WASHINGTON POST. Members
of the Greater Washington Exploratory Committee "are angry
about plans by a group of prominent business leaders to
charge $500,000 for membership in a regional board of
directors that would supervise all aspects of the global
event. Washington committee members also want the proposed
regional organization to pay off several hundred thousand
dollars of debt they have amassed over the past year
lobbying for the Games." Washington's committee members
will meet today with business leaders "hoping to remove all
obstacles to a single 'capital region' bid." Wilson adds
that if negotiations fail, the two cities "would end up
competing against each other" (WASHINGTON POST, 4/23).
NOTE: The IOC is restraining the way the 2000 Olympics
in Sydney, Australia, can be covered on the Internet,
according to a report in USA TODAY. The use of live moving
images will be banned to protect broadcasters who have paid
for TV rights. Olympic Internet sites received 600 million
hits during the '98 Nagano Winter Games, up from 200 million
during the '96 Atlanta Summer Games (USA TODAY, 4/23).
