Morgan:News:2010:Bronze Edition: October 2004

Friday, October 29, 2004

Morgan:News:Bronze:Service is published regularly, but the articles are delayed by at least two months to protect our subscribers. For timely news that comes to you, please subscribe to our Gold or Silver service at Morgan:News:2010. Bronze is free for the use of news services and for non-commercial public use under conditions described at: Morgan:News:2010:Bronze (There is a nominal charge for certain commercial uses, as described there.) You can use Google to search the site, simply add “site:morgan-news.com” after your search terms. The blog posting date and the blog archive dates refer to when articles were posted here. The date an article was originally published to subscribers is at the end of each article.

Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #497
BURNABY CITY COUNCILLOR SAYS LETTER TO IOC TO QUESTION SWITCH TO BID PROCESS FOR OVAL

The Burnaby City councillor who proposed city council write a letter to the IOC protesting the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee's decision to move the speed-skating oval from Simon Fraser University to Richmond says council wants an explanation of why the oval was put out to bid, and whether the process was proper.

Sav Dhaliwal, who is also a former chair of the Burnaby Sports Hall of Fame Committee, says "We don't understand why the process was open to bidding. We were approved to have the facility, and we had an agreement with [VANOC] about it." And, he added, he doesn't buy the argument that the Olympic organizers decided to go to a bidding system because detailed investigations showed the project would have gone over budget had it been built at SFU. "This was a provincial government initiative. They should have ensure that it was properly funded. These are regional facilities; it shouldn't be up to the citizens of one municipality to fund it."

Dhaliwal also referred to a letter brought to Burnaby city council from Julian Green, a speed skating technical advisor. Green - a former Olympian and national team coach - outlined his reasons for originally choosing SFU. The main point was that the height of the venue on Burnaby Mountain would provide faster ice because of the physics involved in ice-making. Richmond's oval will be built at sea level.

The letter to the IOC from Burnaby Council will also ask whether VANOC followed proper IOC procedures when it adopted the bid-system approach.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 27, 2004

Morgan:News:2010 |Business| #496
(FEATURE) ATOS ORIGIN EXPECTED TO LOOK AFTER INFO-TECHNOLGY SUPPORT FOR 2010 GAMES

A company that is likely to sign up to support the 2010 Winter Olympics in the next few months is Atos Origin, a Belgium-based firm which generates about e5 billion a year and has 50,000 employees in 50 countries. It's providing the Games technology to the Summer Olympics in Athens and the 2008 Games in Beijing, and the 2006 Winter Games in Torino, Italy. It's expected to do so in 2010 as well.

The CEO of the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee, John Furlong, says he can't yet say whether Atos will be on board, but adds, "We should be able to let you know in a few weeks."

The big information-technology firm -- which tends to play things close to the chest in part for security reasons and in part because of the MEGO factor (My Eyes Glaze Over) when it talks about what it does to most people -- has allowed a glimpse inside the Athens Technology Operations Centre it maintains. The TOC is the operational hub of the information collection and distribution mechanism set up for the Games.

And from this glimpse, one can glean some of what the company might bring to Vancouver if it signs up for the 2010 Games, bearing in mind that a Winter Games is about a third the size of a Summer Olympics.

Atos Origin says the TOC has a staff of about 100 in each of the two 12-hour shifts during the Games, and it runs 24 hours a day. Each shift runs from 7 until 7. Among them is a security staff that monitors the integrity of the system itself.

The overall operation has three other sections, besides the TOC. All IT systems, software and operations are tested for months in advance at the Integration Test Lab, which provides support during the Olympic Games. The "PC Factory" deals with configuring and securing computer systems before they're installed at the Game venues. Several data centres provide storage and backup for the Games’ IT data and systems.

The company has about 3,400 employees and volunteers in Athens who work on connecting transparently and, theoretically, seamlessly the Swatch timing technology to the judges' computer consoles and the TV screens so that an estimated audience of four billion people can see who is winning and who won in less than three-hundredths of a second. They do it 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Atos's Chief Technology Integrator, Claude Phillips, says the company, as part of its process leading up to a Games, runs through various scenarios, and then trains its staff and works on the software to deal with that scenario. "We can't have any improvisation during the Games. You have to have discipline and your people knowing what to do in every situation."

The company's responsible for designing, developing, testing and deploying of all the software applications that manage the Olympic Games operations and deliver information about the Games, the athletes and the events.

Atos Origin’s integration people began working on the Athens projects three years ago to test, evaluate, modify and integrate all the various applications so that all the technology can work together. Unlike some of the facilities themselves, the IT system applications were working online last November, nine months before the opening of the Games, allowing time to perform extensive live testing of the systems and how the data flowed between them.

It's not easy, although the firm has being doing it at every Olympics since the Barcelona, Spain, games in 1992, although it didn't become an International Olympic Committee TOP sponsor until 2001. The firm is currently involved in consortium of various other major technological companies that supplied the 10,500 computers (of various types, sizes and operating systems), about 1,000 servers, 23,000 land-line phones, 13,000 mobile phones, 2,500 Intranet terminals and 4,000 printers being used at Athens.

For the Torino Winter Games, which opens 532 days from now, the company says planning is well underway although visible aspects of the technology, such as parts of the official Torino website, are still not working correctly even though the pages are being served.

The firm essentially transferred the core of the team that worked on the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City to the Italian project. And, if Atos Origin signs up for 2010, this same crew will likely start arriving in Vancouver in 2007, while the Athens personnel, for the most part, will head for Beijing in the coming year. Jean Chevalier, the executive vice-president of Olympics & Major Events, says the company uses this leapfrog method for good reasons. "We capture the knowledge and successes of one Games to another one, and that is very important because what you want at the end of the day is to do things better, minimize your risk and minimize costs as well, and you can't do that unless you replay the good things."

Atos Origin is using two major information technology systems to run the Athens Games: the Information Diffusion Systems (IDS) and the Games Management Systems (GMS).

BACKGROUND
==========

The Games Management System supervises:

SPORT ENTRIES AND ATHLETES QUALIFICATION - This registers athletes in the competition events and manages country and performance quotas. It also records and presents the official qualifying times of each athlete competing in specific sports events.
MEDICAL ENCOUNTERS - This system tracks all medical encounters during the Olympic Games for statistical purposes. It generates reports for the IOC Medical Commission, Department of Health and other organizations, providing an online summary of each case history.
TRANSPORTATION - The transportation system manages equipment, schedules, and administration of the on-demand, dedicated fleet of vehicles, to get the athletes to the Games on time.
ARRIVALS AND DEPARTURES - This system tracks arrivals and departures of the staff, employees, contractors and volunteers of the Olympics with the transportation department, ensuring critical logistical information on the spot.
PROTOCOL - This deals with the handling of VIPs to Olympic Game events, including services such as gift delivery, transportation and accommodation requirements, including those attending the Olympic Games and Ceremonies.
ACCREDITATION - This is the system that identifies and authorizes physical access to venues. Through an attendance list, people are identified for each events and assigned access rights to various locations at the Games.
ACCOMMODATION - This manages room allocations as part of the Hospitality Programs, which includes all the athletes and staff.
STAFF AND VOLUNTEERS MANAGEMENT - The system manages the paid and volunteer personnel working at the Games.

--

The main components of the Athens Information Diffusion System are Info2004, the Commentator Information System and the Central Repository:

INFO2004 - This is an intranet with 200,000 connections. It features:

More than 50,000 pages of information in English, French and Greek;
11,000 biographies and historical results dating back to 1896, the date of the first modern Olympic Games held in Athens;
24x7 access from more than 1,600 kiosks at the Olympic Games venues.

COMMENTATOR INFORMATION SYSTEM - This communicates the results to broadcast operations. It's a browser-based application that includes:
Results instantaneously displayed on touch-screen PCs at the venue broadcast sites
Event results for broadcasters;
'Colour’ information for media commentary via 300 sport-specific screens;
Access via 1,500 terminals at 20 Games venues.

CENTRAL REPOSITORY AND PRINT DISTRIBUTION - This feeds the official database that, in turn, sends the event results to the Games website, world press agencies, the Internet data feed and to Olympic Games officials. An estimated 50 million pages of official results are printed and delivered to Olympic officials over this system.

RESOURCES

The Atos section of its website about its business status:
http://www.atosorigin.com/corporate/investors/index.htm

Note: Fairly modern versions of either Windows Media Player or RealPlayer are needed for the next four links:

A streaming video of the Technology Operations Centre:
http://www.atosorigin.com/corporate/olympicgames/multimedia/video/toc_videos.htm
A streaming video of the Integration Test Lab:
http://www.atosorigin.com/corporate/olympicgames/multimedia/video/integration_lab_videos.htm
A streaming video of the PC Factory:
http://www.atosorigin.com/corporate/olympicgames/multimedia/video/pc_factory_videos.htm
A streaming video of the back-up system at the Data Centres:
http://www.atosorigin.com/corporate/olympicgames/multimedia/video/data_center_videos.htm

Here's a one-page PDF file that sketches the technology linkages provided by Atos Origin:
http://www.atosorigin.com/corporate/pdf/infrastructure_2004.pdf

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 26, 2004

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #495
VANOC NUMBERS HELD FOR OCTOBER; CORRIGAN LETTER TO IOC; VANOC BOARD SHORTENS...

Five moguls we bumped into today...

The director of communications for the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee, Jane Burnes, says it's unlikely that preliminary financial results for VANOC will be released publicly before the audited results, which are due at the end of October. VANOC's first year-end was July 31.
VANOC CEO John Furlong says he wishes Burnaby mayor Derek Corrigan well in writing a letter of protest to the International Olympic Committee about the VANOC's decision to change the location of the speed-skating oval from Simon Fraser University, which is in Burnaby, to nearby Richmond. "The IOC have essentially endorsed what we’ve done. Obviously if they receive a letter, they will consider it but I don’t believe there will be a change as a result of it. We went to great lengths to consult with the IOC and the sports federation, and they all saw it as a decision for the sport community. And we involved SFU in the [decision] process. It was a difficult decision for us."
Furlong says it appears that the IOC will not appoint a replacement for Charmaine Crooks to the VANOC's Board of Directors until 2006. Crooks's term with the IOC ended yesterday. And he says the IOC is also unlikely to replace another IOC representative on the VANOC board when Paul Henderson's term ends in November, leaving only one IOC representative, Dick Pound, on the Board. Furlong was hoping that Canadian wrestler Daniel Igali would win election to replace Crooks as the IOC's athletes representative on the VANOC board, but Igali lost the vote, which was hotly contested and held yesterday in Athens.
The International Olympic Committee released a brief summary of a poll it commissioned in Athens of 1,025 spectators at the Summer Olympics. (Typically, the IOC keeps quite a bit of its relatively recent marketing data under wraps for use by sponsors.) The summary reported however that "the overwhelming majority of spectators (over 85%) used public transport to go to and from the Olympic venues." Those replying to the survey said they took the bus (29.4%); rapid transit - the metro - (24.2%); train (16.8%); tram (8.2%) and taxi (5.2%). Of those polled, 46% were Greek, 13% were American, and the remainder were of "various different nationalities" which were not identified in the summary. Of foreign spectators replying to the survey, 56.3% said that they had come to Greece only to attend the Games. Another 37.2% had come for tourism, although it was not clear from the summary if those two figures overlapped. And, it said, 96.8% of all those who were not Greek nationals said that their emotions about, and impressions of, Greece were very favourable.
There will be a number of messages contained in the Athens closing ceremonies that may guide businesses if the same ones are communicated during the 2010 closing ceremonies. The theme will be joy and fun, so spectators are released to the streets in Athens in a good mood, an extensive but not particularly blatant pitch for Greek tourism, a less subtle but fairly spectacular pitch for the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing, and a lower-key pitch for the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Torino, Italy.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 26, 2004

Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #494
(FEATURE) SIZE, TRANSPORTATION AND POPULAR SUPPORT IN ATHENS IMPRESSES AND SUPRISES FURLONG

The CEO of the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee, John Furlong, says he has learned during his two trips to Greece this month that the order of magnitude, the surprisingly efficient transportation methods and the strong support of the Greek people for the Summer Games is something that will affect how 2010 planning unfolds.

Furlong and about 30 of his staff from the Committee have been to the Games to observe how they are run in the background this month, in three waves. He and the final group are leaving for Canada in a few hours. Once everybody's back, he said, there will be a debriefing to ensure VANOC isn't going off target in what it needs to accomplish in the time leading up to 2010.

He was there for the opening ceremonies, returned to complete the decision to move the speed-skating oval, and then flew back to Athens for a scheduled roundtable briefing with representatives from the cities bidding for the 2010 Summer Games.

"The order of magnitude, the scope and the size of the project and the effect that it's had on in this city is what has impressed me the most," he said in a phone call from Athens on his last night. "We took a tour of the athletes village — and this isn't something you appreciate unless you're there — we were standing in an area that is bigger that most cities in British Columbia. It was a village for 16,000 people and it could take 20,000. That's bigger than Trail, Nelson or Dawson Creek. They have shipping areas, medical and physical treatment centres, barbershops, theatres — we ate at where the athletes ate. It's a restaurant for 5,000. They've done this in a brief time and it will be a wonderful legacy, a very livable area. Now, we're not building athlete villages of this size in Vancouver or Whistler, but when we start ours, I'm sure they'll seem enormous to us."

Furlong says he was also impressed with what he calls the "discipline" at the venues. "The Olympic organization very clearly knows how to run the venues, so that every time you go to a venue, its very predictable so that you know where you're going and what you have to do. They're beautifully managed, they're clean and they have lots of volunteers. They're very well laid out and easy to get around. The Olympic overlay areas" — the temporary look and feel of the Games overlain on the physical structures — "are designed very efficiently. Like us, they have clusters of venues, and so they've designed the overlay to be more efficient, and that was a good thing for us to see."

Furlong says quite a few areas in Athens took advantage of the look and feel of the Games. "There were vibrant colours up and down the walls in generally all the Olympic precincts. It had a calming effect on you, that you were about to see something special when you're there. Athens is a big city, but they dressed up some areas, even if there weren't venues, to make it seem like the Olympics were everywhere."

Furlong says Athens's decision to create "Olympic lanes" along major thoroughfares that would be set aside for people travelling between venues in much the same way that dedicated bus lanes have been set up in other parts of the world was "a master stroke." He added, "The Olympic lane idea made transportation very efficient. Mind you, you were fined if you were caught in them and you weren't going between venues, but not many people did it and it allowed you to move from one venue cluster to another very impressively." Furlong also said it helped that people uninterested in attending the Games took their holidays in the countryside, as that reduced traffic pressures as well.

Furlong said that today he spent about an hour and a half briefing the representatives of the 2010 proponent cities - Paris, London, New York, Madrid and Moscow - at the invitation of the International Olympic Committee. He said that for about half the time, his presentation focused primarily on the systems and structures that he and his staff put in place to handle the transition of the bid organization to the Olympic Organizing Committee once Vancouver had been awarded the Games.

He said the IOC has been impressed with how Vancouver has handled this aspect and, as a result, has begun asking bid cities to build transition concepts into their bid plans. The balance of the meeting, he said, was taken up by questions and answers. "We touched on things the IOC thought we were doing quite well — brand protection, marketing issues, and the accommodation plan."

VANOC, during the bid phase and confirmed in the last few months, set up a formula for the price it will be paying for the estimated 9,000 hotel room nights it will be booking, divided between the Vancouver and Whistler areas for what's known as the "Olympic family" - families of athletes, coaches and workers, such as TV crews and technology personnel - who will be on hand before, during and after the 2010 Games. The formula deals with average pricing over the previous few years. "This has been viewed by the IOC as the very best accommodation plan that any city has ever done," Furlong said.

Furlong was also impressed with how Greece and its population has "really taken advantage of the Games. The community has finally come out in massive numbers, particularly to support their teams. It's been very exciting for the community to have their people participating in so many sports that they wouldn't normally see." Furlong said having a Canadian in an event will be something that will be extremely important to ensuring the 2010 Games are successful. "People here suddenly realized that [Greek] people were being included in the Games events. Many of the venues here are large and there were a number of events going on at the same time, and it was a challenge for Greek organizers to fill the seats. VANOC was encouraged by the IOC to resist temptation and not over-build seating. Our venues were designed to relate to the appetite we feel Canadians will have to come to Vancouver. We're optimistic that Canadians will come to our Games in large numbers."

Furlong said that, from what he's seen and learned at the Athens Olympics, "we feel pretty good about how we're doing in our planning, but when you take in a lot of information about how other cities are doing, you have to stand back and see if you're moving in the right direction. In general, I think we're doing OK; we'll see how the debriefing goes, and though we're not patting ourselves on the back or getting cocky about it, we've done a good job to where we are now."

Furlong, quoted in The Vancouver Sun as feeling the federal government ought to increasing funding levels, isn't that firm when allowed to elaborate. "Finger-pointing is not worthy of us, and we shouldn't do it. All the agencies that can help should do it. It's not just money, where its applied or where it's going. Lots of money can't have any effect in some sports, and it can help in other sports. In Canada, we know where this works best. We're a winter nation and there are areas where we can improve performance, but we all have to play our roles. Corporate leaders across [Canada] are really looking forward to participating in [the 2010 Games]. It shouldn't fall to just one agency, and I think we could improve things in time to make 2010 an extraordinary experience."

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 26, 2004

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #493
STAWAMUS CHIEF GROUP TO SEEK SUPPORT FROM VANOC; RICHMOND HUNTS FOR OVAL'S PROJECT MANAGER

Two moguls we bumped into today...

