Morgan:News:2010:Bronze Edition

Friday, December 24, 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.



Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #759
2010 COMMITTEE TO TAKE CLOSE LOOK AT COMMERCIAL AND PEDESTRIAN TRAFFIC PATTERNS IN WHISTLER AREA


The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee will undertake a detailed study of transportation issues in the Whistler area early in 2005, to establish a baseline for planning how the 2010 Winter Games and the preparations leading up to them will impact the area, and for its own operational planning.

VANOC has held a series of meetings in the last few months with the staff of the Resort Municipality of Whistler to figure out what information is needed, and what information is available now. As a result, VANOC will commission the survey, to be done by an urban planning firm yet to be chosen, to investigate and provide "a realistic overview", according to VANOC sources, of the movement of goods and people in and out of the Whistler area during this coming February and March. As much as possible, VANOC wants to know how people and goods move in the area on a daily basis during that period, which corresponds to the time in 2010 when the Olympic and Paralympic Games will be held there.

The study is to particularly look at the flow in, through and around Whistler of commercial vehicles moving goods, the use of non-public parking lots and pedestrian flows, the flow of commercial vehicles and goods into and around the Creekside and Function Junction areas near Whistler, and the flow of such goods between Function Junction, which is south of Whistler, and Pemberton, the village to the north of Whistler. The Function Junction area is near where the Whistler Athletes Village and Whistler Olympic Broadcast Centre are to be built.

The new information will be incorporated into a final report that will also include a review of existing traffic-pattern and parking-lot usage studies done of the area for other purposes by Whistler and by the provincial government's Ministry of Transportation, which is responsible for highway and major secondary road planning and use.

VANOC says it expects to have hired the contracting firm by January 21, with the first draft of the report to be in its hands by March 1, with the final report to it by March 28.

VANOC also says the contract being offered will clearly prevent the contractor from mentioning in any marketing context that it has a relationship with the 2010 Committee.



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

Thursday, December 23, 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.




Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #758
CLOTHING AND LUGGAGE CONTRACTS FOR 2006 TEAM CANADA OFFERED BY VANOC, COC


The Vancouver 2010 Organizing Committee is working for the first time with the Canadian Olympic Committee to contract with businesses that are interested in supplying clothing and luggage for the 2006 Canadian Olympic Team.

The two organizations are looking for contractors to design, produce and deliver a
complete clothing and luggage package for the 2006 Canadian Olympic Team of about 500 people, or work in a combination with other firms to produce a portion of the package, such as particular types of clothing or luggage. VANOC is involved because, under agreements between the International Olympic Committee and its national representative, the Canadian Olympic Committee, VANOC is taking over the marketing rights to the design and branding of everything to do with the Olympics generally in Canada until after the 2010 Games are done. And that includes clothing and luggage for the coaches, officials and athletes from Canada who will be taking part in both the 2006 Winter Games and, eventually, the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing.

This particular clothing and luggage contract, however, is just for the 2006 team. However, under the terms of the deal being offered by VANOC, the supplier (or suppliers) eventually chosen will also be expected to deal with the retailing aspects of a line of clothing and luggage that's similar, but not identical, for Canadian consumers as well.

VANOC wants the clothing and luggage to have a unique "look", and it has to be high quality, fashionable and "responsibly produced" from two points of view: social -- that is, no sweatshop labour -- and environmental, that is, the suppliers will need to show that pollution is controlled during the manufacturing processes, and that the materials won't harm the environment in any other way.

VANOC and the COC will have final approval over the design specifications, which haven't yet been finalized, and they expect to be working with the suppliers to do that. The general theme, however, is red and white, with black and gold as accents. Suppliers will not be allowed to put their own brands on the exterior of the materials unless they do a separate deal with VANOC for that marketing right.

Besides the 500 members of the Canadian Olympics team, there will also be overruns needed of the materials to deal with various size ranges, as well as additional requirements for orders from representatives of Sport Canada, various related sports organizations and volunteers connected with the Olympics or the team. VANOC estimates there will need to be at least 100 sets required for VANOC itself and the COC people who will be attending the Games as observers and planners.

The Olympic organizations say the suppliers have the option of outlining firm pricing for the requirements, and they can also propose sponsorship arrangements by which the clothing and luggage would be supplied for free in exchange for marketing rights to the materials carrying the Olympics and Canadian logos. Those rights, which VANOC speculates may even be larger than the cost of the materials themselves, would include being able to say they were "Official Suppliers" to VANOC, the COC and Team Canada and be identified as such on the websites of VANOC and the COC, as well as in news releases and at any special public events the organizations decide to hold. If the suppliers decide they don't want the marketing rights, VANOC says it will pay for the materials, but the suppliers will be contractually bound not to say anything about their relationship with VANOC, the COC or the Olympics.

The window of opportunity for bidding on the contracts closes January 19, with the contractor being picked by February 16; the contract has to be fulfilled by next November.

BACKGROUND

Here's the specifics of what VANOC and the COC are looking for, with minimum quantities of 500 unless otherwise noted: For usual wear - coats, pants, shirts, sweaters, long underwear, boots, scarves, hats and gloves, with 1,000 pairs of socks. For podium wear: ski-type pants and jackets, touques and headbands. Semi-formal wear for functions and events: shirts, pants, skirts, shoes, belts, jackets. For around the athlete's village: long- and short-sleeved T-shirts -- a thousand of each type -- track suits, fleece jackets and ball caps; travel wear: pants, shirts.

Luggage: a duffle-bag style with wheels, a backpack and a fanny pack.


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



Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #757
OFFICE-SPACE PLANNING PROJECT TO TAKE PLACE OVER NEXT FEW MONTHS


The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee says it expects that to be moving its headquarters from the two floors of an office tower in downtown Vancouver by this time next year, because it'll be too crowded, and it's about to begin a four-month project that will plan its office-space requirements from 2005 until 2011.

VANOC procurement officer Jim Birnholdt indicates that the current office space of 40,000 square feet on the 4th and 5th floors of 1095 West Pender will likely be too full by the time the space's lease expires on December 31, 2005, and it will need to find new office space -- preferably contiguous, but it's willing to look at various floors in a cluster of nearby buildings -- by that point. The space must be in Vancouver's downtown core.

VANOC, now divided into about 60 functional areas, intends to develop and document a master leasing plan to ensure that it will have enough space to accommodate 1,200 employees by the end of 2009, but its requirements will plunge drastically after the Games in February and March of 2010, to the point where it will be down to about 25 personnel by April of that year. That document, it realizes, will have to build flexibility into itself.

The Organizing Committee will shortly be contracting an experienced interior designer to help with the planning -- the RFP for the designer was published today -- and the designer will be asked to deal with establishing the office space planning standards for individual and common areas, space requirements by year, the need various departments will have to be adjacent to each other, as well as furniture standards.

BACKGROUND

Here are the staffing levels expected by VANOC at the end of the following years:

2004 - 60
2005 - 150
2006 - 175
2007 - 340
2008 - 680
2009 - 1,200
2010 - 25


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



Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #756
WEST VAN HIGHWAY PROTESTORS RESUME FIGHT; BEIJING HAS 600+ ENTRIES FOR MASCOT CONTEST; 2006 OLYMPICS COVERS BUDGET SHORTFALL


Here are a few more moguls we ran into today...

  • The people behind the political environmental protest about the path that will be taken by rerouting the southern end of the Vancouver/Whistler Sea to Sky highway through West Vancouver as part of the 2010 Winter Games support project continues to fester away. They have now posted a website detailing their concerns, and it includes a link to a protest form that can be filled out and e-mailed simultaneously to both B.C. premier Gordon Campbell and the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee. They claim that " 2.5 km stretch of highway being planned... will destroy sensitive and rare ecosystems at Eagleridge Bluffs and the Larson Creek Wetlands and obliterate portions of the Baden Powell Trail..." VANOC is not in charge of the project, but improving the highway was part of the promises made to the IOC by the BC government. The decision to build the highway through the area, instead of the protesters' preferred tunneling route, was made last summer.

  • The contest -- yes, it looks like the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee will be doing a similar contest -- to design the mascots for the Beijing 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Games has closed and it has attracted about 600 entries since the competition began last August. The Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee says it will use "strict procedures" to evaluate and select its Olympic mascots. The criteria require that the mascots have Chinese characteristics, embody the Olympic spirit and be appealing, particularly in the commercial sense. The winning design will be announced next June, three years from the start of those Games.

  • Associated Press reports that Torino 2006 Winter Olympic organizers will receive enough funds from an Italian public agency to cover the Games' budget shortfall of about US$243 million. The agency AP believes is involved is Sviluppo Italia, related to the Italian Government's ministry that promotes business development and investment, is to provide the transfer. Games organizers, who can't receive the money directly from their government, have to deal with the overrun before they can approve the provisional budget for the Games.

RESOURCES

The Eagle Ridge protest website:
http://www.eagleridgebluffs.com


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



Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #755
ALPINE'S READ URGES CORPORATE CANADA TO MAKE A 2010 DIFFERENCE; PYEONGCHANG BACK IN OLYMPICS RACE; GE POWERS TORINO ICE SPONSORSHIPS


Here are a few moguls we ran into today...

