Organizers of the Vancouver Winter Olympics were lucky when major sponsor General Motors Canada did not declare bankruptcy this week, but another large gap of about $35-million looms as the International Olympic Committee struggles to deliver on its promised roster of 11 global sponsors.

The IOC has nine global sponsors - the likes of Coca-Cola Co., Visa Inc. and McDonald's Corp. - but the final two slots have been persistently empty.

VANOC has always said it is optimistic the IOC will deliver on the expected $196-million budgeted for international sponsors, but that is based on a full 11 supporters.

With just eight months to go before the 2010 opening ceremonies, Gerhard Heiberg, chairman of the IOC's marketing commission, is notably less upbeat than VANOC - he won't say he's "confident" he can secure two more sponsors in time for Vancouver.

Yesterday, VANOC spokeswoman Renée Smith-Valade said Vancouver organizers are in constant contact with the IOC and are examining all items of the 2010 budget in case any changes are necessary.

About $50-million in the $1.76-billion budget remains for contingencies such as sponsorship shortfalls, an emergency fund that has already been halved from $100-million.

"We know we have that liability with [the IOC] if they don't find those two sponsors," Ms. Smith-Valade said yesterday. "They're continuing to look for sponsors. It's hard to predict where the economy will go."

In an interview last week with Around the Rings, an online magazine about the Olympics, Mr. Heiberg said there was a small window to deliver more sponsors for Vancouver.

"We are still negotiating with some interesting prospects, but when or if we are going to sign I cannot tell you at this stage," Mr. Heiberg said. "If we are going to get one it has to happen in the next three to six months."

Three-quarters of the IOC sponsorship dollars have yet to be received by VANOC, according to its last budget update for the fiscal period ended Jan. 31. So far, nearly all of the $51-million in hand is what's called value-in-kind, not cash, such as computer and related equipment from sponsor Acer Inc.

The next budget update is expected late this month, covering the period up until the end of April.

Sandrine Tonge, an IOC spokeswoman, said even if two additional sponsors are not signed up, Vancouver will still receive more IOC sponsorship money than the Torino 2006 Olympics did.

"The IOC is in continued discussion with a number of potential companies," Ms. Tonge said. "If any more agreements are reached then they will be announced in due course."

The global sponsorship program was started in the mid-1980s and the cost to associate with the Olympics has surged 50 per cent in the past decade.

The IOC was already losing sponsors before the global recession ravaged economies around the world.

Four sponsors of Torino 2006 and Beijing 2008 - Manulife Financial Corp., Eastman Kodak Co., Lenovo Group Ltd. (replaced by Acer) and Johnson & Johnson - decided it wasn't worth the money, which was roughly $90-million for Vancouver 2010 and London 2012.

"It's just not the best way for us to spend our money," Kodak CEO Antonio Perez said last year.