Paul Mathews, president of Whistler-based Ecosign Mountain Resort Planners, and his associate Peter Alder, will be approaching the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee next month, looking for support of their proposal for a C$12-million revamp for the Stawamus Chief provincial park near the town of Squamish, British Columbia. The park is adjacent to the highway that connects Vancouver and Whistler. Among other things, they are suggesting that a gondola be constructed to the top of The Chief, a spectacular cliff that overlooks Squamish. VANOC is just one of the number of organizations Ecosign is approaching for support because the nature of the development process for changes to the area's management plan requires wide-spread community support before their proposal can be considered by authorities.
The City of Richmond has begun looking for a project manager for construction of its Olympic Oval complex, and if you're interested in the job, your resume needs to be into Richmond's Human Resources department by September 10. "We are seeking an exceptional individual or firm to lead our internal team and consultants engaged in taking this community-based concept through to commissioning in late 2007," according to the ad the City is placing. The person they're looking for has to be skilled in "consulting, planning, organizing and performance management to ensure objectives are met on time and on budget," along with "communication and facilitation skills." Not only that, but the person will also need to have a good record in "business, interpersonal and organizational awareness, business-partner orientation, resourceful use of influence, concern for credibility, analytical and conceptual thinking, commitment to quality and self-confidence in managing risks." The ability to decipher bureaucratese would also help, as the ad says the person will need, "to maintain an open and productive interface within a public process involving many external and internal stakeholders devoted to excellence in hosting the 2010 Winter Games and provision of community service thereafter."

RESOURCES

Ecosign Mountain Resort Planners:
http://www.ecosign.com/e-homepage.htm

Web-based version of Richmond's Speed-Skating Project Manager employment ad:
http://www.city.richmond.bc.ca/webnews/employment/0824_Projmanage.htm

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 25, 2004

Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #492
RICHMOND STARTS SPEED SKATING OVAL CONSTRUCTION PROCESS WITH CALL FOR INTERESTED ARCHITECTS

The City of Richmond has issued a formal "Request for Expressions of Interest" from teams of architects and engineers to design its riverfront 2010 Olympic Speed Skating Oval complex, and it's set an early deadline of September 3 for a response.

The REI says Richmond is looking for "teams composed of architects, engineers, planners, landscape architects and designers... with experience on comparable projects." The teams are to provide full architectural and engineering consulting services for the design of the 3.4 hectare Oval and the accompany new Waterfront Park.

"Master planning and servicing for the balance of the [11.7-hectare] parcel is being done by others," says the document, "and must be integrated with the new Skating Oval and Waterfront Park." The park portion involves a linear dyke and the designers will also be involved in dealing with "any new wharf projections" the project requires. The Oval, to International Skating Union standards, requires a minimum clear span of 90 metres across, and 190 metres along its length, and spectator seating for 8,000.

Once the expressions of interest are in, Richmond City staff will evaluate them and develop a short list of companies. These will be invited to submit a formal Proposal of Fees and Services. They'll also be interviewed and receive the building program that has been developed for the skating oval as submitted to the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee. The award winner will be selected from this group, although no date for the selection is yet given.

The cost of the facility is budgeted at C$118 million, with another C$6 million designated for post-Games conversion -- a number of facilities set up for the 2010 Games won't be necessary afterwards -- for a total cost of C$124 million in 2004 dollars. Including site development, site servicing, and the integrated Waterfront Park, there is an additional budget of C$19 million, for a total project budget of C$143 million. VANOC is contributing C$60 million to the project, and will be negotiating with Richmond later for a share in the Olympic's Legacy fund, to be established to help on-going operations of the facility.

The REI says that master planning for the area, as well as site servicing, River Road's re-alignment in the area and reconstruction of Hollybridge Road will all be awarded and tendered as separate projects.

The document confirms the design of the facility will need to provide "an ongoing commitment" to long- and short-track speed-skating, and will need to be designed in such a way that it's adaptable to a variety of post-Olympic Games uses including ice facilities for the oval and accompany hockey rinks. Also to be incorporated into the design: a field house, gymnasiums, fitness areas and a "wellness" center. The area must also be convertible to special events such as trade-and-exhibition style shows.

The complex, at least for the purposes of the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee, is to be "substantially complete" by October 31, 2007, but some project dates have already been set up:

The award for pre-load and soil densification, a critical aspect on Richmond's river-delta land, is March 14, 2005. The award for the foundation and piling contract must be done by June 17, 2005, while the award for the main construction contract is to be done by November 4, 2005.

Richmond wants the team that's eventually awarded the project to deal with the building's design and engineer, take part in the public consultation process that starts this fall, do presentations to VANOC and to City of Richmond Council on the project as they work with Richmond City staff and an extensive variety of external agencies. They want the contractor to design from the initial concept right through to making up the tender documents, conduct the tender process, do the administration work for the construction contracts, look after the post-Games conversion of the facility, integrate an "arts and culture legacy" into the design's interior and exterior and ensure the project is built to achieve at least a LEED Silver designation for environmental aspects -- Olympics construction requires LEED designations for its projects, though such standards are controversial in British Columbia.

RESOURCES

Richmond City Staff overseeing the project:

Robert Gonzalez, Director of Engineering: 604.276.4150.
Mary Brunet, Project Manager of Facility Planning and Construction, 604.244.1267.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 25, 2004

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #491
VANOC DIRECTOR AT FELICIEN'S SIDE; VANOC TRADEMARKING MORE SLOGANS

Two moguls we've bumped into today...

*

The Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee has begun the process of registering the phrases "TEAM CANADA 2010", "SPIRIT OF 2010", "COUNTDOWN TO 2010", "TEAM 2010, "EQUIPE 2010" with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office in Ottawa. There is no immediate word as to how VANOC intends to use the phrases. The applications were made using VANOC's law firm in such matters, Borden Ladner Gervais of Vancouver. This brings the number of marks VANOC has registered to more than about a dozen this year alone. The phrases, for the most part, were gazetted for the advertising stage in Vol.51 Issue 2593; "Equipe 2010" and "TEAM 2010" were gazetted in Vol.51 Issue 2588. (Earlier story: 'Committee begins copyright proceedings on five phrases, 6th by the COC' [Morgan:News:2010:Number:310; Published on Thursday, May 13, 2004].

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 24, 2004

Morgan:News:2010 |Business| #490
VISA URGES LARGE AND SMALL COMPANIES TO SUPPORT 2010 OLYMPIC MOVEMENT

The president of Visa Canada, Derek Fry, is urging the private sector to support the Olympic movement "as Canada prepares to welcome the world in 2010."

In a letter from his Toronto office to editors in Vancouver, Fry notes that Visa has been a corporate sponsor of the Olympics since 1986 and has "invested hundreds of millions of dollars" through its global sponsorship of the Games, and through its sponsorship with national Olympic organizations. "Visa remains committed to the Olympic Games for two simple reasons," he says. "It's the right thing to do, and it's good for business."

During much of the letter, he reiterates themes that we reported when he spoke in Vancouver June 8, when Visa Canada confirmed that it was renewing a an extensive agreement with Tourism Vancouver and Tourism Whistler to promote Vancouver and Whistler domestic and international travel in the run up to, and during, the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.

But he adds, "I believe that virtually any company's image can be enhanced by partnership, at some level, with the Olympics. That's why I encourage small and medium-sized businesses to explore any Olympic support opportunities that may be offered through the Vancouver-Whistler 2010 organizing committee or even through the individual sports federations. It is my hope that such opportunities will be available so that smaller Canadian companies can support our athletes and help build their businesses by associating with one of the world's premier brands, the Olympic rings. After all, the values that underpin the Olympic Games - fair play, competition, leadership, achievement, hard work - provide a solid foundation for successful businesses, from large multinationals to family-owned enterprises... You'll be helping our athletes and your business onto the podium."

BACKGROUND
==========

'Visa to spend "millions" with Tourism Vancouver, Whistler on 2010 marketing and promotions after 2006'
[Morgan:News:2010:Number:360; Published on Tuesday, June 8, 2004]

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 24, 2004

Morgan:News:2010 |Business| #489
(FEATURE) NEWSPAPER SAYS ALL NATIONAL SPONSORSHIPS UP FOR GRABS JAN 1 FOR 2010 GAMES

2010NewsWatch

A reporter for one of Canada's national business newspapers, Keith McArthur of the Globe & Mail, says the Royal Bank of Canada's parent company, RBC, will lose its historical position as a favoured national sponsor of the Olympics at the Canadian national level, a position its held since 1948, along with a number of other companies. The RBC and a handful of other firms will no longer be able to rely on "right of first negotiation."

The newspaper, in a feature story, says that "new International Olympic Committee rules require all incumbent sponsors in any host country to bid against all challengers if they want to maintain their rights. All relationships between the Canadian Olympic Committee and its sponsors will end Dec. 31. When the Athens Games conclude, the COC sponsorship office will go into suspended animation, and the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) will begin selling rights for the next eight years, including the 2006 Winter Games (Torino), 2008 (Beijing), 2010 (Vancouver) and 2012 (yet to be awarded)."

McArthur says the effect is to declare "open season on one of modern marketing's single most valuable commercial opportunities. And it's a process that could add more than C$250-million to the Vancouver Games budget. Predictably, the competitors are in full training mode. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce is said to be preparing an aggressive challenge to RBC. HSBC Bank is considering a bid of its own. In the telecom sector, Telus aims to dethrone Bell Canada, which has sponsored the Games for the past eight years. There will be wrestling matches in other categories as well. Price tags will be steep. Sports marketing experts say that in banking, telecommunications and automotive sectors, Olympics sponsorship rights for eight years could sell for as much as C$60-million. And that's a fraction of what it will cost the winners to exercise and leverage those rights through advertising and promotion. To put that in perspective, RBC's entire ad budget last year was C$20-million, according to Nielsen Media Research."

The newspaper quotes consultant Keith McIntyre, president of K. Mac & Associates in Mississauga as saying, "It's going to be the biggest marketing commitment most of these companies will ever make. There are going to be some bidding wars. . . . Companies may go on a spending frenzy."

McArthur asks, "The obvious question is why? What's so valuable about sponsorship rights?", then quotes Laurie Schild, a vice-president at Bell Canada for the reason: "This is the most recognized brand in the world, The halo effect that you get from that -- there's a lot of benefit."

The reporter claims the Olympics are no longer about philanthropy, "It's about brand building. RBC says it gets a return at several levels. It uses athletes to motivate employees and make them more productive. And its Olympic-themed activities -- everything from advertising to community events and seminars for small businesses on how to capitalize on the 2010 Games -- make people think more positively about the bank, yielding new revenue. But unlike traditional media advertising, where established metrics exist for evaluating return on investment, the calculus of brand-building through sports marketing is a lot fuzzier. Although details haven't been finalized, Canadian Olympic sponsors will likely be buying the right to use the COC and Vancouver 2010 logos on advertising, letterhead, products and services for the next eight years. VANOC would be expected to use sponsor logos in its own promotional materials, and may also provide opportunities for joint advertising among sponsors. In some categories, such as telecom, companies will also win the right to supply products to VANOC."

McArthur suggests that "dozens of companies are trying to determine what it's worth." He says McIntyre helps companies appraise such investments based on how many "impressions" sponsorship generates -- how many times consumers are reminded of the connection between the Olympics and the sponsor, either through PR or advertising. "In some categories," says McArthur, "such impressions could be worth C$15 million to C$30 million over the eight-year period. But softer benefits -- unquantifiable -- will raise the value to as much as CC$60-million."

McArthur quotes Robert Cruikshank, Telus's executive vice-president in charge of his company's bid, which is now in the hands of VANOC, along with Bell's, as saying, "Can you get a return on investment at C$30-million to C$60-million? I believe you can."

McArthur says Telus has "assembled a full team to calculate what the sponsorship agreement is worth under the IOC's open bidding process. To meet the new requirements for Vancouver's bid, the [Canadian Olympic Committee] had to ask several key sponsors, including Bell Canada and Roots Canada, to sign waivers ceding rights of first negotiation." He says Bell didn't sign that waiver lightly, quoting Schild as saying, "We anguished over it, but it was the right thing to do."

The newspaper paraphrases Dave Cobb, VANOC's new senior vice-president of Revenue, Marketing & Communications as saying that by "starting with a clean slate, Vancouver will be able to maximize sponsorship revenue, argues That, he says, will allow it to mount a strong Games and leave a legacy for B.C. and Canadian sport."

McArthur says that VANOC estimates the operating budget for the 2010 Games will be about C$1-billion, and it plans to raise 25% of that from Canadian sponsors. "That figure," McArthur says, "is based on a preliminary but now outdated estimate of C$160-million in cash and in-kind income from eight to 10 top-level domestic sponsors (an average of C$2 million per sponsor in categories including airline, automotive, banking, brewery, oil and gas and telecom), and a further C$133 million in Tier 2 and 3 categories, such as clothing, office products and wine. International sponsors such as Coca-Cola and McDonald's would inject another C$85-million."

He quoted Cobb as expects domestic sponsors to pay a lot more than originally anticipated. "The numbers in the [briefing] book are understated. It would not be a good idea for people to assume that they can acquire particular categories for those numbers."

McArthur says that the telecom sponsorship "is shaping up as the most aggressive of categories. For Bell, a division of BCE Inc., sponsorship would provide a huge profile in British Columbia, a key growth market. For Telus, with its western roots, it would help build national profile. While Bell has a connection with the COC, Telus has been affiliated with the Vancouver Olympic bid since 1996, when its predecessor (BC Tel) signed on to support the bid."

The newspaper quotes Telus's Cruikshank as saying, "I think we're... putting forward a pretty compelling offer." McArthur says Cruikshank told him that Telus has an "exhaustive network and backup facilities" in British Columbia, which Bell would have to build. McArthur adds, "While Bell talks about having 2,000 employees in B.C. by 2010, Telus already has 7,200 employees in the lower mainland [Greater Vancouver and the Fraser Valley]."

McArthur also quotes Cruikshank as saying, "If you were CEO of the Games, who would you put more stead in, the person who was waving the most cash in front of you or the person that could minimize your risk?"

Bell's Schild, says McArthur, isn't conceding anything and quotes her as saying, "The way we're looking at this right now, we're going to win." Ms. Schild told McArthur that the Bell bid is less risky than Telus's because Bell offers a much wider range of products and services. And its B.C. work force will grow much faster if it wins the bid.

McArthur also quotes Bob Stellick, president of Toronto's Stellick Marketing Communications Inc., as saying that Bell's various product offerings -- satellite, Internet, cellphones and land lines -- could be advantageous. "Don't anybody discount Bell's... ability to get what they want," Stellick is quoted as saying.

The newspaper says that, "Other categories could also be competitive. Both Air Canada and WestJet say they are considering bids. And current sponsor DaimlerChrysler Canada Inc. may face competition from General Motors of Canada Ltd. (its U.S. affiliate sponsors the U.S. Olympic Association), and Volkswagen Canada Inc., which is advertising heavily on the CBC during the Athens Games. The battle could be so heated that corporations could overpay for rights."

McIntyre told McArthur, "Our advice is that you should definitely have concrete objectives set out well in advance. You'd better have a walk-away plan if you want to play in this game."

BACKGROUND
==========

The full newspaper article is in the Globe of August 21, 2004 on Page B4 and is currently available at:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20040821/RCOVER21/TPBusiness/TopStories

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 24, 2004

Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #488
FURLONG JOINS CHORUS URGING MORE FUNDING FOR HIGH-PERFORMANCE ATHLETES

2010NewsWatch

The Vancouver Sun newspaper quotes John Furlong, the CEO of the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee, as adding his voice to the call that governments in Canada must invest more in its athletes to avoid the kind of poor medal showing the country is experiencing at the Athens 2004 Summer Games.

"It's impossible to dig a field with a spoon," John Furlong told reporter Jeff Lee in a telephone interview from Greece. "It's absolutely critical that as a country, province and society, that we learn something from how the results have gone here. It is very difficult to compete at the world level when you don't have the resources to complete your training."

Furlong told Lee that Canada has "seriously underestimated" what it needs to help high-performance athletes achieve top results in their chosen fields. "We don't do it to the level that's required."

The Sun says that Furlong believes Vancouver hosting the 2010 Winter Games is putting pressure to ensure Canada does well. And it paraphrases him as saying "that's not going to happen if there is not an all-round effort by governments, sport organizations, corporate sponsors and the public at large to give more support to athletes."

Lee quotes Furlong as saying, "Because the spotlight is on Vancouver and this is a one chance in a lifetime for us, we have to be the ones who are speaking out to support that kind of programming. High-performance sport in this country is something that people have to start playing a more significant role in. It is easy to say it isn't all about medals, and it isn't. But the fact of the matter is that when the athletes are doing well and performing at their best, it has an enormous inspirational impact on young people across the country. It's good for the morale of the country, and we can't let that slip by."

Several winter-sports organizations, such as the head of Cross Country Canada, have expressed the same frustrations, but say that it's essentially too late now to have much effect on the 2010 Winter Games because of development lag time for a high-performance athlete takes seven to 10 years.

Mark Lowry, the Canadian Olympic Committee's executive director of sport, said earlier the concept of unifying Sport Canada's athlete-support strategy and that of the COC's through a new National Sports Review Panel will have an influence on the 2010 Games. But, he adds, it will take 10 years to have the new strategy start having significant effects, which means the 2012 Summer Games will feel the effects more than 2010.

Meanwhile, an editorial in today's Globe & Mail, a national newspaper based in Toronto, says, however, that money isn't everything when it comes to Olympic medals:

"Glimpsed from afar, money may seem the reason Australia does so well. At the Sydney Games, it spent C$280-million on its athletes, or C$14.80 per capita, and won 58 medals; Canada spent C$62-million, or C$1.99 per capita for its 14 medals. (This year Sport Canada is spending C$120-million, but the focus is increasingly on winter sports, in the lead-up to the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver.) But the 2000 Olympics were the culmination for Australia of a 25-year effort to celebrate the nation's sense of its physicality and ruggedness, and perhaps shake off colonial insecurities, by winning as many medals as possible. Money and fanaticism are mutually reinforcing. The reason for Canada's Olympic woes is that no one has articulated a convincing reason for this country to make the same push as the Aussies. Countries win at the Olympics when sports are rooted in their culture, traditions and psyche. And that cannot be bought."

