SOCOG Marketing Group GM John Moore confirmed that
Texaco-Caltex "has pulled" a A$10M (US$6.4M) sponsorship
deal "following 12 months of negotiations" with the Sydney
2000 Summer Olympics, leaving Sydney organizers "with a
looming revenue shortfall," according to Michael Evans of
the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. Evans writes that the withdrawal
"is not related to the bribery scandal now engulfing" the
IOC. Moore, who said that Texaco-Caltex "had already signed
up as a major sponsor" of the U.S. Olympic Team and as a
"major partner" for the 2002 Salt Lake Games: "We got the
short end of the stick because they committed so much to
Salt Lake. They wrote to us and said due to an
extraordinary downturn in the industry they were very
disappointed they cannot proceed for the level of
sponsorship we had talked about. ... It's one of those deals
that's a consequence of the Asian crisis." Moore said that
SOCOG is "still talking with the local arm of ... Caltex
about a lower level of sponsorship," and that talks have
"begun" with other major oil companies to fill the
sponsorship category (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 1/11).