There are two BCSs in North American sport.
Don't get me started about the silliness that is United States college football's Bowl Championship Series. It's a series of unrelated bowl games, not the true playoff that it should be. President Obama won't make medical insurance a right of Americans before 2012, but by golly, he's going to reform the Bowl Championship Series.
Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton is another ball of wax. Expect to see the likes of Edmonton's Pierre Lueders, Summerland's Justin Kripps, Calgary's Jeff Pain and Melissa Hollingsworth somewhere on a podium in Whistler in February. (Neat fact: Kripps was born in Hawaii and Pain in Alaska).
The north of the border BCS has partnered with Ludus Tours of Austin, Texas to market 2010 Winter Olympics hotel, hospitality, tour and airport transfer packages to fans, friends and family of the sledders and face-first sliders. Ludus has similar relationships with U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton and the Jamaican Bobsled Team, but it's the first Ludus deal with a home team for Canada's Games.
"It was very important for us to offer accommodations and hospitality assistance to Canadian athletes and their support groups," said Ludus' COO Ann Lanari.
Friday, July 3, 2009
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Air Canada shows off 2010 Olympic design in Seattle
Seattle-area plane spotters got the first peek at the Vancouver 2010 decorations on an Air Canada Boeing 777. The Olympic-themed livery features the psychedelic, blue and green look of the Games with stylized athletes in action. The ski jumper, however, will appear to be going backwards when the jet is in flight. Oops. Check it out here.
Delta Airlines was a sponsor of both the Atlanta 1996 and Salt Lake 2002 Games and featured bolder, simpler graphics on its jets. Air China planes showed the Beijing 2008 Games' five mascots in sport mode. Vancouver is flying fancy.
But there is a bigger story in the air. It seems Air Canada is temporarily renting space at one of its Vancouver International Airport hangars to the Department of National Defence. Defence Construction Canada is looking for a company to do $1.5 million of work by Oct. 1. Few details are included in the procurement document. Air Canada has not returned my phone calls or emails. Joint Task Force Games in Victoria and NORAD in Winnipeg are equally dumbfounded.
There must be someone in the federal government who can talk about how part of YVR will be turned into an air force base for the 2010 Winter Olympics, just like it was for World War II.
The procurement document was published June 25.
Delta Airlines was a sponsor of both the Atlanta 1996 and Salt Lake 2002 Games and featured bolder, simpler graphics on its jets. Air China planes showed the Beijing 2008 Games' five mascots in sport mode. Vancouver is flying fancy.
But there is a bigger story in the air. It seems Air Canada is temporarily renting space at one of its Vancouver International Airport hangars to the Department of National Defence. Defence Construction Canada is looking for a company to do $1.5 million of work by Oct. 1. Few details are included in the procurement document. Air Canada has not returned my phone calls or emails. Joint Task Force Games in Victoria and NORAD in Winnipeg are equally dumbfounded.
There must be someone in the federal government who can talk about how part of YVR will be turned into an air force base for the 2010 Winter Olympics, just like it was for World War II.
The procurement document was published June 25.
Friday, June 26, 2009
EXCLUSIVE: Programs, get your programs
Coming in November is the official program of the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics from Glacier Media, the parent of Business in Vancouver.
The cover price is $17.85. Sales are projected at 325,000, which would mean a $5.8 million gross. More in the next Business in Vancouver, out Monday.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
A take on VANOC's fuzzy ticket tallies
At that May 20, post-board meeting news conference, VANOC deputy CEO Dave Cobb was asked point-blank and crystal-clear by CTV Olympics reporter Mike Killeen: "what kind of revenue do you generate from 150,000 tickets?"
Cobb answered: "It'll be probably in the $40 to $50 million range. When you quickly calculate what an average price that will be, you will see it has many higher priced tickets in there. That's because we do have a significant number of opening and closing ceremonies tickets and gold medal hockey tickets. So it's a wide range. If they all go it'll be in the $50 million range."
Mike used the $50 million figure that night. I used the $40 million to $50 million quote in a story the next day. Nobody at VANOC cared to call and correct or clarify. Now, almost a month later, Cobb is backtracking.
“I may have misspoke there, the number I referred to of $50 million was what the remaining inventory in total would be,” Cobb said June 16. “I'm correcting myself now, that number related to both phase two and phase three, the majority of it was in phase two.”
By the way, there are 60,000 tickets left for Canadians to buy in the second phase. Cobb said 140,000 of the 200,000 put on sale June 6 were snapped up. Lots remain for hockey and curling preliminaries and B.C. Place victory ceremonies. The third phase is coming in the fall.