BACKGROUND
==========

'(Feature) Cross-Country Canada short money, time for 2010 athlete development'
[Morgan:News:2010:Number:432; Published on Monday, July 12, 2004]

'COC after Air Canada's Olympic ads; new sports panel will 'influence' 2010; Hobnobbing with 2010...'
[Morgan:News:2010:Number:481; Published on Friday, August 20, 2004]

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 24, 2004

Morgan:News:2010 |Business| #487
SWATCH, A 2010 GAMES SPONSOR, GETTING ATTENTION FROM ATHENS OLYMPICS

Swatch Group AG, one of the world's largest watchmakers, says in its first-half financial report for 2004 that the Olympic Games in Athens are, "drawing particular attention to the Swatch brand among an international public." Swatch AG is the official timekeeper for the Olympics through to the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver and one of the 10 main sponsors of the 2004 Olympics. The Greek government estimates Athens is attracting a television audience of about four billion people worldwide, and many of them get to see the Swatch logo on a regular basis.

The Swatch logo is visible on the starters' blocks for sprinting events at the 72,000-seat Olympic stadium in Athens and on the touch pads in the Olympic pool, and the company is expected to get similar exposure during the 2010 Games. As a top-level sponsor, it deals directly with the International Olympic Committee for its marketing.

Bruno Grande, who heads Swatch's Olympic marketing division, declines to discuss the value of the company's contract is confidential. However Bloomberg reports that Jim Andrews, editorial director of the industry newsletter IEG Sponsorship Report, reports the watchmaker is spending about US$75 million (about C$98 million) per Olympic four-year cycle to be what the IOC terms an Olympic Partner.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 24, 2004

Wednesday, October 27, 2004

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #486
RESEARCH POSSIBILITIES AT SPEED-SKATING OVAL; EUROPEAN TV RIGHTS FOR 2010 IN BLACK AND WHITE; RATING THE ANTHEM

Three moguls we've bumped into today...

Now that the hoopla over the award of speed-skating oval by the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee to Richmond is settling down, thoughts are turning to what might be accomplished with Simon Fraser University and other research and educational groups. The Richmond Review newspaper reports that the University of B.C. is planning to construct a clubhouse for its rowing club on the Fraser River near the oval. The B.C. Institute of Technology is planning to build a new C$50-million campus on a vacant parcel of land on Sea Island, just north of the Dinsmore Bridge, not far from the oval's location. Neither Simon Fraser nor Richmond have yet spoken about how SFU's research plans, originally set up for an on-campus oval, might be implemented off-campus. But some are mulling over the research possibilities of the effect of Richmond's climate on speed-skating ice. Richmond's location is low altitude -- effectively sea-level -- and with relatively high ambient humidity, but the best speed-skating ice is made a higher altitudes in dryer air. While there might be quite a bit that can be done to offset the location with the ice plant engineering for the oval, designing a speed-skating ice skate blade that is efficient on the Richmond ice is a possibility. VANOC's senior vice-president of Sport, Cathy Priestner, also says VANOC will work with Richmond to encourage relationships with educational organizations that benefit sports.
During a ceremony yesterday in Athens, the International Olympic Committee and the European Broadcasting Union representatives officially signed the contract for the Olympic broadcast rights for Europe for the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver and the 2012 Summer Games in a city yet to be awarded the franchise. The agreement, which we reported in detail July 6, covers 51 countries, except for Italy, and a wide range of media categories, including, for the first time, multi-media and mobile telephony broadcasting. The agreement is valued at e614 million (C$977 million at today's exchange rates) - an increase of about 40% from the previous contract. The Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee is expected to receive about C$158 million from the deal. In addition to the contract value, the EBU and its members have committed to major additional Olympic programming and promotional efforts to support the Olympic brand and promotion of "the Olympic ideal" before and after the actual Games period, which the IOC values at a further e125 million (C$199 million).
For potential 2010 advertisers and sponsors interested in TV viewing behaviour in Canada during an Olympics, it's worth noting that ratings on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's coverage of the Athens Games are reportedly up 5% from the 2000 Sydney Games, but that they drop 14% during prime time, apparently due to the relative lack of Canadian medals and the timing of the live events, which tend to take place overnight to Canadians. On The Sports Network, however, the prime-time numbers are reportedly up 7%.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 23, 2004

Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #485
BACKGROUND AND CONTACT INFO FOR NEW BC TOURISM & HOSPITALITY CONSORTIUM DIRECTORS

The new British Columbia Tourism and Hospitality Education and Training Consortium will have 15 members. The consortium says it will issue a report to government and the public each year that summarizes the developments, activities or accomplishments of the consortium.

There are to be six industry representatives, but only four have been confirmed so far; staffers say they expect to confirm the remaining two shortly.

For details, see the RESOURCES section, below, but those confirmed so far include:

Arlene Keis, CEO, go2
Chris Kanuka, VP Operations, Old Spaghetti Factory
Kirby Brown, Director of Employee Experience, Whistler/Blackcomb and
Terry Schnieder, VP Operations, Prestige Inns

There will be six representatives from the educational sector:

Greg Lee, President, Capilano College, North Vancouver;
Dale Dorn, President, Vancouver Community College, Vancouver;
Stephanie Forsythe, President, Northwest Community College;
Roger Barnsley, President, UCC;
Julia Peters, Director of Education, Premier College of Hotel Management
Wendy Lee, Executive Director, BC School Superintendents Association

The British Columbia government has three representatives:

Arlene Paton (Acting Assistant Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Advanced Education; phone: 250.387.6189; e-mail: Arlene.Paton@gems7.gov.bc.ca : http://www.aved.gov.bc.ca;
Doug Caul (Assistant Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Small Business And Economic Development; phone: 250.952-0242; e-mail: Doug.Caul@gems7.gov.bc.ca ; http://www.gov.bc.ca/sbed;
Brian Clewes, CEO, Industry Training Authority. Clewes, a former vice-president of Human Resources for Telus, took over the job of running the ITA in early 2003 when it was formed. The Industry Training Authority was created to increase access to training in trades and technical sectors in B.C. Phone: 604.214.8706; e-mail: bclewes@itabc.ca; http://www.itabc.ca

RESOURCES

Go2 is a tourism human-resource organization created in 2002. It has an annual operating budget of about C$1 million funded in part through the sale of courses, including 'Serving It Right' and 'FoodSafe' by correspondence. As well, go2 gets funding and generates revenue through the Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council and sales of its training products and occupational certifications. Tourism British Columbia also provides about C$300,000 annual contribution to support this work.
http://www.go2hr.ca
The Old Spaghetti Factory is a restaurant chain focused mainly on Western Canada and based in Vancouver.
http://www.oldspaghettifactory.ca
Whistler/Blackcomb is a company that runs the major ski hills in Whistler, and is to be the site of some of the 2010 Winter Games:
http://www.whistlerblackcomb.com/
Prestige Inns is a British Columbia-based chain of hotels, primarily focused on resort areas.
http://www.prestigeinn.com/

Here are the websites for the colleges and educational organizations involved in the consortium:

Capilano College
http://www.capcollege.bc.ca
Vancouver Community College:
http://www.vcc.bc.ca
Northwest Community College
http://www.nwcc.bc.ca/
University College of the Cariboo (UCC):
http://www.cariboo.bc.ca
Premier College of Hotel Management, Vancouver:
http://www.vpcollege.com/
British Columbia School Superintendents Association, Vancouver:
http://www.bcssa.org/

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 23, 2004

Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #484
CONTRACTS AWARDED FOR AUDITOR AND TAX ADVISOR

The Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee's Board of Directors have confirmed awards for two major contracts to support VANOC's financial operations. Both contracts went to Canadian firms.

It has appointed the firm of Ernst & Young, a large national firm, as its first external auditor. VANOC first fiscal year ended July 31 and the non-profit organization's first official financial statements and annual report, covering the period back to September 30, 2003, when it was incorporated, are expected this fall. VANOC had eight responses to the offer of the two-year contract, which was made publicly last June, however the amount of the contract has not yet been disclosed.

The auditor will work with operational staff and with VANOC's Audit Committee is made up of five members of VANOC's Board of Directors, which meets about half a dozen times a year. The Audit Committee is responsible for reviewing the annual statements from the auditor and it will sign off on them first, before they go to the full Board for approval and then disclosure. The auditor will be on a strict timeline: VANOC wants the year-end audit work completed by September 15, finalized a week later, sent to the audit committee by the end of September, so it can meet with the committee on October 7.

Assuming approval at that point, the audited statements would likely go to the VANOC Board of Directors meeting in mid-October for approval, with release likely coming before the end of October, once VANOC's had a chance to print the annual report. It's expect it will be a highly scrutinized document, particularly since the provincial government will be in the throes of preparing its own final budget before next spring's election.

VANOC has also appointed the firm of KPMG as its tax advisors; it had seven responses to the contract offer. The accounting firm, one of the largest in Canada, is to provide VANOC with a wide range of local, national and international tax advice for the next three years, starting immediately. The amount of the contract was not immediately available, either.

VANOC is still in the process of looking for a customs broker to handle goods it will be importing or exporting between British Columbia and countries such as the United States, between now and at least 2010.

BACKGROUND
==========

KPMG will have its work cut out for it, as it will have to wade through a thicket of tax issues that will be, um, taxing.

By international tradition, any organization officially connected to putting on the 2010 Winter Games -- and that includes accredited media, sponsors and suppliers -- will be except from customs duties, excises taxes and GST on goods imported into Canada, such as personal effects, gifts, awards, display goods and equipment. The International Olympic Committee is also exempt from Canadian federal income tax, and Canada's 7% Goods and Services Tax (GST) paid by the IOC in its commercial activities is fully recoverable through input tax credits. VANOC, legally a non-profit organization, isn't subject to federal income tax, nor federal or provincial capital taxes. Not only that, but it can get a full recovery of all GST it pays on real property construction costs under most conditions, and even in the cases where it incurs the tax, it gets a 50% rebate because of its non-profit status.

VANOC is subject to British Columbia's 7.5% Social Services tax, also known as the PST, or provincial sales tax. VANOC also has to withhold taxes on payments to people outside of Canada in certain cases, depending on how tax treaties work for various countries. These payments typically would include interest, rents, royalties and some management and administrative fees.

Funds that VANOC received from third-party organizations inside Canada aren't subject to income tax, either, although if they are taxable goods and services, VANOC pays GST or PST.

Both the federal and provincial governments have assured VANOC and the IOC that no withholding or income taxes will apply on shared revenues or surplus that flows from VANOC to the IOC. Shared revenues received by VANOC from the IOC are not subject to taxation, either.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 23, 2004

Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #483
B.C. SETS UP CONSORTIUM TO BOOST TOURISM, HOSPITALITY TRAINING TO OFFSET 2010-PREDICTED SHORTFALLS

The British Columbia government is involved in a new pool of organizations designed to help "tourism and hospitality training initiatives". These, in turn, would help host events like the 2010 Winter Games.

A new "strategic advisory body," called the British Columbia Tourism and Hospitality Education and Training Consortium, will co-ordinate planning among a number of institutions, industries and governments to ensure the education and training requirements of the tourism and hospitality industry are met. The consortium will be made up of representatives from Capilano College, Vancouver Community College, Northwest Community College, University College of the Cariboo, the B.C. Career Colleges Association, the B.C. School Superintendents Association, two government ministries, the Industry Training Authority, go2 and five additional industry/employer representatives.

The B.C. government will establish the British Columbia Centre for Leadership and Innovation in Tourism at Capilano College in North Vancouver, and the British Columbia Centre for Leadership and Innovation in Hospitality will be set up at Vancouver Community College, in Vancouver, to help provide training programs.

Instead of the usual practice of provincial government cabinet ministers making such announcements, local members of the legislature did so in these cases. North Vancouver-Lonsdale MLA Katherine Whittred, a Liberal, says, "Our post-secondary institutions are fostering innovative training to meet the demand for skilled workers to support the revitalized tourism and hospitality sector. By establishing two hospitality and tourism centres for leadership and innovation, we'll ensure we have people with the right skills so that British Columbia can provide world-class service during the 2010 Winter Games and beyond."

In addition, another Liberal, Vancouver-Burrard MLA Lorne Mayencourt, announced that government will invest approximately $1.2 million in one-time funding to boost hospitality and tourism training programs at post-secondary institutions throughout the province.

"Our institutions already offer a variety of hospitality and tourism programs, from golf course management to wilderness adventure guiding to chef certification to hotel management," Mayencourt said. "This fund will allow our institutions to try new approaches to tourism and hospitality training, and to explore new program idea."

"Tourism is one of B.C.'s major economic drivers, directly and indirectly employing 266,000 British Columbians," said Dan Jarvis, MLA for North Vancouver-Seymour. "The government's Spirit of 2010 Tourism Strategy recognizes the importance of nurturing a skilled tourism work force. By investing in this growing industry, we will be able to meet the training needs of 2010 and contribute to a strong and vibrant economy."

Capilano College president Dr. Greg Lee says, "The new center for leadership and innovation in tourism at our Squamish campus will have far-reaching benefits for all of the communities of B.C. We plan to expand tourism training to the benefit of communities in the Howe Sound corridor as we head towards the 2010 Winter Games."

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 23, 2004

Morgan:News:2010 |Business| #482
OLYMPICS MARKETING VIA THE BACKDOOR WORKS FOR SOME COMPANIES

One way to get your corporate name into the Olympics -- without being a sponsor and paying significant marketing fees -- is to sell something that athletes or the organizations connected with the Olympics want. And what they all want is something that gives them an edge at the Olympics.

Which is why Westport Innovations was asked for their comments when the Vancouver Bid Corporation was developing the environmental aspects of transportation during the pitch for the 2010 Games. And which is why, in the Athens' Athlete's village, people are using the word "Dartfish", as in the phrase, "I want to Dartfish that."

The quality of the environment for an Olympics Games is now being written into host-city contracts with the International Olympic Committee, and it was a theme of Vancouver's bid in particular. Westport of Vancouver makes low-emission natural gas engines for vehicles such as city buses, and two years ago it sold 10 such engines to the City of Beijing as a demonstration portion of the city's Olympics-influenced clean-up of the city for the 2008 Summer Olympics. Last April it agreed to sell another 150 engines plus maintain 2,000. It's now working with Dongfeng Cummins Engine to build an assembly plant in Xiangfang to open in early 2005 and look after its Chinese market; it's hoping to have its engines in 18,000 buses by 2008, in part through its profile of being involved in the support of the Olympic games there.

Vancouver 2010 contracts issued so far expressly forbid firms responding to requests for proposals from mentioning their connections in promotional material, even to news media, but that's not the case for firms who supply products without going through the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee.

Dartfish is a smallish Swiss software company that's produced a couple of programs, StroMo and SimulCam, which are video software used for training. Its highly customizable, sells for as little as US$600, but can run to US$5,500. In essence, it converts videos of an athletes practice into stills for post-workout analysis. Athletes and their coaches have been using it in the run-up to Athens to spot flaws and fine-tune their efforts.

The word-of-mouth marketing technique one often finds as conferences and trade shows is working well for Dartfish at Athens as those who weren't aware of the programs are hearing first-hand reviews by successful colleagues who talk about how they're using it. They, in turn, will influence schools and other mass-training organizations to consider the software.

A couple of things to note about this type of approach, however: people training for the Olympics are performance-conscious, as opposed to brand conscious. High-performance athletes take the design of products seriously.

RESOURCES

Westport Innovations Inc.
1700 West 75th Ave., 2nd Floor
Vancouver, BC Canada
V6P 6G2
t: 604.718.2000
f: 604.718.2001
info@westport.com http://www.westport.com
Management:
http://www.westport.com/company/management.php

Westport is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange as "WPT". Here's the latest market info:
http://www.tse.com/HttpController?GetPage=QuotesViewPage&DetailedView=DetailedPrices&Market=T&Language=en&QuoteSymbol_1=wpt

Cummins Westport Inc. is a 50/50 joint venture with Cummins Inc. It's "an alternate fuels joint venture created to develop and market low emissions, high-performance alternative-fuel engines." The headquarters are in Vancouver, BC, with offices in Columbus, Indiana; Seal Beach, California; Dallas, Texas; Beijing, China; and Daventry, England.
http://www.cumminswestport.com/

Dartfish:
http://www.dartfish.com/en/home/home.jsp

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 23, 2004

Tuesday, October 19, 2004

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #481
COC AFTER AIR CANADA'S OLYMPIC ADS; NEW SPORTS PANEL WILL 'INFLUENCE' 2010; HOBNOBING WITH 2010...

Eight moguls we've bumped into today...

