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Home , Georgia Dome, Golden Park, Herndon Stadium, Omni Coliseum, Sanford Stadium

THE XXVIth OLYMPIAD

The 83,100-seat, $209 million Olympic , site of athletics, as well as the opening and closing ceremonies, will be downsized to 49,831 seats after the Games when it will become the new home of the Braves.

Jan. 3, 1996: The Olympics will feature a full international lineup Feb. 7: Following the confiscation for the first time, as of counterfeit Olympic Games Feb. 15: ACOG names North Korea accepts its Jan. 31: Coca-Cola begins merchandise at Atlanta’s Super 5,500 “Community invitation to the Games, national and international Show and an apparel trade show Hero” torchbearers bringing the total search for its 2,500 in Las Vegas, USOC and ACOG selected by number of competing “Share the Spirit” announce a new plan to community judging nations to 197. torchbearers. eliminate the problem. panels.

Jan. 10: ACOG strikes a deal February: ACOG’s financial Feb. 6: Celebrity with the family of Martin report for 1995 is released, photographer Annie Luther King Jr. to use his showing that the committee Leibovitz named as image on medallions and has $1.51 billion in financial official U.S. Olympic other memorabilia. commitments — 11 percent team photographer short of the amount needed following a year of to pay for the Games. negotiations.

32 ATHLETIC BUSINESS July 1996 Opportunities B After the Olympics and Everywhere “There weren’t you look there is Paralympics have come enough profes- something new. sional, institu- First and fore- and gone, Atlanta and its tional and most are the new municipal and renovated surrounding communities will facilities where we sports facilities could put all 31 of dotting the city, as be left with a vast legacy these fields of play well as neighboring and all of their var- communities. Then of world-class sports ied configurations in there are the new facilities. existing facilities,” says highways, parks, hotels, Bill Johnstone, an execu- offices, retail outlets and over- tive vice president with Lehrer all citywide beautification. Ever since McGovern Bovis Inc., who is on assign- Atlanta learned on Sept. 18, 1990, that it ment to the Atlanta Committee for the would host the XXVIth Olympic Games Olympic Games. “We just weren’t as well (held for 17 days from July 19 to Aug. 4), endowed as southern California.” the city has experienced a building Lehrer McGovern Bovis, along with frenzy unlike anything it has seen sister firm McDevitt Street Bovis Inc., before — or likely will ever see again. and the firms of Charles F. McAfee Although the massive amount of con- Architects and MHR International — struction has brought some growing collectively known as the Program Ser- pains — heavy traffic congestion for vices Group — were selected in March one — as well as its share of dissenters, 1992 by ACOG to provide management the legacy of sports facilities the services for the Olympic construction Olympics will leave the Atlanta area is program. unparalleled in the . Unlike “Those four entities came together, in 1984, which used exist- brought all of their strength and exper- ing venues for all events except shoot- tise, and our mission then became to ing, Atlanta didn’t have enough existing organize and manage the construction venues to host all 26 Olympic sports (31 program within ACOG,” says John- disciplines). stone, who serves as director of project © 1996 Simon Bruty/ALLSPORT USA

Mar. 23: 135,000 tickets to 105 Mar. 29: The IOC previously sold-out announces that March: Tickets to Coca- Mar. 19: Two 10,000-pound events go on sale; Olympic athletes in Feb. 27: ACOG, USOC and Cola’s Olympic City go on Mar. 13: The Olympic steel beams designed to 5,845 sold in two Atlanta must agree to EMI/Latin Records announce sale. Also, ministers in the Stadium Design Team support a temporary roof being hours; hundreds of take any disputes that the first-ever Olympic Olympic ring ask ACOG for sues ACOG for $4 million constructed over the Olympic hotel rooms begin to about issues such as Games’ Latin album, Voces $2 million to offset because of frequent swimming and diving complex show up as available in drug-test results to a Unidas, will be released in projected losses in church design changes causing collapse on the Tech what was previously special court of connection with the 1996 contributions during the 47,600 hours of unpaid campus and fall 130 feet. No called a completely arbitration instead of Games. games. overtime. one is injured. booked market. civil court.

