Goodwill Games: Going, Going…Gone

By Phillip Whitten

ATLANTA, Dec. 20. MEDIA mogul Ted Turner and Turner Sports delivered the long-anticipated coup de grace today to the ailing Goodwill Games, the international multisport event organized by Turner in 1986 in response to the politically-motivated Olympic boycotts of 1980 and '84.

The decision had been anticipated since July, when Turner Sports delayed plans to announce that Phoenix would be the site of the 2005 Games.

After the 2001 games in Brisbane, Australia, some Turner officials said the Games no longer made financial sense. The first three Goodwill Games — in Moscow, Seattle, and St. Petersburg, Russia — lost a combined $109 million. No figures were announced for the 2001 Games, but it is thought they lost approximately $50 million.

In a statement issued today, Ted Turner said: "I am proud of all the Goodwill Games accomplished and appreciate the contribution of everyone who helped make it a success."

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