The Canadian Olympic Committee's lawyers are said, according to the Globe & Mail newspaper in Toronto, to be concerned about what it feels are ambush-advertising in Air Canada's ads that are being aired during CBC-TV coverage of the Athens Olympic Games. The newspaper says the COC isn't talking officially, and Air Canada hasn't had any official notification from the COC, but apparently it's concerned about ads that feature athletes solving problems; the ad then says Air Canada is a "proud sponsor" of the CBC's broadcast. The Toronto Stock Exchange, LG Electronics Canada and Volkswagen Canada have reportedly agreed to make changes to their ads to "appease the COC." The CBC, says the paper, is changing the themed segments of its broadcast sponsored by the Tim Hortons restaurant chain, which is not an Olympic sponsor, by moving the company's logo away from the Olympic rings logo. The paper quotes Canadian trademark lawyers as saying the COC is being too aggressive, but that companies are making business decisions that it's cheaper to make the changes that fight a court case, even though they're giving in to bullying tactics.
The Canadian Freestyle Ski Association says it is expanding the number of of its sports that will be judged by software designed by Terra Cognita Software Systems of Prince George, in central British Columbia. Since the Association began using TCSS's software three years ago, it's been used for judging competitions in moguls, aerials, table top and half pipe. It's now adding dual moguls to the list of events the software will assist in judging. Terra Cognita CEO Garth Frizzell says that, "As the excitement builds toward 2010, it's exhilarating to be part of winter sports and sport development across Canada." Prince George Mayor Colin Kinsley, who also chairs the city's 2010 North Committee, adds, "We will become more involved in winter sports as 2010 approaches, and this is an excellent example of how Prince George is becoming a technology centre and making a substantial contribution to sport and athletic development at the national level." Terra Cognita's main business is software support for various land-use activities, such as the scientific capture and analyze of records by wildlife researchers on cariboo. Terra Cognita Vice President Remi Despres-Smyth says "We make sure judges concentrate on judging -- not learning a tricky computer system."
Mark Lowry, the Canadian Olympic Committee's executive director of sport, said in Athens today that he figures the concept of unifying Sport Canada's athlete-support strategy and that of the COC's through a new National Sports Review Panel will have an influence on the 2010 Games. But, he adds, it will take 10 years to have the new strategy start having significant effects, which means the 2012 Summer Games. He told Sun Media that the Panel, comprised of experts from various sports, Sport Canada officials and the COC, will be set up by the end of September and begin work as early as October. Sport Canada, the federal government's support arm, and the COC, primarily funded by the International Olympic Committee through monies raised by Olympic Games, have until now worked independently. Sports organizations throughout the country will present their case for funding to the new panel which will make recommendations on which groups should receive it.
One of the benefits of being a sponsor of an Olympics is that you get to hobnob with the movers and shakers of those putting on a future Olympics, and that's good for marketing. Take, for instance, a recent evening in Athens hosted by Roots Canada, the official outfitter of the Olympic teams of several countries, including Canada. The glitterati included several members of VANOC's Board of Directors, including Charmaine Crooks, who also represents the International Olympic Committee; Dick Pound, who is also chair of the World Anti-Doping Agency; Chris Rudge, the CEO of the Canadian Olympic Committee; plus Jack Poole and John Furlong, Chair and CEO, respectively, of the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee. Also present and pleased to speak was was Gordon Campbell, Premier of British Columbia, who provided some standard remarks about how plans are progressing for the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver.
Richmond's Olympic supporters weren't the only ones pleased by the announcement by the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee that it will get the speed-skating oval. Carlene Lewall, chair of the Spirit of Delta 2010 Committee says her group, in the Vancouver suburb just south of Richmond, is just as pumped. "Having it so close to Delta could mean some significant spin-offs for our community in terms of offering our facilities to athletes for training, and visitors coming to see the games," she said. "I think the potential is there for this to have a significant effect on the local economy." The committee meets September 7 to discuss the situation, and to continue planning on the winter-festival type of events to mark next February 12. That date marks exactly five years from the Vancouver Olympics opening ceremonies. About 300 people turned out for Delta's celebrations last February 12.
The chair of the 2010 Construction Leaders Taskforce, Phil Hochstein, supports VANOC's decision to award the oval to Richmond. "From a construction perspective, this is exactly the kind of gutsy decision that Mr. Furlong and VANOC need to make to minimize Olympic construction costs," says Hochstein. "It's great to see they're showing leadership on behalf of taxpayers and they should be congratulated." The Taskforce involves senior executives from 20 of BC's largest construction companies and was established itself to advise government and games organizers on issues such as labour supply, tendering and construction costs -- and offset the lobbying of B.C. Trades Council, among others.
As the Olympic Flame ceremonies conclude the Athens Games, as similar ceremony will be taking place in Squamish, a town between Vancouver and Whistler, to conclude a three-day weekend aimed at instilling Olympic values in disadvantaged youth as a 2010 warm-up. The culturally funded group O-Zoneis organizing the Adventure Leadership Program. A torch will be lit near a totem on the Stawamus Indian Reserve, and aboriginal youth in a traditional war canoe will take it across the Mamquam Blind Channel to the Squamish Yacht Club. A motorcade will escort it to the Leadership Program's Camp Summit in the nearby community of Brackendale. Individuals will then carry the torch to a podium, lighting an Olympic-style cauldron on stage. During the three-day camp, the youngsters will hear prepared comments from about half a dozen athletes who've taken part in previous Olympics.
Lisa Valdez is a city planner who lives near Charlotte, North Carolina, and she's thinking about being a spectator in the stands when the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics opens at General Motors Place February 12, 2010. But, as she told the 150,000 readers of the Charlotte Observer newspaper today, it's not because she wants to see professional athletes from the United States win gold medals. She wants to come to Vancouver because, as she sits on her couch and watches the TV coverage of the Athens Games, she becomes enamoured with the personal stories of the young amateurs. As she puts it, "The same hope that got them to Athens only lives in the heart of a child. Injuries and grueling training hours haven't jaded them. They dream in gold, and they wait four years for their chance at it." Valdez adds, "Most people, particularly those of us who are athletically challenged, can't help but live vicariously through them. They all make it look so easy... As I watch Michael Phelps swim the 200-meter butterfly, and win the gold, it makes me think that even I can do it. Of course, I've been in the pool at the YMCA and it isn't as easy as he makes it look... I can't help but be happy for them, and I just want to explode with pride... This is why someday I will go to the opening and closing ceremonies. I want to cheer them on in the beginning and applaud them in the end. It's the least I can do."

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 20, 2004

Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #480
BROKER SOUGHT TO HANDLE CUSTOMS DUTIES UNTIL 2010

The Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee is looking for a customs broker to handle goods it will be importing or exporting between British Columbia and countries such as the United States, between now and at least 2010.

The broker -- who has until September 9, 2004 to submit a bid on RFP 17 for doing the work to VANOC's Jim Bornholdt -- will be handling, Bornholdt estimates, about 10 transactions a month between now and 2008. Business is then expected to ramp up significantly through 2009, though no estimates are given. "Although many items will be purchased from within Canada," Bornholdt says, "the volume of shipments that will need to clear Canada Customs is expected to increase [in 2009]. A broad range of commodities is expected to be imported including such items as computer and electronics equipment, sporting goods and facilities supplies... Goods that are imported for VANOC will typically arrive by means of mail, courier, truck and airfreight."

The broker VANOC's looking for will be dealing quite a bit with the federal government's Canada Border Services Agency, and looking after such things as ensuring the goods move across the border smoothly by dealing with the necessary (and sometimes considerable and fastidious) paperwork. It will also deal with handling duties, both paid and received and ensuring VANOC gets the money from rebates and the like that it's due.

VANOC wants at least two of the broker's people assigned for customer service and although it expects service to be handled during normal business hours, it also wants to ensure it has 24/7 contact on an emergency basis via a toll-free phone number with global access, and it wants its routine voice-mail or e-mail handled within 30 minutes.

RESOURCES

Jim Bornholdt's contact info:
Tel: 604.806.4076
Fax: 604.683.2010
E-mail: jim_bornholdt@vancouver2010.com

Here's a look at what the Canada Border Services Agency requires for importing things to this country: http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/import/menu-e.html

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 19, 2004

Morgan:News:2010 |IOC| #479
IOC PAYS AUSSIE C$1.6 MILLION TO OWN OLYMPIC GAMES KNOWLEDGE SERVICES, USED BY VANOC

The International Olympic Committee now fully owns Olympic Games Knowledge Services. It's paid C$1.64 million for the shares owned until now by its partner Monash University of Australia with whom it created OGKS in 2002.

OGKS has its roots in capturing the know-how acquired by the Sydney Organizing Committee and related organizations as they created the 2000 Olympic Games, and added some material from the Atlanta Games in 1996.

Since then, it's acquired the knowledge of the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, and the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee was the first Organization Committee to fully tap into that database, and it's adding to the experiences as it goes. The Beijing 2008 Games are using some of it, and the bid cities for 2012 are also involved now. The change in ownership will have no affect on VANOC, and the cost of its subscription is included in the monies it pays the IOC as a host city.

OGKS was valued at C$518,800, which meant that Monash's portion was nominally worth C$171,000. But the university also received C$1.04 million for the amortization value of the development of the business plan and C$88,200 in goodwill.

IOC officials say there wasn't anything negative that led to the decision about buying the Aussie university's ownership in their offspring, but rather it was prompted by a much more extensive review of IOC operations.

IOC Member and OGKS Chairman Kevan Gosper says, "Our partnership with Monash Ed has been extremely successful and we are grateful to their valuable contribution over the last years. The decision to end our cooperation was made in mutual agreement."

Craig McLatchey. CEO of Olympic Games Knowledge Services, is among the speakers at the International Sports Security Summit in London, England, to be held on October 27 and 28.

RESOURCES

Olympic Games Knowledge Services website. Although you need to be assigned an account and password by the IOC to access the info, the site gives a good description of the kinds of services it provides VANOC and others.
http://www.ogks.com/ogkspublic/controller/home.htm

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 19, 2004

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #478
ROOTS UPGRADES OVERSEAS WORK POLICY; SPORTSCAN AND COC SET UP SPORT REVIEW PANEL; WHISTLER EXECS IN ATHENS

Some more moguls we've bumped into today...

Roots Canada, an Olympics sponsor for several years that's expected to be involved with 2010, says it is upgrading its policies covering work in overseas plants to ensure its clothing isn't made under sweatshop conditions. The new policy comes after Roots has had about two years worth of experience after shifting some of its production from Canada to southeast Asian countries. All of the clothing provided to Canadian athletes by Roots during the 2004 Athens Olympics was made in Canada, but Roots also supplies uniforms to several other countries. The new policy is expected to match the policies of companies such as Nike.
The federal government's Sport Canada and the Canadian Olympic Committee are collaborating on a new Sport Review Panel and they are once again reworking their policies about how to support Canadian elite athletes heading for future Olympics, including 2010. Alastair Mullin, spokesman for Sports Minister Stephen Owen, says the overall goal of the new panel is, "to look at not just 2006, not just 2008, not just 2010 but to grow a sports system, as the Australians have or many other countries have, which will do Canada proud at Olympics after Olympics." Elite athletes receive a stipend of $1,100 per month. The focus of the new panel's efforts is, apparently, to support athletes with the best chance of winning medals, but the details haven't yet been released.
Among the people taking part in the Olympics' official Observer Program in Athens to see how the behind-the-scenes aspects of the Games works are three from Whistler, which is co-hosting the 2010 Games. They include Whistler mayor Hugh O’Reilly, municipal administrator Jim Godfrey, deputy administrator Bill Barratt and Mike Vance, general manager of Community Initiatives.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 19, 2004

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #477
ODDS AND SODS ABOUT THE RICHMOND OVAL; QUALICUM BEACH MAYOR LIMPING TO WHISTLER; ARMSTRONG ARENA BREAKS GROUND THIS MONTH

Some moguls we've bumped into today...

Some additional tidbits connected with the proposed Richmond speed-skating oval venue for the 2010 Games: Richmond's chief administrative officer is George Duncan. The Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee senior vice-president of Venues, Steve Matheson, is the man who will be dealing with the Olympic Committee's C$60 million investment and he's also the type of guy who likes to get a good bang for his bucks. Matheson, in his former role as vice-president of Dominion Construction, came to know quite well the capabilities of the people involved in Richmond City Hall. He was the guy in charge of that City Hall's construction a couple of years ago. Construction on the 110,642 square-metre (363,000-square foot) oval is expected to start in the fall of 2005 and complete, as we mentioned earlier, by October 31, 2007. Seating capacity during the Games will be 8,000, but that will be reduced to 2,000 permanent seats post-Games, when the oval will be transformed into a multi-use complex capable of hosting summer and winter sports, in addition to other events. Aircraft landing or taking off from the area of the Vancouver International Airport will see the building. As a result, the building is now starting to be compared to them. For instance, in space that holds the oval and two Olympic-sized ice rinks could also hold four DC-10 aircraft parked wing-to-wing, although they'd be hard to get in or out.
With the singular exception of Burnaby's acerbic mayor Derek Corrigan -- who has spent the last couple of days angrily denouncing VANOC CEO John Furlong over the VANOC Board's Richmond oval decision -- the general response of the Richmond public appears to be positive. Richmond held a public information meeting last night that was well attended. While people are somewhat skeptical that property taxes won't be raised to help pay for the new complex, they appear ready to lends their moral support for now. A second public information meeting will be held tonight. The two meetings are, in part, a method of offsetting VANOC's bid requirements of secrecy until the award was announced.
The mayor of Qualicum Beach, a small community of the east coast of Vancouver Island, is Teunis Westbroek. He has a bum knee but he still plans to follow up on a request from City of Fort St. John Mayor Steve Thorlakson. Thorlakson has urged municipal leaders to join his Walk to Whistler campaign to demonstrate support for the 2010 Winter Olympics, and in a letter to them has enclosed a pedometer. Westbroek, recovering from knee surgery, says he'll use the pedometer to measure the distance he's walked until he has logged the equivalent of 137 kilometres, which is the distance between Qualicum Beach and Whistler. His distance, along with that of other B.C. civic officials, will be logged on Thorlakson's web site at http://www.walktowhistler.com .
The mayor of Armstrong, Jerry Oglow, is planning on a campaign to encourage international competitors in the 2010 Olympics use its new arena, which will have an NHL-sized ice rink, for training. The ground will be broken on construction of the rink in the Okanagan-area community in B.C.'s interior on August 25. "We're going to have a first-class venue here," says Oglow, "and it will be available well before the Olympics, so we want people to experience the flame in Armstrong." The arena is expected to be completed by next May.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 19, 2004

Morgan:News:2010 |Business| #476
TORONTO ENTERTAINMENT COMPLEX TO ALLOW VISITORS TO EXPERIENCE WINTER OLYMPIC SPORTS

Vancouver visitors to Toronto will be able to experience some of what it's like to take part in a Winter Olympics when the C$40 million "Olympic Spirit Toronto" entertainment complex opens its doors on Saturday, August 21.

The 15.8 thousand square-metre venue will provide more than 20,000 hours of Olympic film footage, several Summer and Winter Games sports simulators, static and interactive displays of Olympic trivia, memorabilia and sports equipment, a 200-seat restaurant and retail store. The attraction, an experiment funded by the International Olympic Committee to see if the concept is commercially feasible, is expected to take between two and three hours to experience.

"About 50% of the content will have a Canadian Olympic theme and 50% will be international," according to Brian Stemmle, Spirit's Chief Leisure Officer. Stemmle is a former Canadian Olympian on the Alpine Ski Team, but he's not the only one who knows where Vancouver is located. Olympic Spirit chief operating officer Peter Doyle worked on EXPO'86 in Vancouver and the 1988 Calgary Olympic Winter Games. As part of a licensing arrangement, a portion of revenues will be paid to the Canadian Olympic Committee for athletic programs.

Visitors will be able to participate several sophisticated winter-sport simulators on site. They can recreate a world-record long jump, race against their friends in the sprint challenge, push-start a real bobsled, experiment with figure-skating spins or take shots at an Olympic hockey goalie. They can take part in the biathalon by skiing for up to a minute and then shooting at virtual targets. There's even a ski-jump to try, along with simulators for speed-skating and curling.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 18, 2004

Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC
Sports| #475
RICHMOND, CALGARY SPEED-SKATING OVALS LIKELY TO AVOID COMPETING WITH EACH OTHER

Jean Dupre, Director General of Speed Skating Canada, says the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee's decision to choose Richmond's speed-skating oval complex over Simon Fraser University's fits with the organization's 2010 strategic goals.

"We made a very strong effort to determine where we wanted to position ourselves for 2010 and after 2010 at our recent annual general meeting," he says. "We took the time to fully understand and fully analyze our current strategic direction in light of the fact that Vancouver was going to host the Games. We were able to put on paper what was important for Speed Skating Canada in a venue for 2010. Having heard [Richmond's proposal], this is a really great announcement for our sport. Our vision is fully in line with what has been presented."

Dupre expects that Richmond will follow through on what it says is the city's support of his organization's athletes. "We're hoping to win eight medals in long-track and seven medals in short-track out of the 35 medals that is required for Canada to be number one in 2010. This cannot happen without the support of VANOC and a great partnership with the venue facility."

Despite the plaudits, a review of Speed Skating Canada's "Vision 2010" document shows it to be a general vision of how the organization sees itself and its relationships to other generic sports organizations, but there are no specifics about the qualities of ovals it would like to see, and the names "Vancouver", "Simon Fraser University" or "VANOC" are not mentioned anywhere in the 17-page document. The only mention of an oval in the document is in an appendix line that talks about SSC's relationship with Calgary's oval.

One of the main considerations for VANOC when it was deciding between Simon Fraser University's proposal to install only a temporary ice facility for the Games, and Richmond's concept of having a permanent speed-skating oval was the legacy aspect of the projects. The construction of a second speed-skating oval in Western Canada would compete with the oval in Calgary, and there has been some debate within the speed-skating sector whether there is enough business to support two ovals that are, relatively speaking, fairly close to each other.

VANOC's senior vice-president for Sport, Cathy Priestner, a former Olymlpic speed-skating medal winner who has spent a lot of time at the Calgary oval, says she and Dupre both believe the two ovals need not be particularly competitive with each other.

"I think some decisions have to be made, working with Speed Skating Canada and working with the [Richmond] venue and with Calgary to determine what makes sense here, in terms of ice, such as the length of time we might have ice in, the periods in the year and so on, and also whether the focus is on development [skating] or high-performance. Certainly once people see the success of Canadian speed-skaters in 2010, that's going to spark a lot of interest by young kids and we'll got a lot of our youth involved, particularly given the Richmond's venues high population [in its catchment area]. I think both ovals are sustainable with vision and smart thinking about how you use them."

Dupre says that Skate Canada now has about 11,000 skaters in Canada. We use Calgary's oval as a high-performance training centre in long track skating. We believe that another facility in the west could compliment what is taking place in the programs in Calgary. One that is more focused on regional training centres or a national development training centre will make Richmond a great hosting facility. I think, in the long run, Richmond could provide that."

