Meet Still Facing Financial Hurdles

Organizers of the Powerade Indoor Track and Field Championships continued their quest Tuesday for enough additional sponsor support to rescue the first-time meet from cancellation.

The meet, scheduled for Feb. 11 at Staples Center, is in jeopardy because of poor ticket sales and shaky financial underpinnings. Although the Los Angeles Track and Field Organizing Committee hoped fans would be eager to buy tickets to see the 11 Sydney Olympic medalists who agreed to compete and hoped local corporations would buy blocks of tickets and donate those tickets to local school children, neither has materialized.

In addition, sources have said Coca-Cola, parent company of the Powerade brand, is trying to back out of its commitment as the title sponsor.

“The process is continuing,� Rich Perelman, the meet’s director of communications, said Tuesday. “The issue will be resolved this week. No puff of smoke has come out of the chimney, white puff or black puff. . . . I can’t foresee any possibility of this dragging on beyond this week.�

Perelman declined to characterize the likelihood of cancellation, saying he’s not in the middle of the negotiations. Skip Stolley, chairman of LATFOC, and Damon Haley, LATFOC’s director of marketing, did not return phone messages.