Feb. 20: IOC officials March: Bill to Mar. 6: Avoiding a possible Mar. 14: Olympic Mar. 21: Mar. 26: City of Mar. 30: affirm that Taiwanese prevent rent gouging Chinese boycott over Taiwan, organizers accuse stadium Olympic theme, Atlanta announces Olympic flame lit officials have not been by landlords dies in Olympic organizers announce designers of suing them in “Summon that ACOG is 11 by high priestess invited to the Games, Georgia Legislature. that no political leaders will retaliation for demanding the Heroes,” days late with a at Temple of which would likely lead be formally invited to the that the designers pay $3 is released. $1.9 million Hera in Olympia, to a Chinese boycott. Games. million in repairs to the payment for city Greece. steel infrastructure. services.

July 1996 ATHLETIC BUSINESS 33 Atlanta’s Olympic Legacy

NEW PERMANENT FACILITIES Games. An existing gymnasium was also Yachting Facility upgraded into a warm-up facility. (Savannah, Ga.) Georgia International Horse Park Yachting will be staged in the Atlantic Project team: Heery International Inc.; (Conyers, Ga.) Ocean off the coast of Savannah. The tem- Rosser International; Williams, Russell & porary, $10.8 million day marina is 250 Johnson; and Ellerbe Becket Inc. Project team: Lord Aeck & Sargent, Delon miles from Atlanta. Hampton & Associates, Tunnell-Spangler & Site of athletics, as well as the opening Associates, Duckett & Associates, and and closing ceremonies, the 83,100-seat International Equestrian Design. RENOVATED/ADAPTED stadium will be downsized to 49,831 seats after the Games when it will become the Located at the 1,139-acre Georgia Inter- FACILITIES national Horse Park, this $24.7 million per- new home of the in time for Adaptations paid for by ACOG or the facili- manent facility, 33 miles from downtown the 1997 season. The stadium will replace ties themselves were made to the following Atlanta, will host equestrian and mountain the 52,563-seat Atlanta-Fulton County Sta- existing facilities: dium, which will be utilized as the Olympic biking events, as well as the equestrian baseball venue and then torn down after and cross-country competition of the mod- the Games. The $209 million price tag ern pentathlon. The center includes sta- Host to the men’s and women’s basket- includes the new stadium, conversion to a bles, dressage and jumping areas, a track ball finals, as well as gymnastics and team baseball stadium and destruction of the course, trails and a steeplechase oval, handball events, the 72,000-seat dome, old stadium. The Atlanta Braves added which will be given to the Horse Park after which opened in 1992, is the largest cable- another $21 million worth of improve- the Games. The main arena will feature supported stadium in the world. ments, bringing the total stadium price tag 31,000 seats, 8,000 of which are perma- to $230 million. nent. Georgia World Congress Center The facility’s track will be relocated to Rowing and Canoe/Kayak Venue Site of fencing (regular competition and . modern pentathlon event), judo, table ten- () nis, handball, wrestling and weightlifting, the Aquatic Center Project team: Armour, Cape & Pond; B&E 2.5 million-square-foot building is the second (Georgia Institute of Technology) Jackson. largest convention center in the nation. Project team: Stanley Love-Stanley P.C.; This $16 million, permanent rowing facil- Smallwood Reynolds, Stewart, Stewart and ity, located 55 miles northwest of Atlanta, The Associates Inc.; Counsilman-Hunsaker & is the site of flat-water canoeing/kayaking Home of the NBA’s bas- Associates (natatorium consultants). and rowing, and will be given to the city of ketball team, the 16,400-seat arena will Site of the swimming, synchronized swim- Gainesville and Hall County after the serve as the volleyball venue. ming, diving, water polo and modern pen- Games to be used for competitions and as tathlon events, this $14.4 million complex a public rowing center. The site will have Alexander Memorial Coliseum includes separate competition and diving 1,500 permanent and 18,500 temporary (Georgia Institute of Technology) pools, as well as a $6.2 million, temporary, seats, a permanent cabling system and fin- Currently ’s 5,000-seat water polo facility. The main ish tower, two permanent boat houses and arena, the 10,000-seat facility, which will complex includes 2,000 permanent and permanent storage facilities. The site will host boxing events, upgraded its floor, 13,000 temporary seats. After the Games, also include a temporary day village for ath- seating, suites, concessions, air condition- ACOG will give the facility