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Olympics

IS THERE A RIFT BETWEEN SLOC/USOC OVER OPUS' FUND RAISING?

          Salt Lake City officials "were questioning marketers'
     revenue goals nine months before" the recent bribery scandal
     "scared sponsors into hiding," according to documents
     obtained by Linda Fantin of the SALT LAKE TRIBUNE.  A March
     memo to SLOC execs showed that OPUS had "secured" $96.1M of
     its $250M cash goal, "leading" then SLOC CFO Jerry McClain
     to write, "OPUS revenues are being finalized at a slower
     pace than outlined in the marketing plan."  The budget now
     calls for $290M in cash from OPUS's fund raising, but so far
     SLOC has received commitments for "only" $154M.  New SLOC
     CEO Mitt Romney said last week that OPUS' budget appears
     "very optimistic," and noted that OPUS has "raised just"
     $13M since June and "has run out of repeat sponsors to
     sign."  OPUS "also has lagged in recruiting second-tier
     sponsors and Utah suppliers."  OPUS' total fund-raising goal
     for 2002 is $859M, which is split among various divisions. 
     USOC Secretary General & OPUS President John Krimsky
     "worries the funding issues could polarize" the USOC and
     SLOC "at a time when they should be working together." 
     Krimsky: "We have to stand shoulder to shoulder to figure
     out how to make the additional $300 million necessary to
     make the Games successful so that nothing of an essential
     nature is cut" (SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, 4/13). 
          WHO'S IN CHARGE HERE? Fantin writes that one "problem"
     in the relationship between the two groups is that the USOC
     and SLOC are "divided on how much, if any, responsibility
     Salt Lake organizers have to help with fund raising." 
     Former SLOC President Tom Welch said that Romney "needs to
     get a hold of the sponsorships."  Welch: "Too much time has
     gone by already.  He can't wait to see if Krimsky can do
     it."  Krimsky "takes exception to insinuations that OPUS has
     turned complacent in selling sponsorships or that revenue
     projections were overblown."  OPUS raised $548M in
     commitments from "top-dollar sponsors in 18 months," and he
     stressed that patience is key.  Krimsky added that the SLOC
     must aid the USOC's $9M promo campaign aimed to generate
     support for the Olympics: "I realize that within the state
     of Utah much of this scandal has been effectively closed and
     concluded and people are moving on.   But that's not quite
     true in the rest of the United States.  We cannot sit
     quietly and wait for the press to die down, and then expect
     the sponsors to come flooding back" (S.L. TRIBUNE, 4/13).

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