August 26, 1999
Four years ago, IOC member Anita DeFrantz said the sports venues for the 2002 winter olympics were in place in Salt Lake City. But it turns out, Salt Lake was not ready to host the games.
And to finally be ready, we'll have to spend millions more than we thought.
News Specialist John Daley has the story.
One of the selling points for hosting the games here was that all of the venues were already built.
But since then, the rules have changed, and that means two very expensive facilities are being essentially re-built or reconfigured, with a pretty hefty price tag.
May 1995.
The effort to win the 2002 Winter Olympic Games is in full swing.
A much-celebrated single pour of concrete in Kearns helps create one of Salt Lake's final venues to be built--the 400-meter speed skating oval.
June 1995.
Budapest.
Organizers tell the International Olympic Committee: "The sports venue for 2002 are in place now."
Frank Joklik/Former SLOC Board Chairman: "DURING THE PAST FOUR YEARS, WE'VE BUILT ALMOST ALL OF THE REQUIRED SPORTS FACILITIES WHICH WE DIDN'T ALREADY HAVE."
Dave Johnson/former SLOC Vice-President: "DURING THE PAST FOUR YEARS, WE'VE BEEN BUSY BUILDING OUR OLYMPIC DREAM, OF OUR 9 VENUES PLANNED TO HOST THE OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES, EIGHT EXIST OR ARE UNDER CONSTRUCTION NEARING COMPLETION."
Tom Welch/Former SLOC President: "THE INFRASTRUCTURE AND FACILITIES ARE READY."
In large part, based upon that promise, Salt Lake wins the Games.
Fast forward to August 1999. Major work on venues continues from the ski jumps of the Winter Sports Park, to the ski slopes of Deer Valley.
And the speed skating oval at Oquirrh Park, which was a favorite training facility for young skaters, now looks like this.
The old structures and skating track have been torn out--to be replaced.
Why?
Today, organizers say to build the new oval, they had to remove the old one.
Jerry Anderson/SLOC Venue Director: "THE TRUTH IS TO BUILD THAT BIG BUILDING, IT MADE BETTER FINANCIAL SENSE TO BASICALLY TAKE IT OUT."
Organizers say there're several reasons for that.
It was difficult to upgrade the old facility as it was,
and the advent of the revolutionary new clap skate required a bigger track.
Likewise, changes in technique by ski jumpers has forced a significant reconfiguring of the jumps at the Winter Sports Park--also costing millions more than originally planned.
Randy Dryer heads the agency that built the original Olympic venues with taxpayer money.
Randy Dryer/Chairman/Utah Sports Authority: "MAYBE IT WAS PART OF THE BID HYPE, BUT I THINK IT WAS FUNDAMENTALLY AN ACCURATE STATEMENT AT THE TIME. COMPARED TO THE OTHER CITIES, SALT LAKE WAS READY TO GO, READY TO HOST THE OLYMPICS."
Jerry Anderson/SLOC Venue Director: "WHAT WE DID HAVE WAS THE BASIC INFRASTRUCTURE IN PLACE, WE WERE FAR MORE ADVANCED THAN OTHER OLYMPIC CITIES IN PREVIOUS HISTORY. I THINK PART OF IT IS SALESMANSHIP, YOU WANT TO PUT YOU BEST FOOT FORWARD."
But Olympic board member Ken Bullock worries the costs will keep adding up.
Ken Bullock/SLOC Board Member: "WHAT'S TYPICAL WITH THE OLYMPICS IS YOU DON'T GET THE WHOLE STORY. YOU GET WHAT THEY WANT YOU TO HEAR AND ENTICED TO BRING THE OLYMPICS TO YOUR PARTICULAR COMMUNITY, THEN ALL OF THE SUDDEN YOU HAVE TO READ THE FINE PRINT. I DON'T THINK A LOT OF PEOPLE READ THE FINE PRINT."
Is all this construction raising the price tag for the Olympics?
Organizers declined to discuss dollar figures today.
But the original speed skating oval cost $4 million.
The most recent estimate for the new facility is $29 million.
The question: Will taxpayers also be left paying for those facilities?
Organizers say "No."
But if they can't raise the money they need, skeptics worry it is the taxpayers who'll have to foot the bill.
