Talk about a tall order — members of the private foundation that runs the state's Olympic facilities need to find a new boss and at least $2.5 million in donations.
Oh, and the members of the Utah Athletic Foundation also decided during a three-hour meeting Wednesday they should cut back the size of their board from the current 19 members to as few as nine within two years.
Choosing a replacement for the foundation's current president and chief executive officer, Mark Lewis, should take just about six weeks according to the timeline approved at the meeting.
Lewis, the chief marketer of the 2002 Winter Games, announced last week he is leaving the foundation to take a job with General Electric to oversee the company's Olympic sponsorship, valued at as much as $200 million.
A tougher task is balancing the foundation's budget for running the Utah Winter Sports Park near Park City, the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns and the Soldier Hollow cross-country skiing and biathlon course in Wasatch Mountain State Park near Midway.
No decisions were made Wednesday, but the foundation is only obligated to hang on to Soldier Hollow through next June. The foundation members decided to try to raise at least enough to balance the books this budget year, about $2.5 million.
Operating costs have run in the red since the foundation took over the facilities from the Salt Lake Organizing Committee in 2002. Lewis said over the next 10 years, the average annual amount needed for capital improvements adds up to another $2.3 million.
He said the capital costs are "staggering" and the foundation will have to turn to the government for help paying the bill. "At some point, the government is going to have to decide if these facilities are important," Lewis said.
The foundation will end up receiving more than $75 million from SLOC, but that's not going to be enough to keep the facilities up and running indefinitely. Foundation Chairman Randy Dryer said the board has some tough decisions to make.
"We cannot do this by ourselves," Dryer said, calling the plan to raise money to bail out the budget "smoke and mirrors." He said the foundation members are kidding themselves if they believe they won't run out of money.
Those decisions could include giving up responsibility for Soldier Hollow, located in a state park, or the oval, which is part of the Oquirrh Park Fitness Center that is funded by area taxpayers. Other options included closing the facilities for part of the year.
The solution to a balanced budget will also have to include some additional revenue, several foundation members said. Spence Eccles, whose family has endowed many community projects, said more money needs to be raised from Utahns.
SLOC President Fraser Bullock said the foundation also needs to seek financial help from the U.S. Olympic Committee, which depends on the facilities for training athletes. Bullock said the state should assume responsibility for Soldier Hollow.
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