DALLAS: Final meetings set stagefor mid-month site visit

Since attending a meeting last month of representatives whose markets are bidding to host the 2012 Summer Olympics, one activity has consumed nearly all the time of officials leading the Dallas effort.

Meetings.

Local organizers are preparing feverishly for the scheduled June 18-21 site visit by U.S. Olympic Committee representatives. Dallas 2012, the group coordinating the area's bid, requested a June date because it's relatively close to the time frame when they would like to host the Games. Though June is a hot month in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, it's usually not as overbearing as July and August.

Dallas 2012 officials will follow a structured framework provided by the USOC for the site visit that each of the eight competing markets will have to use.

"At that meeting [in May, USOC officials] said, 'Here's what we'll do, here are the people coming through, here are our expectations, here is what we don't want to do,'" said Grady Hicks, who helped launch the Dallas bid effort in 1997.

Two days of the Dallas site visit, June 18 and 21, are set aside for arrivals and departures. The other two, June 19 and 20, will feature the eight presentations of 30 minutes apiece in the areas of interest to the USOC, said Richard Greene, president and chief executive of Dallas 2012.

Because four presentations will be done each day, time will be tight for visiting athletic facilities. Still, Dallas 2012 officials plan to show off their proposed venues for an Olympic stadium and for the Games' various athletic competitions. Among those facilities are Reunion Arena, the new American Airlines Center (due to open this fall), Texas Stadium, Lone Star Park and soccer and tennis facilities at Texas Christian University. Also on the tour will be a review of the planned layout for the Games' modern pentathlon event at the University of Texas at Arlington.

Greene said Dallas 2012 officials made only minor revisions to their bid document for its final submission last week. As for fund-raising, Greene said the $4 million raised from private sources to date should last the organization for the rest of this year. He said additional funds will be raised for next year once Dallas 2012 better knows its future expenses.   

Jeff Bounds writes for the Dallas Business Journal.