Up On The Roof: SLOC And Wyndham Battle In Court Over Space

Court documents filed last week in the 3rd District Court of UT by the SLOC and Wyndham Management Corp. "hint that [Olympic] organizers could be trying to prevent non-Olympic sponsors from establishing a presence close to the official action at the medals plaza, namely" a Wyndham-owned hotel, according to Mike Gorrell of the SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, who wrote that the SLOC "is trying to protect" its multimillion-dollar sponsors. The SLOC's suit claims that the lodging agreement between the SLOC and Wyndham, signed in '97, "gave organizers the right to rent 'certain hotel suites' at the Wyndham along with 'certain rights concerning advertising and other use of space at the hotel.'" In response to the SLOC, Wyndham attorneys "disclosed that [the] SLOC was concerned about the hotel allowing any 'third party' to rent the hotel roof or any space on the hotel's exterior walls without [SLOC] approval." The response also indicated that Wyndham's "asking price of $5 million to rent the hotel roof space was not deemed 'fair and reasonable' by the SLOC" (SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, 12/8).