  • The business-like president of Alpine Canada, Ken Read, told the Toronto Globe & Mail newspaper today that it's too late for corporate sponsors to make a major difference in how Canadians fare at the 2006 Olympic Games in Turino, Italy. But the national newspaper quotes him as saying that this is the time for corporations to get involved if they want to make a difference in the 2010 Games. “The corporate community in Canada gets it,” Read reportedly told the newspaper. “There's a lot of key players that understand what sports organizations need and that's the financial investment and the long-term investment.” One of the major sponsors of Alpine Canada is the Canadian bank, CIBC, which is one of the two Alpine Canada sponsors contributing C$1 million annually to the organization. The bank took out full-page ads in the newspaper, each would be worth about C$50,000 at full retail rate, to congratulate skier Thomas Grandi on his successes during the past week; Grandi wears a CIBC logo on his helmet. CIBC, it's understood, is in competition with Canada's Royal Bank, and possibly others, to land the coveted Vancouver 2010 financial institution sponsorship.

  • The Korean Olympic Committee has unanimously selected Pyeongchang as Korea’s candidate city for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, after considerable Korean internal political conflict. The Korean province of Muju was also after the nomination, but a report on facilities by the International Skiing Federation felt Muju's facilities weren't acceptable, which angered Muju political supporters. The KOC will ask its general assembly on December 29 to endorse the choice so the city, which narrowly lost to Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Games, can be registered with the International Olympic Committee in the summer for the first step in the bidding process. The decision of the IOC as to which of several cities wins the 2014 bid won't be made until 2007.

  • The Torino 2006 Winter Olympic organization has named its new Piazza Solferino ice-skating track the ''GE Ice Plaza'' in honor of one of the International Olympic Committee's major sponsors, General Electric. GE, which owns NBC, which in turn owns the U.S. broadcasting rights to the Italian and Vancouver Winter Games, is also a major international sponsor of the Vancouver 2010 Games. The American-based company provided a number of electrical generation and distribution systems for the 2006 Torino Games. These include 128 temporary lights to help film the Games and 130 permanent lighting operations, including the one inside the Torino Esposizioni complex where the Olympic ice-hockey tournaments are planned to be held. GE is also sponsoring ''Torino Ice 2005,'' the name for the events that will test Torino's Olympic venues for ice-sports starting next month, and it's also supporting an ice rink between two pavilions at the Italian Atrium complex. The Torino Games open in 413 days.



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



Morgan:News:2010 |IOC| #754
"ONE SCHOOL, ONE COUNTRY" PROGRAM FOR TORINO, POSSIBLY VANCOUVER WINTER GAMES


The International Olympic Committee says it will continue "The One School, One Country" project, begun in Nagano in 1998, for the Torino, Italy, 2006 Olympic Winter Games but it's not yet decided it will happen during Vancouver 2010.

“This program,” explains Roberto Daneo, the Director of Relations with the Authorities for the Torino Olympic Organizing Committee, “has the objective of educating young people in the culture of hospitality, of friendship and of exchanges among cultures.”

The program is expected to be in place for the 2010 Winter Games, however, spokesman Sam Corea says, "At this point, the status of the One School One Country project has not been determined for 2010. There will be ongoing discussions with VANOC, the Canadian Olympic Committee and 2010 LegaciesNow regarding the implementation of youth and education initiatives related to VANOC, as things continue to evolve."

The project’s primary goal, according to the IOC, "is to increase understanding and collaboration among peoples, and contribute to the strengthening of peace and friendship by establishing permanent relationships of co-operation and exchange in all the social, cultural, sports and tourism sectors that make up the city of Torino."

What that means in practice is this: The OSOC Project involves setting up a twinning program between the schools of the Torino area and the countries that will be taking part in the 2006 Olympic Winter Games. The project will try to aid what the IOC calls the "less-privliged" Olympic Committees in developing countries.

For instance, the first twinning program in Italy's case began with an agreement between the Torino high school Liceo Scientifico 'Copernico' and the Finnish Voyrinkaupungin Koulu institute in Vaasa. The themes of the Italian-Finnish relationship, set up in a videoconference between the offices of the TOROC and the school in Vaasa, include culture, tourism, the environment and winter sports. Other issues can be developed within the individual relationships established, depending on the interests of the schools involved. Thirty countries are ready to go involving the 91 schools in the Torino's alpine area of Piedmont enrolled, with at least 48 twin arrangements in process.

The project's organizers hope to eventually set up contacts in 85 countries.

BACKGROUND

Even though the One School program hasn't yet been flagged for official VANOC attention as yet, Vancouver 2010 has held preliminary discussions with the IOC about youth and education projects likely to be connected to the 2010 Games, particularly what VANOC calls the 2010 Olympic Youth Camp.

VANOC says that "intercultural understanding and friendly competition in a sustainable global community are the underlying themes of the proposed Camp. It will run for 18 days during the Games, from February 4 to the 21st in 2010. VANOC expects to invite 440 youth delegates -- that number is derived from two arriving from each country with a national Olympic committee, plus two from each Canadian province, as well as delegates from each region of British Columbia. Bursaries will be available "to encourage full participation of the IOC family." Activities, yet to be fully established, are planned to take place in urban, rural and First Nations locations, including Vancouver, Squamish and Whistler. Accommodations will be a combination of new and existing facilities including "gender-separate student lodgings,
dormitories and home stays."

The estimated cost per person is budgeted at C$124 per day with VANOC paying half. The per diem is for the Youth Campers' "accommodations, meals, daily programming, local transportation, tickets to sporting events and cultural programs." This aspect will cost VANOC about C$28,000.

About a year before the Youth Camp -- in February of 2009 -- VANOC says it intends to "engage delegates in a web-based preparatory program about Olympism and Canada." This program, it says, "will establish relationships between and among delegates and their Canadian hosts. They will meet online, exchange stories, participate in projects and share final planning for the camp."

VANOC says the camp is expected to include workshops and seminars on Olympic themes. The delegates are also to be invited to attend the Opening Ceremonies and all of the Games events, as well as to "explore British Columbia, experience First Nations traditions and cuisine, and participate in outdoor winter recreation activities. Camp delegates will be encouraged to share their daily experiences with their home communities through a Digital Diary Internet program."

RESOURCES

Salt Lake City's One School One Country portal page:
http://www.uen.org/utahlink/activities/view_activity.cgi?activity_id=7484

How the One School One Country program began:
http://www.city.nagano.nagano.jp/ikka/e-gakkou/country/chp1-1.htm


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

Wednesday, December 22, 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.




Morgan:News:2010 |IOC| #753
WORLD ANTI-DOPING AGENCY NOW HAS 94% OF DUES IN HAND FOR 2004


The World Anti-Doping Agency says it has now collected about 94% of its US$10 million in dues from governments and the International Olympic Committee for 2004. This figure, it says, is the highest percentage of payments collected by the Agency in a calendar year since WADA was founded.

WADA’s budget is financed equally by national governments and the IOC, which matches the financial contributions made to the Agency by governments. WADA will have a number of lab and medical facilities constructed specially for the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver as part of the services that the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee provides to the Games, so the state of its financial health is important to VANOC.

The United States finally paid its dues of US$1.44 million this month, noting it's the second-highest amount paid to WADA by a government this year. The U.S. had reached an agreement with the Canadian Government whereby the two countries would pay 75% of the dues owed to WADA by the American continent, although by per-capita, Canada pays significantly more than the U.S. The American funds were originally due last June.

WADA amended its statutes this year to require that all governments pay their dues or be excluded from participation at meetings of the WADA Foundation Board or Executive Committee, as well as risk sanction from the sporting movement by being barred from hosting international events. As well, nations which did not make their WADA payments would not be able to host the Olympics, which made the settlement of money issues between US leaders and WADA crucial for New York’s 2012 Olympic bid.

The Americas are responsible for US$2.9 million of WADA’s budget. The US government pays half that, US$2.9 million, with Canada contributing 25%, or US$725,000. In addition to the monies collected for dues in 2004, WADA has also collected US$3.7 million for funds due in 2002 and 2003.

“We are pleased with the effort governments have made in 2004 to fulfill their financial obligations to WADA,” said Richard W. Pound, WADA’s president and a Board director of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee. “It seems the mechanisms are now in place for governments to pay in a timely manner, which will ensure that WADA has the resources it needs to carry out its responsibilities.”

Some countries are starting to even pay in advance. The Agency has also received US$460,000 in dues owed for 2005. The Oceania region, for instance, has fulfilled its entire financial commitment to WADA for next year.


Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 22, 2004

Tuesday, December 21, 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.


Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #752
RICHMOND CITY COUNCIL APPROVES REZONING FOR 2010 SPEED-SKATING OVAL SITE


City approves rezoning for Oval site

Richmond City Council has approved the rezoning of the property which will become home to the Richmond Olympic Oval, where the long-track speed-skating competition for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games will take place.

The Oval will be built on part of a 29-acre site owned by the City along Richmond’s River Road, between Hollybridge Way and No. 2 Road. The property, along with an additional 6.77 acres of dyke area, has been rezoned to a Comprehensive Development District, which allows for a wide range of uses.

A detailed master plan for the site will be developed this spring, following a public consultation process.

