With more than $5m (B5.5m) in prize money on offer, Goodwill Games organisers had no problems attracting the world's leading athletes to their multi-sports event, starting in Brisbane next Wednesday.
But persuading the new owners to persevere with the made-for-television event will be a far tougher test. There is increasing speculation that this fifth edition of the Goodwill Games, which runs 12 days from August 29 to September 9, may also be the last after it was announced that the final decision on the 2005 games had been delayed and put on review.
Goodwill Games president Mike Plant said on Sunday he was optimistic the games could survive in an increasingly cluttered sporting calendar but said there were no guarantees.
"We're looking at new strategies, we have to make sure we're going in the right direction," Plant said.
"We're doing consumer research...but at the moment we're just concentrating on Brisbane."
The Goodwill Games were founded by American media baron Ted Turner in 1986 following the tit-for-tat boycotts at the 1980 and 1984 Olympics.
They were staged alternately by the Soviet Union and the United States but with the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War, the future of the Goodwill Games was already looking shaky.
Undaunted by heavy losses and poor television ratings, Turner pushed ahead with his dream but when Turner Broadcast Systems merged with Time Warner in 1996 then internet giant America Online earlier this year, control over the Games was passed on.
Turner will be in Brisbane as a Goodwill Games ambassador but even his enthusiasm has been blunted following the break-up of his marriage to actress Jane Fonda and the recent death of his two-year-old granddaughter.
"It's obviously been a very difficult time for him but he is still coming," Plant said.
"This is one of his truly great franchises...and hopefully he'll be in good spirits."
The Australian public has also shown only limited enthusiasm for the Games. They clash with the end-of-season rugby league, rugby union and Australian rules finals and ticket sales have been slow.
There is also the problem of unfavourable comparisons with the Sydney Olympics, with the Goodwill Games described by local commentators as akin to following cricketing genius Donald Bradman into bat.
Many athletes, however, genuinely like the event. Five times Olympic gold medallist Michael Johnson of the U.S. has chosen the Goodwill Games to mark his international farewell and the new crop of athletes are looking forward to a less hectic time, as well as rich cash bonuses for world records.
"It's going to be a lot of fun, and that's going to be a nice change," said Thorpe, the Australian teenage swimming sensation who won three gold medals in Sydney and six at last month's world championships in Japan.
There are no heats or qualifying rounds in the finals-only format so only the very best get to compete.
"You don't have to worry about tactics or saving your energy for the final, you just give it everything you've got because you only get one chance," said Maurice Greene, the world's fastest man.
For the 2001 games, there will be a total of around 1,300 competitors, including 700 Olympic finalists, competing in 14 different sports.
There are the traditional Olympic sports such as athletics, swimming, boxing and weightlifting but also gymnastics and figure skating, which are popular with American audiences.
Australia, as the first non-Russian or U.S. host, has also had a strong influence on the programme with beach volleyball, surf lifesaving and triathlon all on the schedule.
The biggest names from last year's Sydney Olympics are back in Australia for the Goodwill Games with the event's organisers hoping Maurice Greene, Marion Jones and Ian Thorpe can save the event from oblivion.
