Plug Officially Pulled On The Pacific Rim Sports Summit

The Seattle Organizing Committee (SOC) BOD canceled the Pacific Rim Sports Summit on Thursday, “ending weeks of speculation about its financial viability,” according to Ron Judd of the SEATTLE TIMES. SOC Chair Jim Dwyer cited the USOC “reneging on a promise to deliver [$2-2.5M] in national advertising money” as a “key factor in the” cancellation of the event. But a source said that “no promise of national sponsorship money was ever made in writing” and that the USOC “reacted sharply to the charge that it was financially responsible for the summit’s failure.” USOC Chief Communications Officer Darryl Seibel: “We had been successful in securing national sponsorship in support of the event. But the suggestion that the USOC reneged on a promise to deliver [$2-2.5M] in national sponsorship money in patently false.” Meanwhile, the SOC’s negotiations with the USOC to help repay debt to local sponsors “apparently have broken down, leaving [the SOC] holding the bills.” Sources said that the event is “more than $1[M] in debt to local sponsors.” Event ticket holders “are being advised to contact the vendor that sold them the tickets — either Ticketmaster or the [SOC] itself — for refunds by May 15” (SEATTLE TIMES, 4/15).

DOOMS DAY: In Seattle, Art Thiel writes the cancellation is a “black eye for the [USOC], which endorsed the event, an inconvenience for the U.S. [NGBs] of the nine sports pledged to attend and an inept imagery to present to sports delegations of eight countries planning to attend.” Thiel notes two factors, other than the departure of top athletes and teams, “loomed to doom the event”: no revenue from a TV contract and no use of Univ. of Washington facilities. Thiel: “Without the UW’s track, housing and other athletic facilities, the Summit had no convenient, inexpensive central venue. In the absence of the UW and TV money, or a corporate sugar daddy, the event was likely doomed before the first news conference last winter” (SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER, 4/15).