to Georgia Tech, letes. ing and access for the disabled for the which plans to enclose it and convert it into The biggest challenge of the venue was Olympics. an intercollegiate aquatic center. securing a temporary, 14,000-seat plat- Gym form that could be easily and safely placed Hockey Center (Clark Atlanta The gymnasium at Georgia State Univer- University, Morris Brown College) within the water. The temporary seating platform was built in lieu of locating ter- sity, which received $2.6 million worth of Project team: Turner Associates and raced seating on a heavily forested hillside. improvements, will host badminton events. HNTB Sports Architecture Group. One of ACOG’s largest venue invest- Wolf Creek Shooting Complex ments, the $31 million, two-field, artificial (Fulton County) Located 130 miles from Atlanta on the Ocoee River near Ducktown, Tenn., this turf field hockey complex includes a 5,000- Project team: Harrington George & Dunn, 1,850-foot course, site of slalom canoe seat stadium at Clark Atlanta University P.C., Lowe Engineers, CTA Architects/Engi- and kayak events, churns along at about 7 and a 15,000-seat stadium across the neers, Roy Ashley and Associates, and m.p.h. It’s classified as a Class III-IV site in street at Morris Brown College. After the Duckett & Associates. Games, Morris Brown will use the new sta- terms of difficulty, on a scale of I to VI. dium for football, while Clark Atlanta will Site of shooting events and modern pen- use its stadium for football and track and tathlon shooting events, this $16.7 million Atlanta Beach (Clayton County) field events. site is located at the Wolf Creek Trap & This venue, a park bought by Clayton Skeet Range, a world-class facility 21 miles County, is the beach volleyball venue and Tennis Center from . After the Games, is located near Jonesboro, 20 miles south ( Park) Fulton County will operate the site for world- of downtown. The facility features three Project team: R.L. Brown and Associates, class shooting competitions and as part of man-made lakes, large beach areas and a Nichols Carter Grant Architects, Rosser its public recreational facilities. 8,000-seat beach volleyball stadium, which International, Tunnel-Spangler & Associ- will remain intact after the Games. ates, and Browning Day Mullins Dierdorf NEW TEMPORARY FACILITIES (tennis design consultants). Coliseum Located 16 miles from the Olympic Cen- Cycling Velodrome (University of Georgia at Athens) ter at Stone Mountain Park, this $18.9 mil- (Stone Mountain Park) Site of preliminary volleyball and rhythmic lion, 20-court tennis facility is set against gymnastics, this facility is located 65 miles Project team: Bishop Planning Consul- the backdrop of the world’s largest from Atlanta. tants Inc., M. Paul Friedberg & Partners, exposed granite monolith. The facility Harrington George & Dunn, and Schurman includes a Centre Court stadium with Architects (design consultants). 12,000 seats, 8,000 of which will be per- (University of Georgia at Athens) manent; two grandstand courts with 5,000 The $10.9 million velodrome (which also This 86,000-seat stadium, one of the permanent and 3,000 temporary seats; 13 includes the cost of the archery facilities, largest in the country, is located 65 miles competition courts with a total of 6,550 below) located with the Tennis Center at from Atlanta. It will host the soccer semifi- seats; and four covered practice courts. Stone Mountain Park, consists of a 250- nals and finals. First-round soccer matches After the Games, ACOG will give the facil- meter wooden-surface track with 6,000 will be held at in Birmingham, ity to Stone Mountain Park, a state-owned seats. Ala., ’s Orange Bowl, Orlando’s Cit- facility, for public use. The venue will also Archery Facilities rus Bowl and at Robert F. Kennedy Sta- be used for NCAA and Atlanta Lawn Tennis (Stone Mountain Park) dium in Washington, D.C. Association tournaments. Project team: Bishop Planning Consul- Softball Complex Preliminary Basketball Venue tants Inc.; M. Paul Friedberg & Partners; (Columbus, Ga.) () Harrington George & Dunn. This $5.1 million, 2,500-seat softball Project architect: Moody/Nolan Ltd. Also located at Stone Mountain Park, the facility, site of women’s fast-pitch softball, Site of basketball’s preliminary rounds, archery center includes a four-lane archer’s was built by the city of Columbus and is the $9 million, three-level, 6,000-seat competition range, a 22-lane practice range 105 miles from Atlanta. The facility will arena will be given to Morehouse after the and 5,000 temporary seats. seat 8,753 spectators during the Olympics.

