LONDON — The International Olympic Committee has made an unprecedented offer to help cover any budget deficit of the 2010 Vancouver Games because of the economic downturn.

IOC officials say they haven't determined how much they would contribute. They still hope to sign up one or two more international sponsors before the Feb. 12-28 games to avoid any shortfall.

"The financial crisis has made it more difficult to reach the revenue target," IOC marketing commission chairman Gerhard Heiberg told The Associated Press. "It's a question of trying to see this with the eyes of the Vancouver people and hopefully being able to help them a little bit."

Vancouver's Olympic organizing committee, VANOC, has a shortfall of about $37 million on its $1.75 billion operating budget.

Vancouver's budget gap is the result of lower revenues from TV and sponsorship contracts. The IOC has signed only nine of a projected 11 international sponsors for the Vancouver Games and 2012 London Olympics.

Heiberg, who ran the organizing committee for the 1994 Winter Games in Lillehammer, Norway, said this is the first time the IOC has offered to offset any shortfalls by a host city.

"We are willing to help but it still remains to be seen how much money and how we are going to do it," he said in a telephone interview.

The nine global sponsors paid the IOC a total of $900-$920 million.

"We had hoped and still hope to have 10 or 11," Heiberg said. "We haven't given up that hope. We are in discussions with companies in different categories."

The addition of two new sponsors would reportedly pump $30 million into the Vancouver coffers.

The prospect of an Olympic deficit is especially sensitive in Canada, where it took decades to pay off the massive debts run up by the 1976 Summer Games in Montreal.

The pledge of financial help for Vancouver was confirmed during a visit to the city this week by the IOC's coordination commission, which works with local organizers to prepare for the games.

Vancouver organizers issued a statement Thursday stressing that the IOC was not offering a complete bailout.

"The IOC is not guaranteeing to cover all outstanding costs or to ensure there is no deficit at the end of the games," the statement said. "The IOC's support to help mitigate a possible deficit has a limit. It does not and is not intended to replace the responsibility of the organizing committee and its partners and other entities in respect of their obligations to stage the games."

The statement said it was up to VANOC to manage its budget "responsibly" and to cut costs if necessary to maintain a balanced budget.

"While we now have the confidence we need to spend against our revenue targets, the economy will challenge us until the games arrive and the pressure remains to find additional creative solutions to ensure we maintain a balanced budget," said Dave Cobb, VANOC's executive vice president and deputy chief executive officer.