A revised budget for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games will be presented to VANOC's board of directors, according to The Canadian Press.
Chief executive officer of Vancouver 2010, John Furlong, the paper: "All of the things we have relied on have stood up. But our feeling was that given the rapid changing environment around us, and the fact that it was affecting everybody, we just simply took the position that it's just not reasonable to assume that we would not be confronted with new challenges.”
Although a scheduled budget review had already been under way, Furlong said the market crash forced organisers to rethink. "For us to continue without improvising and preparing for a potential challenge here and there would simply not be responsible", he said.
Furlong said cuts are being made both to international operations at Vancouver 2010 and to Games-times operations. Fewer new people will be hired in the months ahead of the Games and fewer trips will be taken for Games' business. Changes also include reviewing whether hard copy publications can be placed online instead of in print.
In addition organisers are understood to be looking for strict guarantees from suppliers to deliver on time as well as ways of increasing their revenue streams by increasing the number of seats available in B.C. Place Stadium for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies.
The current budget is reported to be around $1.6 million, which doesn't include the $580 million spent on venues. Major revenue generators for the Games are sponsorship and ticket sales, and both targets were exceeded for 2008 organisers said.
