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G'day Games Goodwill Games will head to Brisbane, Australia, in 2001
Posted: Saturday July 18, 1998 08:58 PM
NEW YORK (AP) -- The Goodwill Games are going global, moving outside the United States and Russia for the first time with the 2001 games heading for Brisbane, Australia. Ted Turner, founder of the event, made the announcement Saturday, hours before the opening of the games in New York City. Turner said he saw no problem in attracting world class athletes back to Australia less than a year after the 2000 Olympics are held in Sydney. "Not at all," he said. "They'll have so much fun in Sydney that a lot of them will just stay and be there 11 months later." Brisbane beat out about a half dozen other cities including Shanghai and Rio de Janeiro to host the games. Previous Goodwill Games have been held in Moscow (1986), Seattle (1990) and St. Petersburg, Russia (1994). All have lost money, a total of US$109 million in 12 years. The New York games, which open Sunday, have sold about half of the 600,000 available tickets. Turner said he was happy with that figure. "We knew this was going to be the right place to be," he said. "We're at 300,000 tickets sold. That's half the tickets sold. That's incredible for a one-time event like this. We couldn't be more excited." Turner said the losses of the first three Goodwill Games did not bother him. "This is a little over $1 million a day. One NFL game on ESPN this fall, 2 1/2 hours, costs $35 million. This is small potatoes because we do it so efficiently. This was one of the best ideas I ever had. It's a small scale Olympics." Turner said he planned to visit as many New York venues as he can. "I like to sample a little of all of it," he said, "like Chinese dinner." Brisbane has experience in planning and carrying out international events. The city previously had the 1982 Commonwealth Games, the 1988 World Expo and the 1994 World Masters Games. Australia also is celebrating the centennial of its federation in 2001. Turner said the decision to hold the next Goodwill Games in three years instead of four involved sponsorship dollars. "We're moving to a year where we're not head to head with the Olympics or the World Cup," he said. "This makes more sponsorships available. It's a smart move on everyone's part." There is a 60-day window for the 2001 games from September 1 till the end of October, with the exact dates to be set depending on other events in the city and country. The event will return to a four-year rotation after that with the next ones held in 2005. Turner said the games will continue to benefit children's causes. It's original purpose was to bring together athletes of the world during the Cold War. "Until there are no more problems with children, no abuse, no hunger, no disease and no health care problems, the emphasis will remain on the children," he said. "We have a pretty good track record. We've only had one cause and we won that one. In six or eight years, when we solve this, we'll move on to the next big problem."
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Ted Turner called the Goodwill Games "one of the best ideas I ever had." 