Cobb answered: "It'll be probably in the $40 to $50 million range. When you quickly calculate what an average price that will be, you will see it has many higher priced tickets in there. That's because we do have a significant number of opening and closing ceremonies tickets and gold medal hockey tickets. So it's a wide range. If they all go it'll be in the $50 million range."
Mike used the $50 million figure that night. I used the $40 million to $50 million quote in a story the next day. Nobody at VANOC cared to call and correct or clarify. Now, almost a month later, Cobb is backtracking.
“I may have misspoke there, the number I referred to of $50 million was what the remaining inventory in total would be,” Cobb said June 16. “I'm correcting myself now, that number related to both phase two and phase three, the majority of it was in phase two.”
By the way, there are 60,000 tickets left for Canadians to buy in the second phase. Cobb said 140,000 of the 200,000 put on sale June 6 were snapped up. Lots remain for hockey and curling preliminaries and B.C. Place victory ceremonies. The third phase is coming in the fall.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Two men say they're Jesus, one of them must be wrong
The headline is from Dire Straits' "Industrial Disease" and fits what you're about to read.
At the May 20 post-board meeting news conference, CTV's Mike Killeen asked deputy VANOC CEO and executive vice-president of revenue, marketing and communications Dave Cobb the simple question: "...what kind of revenue do you generate from 150,000 tickets?"
Cobb answered: "It'll be probably in the $40 to $50 million range. When you quickly calculate what an average price that will be, you will see it has many higher priced tickets in there. That's because we do have a significant number of opening and closing ceremonies tickets and gold medal hockey tickets. So it's a wide range. If they all go it'll be in the $50 million range."
On May 29, I asked vice-president of ticketing and marketing Caley Denton during a teleconference: "You said there was over 150,000 tickets available. At the news conference after the board last week Dave Cobb said the projected revenue was going to be $40 to $50 million. During the first phase domestically you sold almost $95 million of tickets, I'm just doing rough math and want you to let me know if I'm in the ballpark. But does that mean you sold 300,000 to 350,000 tickets during the first phase?"
Denton's answer?
"I won't comment on numbers and do the ballpark math, but I will say Dave's projection was right-through. It was what we have remaining, it wasn't necessarily centred around this on sale."
Cobb is Denton's superior and has authority over the department. I'm taking the $40 million to $50 million estimate as gospel.
But wait! There are now 200,000 tickets for sale on Saturday, which demands a new estimate. Nobody at VANOC could provide that on Thursday, but I whipped out my calculator again and I'm conservatively estimating another $13 million should VANOC sell the extra 50,000.
If VANOC sells out the Canadian market phase two, it will have sold 500,000 to 550,000 to the domestic public. If 70% of all 1.6 million tickets are available, that means 1.12 million would be the public inventory, half of which would go to the Canadian public.
At the May 20 post-board meeting news conference, CTV's Mike Killeen asked deputy VANOC CEO and executive vice-president of revenue, marketing and communications Dave Cobb the simple question: "...what kind of revenue do you generate from 150,000 tickets?"
Cobb answered: "It'll be probably in the $40 to $50 million range. When you quickly calculate what an average price that will be, you will see it has many higher priced tickets in there. That's because we do have a significant number of opening and closing ceremonies tickets and gold medal hockey tickets. So it's a wide range. If they all go it'll be in the $50 million range."
On May 29, I asked vice-president of ticketing and marketing Caley Denton during a teleconference: "You said there was over 150,000 tickets available. At the news conference after the board last week Dave Cobb said the projected revenue was going to be $40 to $50 million. During the first phase domestically you sold almost $95 million of tickets, I'm just doing rough math and want you to let me know if I'm in the ballpark. But does that mean you sold 300,000 to 350,000 tickets during the first phase?"
Denton's answer?
"I won't comment on numbers and do the ballpark math, but I will say Dave's projection was right-through. It was what we have remaining, it wasn't necessarily centred around this on sale."
Cobb is Denton's superior and has authority over the department. I'm taking the $40 million to $50 million estimate as gospel.
But wait! There are now 200,000 tickets for sale on Saturday, which demands a new estimate. Nobody at VANOC could provide that on Thursday, but I whipped out my calculator again and I'm conservatively estimating another $13 million should VANOC sell the extra 50,000.
If VANOC sells out the Canadian market phase two, it will have sold 500,000 to 550,000 to the domestic public. If 70% of all 1.6 million tickets are available, that means 1.12 million would be the public inventory, half of which would go to the Canadian public.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Microphone scouting at B.C. Place
Sources tell 2010 Gold Rush that audio experts from David Atkins Enterprises Productions were scheduled to be inside B.C. Place Stadium -- Vancouver's Olympic stadium -- May 25 from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. to scout locations for microphones.
