Senior Games owes Minneapolis $300K

The local group that organized the National Senior Games in Minneapolis this summer has failed to pay the $300,000 dollars it owes the city for renting its convention center.

The event was held during the first two weeks in July. The rent was due more than two week weeks ago. A city spokesman says it's extremely rare for a bill that large to be past due.

Dave Mona, vice chair of the organizing committee for the games, says the event came up about $500,000 short of its budget, because a major corporate sponsor fell through and an expected appropriation from the Legislature failed to materialize.

Mona says the group is still trying to raise money to cover its debts.

"Our goal is to get everybody paid," Mona said. "We've done a good job so far. We certainly did a good job managing expenses. We originally had a budget of $4.6 million. We ran the games for $2.2 million, which is, I think, pretty remarkable. So if we could do that, maybe we can find the rest of the money as well."

The event drew about 9,000 athletes to Minneapolis, ages 50 and up.