Priestner also says the opportunity for concentrating on short-track training at Richmond is large. "B.C. has a history of strong short-track skaters, but they've never had dedicated facilities and access to ice. Calgary has both short and long-track, but it's more long-track focused. Short-track has grown a bit, but long-track will always be the bigger sport there. Here we have the opportunity to do more with short-track on a permanent basis."

BACKGROUND
==========

Dupre is pronounced: Dew-PRAY

RESOURCES

Speed Skating Canada website:
http://www.speedskating.ca

Speed Skating Canada's "Vision 2010" PDF document (128 k, 17 pages):
<http://www.speedskating.ca/eng/management/documents/Vision_2010_StrategicPlan_001.pdf

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 18, 2004

Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #474
(FEATURE) MARKETING DIRECTOR STARTS TO TAKE UP 2010 REVENUE-GENERATION REINS

The senior vice-president of Revenue, Marketing and Communications for the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee, Dave Cobb, says he came away from Athens with a number of ideas about how to do marketing for the 2010 Games.

Cobb was one of about 30 VANOC staffers who travelled in the last week or so to see the back-end operations of the 2004 Summer Olympics, one of only three opportunities to see such Games in operation before Vancouver's turn. Cobb, however, has only been on the job for about two weeks and he's clear that he still has a great deal more information to absorb before he can start offering direction to VANOC. But he says he did come away with ideas on revenue generation for 2010.

"It was a fantastic learning experience. I met with the heads of probably a dozen companies that will either be, or we hope to be sponsors of our Games. There were some Canadian companies in Athens that I spent some time with. It was great for us they were there because they could see how big these Games are, and what the Games can provide the sponsors. I also spent some time with the international sponsors, too. I met with the television networks, I met with the IOC marketing people, people from the other organizing committees for the Games before we have ours [Turino, Italy, and Beijing, China]. They were all generous with information to share with us."

In a wide-ranging interview on his return to Vancouver, Cobb also says he paid particular attention to the various reasons advanced for the short-fall in Athens Olympic ticket sales. The reasons include security fears, worries about whether stadiums would be completed, as well as transportation and accreditation problems. Also noted was that the average income is $C14,000 and that ticket pricing may have been a factor. Add to that, about half of the population of Athens leaves the city during the summer and goes to the Greek islands or to other parts of Europe, while European travel to Greece by car from Europe would have been affected by concerns about driving through the Balkans.

"There are probably 10 different reasons. We don't know the reason why for certain, because we're not from that community, but certainly all the negative publicity surrounding the Games -- all the negative talk about venues not being done, to the weather, to the smog -- the media just put out so many reasons why people should not go to Athens, and I think that cost [Athens organizers]."

But Cobb says it was a good lesson for him to experience. "We will need to be pro-active on our communication plans, on getting accurate information out there, letting the world know all the reasons why they _should_ come to Vancouver. We'll be working on that plan early, and we're confident that we're starting from a good position, because people love to come to this city."

Cobb, who was chief operating officer of Orca Bay Entertainment, the owner of the Vancouver Canucks hockey team, said it's difficult for him to give specific ideas of revenue generation as a result of seeing what was taking place in Athens. "I saw one week [that was the result] of years of work. What you see at the [Athens] Games is the exposure the sponsors get during that period, but you don't see the execution of the programs because they will have been done by now. When we enter into sponsorship programs with our sponsors, they will be for eight years, so we've got to come up with promotional opportunities that start well in advance of the Games themselves. It's different from a professional sporting event in Vancouver. When you go to a Canuck game, what you see is the signage of the sponsors on the rink boards. VANOC's not selling signage; in fact, we can't. But we saw the look of the Games, the whole creative elements around the Games -- everything from the identification of the volunteers to the uniforms and the colours they wore, the design, all of that stuff. You see it working, and you see what doesn't work so well."

Cobb says that talking to various potential sponsor companies, he started to see what was important to them, such as hospitality opportunities that sponsors had purchased. "They had a marketing club there, which was a spot where the sponsors could gather. That's where I spent time, and it was helpful."

Cobb notes that VANOC can't sell sponsorships legally for the 2010 Games until January 1, when a new marketing agreement between VANOC and the International Olympic Committee, an agreement which is still to be finalized, is due to take over from the end of the Bid Phase marketing agreements. "We're hoping to get together sometime towards the end of September with the IOC people responsible for it and take a couple of days to at least get us down to the final main points. We'll try to knock a hole in the small stuff and if there are a few items that we can't come to agreement on, we hope to get to that stage by the end of September or October -- somewhere in there." Cobb says the staff of both sides are still working out whether the IOC staff will come to Vancouver, or he and his support staff will go to IOC headquarters in Switzerland. "We're hoping they come here, but we'll see."

Telus and Bell Canada have both submitted sponsorship bids for the telecommunications component of the 2010 Games, but Cobb says that the two bids, by themselves, are not advancing the timetable. "Both companies took it upon themselves to deliver unsolicited proposals to us. We're not entitled to sign agreements with anybody yet; we have to complete our marketing planning agreement first, which we're working our way through now. Once we get that done, the IOC may give us permission to enter into agreements before January 1, but as of now, we can't. It was simply the interest of those two companies to speed up the process."

However, Cobb says that he's not going to be part of the evaluation team that reviews the telecommunication sponsorship bids. "It was well underway before I started, so I'm sort of on the sidelines for that one." As to whether he'll be able to insert himself into the process at some point, he says only, "We'll see."

Previous sponsorship experiences with other Olympics suggest that public response to sponsorship activities doesn't really start to build until about two years before the Games are held, and then dissipates fairly quickly. VANOC, for the first time in Games history, negotiated an eight-year sponsorship agreement with the IOC, but Cobb says his initial impression indicates that VANOC will not have any problem in convincing companies to agree to eight-year terms. "The interest that we're seeing already would indicate, if that [experience] has happened in the past, it may not continue. The more we sign up companies now, the more they'll be able to take advantage of the Torino Games [in 2006], which are only 18 months away, and we've been given strong indications by a number of companies that the value is higher if they do it now, because they'll have an opportunity to get into the marketplace well before the Torino Games."

One of the things Cobb says he is thinking about exploring is overlap possibilities with the 2006 Winter Games and sponsorships. "I don't know how much overlap there would be. Whether there are Italian companies interested in sponsorship in Canada, I'm not sure. But I'm going to be meeting with my counterpart in Torino, hopefully sometime this fall -- I saw him briefly when I was in Athens -- and we're going to go through exactly that type of thing, and see if there is any opportunity." He says he'll also talk over some of the reasons Torino is having trouble making its presence felt within Italy. A survey this spring showed that about 40% of Italians were still unaware their country was hosting a Winter Olympics in 2006.

Cobb says that VANOC will not change its plans for the competition for the 2010 Olympics logo even though the Graphic Designers of Canada has urged its members not to take part, and the Registered Graphic Designers of Canada says it will sanction any of its members who take part. "I think it's unfortunate that some groups have taken the position they have," Cobb says. "We will have hundreds of artists submitting hundreds of emblems to choose from. A lot have rolled in already. I'm confident we'll have something fantastic."

He says, however, that he has not yet considered whether VANOC will follow the same process for the development of the Paralympic logo. "To be honest, I haven't thought about that yet, I just haven't had the time."

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 18, 2004

Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #473
FURLONG PUBLICLY CAGEY OVER REASON FOR REVIEWING SIMON FRASER'S SPEED-SKATING VENUE

What was it, exactly, that prompted the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee to start looking around for alternative locations for the speedskating oval?

Background comments from staff suggest there were geo-technical problems with the construction site that would have made it difficult to ensure a stable, flat oval for the 50-year life of the building, but VANOC CEO John Furlong is determined not to say publicly.

Here's the exchange of how he answered when we asked directly if it was that report which prompted the review:

"Well, I think it's a little bit of everything. At this point, it doesn't really matter what the elements were. The fact remains that to put the venue there [on Burnaby Mountain] in the form we were proposing at the time was going to cost too much money, based on all the conditions that exist today to build it under budget. So it was a case of either finding new resources to do it, or it was going to become more and more challenging for [Simon Fraser University officials] to keep the venue at that location, and we were certainly not in a position to add new money."

"Were you pushed into this review by --

"No, we weren't pushed into it at all. We looked at it and made that determination. If we were to go ahead and build the venue on that location, our team was concerned the cost to us to build a venue suitable for the Olympic Games would have grown as high as $C25 million, and that was something that was too much for us to accept."

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 18, 2004

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #472
VANOC DIRECTORS TO DECIDE IBC VENUE SEPT 15; CBC HALTS STREAMING OLYMICS VIDEO...

Some moguls we've bumped into today...

The Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee's CEO, John Furlong, now confirms that VANOC staff will be making a report to its Board of Directors at its next meeting on September 15 about the fate of the International Broadcast Centre's location. "There are discussions going on between Richmond and Musqueam Indian band and we're reviewing it. One of the things we have to have is certainty... we're hoping we'll be in a position to determine for certain where that venue needs to be for the Games.
The CBC has suspended all audio streaming on the Internet between August 13 and 29, with the exception of special editions of some CBC Radio newscasts. Corporation websites display the message, "Due to International Olympic Committee (IOC) restrictions regarding the online transmission of Olympic Games coverage, CBC.ca is prohibited from streaming any live or on-demand audio/video files that may include protected Olympic material. CBC.ca will resume full streaming services on August 30th."
The sale of TV sponsorship rights is the lifeblood of a modern Olympic movement, responsible for a large part of a large revenue stream. If you're thinking about how best to get your marketing message across during the 2010 Winter Games, don't fret about the lack of opportunities due to Olympic requirements of an ad-clean venue. Consider how TV is doing during the 2004 Summer Olympics. NBC, which will only American network carrying the 2010 Games, says its ratings are higher this year than on comparable nights of the Sydney Games in 2000, despite poor Games attendance. Through the first four nights, the network's Nielsen rating has been an average of 14.7, an increase of 2% over the same period in 2000. On Monday night, even with patches of empty seats at men's gymnastics, NBC charted a 16.6 rating, 20% better than for the comparable evening in Sydney.
One of the jobs of an Olympic Organizing Committee, once the Games are on, is to respond to spot trouble -- situations that aren't in the Game plan. VANOC says it will ensure it doesn't have the same spectator no-show problems that confront Athens, but here's a note for the contingency section of the transfer-of-knowledge file: Athens organizers, faced with vast rows of empty seats, coupled with camera angles dictated by athletic performances, have been shuffling spectators in the stands to "improve" TV viewing. It hasn't always been working to the advantage of spectators. In some cases, camera angles require the backdrop of fans to be near the top of the stands, as opposed to where they'd like to be, which is floorside. In other cases, spectators, who buy assigned seating, have been moved down to make a better backdrop, only to get into arguments with spectators who arrived late and find there seats taken, prompting a few cuss words.
NBC's Dick Ebersol, the blunt-talking executive in charge of the TV programming for both the 2004 and the 2010 Olympics and the man behind NBC's billion-dollar cheques to the IOC, says he has had a few things to say to Olympic organizers of the 2004 Games about the vast empty spaces of seating showing up in Ebersol's TV cameras. And, he adds, that when speaking to them, "I was forceful."

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 18, 2004

Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #471
(FEATURE) RICHMOND DETAILS OLYMPIC OVAL COMPLEX, FROM COSTS TO USE

Now that the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee has made its decision about awarding the venue for the speed-skating oval to the Vancouver suburb of Richmond, the secrecy required of Richmond officials by VANOC about the details of the bid has been lifted.

It turns out that the secrecy provisions weren't that well-kept, as the formal report by Richmond shows the the main concepts of the plan, described here and in other media for the past few weeks were simply confirmed.

Richmond mayor Malcolm Brodie called the project "A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" for his city. Here are the main details as released by Richmond officials last night, who also confirm that because Richmond is taking the construction risk, it will be responsible for delivery deadlines and cost overruns:

The Richmond Olympic Oval complex will be located on the eastern portion of an 11.7 hectare (29-acre) site owned by Richmond along River Road, which borders the Middle Arm of the Fraser River. The site is approximately halfway between the No 2 Road and Dinsmore Bridges.
The cost of the entire facility is projected at C$118 million (in 2004 dollars), which includes C$6 million contingency, with another C$6 million designated for post-Games conversion costs for a total cost of C$124 million.
VANOC's capital contribution is C$60 million. Richmond's share of the facility cost will be C$32-C$42 million (between 25% and 34%). Richmond expects sale of development rights, naming rights and sponsorships to contribute the balance of C$22 million to C$32 million. Part of the operational funding is to be negotiated from VANOC's Endowment Fund, which in turn is to be generated from proceeds coming from the 2010 Olympics.
Richmond estimates it has quite a bit of money available to help with the funding if necessary: casino revenue estimated over 10 years of $50 million, development cost charges for the land & waterfronts park development of C$20 million, and initial land and development revenues from the River Road site of C$54 million.
No property tax increases will be required to fund the design and construction of the project, nor will, as some speculated, any city parks be sold to help finance the project. The City has not entered into any public-private partnership to finance the project. Such partnerships are currently politically controversial in British Columbia.
As part of the Oval development, the City will proceed with an additional C$19 million City Centre Waterfront Park, which was what the area was originally designated in the City's Waterfront Strategy policy. This development will be primarily funded from the City's parks development cost charge reserve.
Another $18 million has been earmarked for inflation contingencies. This brings the total overall cost of the entire project, including the park, to C$155 million (2006 dollars), which includes C$34 million in project and inflation contingencies (This figure, according to staff, does not include the C$6 million required for post-Games conversion expenses).
VANOC and Richmond both say they intend to make the facility the 2010 Games icon landmark, because it is to be located just across the south Arm of the Fraser river from Vancouver International Airport, so it will be seen from the air by millions of passengers travelling through YVR, as the airport is designated, each year.
The complex, says Richmond's report to the public, "will provide a wide range of opportunities for sports and community users... It will be designed and programmed to ensure access by all citizens including youth, women, people with disabilities, those with financial needs and other special requirements, as well as emerging and elite athletes. Community wellness programming will blend with high performance sports training and competition to ensure that the benefits of physical activity and athletic participation are extended to the entire community."
Richmond says that after the complex is finished -- the schedule calls for that to occur on or before October 31, 2007 -- the Olympic Oval component will be available for a variety of sport uses including "hockey, figure skating and speed skating, as well as summer sports on the activity area within the speed skating track." The legacy building will, it says, "accommodate multiple sport and support functions through a series of differing configurations of the main activity area and the capacity to host both summer and winter sports activities at one time."
During the Olympics, Richmond says the Oval will be a "state-of-the-art" international, 400-metre, long-track speed-skating facility with seating for 8,000 spectators. "The Oval's design will include first-class support areas for athletes, spectators and the Olympic family. A glassed main concourse on the building's northern side will provide spectacular views of the Fraser River and the North Shore mountains, taking advantage of the facility's superb natural setting."
Richmond says the facility's permanent features will include "a community wellness centre with programming... which may include cardiac health and injury rehabilitation... The wellness centre will be integrated with a high-performance sports-development centre including sports medicine and sports sciences and related services." These, the report says, will both be supported "by a major... fitness centre." Also included are other community activity spaces, a restaurant and some retail space.
The main activity area is to contain two Olympic-sized ice rinks and an "indoor sports field house". This area, it says, "will be quickly convertible to different configurations that allow the facility to be used for a flexible variety of ice and dry sports as demand warrants, including short- and long-track speed skating." The rinks will be used for ice hockey, figure skating, recreational skating, sledge hockey, ringette, sports camps, winter carnival use and short-track speed-skating. The entire concrete base slab for the main activity area will be refrigerated.
Richmond says the Oval's legacy ability to become an indoor sports field house will provide, for the first time in B.C., a much-needed competition and training space. "Sport BC has long identified the pressing need for a major indoor field house within the Greater Vancouver area. The field house will be home to a wide variety of indoor sport training and competition uses, including athletics (track and field), court and turf sports, martial arts and other indoor sports." The facility will also be used "on a limited basis" for a variety of secondary uses, such as cultural and community events, and trade and exhibition shows.
Richmond says it intends its multi-use concept to be similar to Calgary's Talisman Centre. As part of this process, Richmond says it did extensive due-diligence work and used consultants for "business-case scenarios, design and construction practices and requirements, facility programming and operations, marketing, economic and community benefits for both the Olympic and Post-Games uses." Richmond officials visited speed skating ovals in Europe and North America in order to gain first-hand knowledge and expertise on the complexities of designing, building and operating such a facility and the benefits of being a host City for an Olympic venue. Total cost of the due-diligence work conducted by the City was C$165,000, which is included in the overall project numbers.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 18, 2004

Morgan:News:2010 |Business| #470
NEWSPAPER SAYS CANADIAN OLYMPIC COMMITTEE MOVING AGAINST "AMBUSH ADVERTISING" IN 2004 GAMES COVERAGE

2010NewsWatch

Toronto's Globe & Mail newspaper says the Canadian Olympic Committee has begun taking action against several television advertisers for so-called "ambush advertising" connected with the 2004 Summer Olympic Games.

The COC, says the newspaper, declined to name those which it feels are trying to take advantage of the popularity of the Games but the newspaper reports that ads for the Toronto Stock Exchange and LG Electronics Canada have both been modified since they first aired, even though neither ad shows any Olympic trademarks. Noting that the national Olympic Committees around the world and the International Olympic Committee are aggressive when it comes to protecting their sponsors, the newspaper adds, "Like many other ads not authorized by the COC, the TSX spot uses athletic themes to refer indirectly to the Games, but stops short of using the Olympic trademark or the Olympic rings."

The TSX ad depicts athletes carrying flags with ticker symbols. In its first airing, the ad said that competition on the TSX "doesn't take place every four years [but] 365 days a year." That Olympic reference was removed at the COC's request, says the Globe & Mail. It quoted TSX spokesman Steve Kee as saying, "We made a minor text change, but nothing visual. We really weren't concerned that any changes were necessary, but we made the minor change to satisfy the concerns of one or two people."

