Peter Ueberroth - who guided Los Angeles to a $225 million surplus after the 1984 Summer Olympics - said organizers have no choice but to use $56 million in public money for a Utah Winter Olympics.
Ueberroth made his appearance in Salt Lake City on the eve of the Great Olympic Torch Relay - an Olympics promotion event involving pro-Olympic forces from all corners of the state.Ueberroth, former head of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee, praised Utah's public funding package for 1998 Winter Olympic facilities at a press conference in the governor's office Tuesday.
But Utah Independent Party Chairman Merrill Cook, interrupting reporters at the press conference, took Ueberroth to task, saying Ueberroth made an about-face from previous Olympic philosophy.
Ueberroth was in Salt Lake City to help Utah's Olympic boosters urge Utahns to vote in favor of hosting the 1998 Winter Olympics in the Nov. 7, non-binding Olympic referendum.
The 1984 Olympics brought the world's attention to Los Angeles and energized the state and its 77,000 volunteers marshaled to conduct the Games, said Ueberroth, who was also once commissioner of baseball.
While Ueberroth oversaw the most financially successful Olympics ever, he said Utah was destined to "be even more successful" with a Winter Olympics.
Ueberroth gushed about the event, much as he did in his book, "Made in America," a history of the 1984 Summer Olympics.
In the book, published in 1985, Ueberroth also noted the Los Angeles City Council voted to prohibit use of public funds for the Games, and he spoke strongly against use of government support for the Olympics.
"I believed then - as I do now - that there are many important programs much more deserving of government support than a sports event, even one as special as the Olympics," he wrote in the book.
Asked if he could now support Utah's 1998 bid, supported by $56 million in state sales tax dollars, without reservation, Ueberroth said he could because times have changed.
"There should be government involvement because that's the way the system is set up now," he said.
When Los Angeles secured the right to host the 1984 Games, it was the only serious contender for the Games and was able to persuade the International Olympic Committee, owner of the Olympics, to permit a private bid.
"The way it's set up now is (that) the only one who is allowed to bid is a city government . . . with the backing from the community," he said, explaining that private sector money is "impossible" to raise unless a city already has the Games.
"You can't get private sector money until you get the Olympics . . . it's the chicken and the egg," he said.
Ueberroth's assertions prompted Cook, quietly observing the press conference from the back of the governor's office, to ask Ueberroth "is it really true that you can't have private sector funding for Olympic facilities?"
"I don't know who you are, but I don'twant to have a debate with you," responded Ueberroth.
-Olympic supporters in Utah County said an average family will pay about $25 for the Olympics during a 10-year period.
Chuck Warren, chairman of the Utah County (Winter Olympics) Referendum Committee, said the 10-year diversion of 1/32-cent in existing sales tax revenue does not constitute a tax increase, but only a reallocation of funds.
Utah County will have a better chance at getting a venue in the valley if 70 percent or more of the voters support the referendum in the Nov. 7 election, he said.
Warren said Utah has great potential to become the western United States' winter training area.
"The infrastructure, people, foreign language capabilities and airport all make Utah attractive," he said.