SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- Sydney Olympics organizers say their ambitious sponsorship drive has stalled and admit they will struggle to reach their target.
SOCOG chief executive Sandy Hollway said no progress had been made in several months on finding the last $89.6 million out of $560 million.SOCOG president Michael Knight said it was becoming increasingly difficult to secure valuable corporate sponsorship approaching the Games, which start next September.
"The closer you get to the Games obviously the less valuable the sponsorship becomes because it's for a shorter period," Knight said.
"If you become a sponsor four years out you get four years of publicity. If you become a sponsor a week before the Games, you get a couple of weeks of publicity."
Knight said other areas of revenue became more valuable as the Games approached.
"The closer you get the more valuable tickets and other matters like corporate suites and hospitality become," Knight said.
SOCOG also announced that another budget review has begun, less than five months after a major budget restructure approved expenditure savings of $45.44 million.
The review was launched in October, just five months after the last major budget restructure was approved.
Those cuts, concentrating on areas such as staffing levels and luxuries for International Olympic Committee members, left SOCOG to play host to next year's Olympics on a budget of $1.63 billion.
The Salt Lake Organizing Committee plans to spend $1.3 billion hosting the 2002 Winter Games.
Knight and Hollway both acknowledged that cuts are expected to follow early next year when the current review is completed.
The organizers are upset about a federal government decision to impose a new goods and services tax on tickets sold above face value in premium packages.
The decision is expected to cost Sydney's organizing committee up to $6.4 million.
"When you've taken cuts like that the areas of cutting next time around are less obvious," Hollway said. "That said, I haven't seen any operation yet where there isn't some scope for reduction.
"It wasn't easy last time, and it will be harder next time but not impossible."
Knight said SOCOG would have to "live within its means."
"If your means change, you have to adjust your lifestyle accordingly," Knight said.