The newspaper notes that an ad for LG Electronics Canada says that "this summer's games" will not be complete without the television. The paper quotes Steve Preiner, LG's corporate marketing manager, as saying the company has been, "contacted by the CBC about the COC's concerns. In the ad, items disappear from various sports to suggest that viewers are missing the action if they're not watching on a plasma television. Mr. Preiner said LG will work with the COC to address its concerns, but said he has not been told exactly what the committee is concerned about."

The newspaper claims the COC is also concerned about advertisers, such as the Tim Horton's restaurant chain, sponsoring themed sections of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's Olympics coverage, but apparently no action has been taken.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 18, 2004

Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #469
(FEATURE) BUSINESS, NOT POLITICS, BEHIND DECISION TO CHOOSE RICHMOND OVER BURNABY FOR SKATING OVAL

The Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee says a sound business cost-benefit analysis, not politics, was behind VANOC's 20-member Board of Directors making the decision to move its speed-skating oval from Simon Fraser University to the Vancouver suburb of Richmond.

"This new oval in Richmond exceeds all of VANOC's requirements for the 2010 Winter Games, and it will provide a superior sport legacy," said John Furlong, chief executive officer of VANOC. "The Richmond oval will meet our goal of building a signature world-class Olympic venue within the C$60 million budget originally outlined in the Vancouver 2010 Bid Book. Furthermore, through this partnership [with Richmond], the responsibility of delivering the venue has been transferred to Richmond, effectively reducing overall construction complexity for VANOC." Furlong adds that VANOC is constrained by budgets and the Richmond proposal "brings new resources in to help us build a very good venue."

Furlong says, "It's our view that this will be British Columbia's premier sports venue for the future."

Furlong says negotiators with VANOC and Richmond will meet over the next "two or three months" to develop a venue agreement that will impose specific timelines and responsibilities, both for the construction of the project, but also to work out Richmond's share of the C$160 million Endowment Fund that VANOC has budgeted to help run facilities after the Olympics are over. The agreement will determine the timing of how funds are forwarded. "Their proposal, which is irrevocable, requires them to start the venue at the time we've agreed and complete it at the time we've agreed." Furlong says the negotiations on the venue agreement will also deal with penalties if performance doesn't meet VANOC's specifications.

VANOC's senior vice-president of Venues, Steve Matheson, says from Athens, where he's reviewing construction issues there, "The length of time for the preliminary design and the consultation that we'll have, to make sure it works for us, it'll happen while the process unfolds. We're pretty confident about the pre-construction and approvals time, and the construction period itself, is more than ample. We'll be able to plan to host events at the venue two years before the Olympics. We've built a little bit of contingency into the schedule to make it work, but from what we've seen it's doable and we're quite confident working with Richmond.

The evaluation process run by VANOC involved a six-member technical panel chaired by Matheson, senior vice-president of planning, Terry Wright and senior vice-president of Sports, Cathy Priestner. They had followed an abbreviated request-for-proposal process that first invited expressions of interest, then sent proposal requests to four organizations who were within what VANOC calls "the Olympic theatre", an geographical area defined by travel time from the Vancouver athletes village. The four included: Simon Fraser University, the University of British Columbia, the city of New Westminster and the city of Richmond. Only SFU and Richmond had responded by the July 30th deadline. After a few days of reviewing the two proposals, VANOC invited representatives from both Simon Fraser and Richmond to make oral presentations of their proposals, and both did so.

The evaluation concluded:

Capital Costs: SFU's proposal would have cost C$78.6 million, making it C$18.6 million over-budget and eliminating VANOC's $3.6 million contingency fund for the project and VANOC would be responsible for overseeing construction, whereas Richmond's proposal only involved VANOC contributing its originally budgeted C$60 million, and Richmond would take responsibility for construction. Furlong said that when it was determined there would be difficulties building an oval that would stay flat for the 50 year life of the building, it appeared the cost over-run would be C$25 million.
Size: SFU's proposal would have met the minimum size requirements for the Olympic Games scheduled there in a building that was 19,855 square metres. Because SFU had reconfigured its proposal to deal with construction costs, the building was going to be 12% smaller than originally proposed. On the other hand, Richmond's project exceeded the requirements for the Games, includes a 33,752 square metre building and is 52% larger than the bid proposal to accommodate the legacy features of the project.
Overlay: VANOC budgeted about $3.5 million to provide for what it calls "Olympic overlay" -- temporary modifications and area requirements necessary for hosting the Games at a venue. These include such things as security areas, media space and the like. SFU's proposal was to house this aspect in temporary exterior structures, but they were adequate for Olympic requirements. Richmond's proposal included 6,000 square metres of interior space set aside for the overlay, saving VANOC C$3.5 million in operating costs.
Location: SFU's location athlete travelling time of about half an hour, but Richmond's location, which is not far from the Richmond extension of the new Richmond-Airport-Vancouver rapid transit line, was about 20 to 25 minutes from the False Creek athlete's village, a slight advantge.
Sport Legacy: Simon Fraser proposed building a temporary ice oval on a sand base with a temporary ice plant, and once the Olympics were over, this would be stripped out and the building turned into an indoor field house. Furlong said that this aspect would have run into a strong headwind from the International Olympic Committee and the International Skating Union, among others, because he says, it was "not acceptable for ISU legacy needs."

Richmond's proposal was for a multi-sport facility, with "a full range of winter and summer uses," a permanent ice capacity with a permanent ice plant on a concrete slab floor, and it would have short and long-track skating and training potential. This aspect, in particular, attracted Priestner, who said that Calgary's speed-skating oval, while accommodating short-track was primarily focused on long-track use. "As a former athlete and speedskater," Priestner says, "I'm thrilled to see such a facility... the oval far exceeds the competition requirements for the Games."

Additionally, VANOC would have had to spend C$4 million to convert SFU's concept to the field house, and there was no money in the budget to pay for the conversion, nor could SFU offer additional resources. Furlong said SFU had an advantage over Richmond in being able to offer the building for high-performance sport and research, but Richmond said it would be willing to enter into partnerships with "universities and colleges" to accommodate their interests. In addition, Richmond's legacy plan would focus on all levels of sport, from international through regional to local. "I would not underestimate Richmond's capacity to partner with the universities," says Furlong. "It was part of their proposal... the legacy they have in mind is an extraordinary one; it is extremely positive." Adds Priestner: "The advantage that we have in Richmond is that it has access to a number of colleges and universities in proximity, and with the vision and committment they have there's no doubt they'll forge these partnerships to ensure there's a fully supported high-performance program."

Value-Added: Furlong said the location of the Richmond proposal, in full view of people arriving at the Vancouver International Airport, would make the building the "signature" venue for the Games, it would have "spectacular waterfront location and access," and would become the "best venue of its kind in the world, and we've done a lot of research on this." He noted that the development would include retail commercial space and restaurants, and have a capacity for winter and summer sports taking place "side by side." And, he added, "it's a very ambidextrous facility." Furlong says, "The plan is that it will be fully sustainable and environmentally compatible with the overall games vision and strategy we've been talking about all these years. It will have an enormous impact on sport in this country."

Furlong said the evaluation committee unanimously recommended the Richmond proposal -- Wright and Matheson took part in the decision from Athens -- and so did the Board of Directors. "Our Board was extremely encouraged by what they heard [about Richmond's partnership involvement] earlier today."

Furlong confirms that VANOC will not be specifically seeking proposals for other venues, but he left the door open for the possibility if what he calls "challenges" occur. "If we face a challenge, we'll have to review every challenge the way we reviewed this one. [Construction of the Games] is a difficult, challenging process, and our job is to be as responsible as we can... as we move along, we'll try to get the best possible result for the broader community. We have no reason today to believe that we have a similar situation."

He also confirmed that VANOC has served notice on Simon Fraser that it was terminating its venue agreement and, he added, that he didn't think that incurred either a financial or a legal liability.

Wright, VANOC's director of Planning, says that VANOC has always been on the watch for partners to help it building the venues for the Games and with Richmond's involvement with the oval and Whistler's involvement on the sledge hockey venue, it now means that VANOC has a number of third parties taking the risk and the responsibility for construction. "It's really helpful in managing our overall position. It means the facilities we're directly responsible for building are down to three major ones and a series of minor renovations."

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 17, 2004

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #468
RICHMOND WORKING ON DEAL FOR IBC; DELTA CONNECTS WITH COMMUNITY AT PUB; MASCOTS SELL DESPITE CRITICS

Some moguls we've bumped into today...

Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie says the city is finalizing a memorandum of understanding with the Musqueam Indian band to acquire the land where the International Broadcast Centre is to be built by the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee. Tourism Richmond is proposing a trade and exhibition centre for the site, which, if built, could be used as the International Broadcast Centre during the Olympics. The CEO of the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee, John Furlong, says a final decision on the location of the Broadcast Centre will be made by VANOC in mid-September.
Delta's 2010 Consortium, an organization approved by city council to unite several 2010-related community groups, set up an event designed to connect the groups with the public, using the 2004 Summer Olympic Games. The Delta Spirit of 2010 committee and the Delta 2010 Consortium jointly invited residents of the Vancouver suburb to watch the Games opening ceremonies with them at a local restaurant and pub. They even sold tickets through the city's municipal hall. The consortium's job is to co-ordinate community planning developed by the municipality, the Delta Spirit of 2010 Committee, the Delta Chamber of Commerce and the Delta school district, parks and recreation groups.
Something to keep in mind for 2010 retail operations: Toronto Star newspaper correspondent Rosie Dimanno, says that despite critical comments by other reviewers about the Athens mascots, Phevos and Athena, they are apparently selling well from about 10,000 licensed retailers throughout Greece and internationally. She still can't get over how goofy they look, but notes that they are no goofier than the mascots of games previous. "Nagano had the famous Snowlets, and we were never quite sure what those puffball things were meant to depict, although they sold out almost immediately. (One colleague offered a hundred bucks to a storeowner if he would remove his last remaining set from the display window, such was the reporter's desperation to please his kid back home.) Sydney had Olly, Syd and Millie, representing the environment, the millennium and technology. Salt Lake City had Powder, Copper and Coal." Still, Dimanno adds, apparently unfamiliar with the determinedly quiet war underway behind the scenes between supporters of the orca, the kermode bear and Whistler marmot for Vanocuver's Games, "One shudders at the thought of what Vancouver might come up with for the 2010 Winter Games — perhaps a reefer-toking dude-doll in honour of local pothead culture and snowboarder Ross Rebagliati, who famously tested (second-hand) positive for marijuana in Nagano after copping gold. Fortunately, pot wasn't then on the list of substances banned by the International Olympic Committee, and certainly not as a once-removed contact high, as Rebagliati insisted. Just, please Lord, no mini-Mounties and moose."

RESOURCES: Here's a website that shows what the mascots of Olympic games have looked like over the years:
http://www.collectors.olympic.org/e/fimo/fimo_mascots_e.html

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 17, 2004

Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #466
RICHMOND AWARDED BID TO CONSTRUCT NEW SPEED-SKATING OVAL FOR 2010

The Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee's Board of Directors has decided to award construction of the speed-skating oval to the Vancouver suburb of Richmond, dashing the hopes of Simon Fraser University, where it was originally proposed to be located.

VANOC CEO John Furlong, who says the Committee will contribute $C60 million of the cost of Richmond's complex, says the decision was made after the Board weighed competing bids for the oval: the revamped bid from Simon Fraser and the new multiplex project proposed by the Vancouver suburb of Richmond. Richmond's bid incorporates the oval, but it does not include the International Broadcast Centre to handle TV crews covering the games. The Broadcast Centre was always proposed for Richmond, but on a different piece of land that's since become the subject of a land-claims-related court case.

The complex will be constructed on property along the north side of the middle arm of the Fraser River, between the Dinsmore and Number #2 Road bridges, on property adjacent to Richmond's town centre. It will be part of a project that will become a multi-purpose sports, community and conference complex after the Games.

The review was made necessary after a geological report commissioned by VANOC on all the proposed venues discovered that the cost of ensuring the oval's surface would be flat for the 50-year life span of the building at the Simon Fraser location on Burnaby Mountain would have taken the building significantly over budget.

Furlong said VANOC analyzed the bids based on four major components: logistics, what he called "the legacy proposition," the financial elements and how well each will work for the sports involved.

[We'll have more on this story shortly]

BACKGROUND
==========

'(Feature) Political posturing greets debut of Richmond bid for Oval venue'
[Morgan:News:2010:Number:433; Published on Tuesday, July 13, 2004]

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 17, 2004

Wednesday, October 13, 2004

Morgan:News:2010 |General| #465
OTTAWA EDITORIAL URGES 2010 ORGANIZERS TO USE RESTRAINT IN PRODUCTION OF GAMES

An editorial in the Ottawa Citizen newspaper today likens the weight of trying to pull off an Olympics to that of a weightlifter straining to heft barbells so heavy the bar is bending.

But it suggests the Vancouver 2010 Olympics Organizing Committee could lead the way in lightening the load by "removing all the needless distractions that drag them down."

"The Games have often tried to fly too high," says the editorial. "Montreal's Olympic Stadium, which wasn't finished in time for the 1976 Games, started to fall apart before it was paid off; Atlanta's Summer Games, dubbed the "Coca-Cola Games" were widely considered too commercial. That's what happens when the Olympics are used as an excuse for something else -- for a modernization program (as in Athens, despite all the talk about returning to the Olympics' roots), a building boom (Montreal), a tourism boost (Vancouver-Whistler 2010), a global-coming-out party (Beijing 2008)."

And, the newspaper adds, "On their current scale, the Olympics are so difficult and expensive to stage that they need massive government and corporate support. Governments will only pay if the Games bring huge public benefits, and those will only come if the Games attract gigantic crowds. Corporations will only help if they can associate themselves with the Olympic ideals, and be seen doing it (that is, if they can exploit that association in their advertising). And all this can only happen in rich countries with the technology and infrastructure to handle it. The Winter Games are usually smaller than the summer version, so organizers in Vancouver-Whistler might be able to avoid overproducing their show."

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 13, 2004

Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #464
SENIOR DECISION-MAKERS IMPRESSED WITH ATHENS OPENING CEREMONIES

BC Premier Gordon Campbell, John Furlong, the CEO of the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee and VANOC's senior vice-president of Revenue all say they were impressed and affected by today's spectacular opening ceremonies at the Olympics in Athens.

In a joint phone call from Athens, Premier Campbell says, "You cant help but feel a sense of imagination and the excitement that everybody [in the Stadium] feels. I was kind of trying to catch my breath sometimes, thinking what this would be like for British Columbia in 2010. Our job is that we capture that; my fear is that we will miss some of the opportunities. But I have great confidence in the people of VANOC, so I don’t expected they will [miss opportunities]. But there's no question there's a huge responsibility to fulfil."

Furlong said he felt the same. "Sport has such a way of building a sense of family among people, and there was such a sense of unity there. Greece was telling its story to the world. The city of Athens smiled and the world and the world smiled back. We watched a country tell its story to the world and show its pride to the world. Our time is going to come to show our unique history. But we’re not there yet. It’ll be important to keep a keen focus, and important not to miss the opportunity for us to tell the world who we are when it's our turn. We're going to have to put on a pretty good show in 2010. It’s expected of us.

Furlong, noting that the Athens show was four hours and referring to the sizeable cost of the production, added, "If it was me, it would be six hours. I couldn’t get enough of it. People don’t set out to spend a lot of money, they set out to tell a story. You have to try new things to achieve that. We thought we could match up. We'll be the first indoor opening ceremonies ever [at BC Place Stadium]. We have lots to tell the world, but it doesn’t have to be about the dollars; it has to do with imagination."

For Cobb, it was his first time he had experienced an opening ceremony, but besides the pageantry, he was also thinking about revenue for 2010. "There were many potential sponsors in that arena tonight. You really feel the impact of watching it live. It’ll be a great kickoff for the Games, and the streets afterward were packed as people streamed out."

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 13, 2004

Morgan:News:2010 |Sports| #463
LINDH TO REPLACE BOYD AS WHISTLER MOUNTAIN SKI CLUB COACH

2010NewsWatch

The Whistler Question newspaper says the Whistler Mountain Ski Club (WMSC) has hired three-time Olympian and silver downhill medallist Hilary Lindh as its coach. Lindh was winner of the 1992 Winter Olympic silver medal and gold medal at the World Championships in 1997.

"Lindh replaces Rob Boyd, who left the club this summer to take a coaching position with the Canadian national team," says today's edition of the paper.

The paper says Lindh has been in the Whistler area for a few years, but will be working mainly with athletes during their training camp in Australia, adding, "She has a lot of similarities to Rob Boyd in the way they both see something others don't in the sport — like the top of a podium." Once the athletes return from Australia, "dryland" testing will begin.

A training camp in Hintertux, Austria is also on the fall schedule because of the hard work of coach Igor Dostal. The newspaper quotes coaches as saying, "2010 is putting the pressure on us and we need to be in ship-shape, which is a good thing."

RESOURCES

Whistler Mountain Ski Club web page listing the senior officers of the club and photos of its members on senior ski teams:
http://www.whistlermountainskiclub.com/clubinformation.htm

Contact info, including e-mail addresses, is here:
http://www.whistlermountainskiclub.com/contact.htm

A photo of Hillary Lindh, taken in 2002, is here:
http://www.juneauempire.com/images/010302/hilary.jpg

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 12, 2004

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #462
WNC CONTRACT AWARD NEXT WEEK; ORGANIZED? WHO'S ORGANIZED?; AS FETE WOULD HAVE IT IN ATHENS

Some moguls we've bumped into today...

