The 2002 Winter Games made an even bigger profit than the $56 million surplus already announced by organizers — money that will be used to enhance Olympic legacy projects and run the cross-country and biathlon venue at Soldier Hollow.
Fraser Bullock, president of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, declined today to specify the size of the additional profit other than to confirm it will amount to millions of dollars.
"To me, any additional dollar is significant," Bullock said. "We're thrilled, because once again these are the Games that keep on giving. It's wonderful to be able to do things that are really important."
The SLOC Management Committee will meet next Wednesday to consider a recommendation that the extra funds be split between the Utah Athletic Foundation, which took over Olympic facilities after the Games, and several legacy projects.
Olympic organizers are committed to spending $4.5 million to transform the Utah Gallivan Center downtown into Salt Lake City's Olympic legacy plaza. They are also building a park featuring the Olympic caldron next to Rice-Eccles Stadium at the University of Utah.
The foundation, which is already expecting $70 million from SLOC, owns and operates the ski jumps and bobsled, luge and skeleton track at the Utah Olympic Park near Park City and the Utah Olympic Oval at the Oquirrh Park Fitness Center in Kearns.
Foundation officials are under pressure to also assume responsibility for the Soldier Hollow cross-country and biathlon venue located in Wasatch Mountain State Park in Midway.
Soldier Hollow, now run by a separate fund-raising group, is expected to run as much as $800,000 in the red annually. Bullock said he believes the facility could operate with "a lot less than that."
He said the facility is the most important area for trustees to deal with "because right now it does not have a guaranteed source of funding. It would be tragic for that venue to not continue at a level we'd all be proud of."
It will be up to the foundation to decide whether to take on Soldier Hollow. Bullock said he is currently in discussions with foundation officials, as well as leaders of the International Olympic Committee and U.S. Olympic Committee.
SLOC is required to share any surplus — in this case, money not spent on legacy projects — with the foundation as well as the IOC and USOC. The foundation's share is 65 percent, while USOC receives 25 percent, and the IOC gets 10 percent.
When organizers announced earlier this year they'd ended up with a $56 million surplus in their $1.3 billion budget, the IOC agreed to turn over its share of the surplus to the Utah foundation. USOC has said its share will be used for athlete development.
Bob Garff, the chairman of the SLOC Board of Trustees, also declined today to be specific about how much additional revenue will be available. "I'm not going to say how much, but it's better," Garff said. "The financial picture continues to get rosier."
Bullock said organizers have not had to tap into a $6 million contingency fund set aside from the $56 million profit already announced. He also said it has cost less to restore parking areas and other Olympic sites.
Plus, he said organizers did better than expected in several settlements, including once with an insurance company over paying the legal fees associated with the Olympic bribery scandal.
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