Seattle Plans To Risk $100,000 On Getting Olympics

Fri., Feb. 21, 1997

Associated Press

Seattle will make a bid for the 2008 Summer Olympics and submit a nonrefundable $100,000 fee, even though a study on holding the games in Western Washington won’t be completed by the time the money is due.

“We are long beyond a dream,” said Rep. Steve Van Luven, R-Bellevue, chairman of the House Trade and Economic Development Committee, which heard an update Thursday from the people conducting the Seattle Olympics feasibility study. “We are in the works, trying to win this thing.”

A letter of intent and “commitment fee,” which is being raised from private sources by the Seattle Bid Committee, are due to the U.S. Olympic Committee by May 1. The study by Discovery Institute, a nonprofit public policy center, won’t be completed until late June.

“It is rather odd timing,” said Donna James, tourism director for Seattle. “But we expect to go forward with the letter of intent.”

Seattle Mayor Norm Rice still needs to sign the letter.

Last year, the Legislature allocated $50,000 for the study and King County and the city of Seattle chipped in $25,000 each. The Discovery Institute doesn’t plan to have its economic impact report done until May 16, with the full report due out a month later.

Last week, the International Olympic Committee told prospective bidders that local governments must guarantee they can pay the bills if they are awarded the games.

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