In addition to being used for Olympic competition, the complex in which the Oval resides is to become a multi-purpose sports, recreation and community facility. The project also includes a major new City Centre park and plaza surrounding the Oval on the prominent waterfront site, which is located along the banks of the Fraser River. The remainder of the site will be developed by the City to help fund the costs of the Oval project.

Council also amended Richmond’s Official Community Plan and City Centre Plan to designate the area as Olympic Riverfront, which will permit sport and recreation uses with some park area in some combination with a variety of uses.

RESOURCES

The Olympic Riverfront designation allows the following uses in connection with the sports complex:
Commercial, business, industry, institutional, residential, tourist, entertainment, exhibition, education, health and wellness, culture, arts community.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 21, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #751
KAMLOOPS EYES 2010 SKI JUMP, OVAL FOR 2011 INTERUNIVERSITY WINTER GAMES BID


City of Kamloops staff have just held a conference call with Canada Interuniversity Sport in Ottawa to learn about what Kamloops needs to do to make a bid to host the 2011 World Winter University Games. And it's thinking that one of the first major legacy uses of a Vancouver 2010 Olympic venue would include the WWU Games.

The WWU Games are held every other year, and involve about 1,500 athletic university students between the ages of 17 and 28, from more than 50 countries.

Kamloops has set up its own program office to entice these kinds of events to the British Columbian south-central city. Tournament Capital of Canada program co-ordinator Sean Smith hopes to submit a bid for the WWU Winter Games by March; the winning bid is expected to be announced by October.

It's not the city's first attempt; it bid on the 2007 Games, which were awarded to Torino, Italy, host of the Winter Olympics in 2006.

Smith says he hopes to work with the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics Committee on the bid, since VANOC's ski-jump venue and possibly the Richmond speed-skating oval could be used in connection with it, but he says he's not far enough along in the bid process yet to make the required phone calls. All the other sports involved in the WWU Games would be held in or around Kamloops. Kamloops' bid has also received support from the University of B.C. The 2005 University Winter Sports Games will be held in Innsbruck, Austria.

RESOURCES

Sean Smith
Program Co-ordinator
Tournament Capital of Canada
City of Kamloops
7 Victoria Street West
Kamloops BC V2C 1A2

Phone: (250) 828.3311
Fax: (250) 828.3578
E-mail: tccprogram@kamloops.ca
(Include "TCC Info" in the subject line or your e-mail may be deleted by the department's spam filter)

http://www.city.kamloops.bc.ca/tournamentcapital/



Canadian Interuniversity Sport executive list and contact info
http://www.universitysport.ca/e/contact/index.cfm


Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 21, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #750
VANOC TO USE BID LOGO FOR NOW; VANCOUVER 2010, NOT WHISTLER TO TAKE HOLIDAY BREAK; NO MASTER MARKETING DEAL YET


Here are three moguls we ran into today...

  • From the What's Good for the Goose Department: According to the agreements between the International Olympic Committee and the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee, the 2010 Bid logo, which VANOC inherited from the 2010 Bid Corporation as its own logo until a new one could be determined by VANOC's controversial contest, is due to officially expire on January 1. So, we were idly wondering, what with all the hoo-hah and legal paperwork flying out of VANOC over protection of its brands and those of the Canadian Olympic Committee and the IOC, what arrangements for logo use have been made for the interim between Dec 31, when the IOC contract to use the Bid logo expires for VANOC and all of its Bid sponsors, and April, when its expected that the new logo will be made public? VANOC spokesman Sam Corea says, "VANOC will continue to use the current logo until the new emblem is launched. VANOC is not producing any new materials with the current logo and we have encouraged our partners not to launch any new uses of the current logo."

  • VANOC's headquarters in Vancouver will be closed for from Friday to January 3 inclusive, re-opening on January 4. The Vancouver 2010 Information Centre in Whistler will be open every day throughout next two weeks, with the exception of Christmas Day, Boxing Day and January 1.

  • The official word from VANOC: As of late yesterday, the International Olympic Committee was "still reviewing" the master marketing agreement between it and VANOC; the agreement is due to take effect on January 1 and authorizes VANOC do begin dealing with sponsors officially, among many other marketing initiatives between the date it takes effect and probably December 31, 2013, the end of the last full year before the following Winter Olympics.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 21, 2004

Monday, December 20, 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.



Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #749
ITALIAN WINTER OLYMPICS TO HAVE TICKET LOTTERY FOR POPULAR EVENTS; SPEED-SKATER GROVES LOOKS TO 2010; IS BC'S WINTER RECREATION GROWTH SUSTAINABLE?


Here are some moguls we bumped into today...

  • The first phase of ticketing for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy, ended yesterday with some sports sessions oversubscribed. This will mean that when phase two of ticketing begins in February, some sessions will be listed as sold out. All sessions of figure skating, speed skating, the men’s ice hockey final and some sessions of ski jumping were more popular than expected. The seats for these events will be awarded using a random-selection process. Torino is recommending that when people buy tickets for potentially popular sports events, that they indicate an alternative as well. The Torino Winter Games involve seven different sports and 15 different disciplines, which will be played out in eight different competition venues. About 2,500 athletes, 650 judges and umpires, and 1.5 million spectators are expected to participate.

  • Canada's Kristina Groves of Ottawa, who now holds the third-fastest time for the World Cup in long-track speed-skating's three-kilometre race last month (4:06.77), says that Vancouver's award to host the 2010 Winter Games changed her mind about how much longer she'd be skating in high-performance competitions. Groves will be 33 in 2010, and she told Rob Brodie, a reporter for the Ottawa Sun newspaper, that, "I used to think 2006 would be it, but now my thought is that I would be finishing too soon. I've really just started to figure this thing out. If I'm still having fun, getting better and still enjoying what I'm doing, I'll stay around. It's more about trying to hit the end line, and I haven't come close to it yet. For sure, 2010 will be the absolute limit, but I'm going to take it one day at a time until then." On the other hand, she's still thinking she's got a whole batch of work to do before she can count on competing in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy, and she says even that is "on the back-burner right now." She told him that, "Vancouver is (a little more than) five years away. It's the last thing on my mind right now. If long term was all you thought about, you'd forget about what you need to do to get there."

  • The influential travel section of the New York Times newspaper published a detailed feature Friday fretting about whether British Columbia's substantial growth in winter recreation, which it notes is partly attributable to the 2010 Winter Olympics, is sustainable. It it says that Land and Water British Columbia expects to sign four more agreements for winter resorts over the next 12 to 15 months, according to Bill Irwin, director of the all-seasons resort program for the agency, and it reports him saying that, like the recent approvals of the Jumbo and Revelstoke projects, "each one of those projects will be in the hundreds of millions of dollars." It also quotes Irwin as saying that another C$860 million in development is expected over the next five years at existing ski resorts, which the newspaper says is in addition to 2010 Winter Olympics developments.

RESOURCES ==

The full New York Times article is here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/19/travel/19bc.html?ex=1104037200&en=5cdf275c511f04ed&ei=5006&partner=ALTAVISTA1


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

Friday, December 17, 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.




Morgan:News:2010 |Paralympic| #748
IPC GETS GOOD BUMP UP IN TV AUDIENCE DURING ATHENS OLYMPICS


A study for the International Paralympic Committee of 17 countries, including Canada, shows there was cumulative TV audience of more than 1.8 billion people for the Athens 2004 Summer Paralympic Games. This involves the number of people watching each day, and then adding them up for the nine days of their Games.

Japan showed the largest such audience, 587 million, followed by France at 335 million, Germany with 310 million and China reporting 309 million, according to the study, which was discussed at the IPC's headquarters in Bonn, Germany.

The largest market shares for that type of audience, however, were reached in New Zealand (26.4%), Switzerland (21.6%) and Austria (21.1%). Of the 19 countries, Brazil broadcast the most hours, 168, with Spain in second place at 125 hours. Programmes covering athletics and swimming drew the largest audiences.

IPC Media and Communication Director Miriam Wilkens suggests that, “An audience of 1.8 billion in 17 countries is more than we had in total for the Sydney 2000 Paralympics. One has to keep in mind that the final study will include 38 countries, so we are confident that we will be able to see a clear augmentation of the cumulated TV audience. This development confirms that there has been a good growth in interest for the Paralympic Games.” The rule of thumb is that a Winter Games is about a third the size of a Summer Games.

Although the live broadcast of the Paralympic Opening Ceremony coincided with the middle of the night in some parts of the world, about 10 million Chinese and eight million Japanese enjoyed the event. Daily highlights programmes also attracted millions of viewers. German broadcaster ARD/ZDF reported that the highlights aired on Sunday, September 19, were watched by nearly 1.5 million. In Great Britain, the BBC attracted about two million viewers for its first Sunday Paralympic program, whereas 634,000 persons watch the summary broadcast in Spain on LA 2 and 784,000 in Poland on TVP2. Italian television reported an average of 600,000 viewers for their daily broadcasts of Paralympic highlights.

A total of 3,100 media representatives including more than 50 broadcasters covered the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games from September 17-28.

BACKGROUND ==

The countries involved in the first report were: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Canada, China, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Pan Europe, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland and Great Britain.

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



Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #747
VANOC SEARCHES FOR SVP OF TECHNOLOGY; "AND THE OSCAR GOES TO... MARCH?"; LOOKING FOR VAVENBY


Here are a few moguls we bumped into today...