34 ATHLETIC BUSINESS July 1996 Give and Take

the new aquatics center at Georgia Tech sits ready and wait- Although ing, the process of building the facility at the university was definitely one of give and take. “Aquatics was one of those 10 sports we didn’t have an existing home for, and we said if we’re going to build an aquatics facility, let’s make sure there’s a post-Games owner who wants it and can maintain it so it lives on for the people of Georgia and the regional southeast,” says Bill Johnstone, director of project management in the ACOG construction department and an executive vice president with Lehrer McGovern Bovis Inc., one of four firms making up ACOG’s Program Services Group. PSG put out inquiries and the Board of Regents of the Higher Educa- tion System of Georgia, which includes the University of Georgia, Georgia Tech and Georgia State, expressed interest in a high-caliber aquatics center. “They said, ‘We’ll give you the land at Georgia Tech if you put your development dollars into it and then leave us the facility,’ ” says John- stone. “We said you couldn’t ask for a better post-Games owner than that, so we slid our Olympic requirements across the table at them think- ing what a win-win situation this was — and they slid it right back.” ACOG’s requirements called for three pools — a competition lap pool, a diving pool and a water polo pool. The university only wanted two —S.S. pools, saying it didn’t have the funds to maintain a separate water polo pool. In addition, the school only wanted 2,000 permanent seats, a far cry from the 15,000 seats ACOG needed. In the end, they compromised. “We put in 13,000 temporary seats, temporary trailers for back-of- house and concessions and got a temporary pool forThe water aquat- polo,” John- stone says. “That wasn’t quite what we hadics in center, mind, site but of the on the other hand, we didn’t want to leave behind a whiteswimming, elephant.” synchronized manage- swimming, diving, water ment in the con- polo and modern pen- struction department. tathlon events, includes “Ideally, any committee would like to this 15,000-seat be in a position where there are enough competition pool, as well existing facilities that you could place as a diving pool and a every one of those 31 sports in a facility. temporary, 5,000-seat In that case, all you’d have to do is

