The 1996 Olympic Games are paid for, with money to spare.
Organizers said Tuesday they're closing out the books next summer with a surplus of nearly $10 million on their $1.7 billion budget, while leaving behind $500 million in sports venues, dormitories and other facilities built for the Games."While we we're proud we have made our financial objectives, making a significant surplus was not the reason that we sought or chose to organize the Games in the first place," Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games chief Billy Payne said. "Rather, we wanted to introduce the world to the people of Atlanta and Georgia."
Organizers are still collecting money from licensing deals, late merchandise sales and auctions of Olympic memorabilia. So far, the auctions have brought in about $7.5 million.
The biggest expense remaining is converting Olympic Stadium into a baseball park, a $30 million project that includes tearing down the old stadium across the street and putting a parking lot in its place.
The International Olympic Committee gets half of any surplus, the U.S. Olympic Committee gets 25 percent and the ACOG splits the rest with the city of Atlanta.
Payne denied that several lawsuits filed by ticket buyers, the stadium's designers and a victim of the July 27 bombing at Centennial Olympic Park would affect the budget. The committee's budget reserves and insurance should pay for defending the lawsuits, Payne said.
"And we intend to win all of them," he added.