Fridae

Sydney may lose the 2002 Gay Games due to sponsorship and organisational problems, reports the Sydney Morning Herald. The San Francisco-based ruling body, Federation of Gay Games said in a leaked memo that they might transfer the event to another city.

Despite the games's potential to generate millions of dollars for New South Wales and Australia, the state government has refused to provide financial support for the event.

Besides losing the event, Sydney's gay and lesbian community's hard-won reputation may also be ruined. The city also faces the threat of losing the 2003 World Cup rugby final, and other big events, to other Australian capitals because of the NSW Government's policy of not underwriting big events, says the Australian paper.

The emailed memo was leaked to Outsports.com, a prominent Los Angeles-based gay and lesbian website, two weeks ago.

"This visit will be a watershed in ascertaining whether or not Sydney 2002 Ltd are in a position to comply with the FGG License Agreement and their Bid commitments, or whether remedial action will need to be undertaken e.g. such as #1 a scaling down of all the Gay Games activities, #2 total forfeiture of the GAY Games, #3 moving the Gay Games to another city for 2002." The email read.

The federation's co-president, Mr Bill Wassmer has condemned the leak and said that the information is outdated. He added that a federation delegation will visit Sydney in late July to conduct a status report on the city's progress. The visit has been postponed since May 2001 to enable the new Sydney 2002 Ltd Board and new CEO to settle in.

When asked about the leaked email, Mr Wassmer told Outsports.com that he has spoken to the Sydney organisers and was confident that "things had changed".

With the games less than 16 months away, Sydney 2002 is still unable to announce a principal sponsor. The paper also reported that due to acute cash flow problems, Sydney 2002 has been paying a six-figure fee to the federation, negotiated as part of Sydney winning the event, in instalments.