[Yume-sama]

Good news for VANOC, I suppose.

VANCOUVER - The International Olympic Committee has thrown Vancouver organizers a financial lifeline and guaranteed the 2010 Winter Games won't go into deficit.

The deal, revealed after a two-day IOC visit to Vancouver, has put an abrupt end to months of public hand wringing by 2010 planners over a revenue gap of as much as $42 million in their budget.

A large part of that gap was due to $30 million in international sponsorship money that the IOC had hoped to secure for the Games, but those plans were sidelined with the sudden crash of the economy last fall.

The IOC isn't cutting a cheque to Vancouver planners right now but say they are waiting to see how their budget looks at the close of the Games and if there is a shortfall, they will help make up the difference.

How much they are willing to give and how they will provide it is still being discussed.

But the deputy chief of the Vancouver Organizing Committee says the deal has provided planners with enough confidence to start striking boldly forward with their operational plans.

http://www.ctvolympics.ca/news-centre/newsid=14761.html#ioc+throws+2010+olympics+financial+lifeline