USOC San Diego Facility Up in Air : Training center: Walker says he might appoint task force to explore commitment to $60-million project. Others want a decision today.

With enthusiasm and the economy both lagging, LeRoy Walker, expected to be elected today as the U.S. Olympic Committee’s president, said Saturday that he might appoint a task force to explore whether the organization wants to proceed with its commitment to participate in a training center near San Diego.

Walker, the USOC’s treasurer since 1989, said at a news conference during the USOC Congress that he would encourage the task force to complete its work within six months.

But two other high-ranking USOC officials, Executive Director Harvey Schiller and outgoing President Bill Hybl, appeared unaware Saturday of Walker’s proposition and said that they will press the USOC’s executive committee to reach a resolution today on the future of the $60-million project.

“They want to meet this head-on,” USOC spokesman Mike Moran said.

Representatives of the proposed San Diego National Sports Training Foundation were optimistic after meeting with the executive committee Friday that they would receive approval to resume the first phase of the construction immediately, a timetable that they said would allow them to complete it by October.

In the next 24 hours, however, significant opposition to the training center surfaced. Hybl said after the meeting Friday that some executive committee members voiced objections during three hours of discussions devoted to the project, and Walker added Saturday that it no longer has support of several national governing bodies (NGBs) for Olympic and Pan American Games sports that had committed to send athletes to San Diego to train.

“The reason we got into the San Diego (project) was because the NGBs said they wanted an all-year-around training center,” he said. “Now, it seems like many have defected for various reasons. Others are saying, ‘We’re still not quite sure.’

“So we have to see now if it’s still a viable project. We need to decide quickly so that we can give some direction to those people out there in San Diego.”

San Diego officials were unavailable Saturday for comment.

Responding to NGB officials who said they needed a year-around training center to complement those already existing at Colorado Springs, Colo., and Lake Placid, N.Y., the USOC reached an agreement with a San Diego group that offered to raise funds to construct a state-of-the-art center by January of next year. Upon completion, the USOC agreed that it would take over expenses related to the operation and maintenance of the center.

But when fund-raising for construction came to a virtual standstill, due largely to the slow economy, the project stalled. San Diego representatives said Friday that they have $44 million necessary to complete the first phase, which includes many of the proposed training facilities but no housing for athletes.

Hybl said that plan might not be acceptable to the USOC, some of whose executive committee members question whether the San Diego group can guarantee it will raise additional funds needed to complete the center. The USOC has refused to commit funds to the construction.

“I don’t think we want to halt it entirely,” Walker said, citing legal and ethical obligations. “We have to deal in good faith with the people of California. I think we can find an amicable and flexible way to find out what’s best for the USOC and what’s best for the city of San Diego.”