The stadium is known as the din bin because of the notoriously lousy sound. It has not always been that way. Certain concerts and Grey Cup games have overcome the problem with temporary sound systems. That is precisely what Bruce Jackson is envisioning. The Aussie is the ceremonies' chief sound engineer and comes with impressive qualifications.
The stadium is known as the din bin because of the notoriously lousy sound. It has not always been that way. Certain concerts and Grey Cup games have overcome the problem with temporary sound systems. That is precisely what Bruce Jackson is envisioning. The Aussie is the ceremonies' chief sound engineer and comes with impressive qualifications.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
2010 medal minting on
VANOC vice-president of communications Renee Smith-Valade was part of a Saturday panel discussion at the Canadian Association of Journalists' convention on coverage of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. She was joined by local journalists Jeff Lee (Vancouver Sun), Mike Killeen (CTV) and Stephanie Levitz (Canadian Press).
Smith-Valade spiced things up with a small nugget of information. She said that forging of the Olympic medals is underway, but offered no other details. The gold, silver and bronze is supplied by Teck and made into the medals by Royal Canadian Mint. The design is top-secret.
I will be the first to speculate that the medals will not in any way resemble an ashtray to accompany the Bombardier-designed Olympic torch. I was first to point out on Feb. 12 that it resembles a joint. Toronto Star did a feature this week that attracted attention from sources that had not previously paid attention to the 2010 Games.
Smith-Valade spiced things up with a small nugget of information. She said that forging of the Olympic medals is underway, but offered no other details. The gold, silver and bronze is supplied by Teck and made into the medals by Royal Canadian Mint. The design is top-secret.
I will be the first to speculate that the medals will not in any way resemble an ashtray to accompany the Bombardier-designed Olympic torch. I was first to point out on Feb. 12 that it resembles a joint. Toronto Star did a feature this week that attracted attention from sources that had not previously paid attention to the 2010 Games.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Viewer mail wanted
Watch the video I shot during my time to ask questions at the May 20, 2009 news conference after the VANOC board of directors got together for their latest closed-door meeting to plan the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics.
Please do me a favor. Tell me what you think of my questions and the way they were posed. Tell me what you think of the reaction of VANOC chairman Jack Poole (left), CEO John Furlong, deputy CEO Dave Cobb, vice-president of communications Renee Smith-Valade and executive vice-president of workforce Donna Wilson.
I'd like your feedback to 2010goldrush@gmail.com
First some context. The questions related to recent stories that needed updating.
1) Steve Sierros is suing for wrongful dismissal after he was fired by VANOC. The bare bones agenda released to the public included a section of the meeting for an update on legal matters from chief legal officer Ken Bagshaw.
2) Ken Dobell is a longtime associate of B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell, dating back to Campbell's days as Vancouver mayor and Dobell's duties as city manager. Dobell is the VANOC finance committee chairman and a professional lobbyist. One of his clients is Vancouver International Airport Authority, a sponsor of the 2010 Games.
3) The agenda also mentioned an update on venues. B.C. Place Stadium is essentially Vancouver's Olympic stadium. It'll be the site of opening and closing ceremonies and the nightly medals ceremonies. VANOC will be the most important tenant in the 26-year-old dome's history. On Jan. 5, 2007, the roof ripped and collapsed. On April 9, 2009, WorkSafeBC issued an inspection report that said roof control workers were not properly trained, meaning workplace safety cannot be guaranteed.
You should also know the VANOC board meets six times a year behind closed doors and issues no minutes. A news conference traditionally follows.
Crash pad yes, flop house no
Gotta love VANOC. Its communications department has an irrational fear of giving direct answers in a timely manner to direct questions offered by journalists. Click here for one such case.
Evidently it also doesn't want to give potential bidders the direct link to a notice about a contract advertised May 22.
A news release mentions a request for proposals posted on the BC Bid provincial procurement website. Once an interested party actually finds the VANOC listing, the viewer must click a link which winds up on the VANOC website.
As a public service, here is the document.
It says temporary accommodation is needed at two sites from Nov. 15, 2009-March 15, 2010. The first location will be used for the entire period and must hold 100 guests. The second location is for 200 to 300 guests during early January to the end of February. It's supposed to be for last-minute Games-goers who have nowhere else to sleep and shower.
Deadline to respond is June 22 with the winners notified June 26 and a contract finalized July 22.
There's a catch. VANOC is providing the winning bidder only $250,000 for equipment and operations.
"Costs not offset by this contribution must be covered by the fee charged to guests and by goods and services received as value in kind," the document said. "Guests will be charged a modest fee to offset the costs of the operation."
