Band Organizer Settles Olympics Suit

After agreeing to financial conditions, the company organizing the Olympic band featuring Orange County musicians has withdrawn its suit against Games organizers.

World Projects International will receive about $714,000 from Sydney Olympic organizers to help recruit a more diverse troupe of musicians and cover legal fees. The amount is a compromise between World Projects’ desired $857,000 and the $571,000 the Sydney Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games wanted to pay.

The company sued a month ago in New South Wales Supreme Court after Olympic organizers abruptly tossed American musicians from opening ceremonies. The 900 Americans, including 500 teens from Kennedy High School in La Palma, El Dorado High in Placentia and Irvine High, were booted after Australians realized that the Yanks made up the majority of the supposedly “international” Olympic band.

After more than a week of negotiations, the American teens were reinvited last week as part of a band representing 20 nations. Australians now will occupy a majority of the band slots, and the number of Americans will be reduced.

“While the negotiated compromise is not what either side would ideally prefer, it is now closer to the concept of a world band,” Sydney committee President Michael Knight said in a statement released Monday. “. . . I am confident the Australian public will warmly welcome the young musicians from around the world.”