The announcement about which company has won the contract to build the first 2010 Olympic venue, the C$60 million Whistler Nordic Centre, is now expected to be made next week. The process is about two weeks behind VANOC's own previously announced schedule.
You have to wonder at just how organized some things are. The VANOC announcement about events to mark the 2,010 day before the Vancouver opening ceremonies was released the day before the events, some of which were for the general public in Whistler, took place. In fact, it just barely made it in time for today's issue of Whistler's newspaper, The Question. And the announcement about the Intrawest/CNL Income Properties deal, which involves an 80% purchase of Whistler Blackcomb, was made independently by CNL and Intrawest. But the Intrawest announcement contained details about a voice-conference discussion for media and investors with officials of the two companies to take place at 6:30a Pacific time. It was e-mailed, however, only an hour before the phone call.
Among those recognized and feted at the fancy reception in Athens at Canada House last night were all of whom who will have quite a bit of influence over how the 2010 Games are planned and delivered. They included Stephen Owen, Canada's Federal Minister of State for Sport, British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell, who did a short speech, Jack Poole and John Furlong, the top two executives of the Vancouver 2010 Games, and Charmaine Crooks, who is leaving the International Olympic Committee. Crooks, a silver medallist in track at the 1984 Olympics, ends her term as an athlete representative on the IOC at these Games and she will likely be replaced this fall as one of the IOC's representatives on the Board of Directors of the 2010 Games as a result. Daniel Igali, who won the Canadian gold medal for wrestling in the 2000 Sydney Summer Games is running for her job as one of the IOC vacancies, and is currently campaigning in Athens among 23 others for the four available elected positions. Furlong has said earlier that he's rooting for Igali.
Furlong went up onto the roof of Canada Olympic House in Athens today, which was bright and sunny, to pose for publicity photographs about the number of days left before the Vancouver Olympic Games open in 2010. Canada Olympic House is not far from the Acropolis, which provided a vista that impressed Furlong as he stood on the roof, waiting for the photographer to adjust equipment. Later, he said, "You know, most of the Canadians have been up there and its an extraordinary backdrop to the Olympic Games. But you get the feeling there are park benches up there that are older than our province."

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 12, 2004

Morgan:News:2010 |Business| #461
GRAPHIC DESIGNERS OF CANADA DISAPPOINTED CANADIAN DESIGNER TO JUDGE 2010 LOGO

The national Graphic Designers of Canada has added its voice to the Registered Graphic Designers of Ontario that a Canadian designer will be one of eight judges of the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee's logo-design contest.

Steve Mykolyn, creative director of Design & Interactive at Taxi Advertising and Design in Toronto was chosen by VANOC for the international panel, which was announced yesterday. The GDC and RGD both strongly criticized VANOC for setting up a competition for the most important marketing tool the 2010 Games will have, feeling VANOC should have used a request-for-proposals process, where a short-list of graphic designers would be paid to submit designs, instead of doing them for free in hopes of winning a C$25,000 prize.

The president of the Graphic Designers, Peggy Cady, says, "Any judge who is not a member of either the GDC or RGD Ontario is free to do as they wish, but I would add, we are disappointed that any Canadian designers would participate in the contest in any role."

Cady says her organization continues to oppose the contest format. "Our members strongly support our decision. We've made our position clear and the membership hasn't asked us to revisit it... The GDC does not support the contest. We are recommending that our members do not take part in this contest, but we will be sending our guidelines for future Olympic design competitions to VANOC and the IOC. We agreed to not censure our members as it was the only way we could work with VANOC and be able to influence future Olympic identity competitions, and build respect for the design profession around the world."

Cady says the different positions taken by the two organizations haven't affected their relationship. "Neither organization endorses the competition so we don't have issues between us on this topic. We both disapprove of the contest... We respect each other's judgements, even if there is a difference in our responses to this contest. The decision we made is that any GDC member who enters will not be censured if a grievance is raised, and RGD's decision is that any RGD member who enters will be censured if a grievance is raised... The reason we agreed to not censure members who entered was because VANOC agreed to forward our guidelines [to the IOC] for future competitions."

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 12, 2004

Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #460
BOARD TO DECIDE ON FATE OF 2010 SKATING OVAL ON AUGUST 17

The CEO of the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee, John Furlong, says in an interview from Athens that a decision on the location of the Speedskating Oval is expected to be made by the VANOC board on August 17.

The comment was part of a wide-ranging interview following Furlong's presentation to the International Olympic Committee's full session, where Vancouver was the last piece of business before the session ended just before the start of the Summer Olympic Games.

Furlong said that the two proposals for the C$60 million project, one from the original proposed location of Simon Fraser University and the other from the municipality of Richmond, are still being analyzed, but that work is almost done. "There is one piece of work yet to do on that, and it should be done by today or tomorrow. Then we'll take a couple of days to prepare our report with a recommendation to our Board for a decision on the 17th. Hopefully, we'll get a decision that day, but it's up to the Board to make the decision."

Furlong says that VANOC is analyzing the bids based on four major components logistics, what he called "the legacy proposition," the financial elements and how well each will work for the sports involved. "We have been talking to the people responsible for sport and logistics at the IOC, we've been talking to the Canadian federations involving the long-track and short-track skating, we've been talking to the IOC's Coordination Commission for the Vancouver Games, and we've been sharing with those individuals what our findings have been and taking their input and feedback as well, so we can give a comprehensive report to the Board." Furlong says Board directions in Athens to observe the Games, which includes chair Jack Poole, will assemble in the Greek city, and joint a voice conference with Board members in Canada to discuss the Oval situation.

Furlong also says that he hopes to make a final determination on the location of the International Broadcast Centre, which is proposed to be built on land that is involved in a court battle with the Indian band claiming ownership. One backup plan is to move it to the site of the new Vancouver Convention centre, which is just now starting construction.

Furlong said that after he gave his report to the IOC's directors and the chairman of the IOC's commission, Rene Faisel, gave his report on its perspective of how the Vancouver Games are progressing

He said Faisel's report was encouraging. "Their view is that the planning is at an advanced stage, that we're doing a thorough job, that things are going well and that the quality of our partnership is strong and getting stronger. The report was very encouraging for us, and there was a feeling by the directors around the hall afterward that was optimistic.

Furlong said the IOC directors also had questions for him following the two presentations. "There was a great deal of interest in the position that VANOC in taking in the promotion of sport and that the Canadian team needs to be supported, and that Canadian athletes need to be supported. That it was not enough just to stage the Games well but that the Canadian team be supported all along, and the science of that... We talked about the influence we are trying to put to bear on governments and corporations who will be doing business with us about this support. This is something [VANOC] cares very much about and to give the country something to really cheer for."

Furlong said there was a question about the capacity of the Sea to Sky highway connecting Vancouver and Whistler. "We talked about that, and I think they took some gratification that construction has started on the road and it's moving along nicely." And, he added, that the IOC directors felt that the location of the Whistler Athletes Village on the Cheakmous property south of Whistler is "viewed by the IOC and us as a vastly superior accommodation solution in Whistler."

While in Athens, Furlong said he and the other 30 VANOC-related people who are there will be looking at several aspects of how they work. "We will be particularly looking at how the Athens Olympic organization handles on-the-spot challenges. There are always issues that arise on daily basis that have to be dealt with. There are a large number of people who come to these Games, and you can never fully predict how they are going to behave. We'll also be looking at how how security is managed, how the venues are set up, how media centre and the International Broadcast Centre are looked after. We have only three opportunities between now and 2010 to see how a project like this is staged, and this is one of them."

Furlong says he's learned something interesting already in Athens about the effect on a city of staging the Olympic Games: "The Games have taken the community by storm. Every citizen I've encountered has been an ambassador for the Games, and their welcome is quite remarkable. The venues are extraordinary. What I've learned is the sense that the Olympic Games own the city. It’s a really taken over the city. There's lots of colour and excitement. It's a graphic reminder of impact the Olympic Games are going to have on us [in Vancouver], and the challenges ahead of us."

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 12, 2004

Morgan:News:2010 |Business| #459
OWNERSHIP OF WHISTLER BLACKCOMB 2010 VENUE TO CHANGE BY YEAR-END

The ownership structure of Whistler Blackcomb, site of some of the Vancouver 2010 Games, is expected to change by the end of this year.

CNL Income Properties, Inc. - an American real-estate investment trust based in Orlando, Florida, and focused primarily on recreation and lifestyle properties - is expected to buy 80% ownership in commercial properties at nine resort villages owned by Intrawest Corporation and its affiliates, including Whistler Blackcomb. Intrawest will retain 20% ownership of these facilities, it says, and continue in its role as property and leasing manager. CNL calls it a partnership arrangement.

The Intrawest commercial portfolio is CNL Income Properties' first acquisition, however the REIT is an affiliate of CNL Financial Group (CNL), one of America's largest, privately held companies involved in real estate investment and finance. CNL and the entities it has formed or acquired have more than US$16 billion in assets - including US$3 billion managed for third-party investors - and have interests in more than 4,700 properties across North America.

The US$160 million acquisition, subject to completion of customary closing conditions, includes premier retail and commercial space located in the Intrawest villages, such as restaurants, retail and office space.

"We're building a portfolio of premier properties that capitalizes on the changing real-estate utilization patterns of baby boomers, echo boomers and genXers who, we believe, will be golfing, traveling and shopping like never before," said CNL Income Properties President Byron Carlock. "To have had the opportunity to forge this partnership with Intrawest right out of the gate is exciting."

The Intrawest commercial portfolio involves in the deal includes Whistler Creekside, one of two retail villages at Whistler Blackcomb, a 7,000-acre ski resort 75 miles north of Vancouver. According to Intrawest Corporation, Whistler Blackcomb had 2.1 million ski visits between November 2, 2002 through April 3, 2003, and will be a host venue for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 12, 2004

Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #458
FURLONG TELLS IOC THAT 2010 GAMES ON SCHEDULE DESPITE QUESTIONS ABOUT LOCATIONS OF TWO VENUES

The CEO of the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee, John Furlong has told the full International Olympic Committee's 116th Board session in Athens today that the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games continue on schedule.

"Our goal is to remain ahead of the planning curve, and I reported that we have met a number of milestones in the year since we were awarded the Games," said Furlong. "The IOC reaction to our report was positive."

Furlong's report to the IOC included the following updates:

VANOC has begun reviewing two unsolicited proposals from telecommunications companies interested in becoming sponsors of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games. (The names are not included in the report, but they are Telus and Bell Canada.)
He reported that "decisions on the locations of the speed skating oval and the International Broadcast Centre are being finalized," but did not go into specifics. However it is the first time he has acknowledged the Broadcast Centre, currently slated for Richmond, a suburb of Vancouver, may not be built in the location originally planned. "Venue planning for the entire Vancouver-Whistler Games program is on schedule," he told the IOC.
VANOC has completed a draft 2010 Games master schedule with project management and project reporting structure.
He confirmed that six members of VANOC's executive team were selected after an extensive recruitment process that saw "more than 600 applications from 28 countries."
He said that VANOC continues to talk with the "local accommodation sector" and has "secured more than 6,000 of the rooms required for the for the 2010 Winter Games consistent with the pricing formula developed during the Vancouver 2010 bid phase."

Furlong said after the briefing that, "We have 2,010 days until our Opening Ceremony – it seems like a lot of time but we know that each day brings new challenges in a project of this magnitude." He added "But today's focus is the Athens Games where the excitement is building. We wish the people of Greece much success as their hosting plans go live with the Olympic and Paralympic Summer Games. Athens will be a learning experience for Vancouver."

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 12, 2004

Morgan:News:2010 |Business| #457
RGD ONTARIO DISAPPOINTED TORONTO DESIGNER PART OF VANOC LOGO JUDGING PANEL

The Executive Director of the Association of Registered Graphic Designers of Ontario says she's disappointed that an Ontario designer has agreed to take part in judging the Vancouver Olympic Committee's logo design contest.

But Carmen von Richthofen says she's philosophical about it, since Steve Mykolyn, creative director of Design & Interactive at Taxi Advertising and Design in Toronto, one of eight judges named to the panel by VANOC is not a member of RGD Ontario. "Obviously, it would be great for the fight against the practice of spec work if all graphic designers in Canada refused to be involved in any aspect of a spec work competition, be it as an entrant or a judge," she says. "On the other hand, since we have to live with the reality of the VANOC spec work competition, it's good to have someone of Steve Mykolyn's calibre on the selection panel, assuming he will be able to work with professionally-devised VANOC selection criteria and process, to ensure greater success at choosing the best possible from the lot, since it will represent Canada around the world."

RGD Ontario has told its members they will be sanctioned by the professional organization if they take part in the VANOC competition.

Von Richthofen says, after reviewing the expertise of eight judges that she expects they "will all do their professional level best." She says that, "Some appear to have more experience and background in branding and identity than others. To what extent they will be allowed to deploy their expertise, knowledge and professional opinions will depend on the degree of professionalism and fairness used to establish the VANOC judging criteria, procedures and method for making the final selection. Let's hope all of that, at least, will be established in a knowledgeable and appropriately professional and demonstrably fair and objective manner."

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 11, 2004

Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #456
FORT ST. JOHN MARKS 2010 DATE BY EXPANDING "WALK TO WHISTLER" PROGRAM

The City of Fort St. John, in northeastern British Columbia, has decided to mark 2,010 days to the opening of the Vancouver Olympics by expanding its intriguing Walk to Whistler Fitness Challenge throughout Canada and the United States on Aug. 12.

The Walk to Whistler idea started with the launch in July of a website that would encourage Fort St. John residents to gain the benefits of increased physical exercise and to acknowledge the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver and Whistler. However, the project has taken off: more than 245 people have registered on the Challenge's website, from the East Coast of Canada to Vancouver Island, and from Fort St. John to Oakland, California, representing 174 communities. In total, the website reports they've logged more than 47,592 kilometers so far. Since Fort St. John and Whistler are 1,462 kilometers apart, that's the equivalent of walking from Fort St. John to Whistler 32 times (that's 56,254,907 steps).

"We can all use a little more exercise and the Walk to Whistler is a project that helps us encourage low-impact and safe fitness, reap the health benefits and demonstrate Fort St. John's support of the biggest sporting event in BC history," says Fort St. John Mayor Steve Thorlakson. "We invite participants from everywhere in Canada and the US to get fit and get involved."

The Walk to Whistler contest has attracted some high-profile walkers to register. "Fort St. John is showing their Olympic spirit with the Walk to Whistler challenge," says British Columbia premier Gordon Campbell, who is now in Athens for the start Friday of the 2004 Summer Olympics. "We'd like BC to be the fittest place ever to host the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, and it's great to see communities from all over our province step up to help make this happen."

Membership on the site is free. Participants use their own pedometer to record their steps and then they log the information online, where they can compare their performance with other walkers.

Registered participants will be eligible for a number of draw prizes, with a final planned draw prize of two tickets to the Opening Ceremonies of the
2010 Winter Olympics.

BACKGROUND =

Pedometers, purchased from local retailers, count the number of steps you take. The Walk to Whistler website converts those steps to kilometers and tracks your progress from your community to Whistler, BC.

RESOURCES

The Walk to Whistler website:
http://www.WalkToWhistler.com/

John Locher, City Manager, Fort St. John
250-787-8161, jlocher@fortstjohn.ca

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 11, 2004

Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #455
"2010 DAYS TO GO" CEREMONIES MARKED IN VANCOUVER, WHISTLER AND ATHENS

The Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee, which said earlier this summer it wasn't going to make a big deal out of the 2010 countdown date has changed its mind and says it will mark the opening of the 2004 Olympic Summer Games in Athens with activities in Vancouver, Whistler and Athens on August 13.

Besides public events, there will even be a number of media photo and interview opportunities that will take place to mark the start of the Summer Games. VANOC's 2,010-day countdown to the opening of the 2010 Winter Games will also be recognized on August 12.

Here's what's VANOC will be doing:

August 12, 2004

Whistler: 2,010 Days to Go Celebration. 1:00 - 5:00 pm PDT. The Whistler 2010 Info Centre is hosting a 2,010 Days To Go celebration. There'll be an official cake cutting at 2:10pm, and visitors are invited to be one of 2,010 signatures gathered on banners that will be sent to the Canadian Paralympic Team in Athens. It will be sent on Wednesday, September 8, 2004, which is exactly 2,010 days before the opening of the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games. The cake-cutting will be at the Whistler 2010 Info Centre, 4365 Blackcomb Way, Whistler. Contact: Maureen Douglas in Whistler 604.932.2010.

Athens: VANOC Presentation to International Olympic Committee Full Session. VANOC CEO John Furlong will present the VANOC update to the 116th session of the IOC. There will be a news conference following at 1:00 pm Athens time, but that's 3am in Vancouver. The presentation is at the Divani Caravel Hotel, Horizon Room. Contact: Jane Burnes in Athens. Calling from Canada 011 30 693 678 9230.

Athens: 2,010 Days To Go Celebration at Canada Olympic House. 5:15 pm in Athens (7:15 am Vancouver). Members of the VANOC delegation in Athens including British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell, the Canadian Government's Minister of State for Sport, Stephen Owen, Whistler Mayor Hugh O'Reilly, VANOC CEO John Furlong and VANOC Chairman Jack Poole will unveil a 2,010 Days To Go Banner at Canada Olympic House, which is at the Theophilos Art Gallery, 59 Mitropoleos St. Contact: Jane Burnes in Athens. Calling from Canada 011 30 693 678 9230

Furlong says he'll make himself available for news interviews afterward.
August 13, 2004

Vancouver: The VANOC office celebrates the 2004 Summer Games between 11am and noon PDT. Members of the VANOC team in Vancouver will take a break from preparations for the 2010 Winter Games to watch the telecast of the Opening Ceremony of the 2004 Summer Games.

