Dallas 2012 Chair Tom Luce will "step down effective"
December 15, when the region's bid to host the Summer Games
is filed with the USOC, according to Sean Wood of the FT.
WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM. The Dallas 2012 BOD voted yesterday to
allow the move and selected TX Utility President David
Biegler to "take over." Luce: "I wanted to serve a year. I
ended up serving two years. I've done my duty." Biegler
said that the "plan has always been that Luce would step
down after the bid was submitted" (FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM,
10/20). Luce: "This is a logical time to transition. I'll
still be heavily involved" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 10/20).
NOTES: In Sydney, Andrew Hornery wrote that the Sydney
Paralympics "raised a record" US$25M in cash, goods and
service commitments from sponsors, estimated at $5M more
than Atlanta. While the "majority" of Olympic sponsors such
as Australia-based telecom company Telstra, Visa, Coca-Cola,
Nike, IBM, Swatch and Kodak "have come out to support the
Sydney Paralympics, their level of commitment is only a
fraction of what they spent" during the Olympics. But
others, including Australia-based bank Westpac, have
"developed Paralympic-specific campaigns to promote their
involvement." Westpac Marketing Dir Richard Harper: "As a
marketing vehicle I think the Paralympics could be more
effective than the Olympics for some smaller sponsors who
probably couldn't afford to be part of the Olympics" (SYDNEY
MORNING HERALD, 10/19)....SOCOG President Michael Knight
"has been appointed" to the IOC's coordination commission
overseeing the 2004 Athens Games (AP, 10/19).
