(4/18/99)
Members of the Salt Lake Olympic Committee are downplaying news headlines about the loss of a potential sponsor for the 2002 Winter Games.
The pharmaceutical company Johnson and Johnson has decided, for now, not to sponsor the 2002 Winter Games. Company officials at one time had signed a "letter of intent" for a sponsorship deal worth an estimated $30 million.
The deal fell through in January, amid reports of scandal and corruption in the bid process. But representatives of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee are shrugging it off, saying SLOC is in on-going negotiations with many companies.
Mark Lewis/S.L.O.C. Marketing & Licensing V.P.: WHEN YOU HAVE THAT MANY COMPANIES IN PLAY, SOME ARE GOING TO FALL OUT AT DIFFERENT STAGES, SOME WILL GO ALL THE WAY THROUGH, AND ACTUALLY WE HOPE TO HAVE SEVERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS WITHIN THE NEXT FEW MONTHS ABOUT NEW SPONSORS COMING ON BOARD. SO WE'RE VERY EXCITED ABOUT THAT.
SLOC needs $300 million more to reach its fundraising goal.