  • The Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee has begun its search for another of the inner management echelon, the senior vice-president of Technology & Systems. The position, which will pay between C$250,000 and C$300,000 per year, involves developing and managing all of the Internet, technology operations, broadcast services and meshing them with a number of major technology sponsors for the Olympics, and the administration of a C$400-million budget. VANOC is looking for people who have experience as the chief information officer or chief technology officer in a large, complex organization, or as a senior operations executive in a large telecommunication company; it's not essential but being French/English bilingual will help quite a bit. As we've seen in interviews with other VANOC senior vice-presidents, CEO John Furlong wants to ensure the people he hires really are team-players and strategic thinkers, with strong leadership skills. VANOC is back to using the Vancouver-based executive search firm of Ray & Berndtson/Tanton Mitchell for the headhunting.

  • You may not have really noticed it, but Hollywood's 76th Academy Awards moved from late March back to February 29, and the 77th instalment is set to take place this coming February 27. It's broadcast on the ABC American TV network. So what does this have to do with the 2010 Winter Games? Well, we'll get there in a moment. First, you should know that the 78th Oscar ceremonies would normally fall on February 26, 2006, but that's the same day as ABC's network rival NBC does the US broadcast of the Winter Olympics's closing ceremony in Torino, Italy. There will be a huge global television audience watching those ceremonies, and that would threaten the market share of the Academy Awards (or, more particularly, the size of the audience of its advertisers and sponsors), so the Academy has decided to hold the ceremonies on March 5, 2006. The Awards ceremony will return to its February slot in 2007 and probably stay there for 2008 and 2009. But (and we're finally here), expect it to move to late March again in 2010, to avoid competing with the 2010 Winter Olympics closing ceremonies on February 28.

  • From the Give Your Head A Shake Department here at Morgan:News:2010: Ian Tait, the director of Community Legacy Initiatives for 2010 LegaciesNow, was in the little town of Clearwater, in east-central BC, last week. It's part of his round-the-province tour of all the communities that might benefit from the millions of dollars being offered by the provincial government in connection with the build-up to the 2010 Winter Games. And he was must have been suitably impressed when Mike Wiegele said his heli-ski company is interested in developing a world-class summer alpine and cross-country ski training facility on the glaciers near Blue River. The project could cost C$2 million to C$3 million. But that particular he must have wondered if anybody anybody else who comes to the meetings was actually paying attention to what he was saying about grants for arts, culture or literacy projects and the Olympic Live Sites program, or even getting the concept. One of those who showed up to hear Tait's presentation stood up when he asked if there were any questions or suggestions for projects. Yes, the person said. They wanted to erect a forest fire monument at Louis Creek, a nearby village that suffered from a bad forest fire. She wanted to find out if there would be help available to set up the project. Another asked for special influence with provincial mapmakers, suggesting a project that combines culture, the arts and literacy all in one easily affordable package: "I'd like to see Vavenby back on the map."


RESOURCES
-------------------


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



Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #746
PROJECT MANAGER SELECTED FOR RICHMOND OLYMPIC OVAL


Richmond City Council has selected MHPM Project Managers Inc. of Vancouver to provide project management services for the design and construction of the Richmond Olympic Oval and City Centre Waterfront Park.

The long-track speed-skating oval is one of the major new venues of the 2010 Winter Games.Following the Games, the Oval will become one of the largest multi-purpose sports, recreation and community facilities in Canada.

MHPM, which will work with City staff, will be responsible for the development of the overall project schedule and its management, as well as cost control and tracking, advice on the construction approach given market conditions, and preparing, issuing and managing a range of road-, utility- and building-construction contracts.

The project, besides the oval, also includes a major new City Centre park and plaza surrounding the Oval on a prominent waterfront site along the banks of the Fraser River.

Founded in 1989, MHPM Project Managers Inc. has offices across Canada, including Vancouver. Richmond staff say that MHPM has extensive experience in providing a single point of responsibility for development, design and construction of facilities, and has worked on a variety of commercial, industrial and government projects.

MHPM was selected from four short-listed firms which were invited to submit proposals following the City’s call for Expressions of Interest. MHPM’s selection was recommended to Council by a panel made up of staff from the City and VANOC, the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

RESOURCES
-------------------

Vancouver Regional Office
Richard H. Harris, P.Eng., LEED AP, PMP
Vice President
E-mail: RHarris@Vancouver.MHPM.com
Phone: 604.714.0988, ext. 222
Fax: 604.714.0989
http://www.MHPM.com


Suite 310, 2609 Granville Street
Vancouver, BC, Canada
V6H 3H3


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



Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #745
COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER RAKES 2010 ORGANIZERS FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF BRAND-PROTECTION POLICY


Whistler's community newspaper, the Whistler Question, today published a stinging editorial complaining about the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee's zealousness in pursuing its brand-protection program, a day after VANOC CEO John Furlong was in Squamish.

The newspaper, which is well-read within Whistler, the venue for roughly half the 2010 Winter Games and all of the Paralympic Games to follow, recites VANOC's efforts to block Squamish chamber-of-commerce efforts to promote the Games with street banners, and notes the decision of an Okanagan winery and a coffee-bean supplier to relabel more than 4,500 of their products, named "Olympic Dream", that were designed to raise funds for a British Columbia athlete, Summerland's freestyle skier Kristi Richards, who is aiming to go to the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy, and, ultimately, to Whistler for the 2010 Games.

The paper has a circulation of about 2,500 in Whistler and the editorial was also picked up by the Squamish Chief newspaper, which has a circulation of about 7,500.

As the signed editorial, written by Tim Shoults, puts it:

"Sorry. Silly us. We thought one of the primary goals of the 2010 Games was to promote B.C. athletes and help them succeed at the Olympics. That’s what the 2010 LegaciesNow program is about, surely. But once again, VANOC has proven itself so intent on protecting the brand that the concept of getting Canadian athletes onto the podium seems to have taken a back seat.

"It’s hard to believe VANOC has earned itself yet another public relations black eye, years before the Games even get off the ground. Was there really no other way to make this work other than saying “no”? Couldn’t “Olympic Dream” coffee have been given some sort of retroactive permission? (Couldn’t our highway banners have been tolerated, for that matter)? At the very least, we hope that VANOC makes an attempt to do right by these well-meaning people and comes up with the cost of changing the labels. Call it an Olympic legacy.

"We sincerely hope these are just growing pains for VANOC and not precursors of the Games to come. We also hope it’s the last we hear about an attempt to help promote the Games and Canadian athletes getting sidetracked by copyright issues."

The editorial concludes: "Let these Olympic copyright games end — please."

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

Thursday, December 16, 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.




Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #744
LAWYERS RESET BRAND-PROTECTION COURT DATE; CSPS GIVES LIFE-MEMBER AWARD TO 2010 STAFFER; COFC PRESIDENT THINKS 2010 TO BE GOOD FOR PENTICTON


Some more moguls we bumped into today...

  • The B.C. Supreme Court case in which the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee is trying to shut down the website "Whistler-Olympic.com", currently being used by a German-based cell-phone content provider to sell ring-tones and sexually oriented phone movies, was today adjourned until next Tuesday without resolution. And even the Tuesday session itself is due to talk about available court dates, likely in the new year. Until last November 16, the day the lawsuit began, the domain name was used for the Whistler Olympic Real Estate website, which advertised investments in Whistler real estate, but it was apparently transferred to a German relative of a lawyer, Nikolaus Homberg, for the organization Algino Holdings in Brackendale, a village near Squamish on the road between Vancouver and Whistler. Nikolaus and Ingrid Homberg are listed as directors and officers of Algino Holdings.

  • A Canadian working as the Canadian Ski Patrol System representative for the health & safety group of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics Committee has been given a Life Member Award from CSPS. Dr. Michael Swangard, a retired doctor, is the 50th person to receive such an honour. He was also the third to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the province. The group with which he's working formulates plans that they hope will never be used -- they deal with emergency rescue work for athletes, officials, staff and volunteers during the 2010 Games and the events that lead up to them. Swangard joined the CSPS in 1974, has been a CSPS First Aid instructor and examiner since 1979, and he has been Canada's medical delegate to IKAR, the international commission of alpine skiing, since 1985. Swangard is still a member of the CSPS national medical advisory board and the developer, editor and publisher of the Pacific South Division News. He began working with VANOC earlier this year.

  • Joe Morelli, the outgoing president for the past year of the Penticton and Wine Country Chamber of Commerce, in the south-central interior of British Columbia, says he's in favour of the 2010 Winter Games. Morelli says, "I think the 2010 Winter Olympics are helping the whole province. It spurred the new [Penticton] event centre as an Olympic legacy building because there are dollars out there to be had for that building. The Olympics are going to help us keep going. It will put exposure on this province for the next five to eight years, pre-and-post Olympics."

RESOURCES
---------

CSPS's website showing the organization's structure:
http://skipatrolbc.com/about.asp

IKAR's website:
http://www.ikar-cisa.org


Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 16, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #743
WADA CHAIR POUND RE-ELECTED; SALT LAKE PAPER URGES WOMEN'S SKI-JUMPING, NORDIC; WOMEN WITH DISABILITIES URGED TO BE INCLUDED IN SPORTS


Here are some moguls we bumped into today:

  • Richard "Dick" Pound, chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency and a director of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee, has been re-elected to a three-year term as head of the Agency. Pound says WADA, set up by the International Olympic Committee and headquartered in Montreal, caught 24 athletes accused of cheating this year, many of them at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.

