SOCOG President Michael Knight was a guest on NBC's
"Today" show this morning and interviewed by Matt Lauer.
With around 80 days until the Summer Games in Sydney this
September, Lauer said, "One of the things that is amazing to
me, Michael, is that you've got all the venues, the
permanent venues, completed on time and, more importantly,
on budget ... How did you do that?" Knight: "We put
together a special organization, the Olympic Coordination
Authority. We gave them a fair amount of power, some good
people. We started a little bit behind at one stage. We
were behind in the building program, we got a bit scared,
and then we caught up and got in front." Lauer: "That's the
good news. The bad news is in another budget area, the
operating budget for the Games, you've had to go and ask for
$84 million extra from New South Wales. It prompted an
inquiry into your budget management. Have mistakes been
made?" Knight: "We're pretty happy with the budgetary
position. You can never absolutely guarantee how much you
are getting in from tickets, how much you are getting in
from sponsorships. ... Rather than [need] a handout at the
end, we thought, 'Let's put a little bit in now.' It's only
about a 6% increase on the whole project. ... [We wanted to]
be sure we've got the money to put on a fabulous Games. We
don't want to be scrimping and saving, we want a great
Games." Asked about safety and security concerns, Knight
said, "Americans will be even safer in Sydney than they are
at home." Lauer: "Why?" Knight: "Australia's got a very
low level of violence, it's a very friendly country, it's a
very safe country." Lauer: "Is there going to be a visible
[security] presence, or is it going to be subtle." Knight:
"Much more subtle. We don't want to turn the city into an
armed camp. I mean, this is the biggest party in the world.
... We want to keep [fans] safe, but happy. You won't see
people walking around with machine guns" ("Today," 6/27).
