A Year to Go and Counting

By J.D. Reed

For a mere $475 million, 12,000 athletes and 17 new events

After the showy 1908 London Games, France's Baron Pierre de Coubertin, then president of the International Olympic Committee, shook his head and declared, "The Games must be less expensive." Nice point, Baron. Unfortunately, national pride intent on outdoing predecessors has blossomed, and so have the deficits. The 1976 Montreal gathering, for instance, wound up $1 billion in the red, and the Moscow Games three years ago required a nation-strapping $9 billion to stage. But last week, with a year to go and counting, the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee, a private group, seemed well under way toward bringing off an audacious pledge: the L.A.O.O.C. merely plans to host a record 12,000 athletes and present 17 new events for a minuscule $475 million, not a penny of it from any taxpayer's pocket. In fact, these unbuttoned optimists expect to have a $9 million surplus.

How are they managing it? Consider their approach to what is only a small side issue, the traditional Olympic torch relay. Deluged with tens of thousands of requests to carry the torch, L.A.O.O.C. President Peter Ueberroth concluded that the flame could generate some national spirit and some local dollars for youth sports programs. So last week he announced that for a tax-deductible $3,000 donation, anyone can now purchase 1 km along the 50-state 19,000-km route. The money for the 10,000 km that are for sale will go not to the Games but to one of three authorized teen-age sports clubs. The actual costs of the run will be paid for by the corporate sponsor, AT&T. The flame will be passed from torch to torch, and individuals or small businesses will get to keep the 22-in. tall, 2.2-lb. torch used on the kilometer they pay for. Ueberroth and Harry Usher, L.A.O.O.C. executive vice president, bought the first leg and invited Jesse Owens' granddaughter, Gina Hemphill, and Jim Thorpe's grandson, Bill, to be their runners. The meandering route from New York City to Los Angeles will miss such cities as San Diego and Miami. But, says Ueberroth, "if there are a lot of donors down there, we're flexible."

Ueberroth, 45, former head of First Travel Corp., one of the largest U.S. travel companies, has been churning out strategies for solvency ever since he assumed the L.A.O.O.C. presidency in 1979. To create start-up money, Ueberroth squeezed the biggest plum he had: TV rights. Five interested bidders, including the three major networks, were each required to put up a $750,000 deposit, refundable later without interest. "We had no funds, no office, no telephone," says Ueberroth, whose staff will swell from 425 currently to 35,000 by next July. "We needed an income source." The winner, ABC, will ante up $225 million, nearly three times what NBC paid for Moscow. Says ABC Sports Vice President John Martin, "Peter was tough, but fair. We should make a modest profit."

A second large chunk of the budget will come from corporate supporters, but Ueberroth thought that the 381 "official" sponsors of the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Games represented "the worst example of commercialism." Besides, they ponied up a mere $9 million. In a breathtaking escalation, the L.A.O.O.C. limited 1984 sponsors to 30 well-heeled companies, including United Airlines, IBM and Coca-Cola, and demanded that each pay $4 million or more for the privilege. Sponsors were also required to make long-term commitments to teen-age sports. Current American athletic programs, says Ueberroth, "put all the emphasis on really young people. Then at the time when youngsters need direction, age 13 to 17, we take all the sports away."

Building new stadiums for an Olympics can be fiscal suicide, as it was in Montreal. Knowing that, the L.A.O.O.C. decided to refurbish some of the 24 existing sites and construct only three new ones, assigning some corporate sponsors the tasks. The official fast-service restaurant, McDonald's, built the new $4 million swimming and diving facility at U.S.C.; the new $3.5 million cycling track was financed by the Southland Corp. (7-Eleven) at Cal State, Dominguez Hills.

The third large source of Games revenues, a possible $90 million from ticket sales, has prompted some early irritations. Of 8 million seats for 370 events, 30% have been set aside for foreign sales, VIPS, media and the 30 corporate sponsors. Even with 5.6 million tickets available to the American public, some events are certain to be overbooked. And the cost will be steep. A family of four, for instance, wishing to see the opening ceremonies, some basketball, swimming and boxing may lay out $2,000 for medium-priced tickets.

Nevertheless, there has been a brisk traffic in the detailed order forms now available at 3,700 locations across the U.S. After the Aug. 15 deadline, the L.A.O.O.C. will pick names for the most popular events by random computer selection. There will also be 100,000 free seats for the handicapped, senior citizens and youths from the Los Angeles area, paid for by the sale of expensive ($25,000 a pair) VIP all-event tickets.

Some Angelenos are worried about the lack of affordable hotel rooms and the possibility of freeway gridlock, but Ueberroth's foremost concern is security for athletes. Three Olympic Villages on college campuses must be fenced, guarded and monitored, creating the L.A.O.O.C.'s biggest budget item. Says Ueberroth, echoing the dread of every Olympic organizer since the 1972 Munich massacre of Israeli athletes: "This is the one we will spend sleepless nights about." He still worries during the day, too, knowing how often earlier Olympic committees miscalculated what their problems would be. "How will our Games go?" he says. "It would be foolishly arrogant to assume that all the unknown factors are under control."

--By J.D. Reed.

Reported by Steven Holmes/Los Angeles

With reporting by Steven Holmes This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.