Evidently it also doesn't want to give potential bidders the direct link to a notice about a contract advertised May 22.
A news release mentions a request for proposals posted on the BC Bid provincial procurement website. Once an interested party actually finds the VANOC listing, the viewer must click a link which winds up on the VANOC website.
As a public service, here is the document.
It says temporary accommodation is needed at two sites from Nov. 15, 2009-March 15, 2010. The first location will be used for the entire period and must hold 100 guests. The second location is for 200 to 300 guests during early January to the end of February. It's supposed to be for last-minute Games-goers who have nowhere else to sleep and shower.
Deadline to respond is June 22 with the winners notified June 26 and a contract finalized July 22.
There's a catch. VANOC is providing the winning bidder only $250,000 for equipment and operations.
"Costs not offset by this contribution must be covered by the fee charged to guests and by goods and services received as value in kind," the document said. "Guests will be charged a modest fee to offset the costs of the operation."
'lympic rings in 'loops in November
The Olympics are coming to Kamloops. Sort of.
The Nov. 19-22 Fairness in Sport conference will act as a get-together and training session for the VANOC anti-doping team that will be collecting urine and blood from athletes for testing at a temporary laboratory in the Richmond Olympic Oval.
Kamloops -- marketed as Canada's tournament capital -- is interesting on a number of levels. It's the biggest city near Sun Peaks Resort, home of Grenoble 1968 skiing gold medalist Nancy Greene-Raine, one of Canada's newest senators. Sun Peaks is the autumn training home of the Austrian alpine ski team, whose cross-country skiing cousins are notorious. When blood doping equipment was found at Salt Lake 2002, two Austrian cross-country skiers and two team officials were banned for Torino 2006 and Vancouver 2010.
B.C.'s governing party traditionally wins a seat in Kamloops, where the civic motto is Salus et Opus (health and wealth). The announcement was the first Friday policy event for Premier Gordon Campbell since winning his third term on May 12.
The B.C. Road Builders and Heavy Contractors Association was announced as the conference sponsor because its president Jack Davidson wants "safe, drug-free work environments." VANOC construction executive vice-president Dan Doyle is listed as an honorary member.
The first workplace death in the buildup to the 2010 Games was on June 12, 2006. Blaster Gary Michael Greer, 45, was killed in an explosives mishap on the 10 km Callaghan Valley Road construction site. The road links Highway 99 with the $120 million Whistler Olympic Park in the Callaghan. Yes, that's the place where the International Olympic Committee and VANOC won't let women ski jump next February.
Greer's employer Murrin Construction was fined $216,000 by WorkSafeBC for gross negligence. The WorkSafeBC investigation said "the expected level of impairment as outlined in the toxicology opinion may have influenced the blaster's ability to make clear decisions and exercise sound judgments."
Murrin is not listed on the Road Builders' website.
The Nov. 19-22 Fairness in Sport conference will act as a get-together and training session for the VANOC anti-doping team that will be collecting urine and blood from athletes for testing at a temporary laboratory in the Richmond Olympic Oval.
Kamloops -- marketed as Canada's tournament capital -- is interesting on a number of levels. It's the biggest city near Sun Peaks Resort, home of Grenoble 1968 skiing gold medalist Nancy Greene-Raine, one of Canada's newest senators. Sun Peaks is the autumn training home of the Austrian alpine ski team, whose cross-country skiing cousins are notorious. When blood doping equipment was found at Salt Lake 2002, two Austrian cross-country skiers and two team officials were banned for Torino 2006 and Vancouver 2010.
B.C.'s governing party traditionally wins a seat in Kamloops, where the civic motto is Salus et Opus (health and wealth). The announcement was the first Friday policy event for Premier Gordon Campbell since winning his third term on May 12.
The B.C. Road Builders and Heavy Contractors Association was announced as the conference sponsor because its president Jack Davidson wants "safe, drug-free work environments." VANOC construction executive vice-president Dan Doyle is listed as an honorary member.
The first workplace death in the buildup to the 2010 Games was on June 12, 2006. Blaster Gary Michael Greer, 45, was killed in an explosives mishap on the 10 km Callaghan Valley Road construction site. The road links Highway 99 with the $120 million Whistler Olympic Park in the Callaghan. Yes, that's the place where the International Olympic Committee and VANOC won't let women ski jump next February.
Greer's employer Murrin Construction was fined $216,000 by WorkSafeBC for gross negligence. The WorkSafeBC investigation said "the expected level of impairment as outlined in the toxicology opinion may have influenced the blaster's ability to make clear decisions and exercise sound judgments."
Murrin is not listed on the Road Builders' website.
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