Dave Cobb of the Vancouver Organizing Committee says that, in face of the global economic slowdown, the revised budget for the 2010 Winter Games includes a larger contingency fund. (CBC)

The board of directors for the Vancouver Organizing Committee approved a revised budget Wednesday that will carry them through to the 2010 Winter Games.

The Olympics organizers were forced to revise their operational budget as the global economic crisis makes it harder to secure sponsorship deals.

The revised budget now reflects the global economic slowdown, said Dave Cobb, executive vice-president of revenue, marketing and communications of the organizing committee.

"While we're calling it an updated budget, the process we went through was really starting over again," Cobb said.

"We didn't just take the previous budget and make adjustments to the numbers that were there. We built the budget again from bottom up, so we ended up at a very similar number to where we were before. However, money is allocated differently."

Cobb said the revised budget includes a larger contingency fund to cover funding shortages and to protect organizers in an increasingly uncertain market.

Money for the fund up will come from a variety of sources, including 100 fewer new hires in the coming year and cutbacks to administrative costs, Cobb said.

The organizing committee plans to release its new financial plan next week.

Harder to find sponsors

The current operational budget for the 2010 Winter Olympics is $1.62 billion, which does not include $580 million for venues. Those costs are to be funded in part by ticket sales and sponsorship agreements.

Organizers still need to recruit three or four new major sponsors to raise roughly $10 million to meet financial goals, Cobb said.

"The reality over the last six months [is] it's been a tougher market to raise revenue," he said.

"Six months ago we may have thought we would significantly exceed our revenue targets.… But some of the upside has probably gone," he continued. "We can't count on it."

On Tuesday, the organizing committee announced a new sponsorship deal with the manufacturers of the cold and flu capsules Cold-fX. Other deals, such as those with the financially troubled Nortel and General Motors, may be at risk, but so far no sponsors have backed out of their agreements.

The financial crisis has also affected financing for the Olympic athletes village, being built by the City of Vancouver, but it is not part of the organizing committee's operational budget.