Logo gets new name at request of officials

The "Florida 2012'' logo is being replaced by one that says "Tampa 2012'' at the behest of the U.S. Olympic Committee.

By KEVIN GRAHAM

© St. Petersburg Times,
published July 31, 2001

TAMPA -- The group seeking to bring the 2012 Summer Olympics to Central Florida is quietly changing its signature logo, replacing "Florida 2012" with "Tampa 2012."

But it's not a power play by Tampa, says Ed Turanchik, president and chief executive officer of Florida 2012.

Instead, the change has been ordered by the U.S. Olympic Committee.

"They notified all the bid cities, particularly all the regional bids, that we had to go under the single-city designation," Turanchik said Monday.

He said the decision was made at a U.S. Olympic Committee meeting in March. Tampa is teaming up with Orlando, St. Petersburg and other Central Florida communities for the Olympic bid, but the Olympic Committee wanted "to give more recognition to the bid city," said Terri Parnell, communications director for Florida 2012.

The local group will phase out all the old logos and replace them with the Tampa 2012 logos by Sept. 1.

Two other Olympic bidders also have to change their names, Turanchik said. San Francisco, which has teamed up with Oakland and San Jose, is changing its name from Bay Area 2012 to San Francisco 2012. Washington/Baltimore is now just Washington, D.C., 2012.

St. Petersburg City Councilman Bill Foster said that if he had a choice, he would have chosen "Tampa Bay 2012" for the new logo.

"I had always been opposed to saying Tampa Bay, but I think regionally, people have accepted it," said Foster, who will become St. Petersburg's representative to Florida 2012 in August. "I think 99 percent of the people outside of the state of Florida think there is a city that is called Tampa Bay."

Foster said he liked the Florida 2012 logo because it gave credit to Orlando's and St. Petersburg's efforts in working with Tampa. "But what's in a name?" he said.

Although Florida's logo is changing, Turanchik said, the corporation name will remain the same, and the brand name Florida 2012 will continue to be used in marketing efforts to attract the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. "Most people don't even seem to notice it," Turanchik said.

A U.S. Olympic Committee delegation will be in Tampa on Thursday to conduct its site evaluation of Tampa and its partners for the 2012 Olympics. The committee is expected to see first-hand what it's like to drive from Orlando to Tampa and St. Petersburg.

"I think there's even a boat ride from Tampa to St. Pete," Foster said. "So maybe they'll get to actually see Tampa Bay."

-- Times researcher John Martin contributed to this report. Kevin Graham can be reached at graham@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3404.

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