water polo facility. © 1996 Yaniv Adir/TelePhoto-GTRC adapt that facility to the requirements of the Games, and your budget would rewards, with more than $116 million be relatively small. But when we added spent on the construction and renova- it up, there just weren’t the facilities out “What you don’t get when tion of sports facilities and residence there,” says Johnstone. “We ended up halls. 10 venues short.” you become the host The school with the largest legacy is PSG determined $400 million was community is a box labeled the Georgia Institute of Technology needed to build the 10 facilities. Added (Georgia Tech), which will host aquat- to that was an additional $100 million with a particular sport, and ics and boxing events, and is the site of for the adaptation of existing facilities the main Olympic Village. In addition to and for temporary and portable facili- in that box is everything a new aquatic center (see “Atlanta’s ties, such as bleachers, tents, trailers, Olympic Legacy,” page 34), the school you need to know about toilets, fencing, site-generated power received improvements to Alexander and temporary air conditioning. that sport’s facility Memorial Coliseum (site of boxing), as Johnstone says PSG’s next challenge well as 2,700 new dorm rooms. Nearby was to develop individual programs requirements.” Georgia State University also received venue by venue, sport by sport. 2,000 new dorm rooms, which are “What you don’t get when you located on the Georgia Tech campus. become the host community — and this ers who wanted — and could afford to In addition, two of Georgia Tech’s was the toughest thing that hit me when operate — the facilities the Olympics gymnasiums will be used as practice I came here — is a box labeled with a would leave behind. venues, the existing outdoor pool will particular sport, and in that box is “We applied that rationale to every be used as a warmup pool, Griffin Track everything you need to know about that one of the 10 facilities that we were will be used as a warmup and practice sport’s facility requirements,” he says. building,” says Johnstone. “We always training area for athletics, and the base- “All they give you is the rule book, made sure that we were building perma- ball stadium and tennis center will be and they tell you who the president of nent for what the post-Games owner used for warmups. A new outdoor plaza the international federation is and you wanted, and then facilitated our addi- with a wading pool, amphitheater and basically negotiate what kind of a facil- tional requirements through temporary bell tower will be a permanent addition ity you’re going to give them. And then and portable additions.” to the campus. you have to negotiate with the post- One reason Georgia Tech may have Games owner to leave behind a lasting That philosophy has prevailed, been successful in attracting the Games legacy.” and the colleges and universities to its campus is the active role the Underlying every decision PSG made located in or near downtown Atlanta school took in helping put together a was the goal of finding post-Games own- have certainly reaped the largest multimedia presentation, shown to IOC

36 ATHLETIC BUSINESS July 1996 Some 15,000 individuals (9,000 ath- Snorkel letes and 6,000 support personnel) will be housed on the campus at “We always made sure that What? both new and existing dorms, we were building and at fraternities and sorori- When it comes to venue construction, you try to ties. The school will also permanent for what the prepare for every contingency, but the firm responsible house 6,000 athletes during for construction at the Georgia International Horse Park the Paralympic Games, post-Games owner wanted, in Conyers, Ga., was boondoggled by snorkelwort, a state which follow the Olym- and federally protected plant. and then facilitated our Snorkelwort, which grows in depressions of granite where pics. water collects following heavy rain, was recently found at the “We built a total of site by Georgia’s Corps of Engineers. Plants resemble a vine- additional requirements like water lily, containing small brown, capsule-shaped fruits. 4,700 dorm rooms and “We’ve faced some extraordinary conditions before, but athletes will stay two to a through temporary and working around snorkelwort was definitely a first,” says room, so two-thirds of the Mickey Hernandez of Bovis Inc. in New York City, part of a portable additions.” multifirm management team responsible for Olympic athletes will live in brand venue construction. Hernandez is project manager of the new facilities,” says Miller. venue, site of equestrian, mountain biking and modern pentathlon events. Although all students liv- right from their room.” “We had to arrange our entire building plan ing in dorms on campus dur- Miller says that after the Games, the around a fenced-off area to protect snorkelwort,” ing the summer will have to aquatic center will be used for teaching, says Hernandez. “It even diverted the path of the original mountain biking course.” move off campus during the wellness activities and recreational — S.S. Olympics, and all staff, students swimming. (The facility was largely and faculty had to be investigated funded by ACOG, but Georgia Tech con- and credentialed, Miller feels the legacy tributed some money for items like a officials in the Olympics is providing is well worth movable floor to make the main pool Tokyo, detailing the temporary inconvenience. more usable as a teaching facility). Chil- the transportation, medical facilities, “Up until this point, we could house dren living in nearby public housing will entertainment, training facilities, hous- only 35 percent of our students and also be able to use the pool through a ing and dining available in Atlanta. Geor- now we’re up to around 50 percent, variety of sponsorship programs. Once gia Tech’s location also helped. and that’s going to change the charac- funding is available, the school plans to “I think the location of the university ter of the campus quite a lot,” says enclose the facility, making it eligible to downtown and close to the venues was Miller. “One of the things we’re looking host NCAA competitions. very important,” says Bill Miller, Geor- at is to turn the housing into learning Miller says although a project of this gia Tech’s director of Olympic planning. centers. They’re all wired into a net- magnitude has its ups and down, overall “We’re just ideally located for the work, so students can turn on their the school was able to work well with Olympic Village.” computer monitors and ‘attend’ classes ACOG.

