Corporate sponsors for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games
"like what they're hearing" while in Salt Lake City for a
three-day Olympic workshop, according to Lisa Riley Roche of
DESERET NEWS, who wrote that 250 representatives from
Olympic sponsors and suppliers were in attendance. UPS
VP/Olympic & Corporate Events Rosemary Windsor said that at
last year's first workshop for sponsors, held during the bid
scandal, there was "skepticism" about whether "organizers
would keep moving in the right direction." But Windsor
said, "Salt Lake has done a fabulous job of getting ready
for the Games." IOC Marketing Dir Michael Payne said the
Salt Lake Games "are in exceptionally good shape," and told
the sponsors that SLOC President & CEO Mitt Romney and his
management team have "really got their hands around all the
issues." Visa VP/Int'l Event Marketing Scot Symthe said
that Visa "is planning on bringing" its regional marketers
to Salt Lake City next month "to see for themselves" how
preparations for the Games are going. In the past year, "a
dozen" companies have agreed to spend "up to" $50M each to
sponsor the Games and 13 have become suppliers, providing
"up to about" $15M in goods/services (DESERET NEWS, 2/9).
