Montreal, Quebec (AP) — The gay international games to be held in Montreal in 2006 has found an ‘angel’ sponsor. The new investor in the international gay sports festival could prevent the financial difficulties that concerned the Federation of Gay Games last year that led to the dissolution of their agreement for Montreal to host the games.

Montreal 2006 organizers say the “major private sponsor” will cover any projected shortfalls. The games already have support from the Canadian and Quebec governments plus the city of Montreal. In addition it has sold the broadcast rights to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for an undisclosed amount, making it the first gay athletic event to get broad coverage on network sports programs.

According to Jean-Yves Duthel, a representative for the games, the name of the new sponsor will be made public Feb. 18.

Montreal 2006 made a very public split with the Federation of Gay Games which has overseen all previous games in a dispute over money and control in November of 2003. The Montreal 2006 organizing committee vowed that the games would go on despite the Federation’s lack of involvement. Currently the Federation is planning to select a new location for the games that will also be held in 2006.

The Federation is scheduled to select a new location in February. Chicago and Los Angeles are the only two locations vying for the rights. Atlanta, which came in second to Montreal as the original location for the 2006 games chose not to re-bid to host the games. Both Los Angeles and Chicago originally sought the 2006 games license that the Federation awarded to Montreal.

The Montreal split from the Federation has had an impact on the organization and many teams will be faced with having to decide which of the two costly weeklong events to attend.

Montreal 2006 invited representatives from GLBT sports organizations around the world to a “think-tank” early this month that agreed in principal to form a new international oversight committee that would spearhead the development of gay sports worldwide outside the auspices of the Federation of Gay Games.

A second meeting of the committee will be held in Boston in late March.

The Montreal games are scheduled to run from July 29 to Aug. 5, 2006.