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38 ATHLETIC BUSINESS July 1996 Circle 25 on Reply Card A new 5,000-seat stadium at Clark Atlanta University will be used as a field hockey venue. After the Games, it will be converted to a football stadium and surrounded by the track from the Olympic Stadium.

“We have different purposes, and some things get crossed because we’re trying to maintain an academic atmos- phere here at the same time they’re try- ing to get ready for this huge event. We’ve had to say no a number of times, but that was kind of expected,” he says. “Overall, it has really been a great expe- rience.”

Although Georgia State University’s Photo by Seth Hansen/Daktronics Inc. new dorms are more than a mile from while an existing gymnasium was football use. At Morris Brown, the exist- their campus, they are the school’s first. upgraded into a warm-up facility. ing 15,000-seat was Georgia State also received financial Besides the actual 6,000-seat arena seat- extensively renovated, while at Clark assistance from ACOG to improve its ing bowl, the $9 million, 100,000-square- Atlanta, a new 5,000-seat stadium was gymnasium, site of Olympic badminton foot arena includes four large locker built. As an added bonus, the high-tech events. rooms, weight-lifting and fitness rooms, track from the Olympic Stadium will be Three of Atlanta’s historically black coach and players’ lounges, medical relocated to Clark Atlanta and will sur- colleges — Morehouse College, Clark facilities, ticketing, concessions and round the stadium field. The school Atlanta University and Morris Brown storage areas. also received funding to develop a soft- College — are also beneficiaries of the Both Morris Brown and Clark Atlanta ball field and eight new — Olympic legacy. A new arena, which will received for field hockey, improvements that, according to Direc- be used for preliminary basketball although after the Olympics, both tor of Athletics Dr. Richard Cosby, rounds, was constructed at Morehouse, schools will convert the stadiums to greatly enhanced the facilities the

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Circle 26 on Reply Card July 1996 ATHLETIC BUSINESS 39 Did You Know? Facts and figures about the XXVIth Olympiad. • The Olympic Village at Georgia Tech is the largest village ever, housing 10,500 athletes, and the first with air conditioning. • Approximately 150,000 temporary seats have been shipped in from Aus- tralia, Ireland, Canada and Spain. • More than 2,000 portable toilets will be located among the venues. • Some 1.2 million square feet of opera- tions and hospitality tent space will accommodate visitors, dignitaries and athletes. • Games staff will include 88,171 peo- ple — 1,400 ACOG employees,

42,500 volunteers, 38,937 contrac- © 1996 Gary Meek/TelePhoto-GTRC tors and 5,334 hourly/temporary/ loaned staff. • A total of 181 venues will be used, including competition sites, non-com- petition venues, command centers, medical facilities, training and warm- up sites, warehouses and hospitality centers. • 1.4 million visitors are expected in Atlanta during the Games. • Atlanta temperatures for the Games: an average high of 87.3 degrees F., an average low of 68.3 degrees F. • Funding includes $1.7 billion raised through the sale of broadcast rights, sponsorships and licensing rights, tickets, merchandising and other pro- grams. • Nearly 40 percent more women will be competing than in 1992 — 3,779 women expected in 1996 vs. 2,708 in 1992. • There will be 600 VIPs, with more than 4,500 security personnel on hand to protect them. (The above information is courtesy of ACOG and Bovis Inc.).

school has for its athletic program. “We were very pleased to have the opportunity to participate in the