  • The Salt Lake City Tribune newspaper has added its voice in support of adding women's ski-jumping and Nordic combined, which involves both ski-jumping and cross-country skiing, to the roster of competitions at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games. Salt Lake was the location of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. The newspaper, in an editorial today, is urging the United States Ski and Snowboard Association to fully support it as well, so that the International Ski Federation will strengthen its lobby of the International Olympic Committee to add the female versions of the sports when it and VANOC decide in about 2006 on the issue.

  • An international conference of 70 national delegations, 50 sports ministers and 200 high-ranking officials involved with Olympic and Paralympic sports has recommended that countries ensure that women athletes, particularly those with disabilties, be included in the development of high-performance athletes. The group met in Athens. Among those attending the conference were International Paralympic Committee president Phil Craven, IOC President Jacques Rogge, WADA president Dick Pound and UNESCO Director-General Koichiro Matsuura.


Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 16, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |Business| #742
NEW HAMSHIRE TRADE DELEGATION CITES 2010 GAMES AS REASON TO COME TO WESTERN CANADA


The American state of New Hampshire, on the country's eastern seaboard, is about to lead a a business and trade delegation to Vancouver, in part because of the 2010 Olympics, and Montreal.

The trade mission is scheduled for Feb. 13-19, which means it will arrive the day after many communities around B.C. will have celebrated the five-year-mark to the 2010 Opening Ceremonies.

Canada is New Hampshire’s largest international trading partner, with more than US$506 million worth of goods sold to Canada last year, accounting for 26% of the state’s exports. This is the first time the state is to lead a trade mission to western Canada, centred on Vancouver, with some excursions to Calgary.

"With the economic expansion taking place in the Vancouver and Calgary areas, now is a great time to expand New Hampshire’s reach to that part of Canada," said Dawn Wivell, director of the New Hampshire International Trade Resource Center. "Calgary is the fastest growing city in Canada with double-digit growth, and Vancouver, with the 2010 Winter Olympics, is already working vigorously to update and expand its infrastructure with about C$4 billion worth of projects."

Commissioner Sean O’Kane, of New Hampshire's Department of Resources and Economic Development, adds that "There are so many commonalties and synergys between New Hampshire and Canada, that this mission is ideal also for tourism businesses, cultural institutions and service providers."

Participating companies will receive customized one-on-one meetings based on their business’ specific objectives, airfare, business-class lodging and evening receptions sponsored by the U.S. Consulates in Montreal and Vancouver.


Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 16, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #741
COPPS CLAIMS FEDERAL SPONSORSHIP PROGRAM USED TO HELP VANCOUVER WIN 2010 WINTER GAMES


2010NewsWatch

A Vancouver community newspaper says former deputy prime minister Sheila Copps told its veteran reporter Charlie SMith that, in her opinion, the controversial federal sponsorship program played a key role in Vancouver winning the 2010 Winter Games.

In an interview with the Georgia Straight newspaper while promoting a book, Copps said that while she was the federal Heritage minister, she asked the sponsorship program, which is now the subject of Canadian judicial and parliamentary investigations over the way some of its money was handled, for funding receptions that were likely to be attended by International Olympic Committee delegates.

Smith reports that Copps, the former federal government minister responsible for the Olympic bid by Vancouver, explained that IOC rules place restrictions on visits to other countries to promote an Olympic bid. "So," Smith writes, "federal officials devised ways of approaching IOC members while they were in Canada attending sporting events," to effectively bypass the restriction.

Smith says Copps told him, "Actually, the sponsorship program helped us get the Olympics. Did anybody defend it? NO. They just said money has gone into Montreal. I know that when they had some of the world championships that came here, we would encourage sponsorship [officials] to host a reception so that we could hit up the IOC members while they were here.

Smith reports that Jean-Mathieu Dion, a spokesman for Heritage Canada, told him that the ministry had nothing to do with the sponsorship program, which was run by Public Workers and Government Services Canada. Smith notes, however, that the program was created to highlight the federal governments role in culture and sports, and that "its expenditures included C$250,000 on the World Weightlifting Championships in Vancouver in 2003; C$200,000 to the Molson Indy Vancouver in 2002; and C$17i5,000 to the Vancouver Canucks for the 2002-2003 season."

Smith says Copps explained to him that, "the federal government devised a strategy to woo IOC delegates from French-speaking countries. To accomplish this, Copps said she appointed a former Canadian ambassador to France, Jaques Roy, as a special ambassador for the Olympic bid, along with Raymond Chan, the now minister of state for Multiculturalism. On July 2, 2003, IOC delegates awarded the Winter Games to Vancouver by a three-vote margin. "Jacques Roy basically won us the Games, and nobody even knows his name," Smith reports Copps as saying.

Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee spokesman Sam Corea told the Straight that he was not aware that federal sponsorship program money was used to boost the Vancouver bid.


Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 16, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #740
BUSINESS BUREAUCRAT TAPPED TO RUN B.C.'S 2010 COMMERCE CENTRE


Brian Krieger has been appointed the general manager of the 2010 Commerce Centre. Launched in October by the B.C. government, the Centre's aim is to be a "one-stop information source connecting the business community with 2010 Winter Games-related information". Currently a virtual operation belonging to the BC Olympic Games Secretariat, the Commerce Centre is expected to develop in a way that will include at least one physical office location by late 2006.

Before his appointment, Krieger was the Director of Linx BC, the provincial government's so-called "Contact Center Attraction Team", a government job-creation project aimed at increasing the number of call centres in British Columbia. In 2001, Linx BC was named the Best Overall Economic Development Program by Business Facilities Magazine of New York, and in 2003 it was named Program of the Year by the International Economic Development Council in Washington. Kreiger has also won an award as British Columbia's Economic Developer of the Year for 2003. He was also general manager of Trade Team BC, a group of federal, provincial and Vancouver-area agencies that help Canadian businesses establish new markets outside Canada.

Kreiger, before being hired by the provincial government is listed as the principal in several business ventures ranging from automotive services to advanced electronics. He has a degree in Business Strategy and Marketing from the VAncouver-area Simon Fraser University.

Kreiger expects the 2010 Commerce Centre to add what he calls "a procurement engine" within the next two months, to allow businesses to sign up for e-mail notifications of the types of business opportunities that interest them. As he puts it, "From an economic development perspective, this should allow you to keep an eye on procurement opportunities that might suit the companies in your region. With that knowledge, you may be able to help those companies develop a stronger response using some of the tools you have access to that they might not be aware of."

RESOURCES:
----------

Brian Kreiger contact info:
Phone: 604.844.1806
E-mail: brian.krieger@gems4.gov.bc.ca

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 16, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |General| #739
SEATTLE NEWSPAPER TOUTS EXPANSION OF SKIING, SNOWBOARDING IN BC AS LEAD-UP TO 2010 GAMES


2010NewsWatch

A feature article published today in the major daily newspaper of Seattle, a large American city just south of Vancouver, is touting the development and expansion of British Columbia's winter recreational resources, particularly those that focus on 2010-related issues.

The article, headlined "B.C. ski resorts are pulling out the stops", was mostly written by Steven Threndyle, a freelance writer who lives in Kelowna, in British Columbia's south-central Okanagan area. It was originally written for Tourism B.C. and distributed by that organization, while a local Seattle reporter, Greg Johnston, contributed.

According to the article:

"One of the biggest progressions in skiing and snowboarding [in B.C.] has been the development of halfpipes, superpipes and terrain parks. When the snow isn't dumping, this is where you'll find the future Olympians of 2010, training for halfpipe, boardercross and slopestyle competitions.

"Big White is leading the way with its Telus Park, which features a snowboarder/new-school skier playground that already is being touted as a pre-Olympic competition and training site.

"Serviced by its own double chairlift and lighted for night sessions, the terrain park features an Olympic-size 500-foot-long superpipe with 17-foot transitional walls that meets World Cup and X Games standards. There's also a standard-size halfpipe with 12-foot transitional walls, 400 feet in length, and a boarder/skier-cross course that can be tuned up to run regional, national and even World Cup events; yet that also can be tuned down for us mere mortals as well.

"The expanded rail park will feature segregated beginner/intermediate and intermediate/advanced lanes, so riders can learn at their own pace. Telus Park also benefits from snowmaking that augments Big White's copious 24-foot annual snowfall.

"As host to many events in the 2010 Winter Olympics, it's hardly surprising that Whistler/Blackcomb has the most highly regarded terrain park and halfpipe facility in the world. As host to the 2005 FIS Snowboard World Championships, a new superpipe will be built in the Base 2 area of Blackcomb, and it will be lighted from Thursday through Saturday for night-riding sessions."

RESOURCES
---------

Here's a link to the full article:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/getaways/203863_bcski16.html

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 16, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |Business| #738
PRINCE GEORGE TO HOST MAJOR 2010-RELATED BUSINESS CONFERENCE TO SALUTE 5-YEAR MARK TO GAMES


The city of Prince George, in north-central B.C., will hold what it calls "The 2005 Winter Opportunies Summit", a combined set of four major business and government conferences from February 9 to 12, to "celebrate business, sport and culture in Prince George on the eve of the five-year countdown to 2010 Olympic Games Opening Ceremonies."

