Atlanta -- Six months after its Summer Goodwill Games event
in New York,Turner Sports announced last week it will offer a
winter version of the sports competition sometime in 2000.
The Winter Goodwill Games will feature
such events as skiing, figure skating, bobsledding and speed skating, Turner executives
said.
The games, which could take place in Lake Placid, N.Y.,
will also feature some nontraditional sporting events in an effort to attract younger,
male audiences, said Harvey Schiller, president of Turner Sports.
Turner Sports has lost millions of dollars on each of its
previous four Summer Goodwill Games, and industry observers doubt that a winter version
will reverse the trend.
But John Mansell, sports analyst for Kagan Associates Inc.,
said that the games would be a good programming investment for Turner despite the
potential revenue loss.
"The Goodwill Games have evolved from the notion of
Russia vs. the U.S. to an alternative to the Olympics, which makes good strategic sense
for Turner," Mansell said. "When you look at the need of programmers to have
unique programming and at the relative minuscule costs of the Goodwill Games compared to
the Olympics, the idea makes a lot of sense."
