Annual Meeting in Chicago Next Week
The Federation of Gay Games (FGG) and the Montreal 2006 organizing committee are arguing about plans for the next gay olympics.
Montreal wanted to bring in as many as 24,000 athletes but FGG wanted to limit participants to as few as 10,000 to save money. After negotiations, Montreal reduced its number to as few as 16,000 but the FGG will go no higher than 12,000 as an initial goal.
In a second area of disagreement, although Montreal organizers have lined up extensive public and private funding, FGG allegedly wants to control all financial details.
'Fundamentally there's an issue of vision which includes number of participants, size of budget and the issue of control,' said Montreal organizer and Olympic gold medalist Mark Tewksbury. 'I empathize with the deficits of past games but, at the same time, we believe we have a vision that could really change things. We've done the math and we need 15,540 participants to break even.
'This is a turning point for the Gay Games movement, or a crisis, since the last four games have lost money,' Tewksbury said. 'They are dealing with the challenge in their own way, we just have a very different vision of how to deal with it. It would be irresponsible of us to plan for a games smaller than our break-even point.'
FGG Co-president Kathleen Webster said the federation simply doesn't want Montreal organizers to make promises they can't keep, resulting in the Gay Games ending up in debt for the fifth time in a row.
'We have four host organizations that have ended up in bankruptcy leaving a legacy of debt,' she said. 'It's our job to do something now to break this cycle of financial failure.
'Montreal's vision was grand and beautiful but not safe and prudent. The federation board, rather than repeat the mistakes of Sydney, Amsterdam, New York and Vancouver, wants to start out at a smaller level and build flexibility into the plan so that as income is realized we can build the event. We want to achieve the 24,000 part [but] we want to make promises we can deliver. We can't stand by and let history repeat itself.'
Webster said it is unfortunate that Montreal organizers have chosen to argue their case in the press.
'It's not appropriate to negotiate though the media,' she said. 'We find it unfortunate. We think it's a shame they have chosen that path. But, negotiations are moving forward, we've made progress, and we have until November 7th to reach a mutually acceptable licensing agreement. We remain optimistic we're going to meet that goal.'
Some Montreal organizers have stated they will hold a sporting event on the magnitude of the Gay Games even if the deal falls through with the Federation of Gay Games.
— Rex Wockner
