This Sunday talks between the Federation of Gay Games (FGG) and the Montréal 2006 organizing committee failed with neither party able to reach a compromise on the budget and financial liability of the event. Representatives from the FGG met with Montréal’s executive committee and legal council on Sunday, Nov. 9 in an attempt to finalize the agreement between the two organizations, that is now in it’s 14th draft, that will officially grant Montréal the marketing rights to use the Gay Games title. In return Montréal would have agreed to pay the FGG over $600,000 for the use of the name as well as 50 percent of whatever profits were realized from the 2006 games.

However, the two groups could not see eye to eye on some key issues in the contract, including the number of participants at the event and financial control over the games. The FGG wants to have more hands on involvement in the financial decision making process of the games because previous financial troubles nearly forced organizers to cancel the games just days prior to the events.

“In Montréal 2006’s opinion, it remains unacceptable that the FGG still wants to impose unbelievable financial controls while they have no responsibilities, nor on gathering the money, nor legally, because these two matters belong to the Montréal 2006 Board of Directors,” Montréal 2006 said in a news release.

Legal counsel for the Organising Committee for Montréal 2006 informed the FGG Sunday morning that Montréal 2006 had walked away from further negotiations with the Federation regarding the licensing agreement for Gay Games VII.

“We deeply regret that Montréal 2006 made the decision to walk away from these negotiations which were planned with the best interests of future Gay Games participants in mind,” said FGG co-president Roberto Mantaci. “The Federation made multiple concessions to Montréal 2006, and we are confident that we tried everything we could to reach an agreement with them while remaining true to our stated obligation towards safeguarding the fiscal responsibility by Gay Games hosts. Despite Montréal 2006’s unilateral action, the Federation reaffirms our commitment to the continuation of future Gay Games.”

The first signs of trouble appeared on Thursday Nov. 6 prior to negotiations taking place when Équipe Montréal, which represents GLBT athletes in the Montreal had their rights as a member of the FGG suspended.

“The FGG has notified us by e-mail,” stated M. Daniel Vaudrin, president of Équipe Montréal, “that our support for Montréal 2006 would, from this point forward, preclude us from expressing our point of view in any discussion related to the negotiations between the two organizations.”

The FGG justified its decision based on the fact that Équipe Montréal sent an e-mail survey to over 675 GLBT sports and cultural organizations world wide, of which 21 are represented on the FGG. The survey requested teams to detail their interest for games in Montréal and the number of participants they expected. As a result of the suspension Équipe Montréal is no longer receiving any communications from the FGG, will not be able to attend or intervene in any debate or vote concerning the negotiations between the FGG and Montréal 2006.

“This unilateral decision,” added M. Vaudrin, “does not even respect the statues of the FGG that require any suspension of rights of a member be removed by majority vote of the Board. We will contest this decision in Chicago. It astounds us that we are being reprimanded for supporting our own city, province and country when we are the initiators Montréal’s application for the Gay Games. We wholeheartedly reject this anti-democratic non-representative inequitable process that rules within this federation, which leads us to question the good faith of the FGG in the entire Montréal 2006 gay games file.”

Tensions continued to flare on Friday Nov. 7, when Montréal 2006 cancelled a scheduled meeting during which the FGG’s license agreement team was to have had its first look at contracts Montréal 2006 had negotiated with local sponsors and supporters.

Following a 15-hour meeting Saturday, 8 November, that went into the early hours, Montréal 2006 announced it was ending discussions while the Federation was drafting revisions to the license agreement that had been substantially agreed upon during the course of the day.

The FGG, which was in Chicago for its annual meeting, that opened officially on Monday, Nov. 10 had hopes that the negotiations between the Gay Games’ governing body and Montréal 2006 would result in a license agreement that the Federation’s board of directors would receive for discussion and a vote during the meeting.

“It is sad and perplexing that after two years of attempting to come to an amicable agreement, and repeated concessions by the Federation, Montréal chose not to assume the obligations of the license agreement,” said Federation co-president Kathleen Webster.

With the future of the Gay Games being held in Montreal in jeopardy the FGG’s negotiating committee will present a report to the full voting membership of 58 delegates at the annual meeting this week. Without a signed contract Montreal will lose the rights to the 2006 Gay Games. If that does happen, the FGG will most likely reopen bidding for Gay Games VII, which will then be held in either 2006 or 2007. Atlanta, Chicago and Los Angeles were the three finalists for in competition for the games when Montreal was chosen in 2001 it is unclear if those cities are still interested in hosting the event.