Prince George has consistently been among the most active and organized communities supporting the 2010 Winter Olympics. The conference is being sponsored by Initiatives Prince George, Pacific Sport Regional Centre and Prince George's Spirit of B.C. committee.

The Winter Summit event is expected to draw what organizers hope will be "hundreds of business, government, community, tourism and sports leaders to explore the unlimited opportunities for Prince George and northern B.C. as we create legacies and sustainability from the 2010 Winter Games."

A number of local, national and international speakers will take part, leading discussions about winter celebrations and festivals, creating commerce based on 2010 opportunities, sport tourism and the idea that athletes need a "playground to podium" model of development.

Key events include:

  • Commerce and Procurement, February 11: This conference is expected to offer northern B.C. businesses information about the 2010 Commerce Centre, which is an provincial government-sponsored web site launched in October to help funnel information about the Winter Games to businessess. The 2010 CC is expected to eventually procurement opportunities, procedures and evaluation, on vendor qualification criteria and on sponsorship, merchandising and use of 2010-protected logos, word-marks and slogans. The conference will also discuss BC Bid, the provincial government's public-sector procurement website, on which VANOC occasionally offers requests for proposals or invitations to quote, and "overall business opportunities created by the execution of the world's largest winter sports event," the 2010 Winter Games. As well, a long-time VANOC marketing-department staffer, Linda Harmon, will speak about how the value of the Olympic brand affects procurement by VANOC and the opportunities available in general to businesses in British Columbia for licensing and sponsorship.

  • Sport Hosting and Legacies, February 11: This conference is to explore and generate opportunities to see where opportunities lie for hosting sports and legacy-sports development emerging from the decision of B.C. to host the 2010 Games. Organizers have set up the conference themes to focus on how northern B.C. communities can prepare so they will be better able to take advantage of the economic and social momentum, which the organizers expect will be huge, that is likely to be created in the years leading up to the 2010 Winter Games, and begin planning on how this momentum can be extended beyond 2010. An afternoon panel discussion is expected to include Marion Lay, president of 2010 LegaciesNow, the organization set up by the provincial government to work with VANOC and the Spirit of B.C. communities throughout the province to fund sports, arts and cultural events. She is expected to outline the opportunities available though her organization, with a focus on how northern B.C. can directly benefit from the Games. A late afternoon session is to include Dale McMann, chair of the Prince George Olympic Action Committee, to outline how Prince George is doing in the process to recruit foreign teams to train and compete in Prince George.

  • SportMap Primer-Athlete Development, February 12, will deal with the development of sports in general.

  • Winter Cities Association Bi-Annual Conference and AGM, February 9 and 10, which is focused on issues for municipal governments that deal with wintry issues.


There will also be an opening reception for delegates on Februrary 10, including welcoming speeches, a luncheon speech the next day by John Furlong -- who is a former resident of Prince George and now the Chief Executive Officers of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee -- an evening reception and addresses by Olympic summer athlete Graeme Hicks from Albury-Wadonga, Australia, who will speak about how his community took advantage of opportunites provided by the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000. Hicks set up the infrastructure for the Albury-Wodonga Festival of Sport and coordinated it for more ten years, initially voluntarily, and then on a professional basis. He also developed Olympic business opportunities, pre-Olympic and Paralympic Training impunities, and cultural reunions around those aspects of the Olympic Games. This culminated in more than 400 athletes and officials from seven countries training for the 2000 Games in the area.

Also, at the same luncheon at which Furlong speaks, Prince George mayor Colin Kinsley will outline the city's aspirations in supporting the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games and where he sees opportunities for the city and its people.

The Prince George conferences' closing ceremonies will be held at the City's Exploration Place, featuring fireworks, hot chocolate and the beginning of the five-year Countdown to the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver and Whistler.

RESOURCES:
----------

The registration page for the Winter Summitt conferences outlines their per-seat costs and specific dates of the events, along with links on the side to detailed descriptions of the various conferences.
http://www.wintersummit.ca/registration/

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 16, 2004

Wednesday, December 15, 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.



Morgan:News:2010 |General| #737
EBERSOL MORE SERIOUSLY INJURED THAT FIRST REPORTED, AS SON BURIED FOLLOWING PLANE CRASH


NBC officials now say that the injuries of Dick Ebersol, the chairman of NBC Universal Sports and the man in charge of the 2010 Olymic broadcasts for the major U.S. market, are much more serious injuries than originally reported.

Ebersol was injured in a plane crash November 28 but, they say, he continues to recuperate. Ebersol's 14-year-old son Edward, known as Teddy, was killed when a chartered plane crashed in bad weather in Montrose, Colorado; the pilot and a flight attendant were also killed.

The family held a memorial service today in Litchfield, Connecticut, for family and friends of Teddy, who was 14. They have set up a fund for contributions to the Litchfield County Association for Retarded Citizens. Teddy was a volunteer worker for that organization.

Ebersol was to have attended the service, though friends and colleagues said he was still unable to walk and that he will not be able to stand on his own for several more weeks. Initial reports said that Ebersol had fractured his sternum and three ribs, but its now revealed that he also cracked his pelvis, fractured his coccyx, or tailbone, and broke six vertebrae. Another Ebersol son, Charles, sustained less serious injuries to his back and a burn on his arm when he pulled his father from the wreckage.

There's no word yet on when the normally hard-working Ebersol will return to work at NBC. In his absence, his duties at NBC Sports are being handled by two executives.

Ken Schanzer, the president of NBC Sports, is managing the day-to-day work of the division, and Gary Zenkel, the executive vice president of NBC Olympics, is managing the network's Olympics business. NBC has the rights to the next Winter Olympic games in Turin, Italy, in 2006, as well as the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing, the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver and the rights to the 2012 Summer Games. A host city for that Olympiad will be announced next summer.

Ebersol has been the key executive in all of NBC's Olympics coverage. He negotiated all the Olympic rights deals for the network and has served as the chief producer on the network's Olympic telecasts. He had met with 2010 Olympic executives only a few days before the plane crash.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 15, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #736
LAPEL PINS, LIKELY FOR 2010 LOGO, ORDERED FOR APRIL 1; VANOC STOCKS ITS OFFICES; POCO SETS UP 2010 TASK FORCE


Here are some more moguls we bumped into today:

  • VANOC is looking for quotes on 177,000 of various types of lapel pins in hard and soft enamel, as well as pewter, apparently for the launch of the organization's new logo, but that's not yet confirmed. According to VANOC quote documents, the initial artwork for the pins' design will be provided on a confidential basis to the vendor on Monday, January 24. VANOC requires the pins to be delivered on or before April 1. The quote window closes next Monday. The senior vice-president of Marketing, Dave Cobb, said earlier that it was unlikely the logo would be made public on February 12, as part of the ceremonies marking the five-year mark before the Games's opening ceremonies, as VANOC's own planning earlier this year forecast, because of the difficulties in getting the mark registered for copyright protection throughout the world, and that it would likely be the spring before it could be made public. The existing Bid logo, under IOC marketing contracts, was due to expire December 31.

  • VANOC is also on the hunt for a company to provide it with general office stationery supplies -- but not things like office paper or computer-related supplies, such as printer toner. VANOC says the firm will become the "primary supplier of general office stationery supplies on an "as-and-when requested" basis for use by VANOC personnel." The contract notes that there are about 50 employees now, and that will grow to several thousand by 2009, which means the requirements will grow along with the labour force. In this particular case, the proponents are being asked to list what is, for them, the top 25-selling supplies and provide the costs and volume discounts available for each, bearing in mind that a low environmental impact of the supplies is also a requirement, as its part of the undertakings VANOC outlined to the International Olympic Committee during the bid phase. Those kinds of products usually carry the Canadian Environmental Choice eco-logo. The contract offered contains what is now a standard gag-order clause; the winning firm is required to say nothing to the media about any aspect of the contract, and it can't market the connection it has with VANOC.

  • A new task force to investigate benefits from the 2010 Olympic Games to the municipality of Port Coquitlam has been set up, and it is to be chaired by municipal councillor Michael Wright. The 10-member task force's mandate is to investigate economic development, tourism, arts and legacy opportunities for the city. Wright expects the first meeting will be held next month. Those on the committee include Andy Nord, David Plume, Jack Say Yee, Linda Baillie, Peggy Hunt, Rene Chadwick, Sean Cairns, Sherry Carroll and Vic Schindelka.


Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 15, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #735
INTRAWEST BUYS UP ALPINE HELICOPTERS; SKIP HANNA LOOKS TO 2010 CURLING;


Some moguls we bumped into today...

  • Intrawest Corporation, which owns some of the Whistler venues of the 2010 Winter Olympics, has exercised its five-year-old option to buy the 55% share of Alpine Helicopters that it didn't already own. Alpine runs one of the world's largest heli-skiing tourist operations. Alpine in turn, owns Canadian Mountain Holidays, which offers heli-skiing and heli-hiking vacations in southeastern British Columbia. It also operates helicopter charter services to the tourism and forestry industries. Intrawest originally bought 45% of Alpine in February 1999. Alpine was privately owned and the value of today's transaction wasn't released, but Intrawest, which is public (IDR:NYSE; ITW:TSX), estimates Alpine is expected to generate annual revenues of about C$75 million. Intrawest own Whistler Blackcomb, one of 2010's ski-sports venues.