Whistler: Athens 2004 Opening Ceremony live telecast from 10am to 2pm PDT. The Whistler 2010 team will have three large-screen TVs set up in the Town Plaza, which is under the Gazebo, for public viewing. It's a Greek theme with prizes for the most creative toga. Non-toga wearing participants are encouraged to wear red and white to cheer Team Canada members as they enter the stadium in Athens. Contact: Maureen Douglas in Whistler 604.932.2010.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 11, 2004

Morgan:News:2010 |IOC| #454
NEW OLYMPIC 'CLEAN VENUE' POLICY MOVES TO PROTECT SPONSORS OF 2004 GAMES

The organizers of the Athens Summer Games, which start Friday, have published a revised and expanded policy detailing what spectators can bring with them to the 2004 Games. The policy is aimed at protecting Games sponsors from ambush marketing and attempts to advertise items during the Games without paying sponsorship fees.

The implementation of that policy, and the reaction to it, will be one of the items encountered by the group of Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee officials now in Athens to observe the operation of the 2004 Games which start Friday. A similar type of policy is expected to be part of the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver when they open.

Known as the "clean venue" policy, it prohibits spectators from showing brands or consuming products manufactured by companies that are competitors to the sponsors of the Olympics. For instance, people carrying any food or drinks will be asked to leave the items at the gate or be refused entry to Olympic facilities. Fans wearing merchandise from sponsors' rivals may be asked to conceal the logos, such as wearing the shirt inside out. This will also apply to members of a crowd sitting next to each other wearing clothing with letters that spell out a message.

The main sponsors of the 2004 Games that would be affected by this sort of tactic include McDonald's and Visa, paid more than C$1.3 billion altogether for exclusive advertising rights, and the soft drink company, Coca Cola, which paid C$70 million.

BACKGROUND =

Here's a partial list of items barred from being brought into the 2004 Games venues by spectators; these are the items, from the much more extensive full list, are the ones that deal with sponsorship or commercial control:

Electronic equipment of "Non-Rights holding" broadcasting organizations
Flags of non-participating countries.
Logos, open umbrellas in seating areas, items (T-shirts, hats, bags, etc.) with distinctive trademarks of companies that are competitive to those of the sponsors
Pirate "Athens 2004" products
Leaflets, pamphlets, non-approved publications, unauthorized signs and labels...
Water, beverages...
Food (except for proven medical reasons)
Collection of money for unauthorized purposes
Use or distribution of clothing and/or any type of material with the intent of advertising, promotion, raising money or making profit through unauthorized means
Ambush marketing
Unauthorized ticket sales
Unauthorized sale of food
Unauthorized entry of TV presenters and unauthorized transmission and/or videotaping through transmission devices or mobile phones

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 11, 2004

Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #453
BIG CREATIVE AND COMMERCIAL GUNS TO CHOOSE 2010 LOGO

Members of the international panel that will evaluate entries to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic logo design contest will be made up of people with significant commercial and Olympic design expertise.

"This emblem competition marks the beginning of the creative process," says Dave Cobb, VANOC's new senior vice-president of Revenue, Marketing & Communications, who will observe the evaluation session. "It will involve hundreds of people collaborating on a wide range of design projects resulting in the entire look of the 2010 Winter Games."

Panel members include:

Brad Copeland, president of Iconologic, an American brand-design firm in Atlanta, Georgia that specializes in identity, communications design, interactive media and advertising for corporate and Olympic clients. He created Atlanta's logo during its bid for the 1996 Olympic Games and Atlanta's winning 630-page bid-book package. He was also design director for the Atlanta Games, directing how the look of the Games would be used throughout the city and the Game venues. In 1997, he was hired by the International Olympic Committee to develop the look of the Games for Nagano's Winter Olympics in 1998, the Sydney summer Games in 2000, and the Salt Lake Winter Games in 2002. He is currently implementing the Look programs in Athens for this year's Summer games, for the 2006 Torino Winter Games and the 2008 Beijing Summer Games. Copeland has judged all three previous Olympic logo competitions - as well as the Athens and Torino mascot competitions.
Scott Givens, vice-president of Entertainment for Disney Entertainment Productions, based in Los Angeles. Before coming to the Walt Disney Company, Givens led the creative agency and ceremonial teams for the Salt Lake City Winter Games. Givens is still a consultant to the IOC, and is now working on jobs involving the image and ceremonies for Athens, Torino and Beijing. Givens is also founder of Stadium Stunts, a production company focusing on large-scale audience stunts and human formations. His credits span over 200 spectaculars including the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Ceremonies, numerous Super Bowl Games and NBA All-Star Basketball Games.
Theodora Mantzaris-Kindel, manager of the Image & Identity department at the Organizing Committee for the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. Based in Athens, Greece, she designed the logo for the Athens Games, and then her design firm went on to win the contract for overseeing the development of the logo to a wide range of uses. Prior to her appointment at ATHOC, as the Athens Organizing Committee is called, she worked in London for 10 years, for multinational companies such as Addison, Landor and Wolff Olins, designing the strategy for the corporate identity of organizations such as Portugal Telecom, Airtel, AVE (Alta Velocidad Espana), Gas Natural, Bank of Cyprus and the British Tea Council. She studied at Ravensbourne College and got a Master of Arts in Graphic Design and Art Direction from the Royal College of Art in London, under an Onassis Foundation Scholarship. She also has a Postgraduate degree in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing at Guildhall University.
Rod Harris, president and CEO of Tourism British Columbia, who is from Victoria, B.C. While there, Tourism BC has won Gold Medals from the Canadian Marketing Association in 2001, the Pacific Asia Travel Association in 2000 and the Canadian Direct Marketing Association in 1998. It was also named BC's Marketer of the Year by the American Marketing Association in 1999. Prior to his appointment at Tourism British Columbia, Harris served as an executive in top Canadian marketing and advertising companies such as Maclaren Advertising and John Labatt Limited. He has also been a senior marketing manager responsible for leading international brands such as Colgate-Palmolive, Sara Lee, Sunlight, General Foods, and Cloverleaf. Harris has also proven himself as an entrepreneur, as President and majority shareholder of EDG Foods - Canada's first commercial producer of dried-fruit snacks.
Steve Mykolyn, creative director of Design & Interactive at Taxi Advertising and Design in Toronto. Mykolyn has produced work for BMW, IBM, Nike, DaimlerChrysler and Hudson's Bay Corporation, and has won more than 100 international awards for his design and communications work. Steve has been involved with interactive design since 1995 and has created award-winning websites for Levi's, Sony, LCBO and PriceWaterhouseCoopers. Among the number of books he has written is "Brand My Ass", best described as a cheeky industry handbook. Significantly, his firm does not appear to be a member of the Registered Designers of Ontario, which has forbidden its members to take part in the competition.
Wei Yew - Designer and author of a massive coffee-table book called "The Olympic Image - The First 100 years." He is from Edmonton, Alberta. He created logos for the Olympic Truce and for the Environmental Olympics, and designed for the Calgary 1988 Olympic Arts Festival. Wei started his own publishing company, Quon Editions, which has produced best-selling design books such as Storks and Bonds, Noah's Art and Gotcha! The Art of the Billboard. He has served on the teaching staff at Grant MacEwan College and the eMedia Design School in Edmonton, and has adjudicated numerous design competitions, including the first-ever graphic design show in China.
Dr. Ron Burnett, president of the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in Vancouver. Dr. Burnett was the Director of the Graduate Program in Communications at McGill University in Toronto before coming to Emily Carr. He is the author of the book "How Images Think", published by MIT Press this year. He's also chair of the Association of Canadian Art and Design Institutes and Colleges and a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Art.
Dorothy Grant, a designer and traditional Haida artist in Vancouver. The Haida is a western-Canadian coastal Indian band. Grant has also developed a signature ready-to-wear fashion and retail business, pioneering "wearable art" influenced by traditional and ceremonial Haida art. The Dorothy Grant accessory line of handbags has been included in the new Smithsonian American Indian Museum shops.

Furlong, in his first public comment since learning that the Registered Designers of Ontario, which includes some of Canada's premier design firms, has ordered its member not to take part and intends to back up its decision with sanctions, says the context will continue as it was announced.

"The tradition of the Olympic Emblem Competition is about giving as many designers as possible an opportunity to be a part of the Olympic Games, in the spirit of participation," Furlong says.

"The entire Games design project is one of incredible scope, with the power to inspire people and show the world the best of our country's creative talent. While most of the work between now and 2010 will be developed by an Olympic design team, either working in-house or hired through the traditional RFP process, we feel that each and every designer in Canada should have equal opportunity to design the Vancouver 2010 emblem - young or old, from St. John's to Victoria, from freelancers to big agency creatives. In this way, the emblem will truly symbolize all of the spirit and talent of the Canadian design community."

Furlong later added, "Since we announced the competition three months ago, we've had strong interest from across the country."

The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Emblem Design Competition is open to Canadian designers, creative professionals and design students. The deadline for submissions is September 15, 2004.

The winning emblem design will earn a prize of C$25,000 and two tickets to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony. VANOC expects to unveil the new logo on February 12, 2005, the 5th anniversary before the Games open.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 11, 2004

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #452
CAMPBELL HEADS FOR ATHENS; 2010 MAY BE A NEW FOCUS FOR OTTAWA FUNDING; 2010 COMING ON THURSDAY

Some moguls we've bumped into today...

British Columbia premier Gordon Campbell left for the Athens Olympics today, in part to see for himself some of the inner workings of the Games, necessary for understanding the planning concepts now being developed for the 2010 Games. He starts his annual vacation after his visit there, so his wife, Nancy, is going with him.
A columnist for the Globe and Mail newspaper of Toronto, James Christie, suggests that the Athens Games are "a symbolic end of an era for Canadian athletes. As the Olympics at last come back to the place where they began, it should also signal the end of a period of mediocrity and a new beginning for Canada's approach to sport. Vancouver 2010 provides a focus. The Canadian Olympic Committee has also provided a target — for Canada to be the No..1 medal-winning nation at those Games." He says, "The federal government has promised more money for athletes, with the Sport Canada kitty rising to C$120 million in 2004-05 from C$90 million. But that will be directed at the next generation and likely focused on winter sports as the 2010 Games come to Vancouver."
August 12 - this Thursday -- marks the 2,010th day in VANOC's countdown to the opening ceremony of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver. It's also the day before the opening of the 2004 Summer Games in Athens.
The Royal Canadian Mint has unveiled Canada's newest circulation coin, which it calls the 'Lucky Loonie.' The idea is commemorate Canada's Olympic athletes. Designed by Robert-Ralph Carmichael, the coin's engraving features a loon, a duck-like bird well known to Canadians, at rest on a lake with an islet in the background. Above the bird is the Canadian Olympic Committee logo. The obverse features the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II by Susanna Blunt. Canadian ice maker Trent Evans embedded a "Loonie", as the standard Canadian dollar coin is nicknamed, at centre ice to bring good luck to Canada's gold-medal-winning men's and women's hockey teams at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games. Since then it has become a talisman for Canadian sporting success.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 10, 2004

Morgan:News:2010 |IOC| #451
2004 VERSION OF OLYMPIC MARKETING FACT FILE NOW AVAILABLE

The International Olympic Committee has published its 2004 version of the Olympic Marketing Fact File, a 77-page document dated July 1, 2004, that outlines in detail how the IOC conducts marketing and sponsorship programs. It includes marketing concepts up to the Beijing Summer Olympics scheduled for 2008, but does not yet include any aspects related specifically to the Vancouver 2010 Games.

As the document itself points out, it may provide an overview of Olympic revenue generation and distribution over a group of four games, but "Revenue comparisons between Olympic marketing programs must be carefully considered, however, because marketing programs evolve over the course of each Olympic quadrennium and each marketing program is subject to different contractual terms and distribution principles."

Vancouver's contractual obligations prevent it from conducting significant marketing efforts before this January, and it is going to be finalizing its marketing programs with two new executives guiding the process on either side of the table: the IOC's new Director of Marketing, Timo Lumme, and VANOC's senior vice-president of Revenue, Marketing and Communications, Dave Cobb.

But both are using existing IOC marketing programs for the backbone of their arrangements, and so the concepts in the 2004 Olympic Marketing Fact File, written by the IOC's main marketing contractor, Meridian Management, should be quite useful for understanding the broad approaches each will be taking as VANOC begins offering sponsorships and other programs to business.

The file provides a wide range of information about which companies are sponsors for Games to date, including the Athens Olympics, how much revenue is generated and the like.

RESOURCES

The 2004 Olympic Marketing Fact file is here:
http://www.olympic.org/common/asp/download_report.asp?file=en_report_344.pdf&id=344

BACKGROUND =

We've reported earlier on Meridian Management and its information:

'Marketing strategist details consumer perception of Olympic brand'
[Morgan:News:2010:Number:372; Published on Thursday, June 10, 2004]

'Marketing values and keywords offered by IOC for sponsors listed by strategist'
[Morgan:News:2010:Number:412; Published on Wednesday, June 30, 2004]

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 10, 2004

Morgan:News:2010 |IOC| #450
VETERAN SPORTS TV EXECUTIVE NAMED AS NEW MARKETING DIRECTOR

The International Olympic Committee has appointed Timo Lumme of Finland to the position of IOC Marketing Director, and he will be the one who has the final say as the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee finalizes the planning for its its Games marketing and sponsorship plans over the next few months.

Lumme, 43, was vice president of ESPN, the sports television network, and was responsible for its European, Middle East and African division. As a member of the ESPN International executive management team, he has been responsible for creating and driving ESPN's brand strategy in the areas, and also supervised the launch two years ago of the first ESPN-branded channel in Europe, ESPN Classic Sport.

Lumme replaces Michael Payne, who will step down from his post as Director of Global Broadcast and Media Rights on August 31. Payne, a 15-year veteran of the IOC, was its Marketing Director from 1989 to 2003 and he was the architect of today's multi-level sponsorship program that funds the Olympic Games as well as the national Olympic Committees around the world, such as Canada's, and international sports federations.

Lumme also has a background in the worlds of marketing and broadcast with Olympic Games experience. He started his career with the International Management Group (IMG) where he held several marketing and management positions in London, Paris, Milan, Albertville and Lillehammer. In the Albertville 1992 Olympic Winter Games, he was a member of the team that created and implemented the local and international marketing programs for the Games organizers. At Lillehammer, he was responsible for IMG's sponsorship and licensing consultancy relationship with the 1994 Olympic Winter Games Organizing Committee. While he was at IMG he also launched the first integrated commercial program that included television, sponsorship and licensing for the Russian Football League.

He spent three years at Nike as European Sports Marketing Director, negotiating and supervising commercial sponsorship arrangements with over 1,000 athletes, teams, events and federations. He also worked in new media for Quokka Sports, including general manager for NBColympics.com, working with NBC's coverage of the Sydney 2000 and Salt Lake City 2002 Olympic Games.

A qualified lawyer originally from the London firm of Slaughter and May, Lumme speaks five languages: Finnish, English, French, Italian and German.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 10, 2004

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #449
FELLI GIVES 2010 STATUS BRIEF TO IOC - AND WE DO MEAN 'BRIEF'; VANOC ON THE MOVE; 2012 IDEAS ON AUG 26

A brief on the status of Vancouver 2010 was given today to the Executive Committee of the International Olympic Committee in Athens by IOC Olympic Games Executive Director Gilbert Felli. He told the Board that the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee has hired some of its key staff, has started its planning and "is participating fully in a transfer of knowledge process that will see it learn the lessons of Games past and present." Rene Fasel, chairman of the IOC's 2010 co-ordination commission, noting that the Executive Board has a lot of other matters to deal with - Athens, as well as the Torino and Beijing Games, said later. "It was nothing special. It was just three sentences." VANOC's John Furlong will address the full IOC congress in person in Athens on Thursday, and give it a formal update on Vancouver's status.
VANOC, besides Furlong and his senior vice-presidents, is sending 30 people to Athens to observe and learn from the Summer Games, which open Friday. Areas of interest will be venue construction, transportation, accommodation and security.
On Aug. 26, VANOC personnel will also make a presentation to the cities bidding for the 2012 Summer Olympics on how they should organize themselves in the transition period from being awarded the Games to being set up as an organizing committee.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 9, 2004

Morgan:News:2010 |General| #448
POUND, HENDERSON - BOTH 2010 BOARD DIRECTORS - CALL FOR MORE FUNDING FOR OLYMPIC ATHLETES

2010NewsWatch

Dick Pound, a director of the Board of Directors for the 2010 Winter Olympics, has joined the increasingly louder chorus of sports officials suggesting that Canada should do more financially to support its Olympic athletes.

Earlier, director Paul Henderson voiced similar concerns, calling federal funding "a joke, a travesty" in a letter to Chris Rudge, the chief executive director of the Canadian Olympic Committee. Both Henderson and Pound are appointees to the 2010 Board by the Canadian Olympic Committee, which represents the International Olympic Committee.

Pound, who is also head of the World Anti-Doping organization, is quoted in the French language version of The Canadian Press as saying that more money upfront, in addition to the C$16 million now being spent by the Canadian government, could lead to more medals down the line at high-profile competitions like the Olympics. "It's not necessary to spend a lot more," he said. "Maybe, with C$50 million from the (federal and provincial) governments, we could improve our performance."

Sport Canada, a government agency of the ministry of Canadian Heritage that oversees all Olympic and amateur sport funding, has an annual budget of C$90 million to fund all levels of amateur sport teams, facilities, events, equipment and coaches. It was to announce last Friday an additional $20 million to develop elite sports in Canada, but abruptly postponed the scheduled news conference, saying it will make the announcement sometime during the Athens Olympics, which starts August 13.

The cost of three things - training, elite coaches and travelling to international competitions - is the key issue.

RESOURCES

'(Feature) Cross-Country Canada short money, time for 2010 athlete development'
[Morgan:News:2010:Number:432; Published on Monday, July 12, 2004]

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on August 9, 2004

Morgan:News:2010:Bronze Edition

Friday, October 29, 2004

Wednesday, October 27, 2004

Tuesday, October 19, 2004

Wednesday, October 13, 2004

About

Links

Previous

Archives