Olympics and get facilities of the magni- ©1996 Owen Smithers/Motts Photographic Center Inc. tude we got,” says Cosby. “We would agencies; and minority and female par- Georgia Tech’s 10,000-seat Alexander Memorial have liked to have more, but there was ticipation, an important criteria in every Coliseum (top), site of boxing events, was extensively remod- just so much appropriated for the bud- contract awarded. eled for the Games. After the Games, the venue will continue get and we had to be realistic in our “That’s another legacy we’re proud to host Georgia Tech basketball games. The 6,000-seat arena thinking.” of,” says Johnstone. “We achieved 43 at Morehouse College (bottom), site of basketball’s prelimi- The process involved in coordinating percent minority participation from our nary rounds, will be given to the college after the Games. the many different types of construc- designers and about 35 percent from tion was a complex one. our contractors. We set that as a high “We set up an organization that basi- criteria in selection.” cally mirrored what our main mission The 31 sports disciplines were then was and that was project management,” divided into five teams — “I call them procurement and design management says Johnstone. “Then to make sure combat teams,” says Johnstone, of temporary and portable facilities. those individuals had all the support “assisted by support departments.” Although ACOG had its share of con- they needed, we set up three depart- Team A handled the Olympic Stadium struction-related problems — most ments whose only function was to sup- and baseball; Team B, the equestrian, notably last year’s collapse of a light port project management.” shooting and rowing/canoeing venues; tower at Olympic Stadium that killed an Those departments include project Team C, the aquatics, tennis, archery, ironworker, plus the collapse in mid- controls, which consists of scheduling, cycling and badminton venues; and March of two steel beams supporting estimating and cost reporting; tech ser- Team D, the field hockey, basketball the temporary roof over the Aquatic vices, which handles program definition preliminaries and yachting venues. Center — Johnstone feels ACOG is a tar- and control, quality control, safety and Team E was responsible for adapting all get because of the magnitude of the dealing with regulatory and permit the existing venues, as well as for the Olympics.

40 ATHLETIC BUSINESS July 1996 “If we weren’t the Olympics, nobody The Stone Mountain tennis would be interested,” he says. “If we venue includes a Centre stub our toe on anything, everybody Court stadium with 12,000 jumps on it because it’s news and peo- seats, 8,000 of which will ple want to read about it — and that be permanent; two kind of gets you down from time to grandstand courts with time. But there’s going to be a time 5,000 permanent and when everybody is all of a sudden going 3,000 temporary seats; to want to celebrate it, so we have to and 13 competition courts look forward to that and not get bur- with a total of 6,550 seats. rowed under.”

While Johnstone’s favorite facility is the Olympic Stadium — “It’s the center- piece of our program and it’s just

breathtaking” — he regrets that its Photo by Seth Hansen/Daktronics Inc. legacy will not be left to the track and field community. (As soon as the Olympics and Paralympics are com- pleted, a massive effort will be under- way to convert the facility to a 49,831-seat stadium for the Atlanta Braves in time for the 1997 season.) He also cites the equestrian, shooting, row- ing/canoeing and tennis venues as note- worthy legacies. “It’s the first time in 50 years that all three equestrian events are on one site, and that’s another breathtaking facil- ity,” he says. “The shooting facility is of international-competition quality and it’s not in military hands — Fulton County will operate it. It’s a legacy that’s just fantastic. Rowing and canoe- ing at Lake Lanier is a permanent facility with a lake configuration that narrows down to a river and a protected gorge on a north-northeast heading, which is perfect for rowers. The boathouses are another beautiful legacy. Tennis is a tremendously popular sport in the Atlanta area and the tennis venue — with 16 courts surrounding a center court that has 8,000 permanent seats — will be operated by the Stone Mountain ad Authority, which is a state park, so that’s in very good hands.” Although ACOG tried hard to find a permanent home for a velodrome, John- stone says nobody wanted it because the popularity of velodrome cycling is dying as mountain biking and road cycling become more popular. “We didn’t want to leave behind white elephants that nobody wanted,” he says. “Unfortunately, we weren’t able to make every one of them work. There was always a reality we had to apply to it.” Johnstone says the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles were a model for ACOG to follow. “We looked very hard at Los Angeles and we spent a lot of time observing what did, but we kind of mod- eled ourselves economically after the L.A. games,” he says. “We didn’t want to leave behind a debt to the people. We are under budget and on schedule, and we spent a lot of time on cost control to make sure we lived up to our obligation to the people and the state.” ■

42 ATHLETIC BUSINESS July 1996 Circle 27 on Reply Card