  • The big prize at this week's Canada Cup East 'cashspiel' curling playoffs is making the grade for next winter's Canadian Olympic Trials, but Ottawa's Jenn Hanna has her eye on Vancouver's Olympics, not Italy's. Hanna, 24, is the skip of a team that hopes its play is good now as it has been in Ontario all season -- so it will have momentum going into next month's regional Scott provincial championship, where it has a chance at a trials spot. The Canada Cup East attracts the top teams in Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces. Hanna says her equally young team is fashioned to give them years of experience by the time they get to the 2010 Winter Olympics.

  • South Korea's Pyongchang, which lost to Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Games, got a boost from the international skiing federation FIS today, which ruled that a competitive Korean location, Muju, wasn't eligible for ski track construction as part of a potential bid for the 2014 Winter Games because of the amount of environmental impact it would have. Pyongyang is also in the running to bid on the 2014 Games, which won't be decided until the International Olympic Committee meets in Guatemala in 2007. Vancouver's 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee, because of the way the IOC's knowledge-transfer system works, would play host to the winner of the 2014 Games, which will also have a hand-off part in the 2010 Closing ceremonies. The officials of the province in which Muju resides, however, isn't taking the decision lying down, and referred to the province in which Pyongchang resides. 'The two assessments should have been only on the standards of official installations but the FIS report considers only the analysis of the environmental impact from developing courses," they claimed. "We can’t help but suspect there must have been something behind closed doors that brought about this result. The same kind of environmental damage can be expected from some planned courses in Kangwon. Hence the report is neither objective nor fair." The Korean government is to make a decision on which two provinces will represent it in the 2014 competion December 29.


Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 15, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #734
BRITISH COLUMBIA OFFERS C$12 MILLION FOR ARTS EVENTS CONNECTED WITH 2010


British Columbia premier Gordon Campbell says C$12 million in funding for the arts in connection with the 2010 Winter Olympics is to be made available to organizations in communities across the province.

“Welcoming the world in 2010 provides a unique opportunity to celebrate the creativity, vision, and diversity of British Columbia’s artistic community,” says Campbell, adding, “Music, literature, performing arts, visual arts, First Nations art and all forms of creative expression have deep roots in B.C.’s culture and economy, and the ArtsNow program will give communities and artists a chance to strengthen that rich tradition across our province.”

The first phase of ArtsNow, administered thorough 2010 LegaciesNow president Marion Lay, involves C$4.25 million in three separate programs entitled Creative Communities, Catalyst and Innovations.

Lay adds that “ArtsNow will go a long way to prepare B.C.’s talented arts community in order that we can help showcase our diversity leading up to and beyond 2010. When the world arrives here in 2010, we want it to discover that a world of arts and culture is already here.”

The deadline for applications for the Catalyst and Innovations programs is January 31.

RESOURCES
---------

ArtsNow funding applications are on the 2010 LegaciesNow website:
http://www.2010LegaciesNow.com

You can also phone 604.659.1400.

BACKGROUND
----------

ArtsNow, a division of 2010 Legacies Now, is aimed at supporting B.C.'s arts-and-culture sector. 2010 LegaciesNow is a not-for-profit society that works with community organizations, non-government organizations, the private sector and government to support sport & recreation, arts, literacy and volunteerism.


Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 15, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |Torino| #733
LATEST SOFTWARE ROLLED OUT FOR 2006 ITALIAN GAMES


Atos Origin, the huge international Belgium-based company, known as a systems integrator, that manages the information-technology underpinnings for Olympic Games has just begun to distribute the software that will be used to communicate results for the 15 sports at the 2006 Winter Games in Torino, Italy.

The roll-out comes after months of testing at the labs it built in Torino. Atos Origin is expected to negotiate an extension to its Olympic services contract, which currently expires at the end of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, for the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver. If it does so, it will also be building an integration lab on the west coast, to deal with the then-current methods of networking, the types of services -- such as TV-cell phones -- and types of computers that will be available. Much of what it will be using is not yet on the market. The Torino 2006 Organizing Committee expects to start using the systems for event planning next month. The Torino Games open 421 days from now.

This is the second roll-out. The systems that help TOROC deal with accreditation, transport, health services and accommodation planning in the build up to the Games, which are just over a year from now, were distributed earlier.

Also applications, such as the INFO2006 intranet -- officially known as the commentator information system and central results depository -- are also running, some of them reused from the Athens 2004 Summer Olympics.

TOROC is to use the newest systems for hotel booking, planning and transportation. Atos also deals with technology security issues, such as dealing with possible places where viruses and hacker attacks can enter, and what to do about them if they are detected. Atos said Athens's concepts, which seemed to be successful, are also being used in Torino.

Atos also works with Olympics sponsors and partner organizations -- Kodak, Lenovo Computers, Omega timekeeping, Panasonic equipment, Samsung cell phones, Telecom Italia, Nortel networking and Eutelsat satellite on training support staff that integrates the systems with the Olympics, as well as testing disaster-recovery plans.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 15, 2004

Tuesday, December 14, 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.




Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #732
WNC WON'T BE READY TO REPLACE CALGARY SKI JUMP NEXT SEASON; SEARCHES CONTINUE FOR SENIOR COMMUNICATIONS, HR; VERNON CONSIDERS "NOW" FUNDING PROJECTS


Three more moguls we bumped into today...

  • When we interviewed the senior vice-president of Venues for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee, Steve Matheson, he said that work on the Whistler Nordic Centre, now in the design stage, would be split into three components, one for each of the three construction seasons between 2005 and 2007, when it's to be completed. But there are no plans to rush the Olympic ski jump into use for training Nordic athletes, now that the Canadian Olympic Development Agency has decided to close down its Olympic ski jump in Calgary after this winter season. VANOC spokesman Sam Corea says, "According to our sport and venues department, the goal is to have the entire Nordic Centre ready for the fall of 2007, not any time sooner." CODA's annual contribution toward Canada's ski jumping and Nordic combined programs, in addition to capital expenditures, had been at about C$700,000 each year - C$300,000 in direct programming costs and C$400,000 in facility operations. The decision will affect nearly 80 athletes. Three national team coaches on the CODA payroll will not be retained at the end of the season in their current role. CODA has provided about 80% of the funding spent in support of Canada's national teams and the facilities they use. About $25,000 will be available as a one-time grant for six athletes affected, and there are now discussions about where they will continue their training. Sites mentioned include Park City, Utah, or various places in Europe.

  • Search firms are being used to help VANOC look for a senior position in Communications. It was advertised as a director of Communications, but that may be adjusted. The search process continues for the senior vice-president of Human Resources to replace Jeff Chan, who apparently left under the terms of an non-disclosure agreement.

  • Vernon officials are thinking about applying for 2010 Legacies Now funding for upgrading the community's Multiplex, Performing Arts Centre and the Vernon Recreation Complex auditorium. To qualify for the funding, announced in late November, a project must be a one-time capital initiative accessible to the public and that meets a need in the community. The program will fund up to 50% of the cost of an eligible project, up to a maximum of C$330,000, and projects must be completed by March 31, 2006, the provincial government's fiscal year-end.


Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 14, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #731
SOUVENIR PACKS ARRIVE AT SPIRT OF BC OFFICES; VANDERHOOF GROUP RANKS IDEAS FOR 2010 PROMOS; CBC TAPS MURRAY TO PRODUCE 2010 BROADCAST


Three moguls we bumped into today...

  • Packages containing a flag, banner and quantities of "Spirit of BC" pins all sporting the new organization's new logo, have begun arriving at the offices of the chairs representing Spirit of B.C. Committees. The material is available for souvenir handouts and other promotional uses around the province.

  • The community group in the town of Vanderhoof, just west of Prince George in B.C.'s central interior, has voted on three concepts to pursue with its Spirit of B.C. committee: use products made from BC beef, produce or wood whenever possible, investigate how much it would cost to build an outdoor arena and consider sponsoring local athletes who could potentially compete in 2010.

  • The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is getting its ducks in line in the event it wins the bid in February to broadcast the 2010 Winter Olympics. It's asked veteran television sports producer Derik Murray, who's most recent concept was CBC's Making the Cut program, a quasi-reality show about hockey players getting a chance to be considered for play in the National Hockey League. Moore has worked in Toronto's sports-TV industry for the past 20 years, and had just moved to Morgan Creek, near Langley in B.C's Fraser Valley east of Vancouver, when CBC asked him to produce the 2010 Winter Olympics broadcast. Moore worked for CBC on the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens -- it was his sixth Games. He began his Olympics career with the American TV broadcaster, NBC, in 1988, he won an Emmy, the TV equivalent of the Oscars, for his work at the Seoul Summer Games.


Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 14, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #730
2010 LEGACIES NOW POINTS COMMUNITIES TO CONSIDER ARTS, CULTURAL EXPANSION BEYOND 2010 GAMES


The 2010 Legacies Now concept of setting up ripple effects from the cultural and arts pillars of hosting the 2010 Winter Games continues to get further away from the Games as the centrepiece for its activities.

