Organizers of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics said Monday that "they expect a series of new sponsorship deals after a South Korean state audit revealed a huge shortfall in forecast revenue and snowballing borrowing," according to Lim Chang-Won of the AFP. Concern at the financial success of the Games grew after a lack of sponsorship income forced PyeongChang "to depend heavily on borrowing, mostly from the government, to ensure preparations stay on track." The Board of Audit and Inspection said in a report last month that "Pyeongchang generated no income in 2013" and just 3.5B won ($3.2M) last year, far short of the expected total income of 85B won ($77M) over the past two years. The Games organizing committee said that "it expects to sign a series of new sponsorship deals soon." PyeongChang Organizing Committee spokesperson Lee Ji-Hye said, "Talks are under way with various potential sponsors, and we hope good results will come in the near future." The audit results showed that PyeongChang "had borrowed" 21.5B won in the past two years (AFP, 1/5).
