http://www.newsday.com/sports/highschool/ny-skesg0402,0,765773.story
Empire State Games likely to be canceled
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - Empire State Games officials have told coaches their services won't be needed this summer, even though there's been no formal announcement from the state parks department that New York's premier amateur athletic competition has been canceled.
"From our perspective, you just can't turn on a dime and create something in three and a half months that usually takes a year to plan," Fred Smith, executive director of the games, said Wednesday. "We've been scrambling to try to find a new host but haven't been successful there. The writing seems to be on the wall."
Athletes and organizers have been left hanging since January, when state officials said huge budget deficits forced elimination of funding for the games and required participants to pay fees to play. That led the ESG's Hudson Valley organizers to drop out as hosts in protest.
An Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation Department spokeswoman said Wednesday an announcement would be made later in the week. Carol Ash, the department's commissioner, was not available for comment.
Funding for the Olympic-style event, which began in 1978, was cut by Gov. David Paterson and was not restored in the budget negotiated this week by the state's Democratic leaders, according to the state budget division. The state's previous annual contribution was $1.7 million, Smith said.
He said the parks department is seeking private sponsors and contributions in hopes of holding the Winter Games in February 2010 and reinstating the Summer Games in July 2010, which are slated for Buffalo.
"They're looking to move forward, restructure the program, get funding so it will never happen again," said Louis Vazquez, the ESG's regional director for New York City. "But I think it's going to have a major effect. It's going to take a lot of work to get coaches back into it. Unfortunately, it's going to hurt a lot of seniors who have been working hard to showcase themselves to get into a college and get some scholarship money."
New York will hold scaled-back versions of the Empire State Senior Games and Games for the Physically Challenged, but the impending cancellation of the Summer Games was difficult to accept.
"I really thought we would have gone ahead," Vazquez said. "Just like everywhere else, there are a bunch of cuts that we all have to deal with. Everybody's dealing with it. You still get the job done. To cancel the whole program is kind of shocking. The kids suffer."
The Summer Games, which hopscotch around New York, originally were scheduled for late July at venues throughout the Hudson Valley region. The games were to be linked to celebrations marking the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's voyage to America, but the organizing committee pulled out after the parks department announced the funding cut and the $285 fee to be levied on athletes.
"Nobody likes the situation, but continuing the Senior Games and the Games for the Physically Challenged will keep the name out there," Smith said. "I know Buffalo is very excited and I'm optimistic Buffalo is going to go ahead. How this will affect it in the long run, I don't know."
Smith said he wanted to get away from the $285 participants' fee, adding that one of the goals was to structure the Empire State Games so athletes who can't afford to pay any fees won't be affected.
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