Representatives from 2010 Legacies Now, who are visiting most of the communities in British Columbia to outline the provincial government's approach to the local 2010 committees that originally set themselves up spontaneously in the past year to get ready for activities related to the Games, were in Duncan, on the east coast of Vancouver Island.

They they offered information about the programs available for general sports and recreation, arts and culture, literacy and volunteering leading up to the time period in which the Games will be held, but continuing past them.

Community Legacy Initiatives director Ian Tait told a crowd of local politicians, library staff, recreation managers, regional district staff, people from the Cowichan aboriginal groups and Spirit of B.C. chairs that there was a total of $40 million expected to be in the pot for distribuiton, but that only the $20 million from the province was immediately available; the federal government's $20 million had not yet arrived. Tait also says there would be a number of other programs, but that communities should look past the Games when thinking about their plans.

The arts and culture component, called Arts Now, will award $12 million between now and 2007 to communities for improving their arts. Arts Now director Lori Baxter told the meeting that, "This opportunity came about because of the Games but it isn't about the Olympics. It's about building arts and culture."

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 14, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #729
VANOC UNLIKELY TO FILL SKI-JUMPING FUNDING GAP; MARKETING PLAN STILL NOT FINALIZED; IOC, VANOC REJIG REVENUE-SHARING


Three moguls we bumped into today...

  • The Canadian Olympic Development Agency, which runs Calgary's Olympic Park, was the main funding agency of the Nordic combined and ski-jumping programs in Canada but, as we reported last week, it's dropping support for those programs. The spokesman for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee, Sam Corea, says VANOC's not in a position to fill in the funding gap. per se, but left the door open for some possibilities. "VANOC's focus is to organize the Games of 2010 and have the venues ready early. Through sponsors of the Games, some may be interested in athlete-funding programs. We understand that the ski jumping and Nordic combined sports are trying to raise more funds to support their development and training programs. As far as I know, VANOC is not stepping in to fund what CODA is unable to no longer support."

  • Remember VANOC's master marketing plan? The one that needs to be approved by the International Olympic Committee so that when VANOC is supposed to receive control over its marketplace on January 1, so it can start officially dealing with sponsors on its own? The marketing plan agreement is not finalized yet. The discussions, with senior vice-president of Revenue, Marketing and Communications, Dave Cobb, have been taking place by phone and electronically.

  • It appears that a new formula is being developed between the IOC and VANOC about the way broadcasting revenues are handled for VANOC and future Games Organizing Committees in other cities. The IOC has not yet completed all the negotiations with various broadcasters. But IOC Olympic Games executive director Gilbert Felli is suggesting that Vancouver is what he calls a "transition city" in this retooling of the Host City Agreement. He added, "We have not been able to announce the amount because we do not know how much Turin will receive. The reason for doing the change is to say that we are giving a guaranteed amount of money to an organizing committee. It's very hard for them to plan otherwise." The 2002 Salt Lake Winter Games received US$443 million in broadcast revenues. In the bid book it submitted to the IOC, Vancouver offered what it felt was conservative US$400 million, but under the new terms, Vancouver could see upwards of half a billion dollars, using the Salt Lake figures plus inflation.



Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 14, 2004

Monday, December 13, 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 |Moguls| #728
ABBOTSFORD PLANS EVENTS FOR FEB 12; WHISTLER 2010 INFO CENTRE OPENS DAILY; ROYAL HUDSON TOOTING FOR A TORCH


Three moguls we bumped into today...

  • The chair of the Spirit of B.C. Committee in Abbotsford, a city in the Fraser Valley east of Vancouver, says that a number of events are being planned for the community on February 12, to mark the date that's exactly five years before the start of the 2010 Winter Games. Christine Wiebe says the events will include a flag-raising ceremony at city hall and then a walk, possibly led by Olympians and Abbotsford finalists from the TV series "Canadian Idol", such as Shane Weibe, to a jazz and blues festival the downtown area of the community. Christine Weibe has been working in the area in connection with the 2010 Games for several years. Meanwhile, Sandra Goosen, the chair of the Spirit Committee in the town of Mission, across the Fraser River from Abbotsford, says it will have an announcement early next month about similar events there, but that no specific events have yet been finalized. Spirit of B.C. committees throughout the province connect with the 2010 Games through 2010 LegaciesNow, a provincial government organization that looks after the cultural and arts aspects of the Games.

  • The Vancouver 2010 Whistler Information Centre is opening its doors seven days a week during the winter. The Centre will start operating daily from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm Pacific Time as of Monday, and will continue the schedule through April 2005, when it will return to its usual five-day-a-week schedule. The Centre provides information about the 2010 Winter Games to anybody who walks through its doors. It's been open since January 2002 and has had more than 102,000 visitors to date. The majority -- 57% -- are people living outside the Lower Mainland area, which includes Greater Vancouver, and outside of the Sea to Sky Corridor, which is the route between Vancouver and Whistler. That includes national and international visitors. Lower Mainland residents make up the second largest portion, about 36% of total visits. Residents of the Sea to Sky Corridor, which is not as heavily populated as the Greater Vancouver area, comprise about 7% of total visits. 

  • Don Evans, the executive director of the West Coast Railway Association, which acquired and is now raising funds to restore a famous old British Columbian steam engine, the Royal Hudson, says some discussions have been held with the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee about using the Hudson during the Games's torch run. The Royal Hudson plied the route between Vancouver and Whistler for years, carrying tourists, until it was finally retired a few years ago. About C$170,000 of the C$500,000 to repair the engine has been raised, with renovation work set to begin this coming spring and finished about a year later.

RESOURCES

Everything you ever wanted to know about the Royal Hudson:
http://www.wcra.org/hudson/


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



Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #727
SUMMERLAND PONDERS ITS OLYMPIC DREAM; CARDIAC SCREENING RAISED AT IOC; INTRAWEST ENCOURAGING CHINESE SKIERS TO WHISTLER


Three moguls we bumped into today...

  • A corporate project to raise money in British Columbia's Okanagan area for a potential Canadian Olympic skier has apparently run afoul of the brand-protection policies of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee. A specific blend of coffee, and two local wines, each bearing the "Olympic Dream" slogan, are supposed to change because of the word 'Olympic,' according to the local chair of the Spirit of B.C. Committee, Janice Perrino. Whether the name will change, however, is currently being debated. Beanery Coffee of Summerland and Sumac Ridge Estate Winery are selling the products to help raise money for popular Summerland skier Kristi Richards, in part because that's exactly what her dream is: to be in the Winter Olympics. Beanery Coffee contends that although VANOC is claiming it has rights on the use of the word, it isn't going to change its label because it hasn't been contacted by VANOC or related organizations, and the word 'Olympic' can be found in common English-language dictionaries, along with 'Olympian', 'Olympiad' and 'Olympus.' The coffee is being distributed to 22 retail outlets in Summerland, some of whom have wondered aloud if they should have it on their shelves. The Sumac Ridge wines are available at the winery and at liquor outlets in the community.

  • Someday, and perhaps by 2010, Olympic athletes will be screened to ensure their hearts can handle the workload of competing. The medical segment of the International Olympic Committee today adopted the so-called "Lausanne Recommendations", a consensus paper on the prevention of sudden cardiovascular death in sport. The decision followed a two-day meeting held at the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, by the IOC's Medical Commission. The meeting of the ad hoc working group on Sudden Cardiovascular Death in Sport coordinated by Professor Erik J. Meijboom of the University Hospital Centre in Lausanne, brought together a group of experts from the medical and sporting worlds. They noted that more than 90% of non-traumatic sudden death of athletes is related to a pre-existing cardiac abnormality that nobody knew about. The purpose of these recommendations is to identify, as accurately as possible, athletes at risk and let them know. The Recommends introduce the concept of cardiovascular pre-screening in sport and that involves four elements: the personal history of the athlete, their family history, a physical examination and an electrocardiogram.

  • Intrawest, the big publicly traded winter resort company that owns Blackcomb and Whistler Mountain ski areas, where some of the events for the 2010 Olympics are expected to be held, is making a major push into China, in the hopes of encouraging wealthy vacationing skiers there to come to Whistler. There are an estimated 1.5 million skiers in China. Most who come to Canada for skiing holidays go to resorts in the Rocky Mountains of eastern British Columbia and western Alberta.


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



Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #726
DESIGNER FOR WHISTLER ATHLETES VILLAGE SOUGHT AS VILLAGE DETAILS OUTLINED


Whistler's new Athlete Village Development Corporation, the organization that will shepherd construction of the 2010 athlete's village in Whistler, has begun looking for a firm to do the master site planning for the village and likely for its adjacent media centre. The Corporation is run by a Board of Directors that includes a number of developers and representatives of the municipal staff.

The consulting firm that wins the competition will also deal with engineering consulting services for the Village, which will be built in the Lower Cheakamus precinct south of the resort at an estimated cost of C$95 million.

The Village will house athletes and officials attending all the mountain-related events, as well as look after the entire group attending the Paralympic Games, which will be held entirely in the Whistler area. After the Games, the Village is expected to become a permanent Whistler neighbourhood. The AVDC wants the Village to have what it calls "leading-edge planning and building practices." The corporation estimates the planning, design and permitting work will take between a year and 18 months from the time the the planning contract is awarded.

Besides the expected expertise, the AVDC says it also wants the candidates to have experience in dealing with "environmentally sensitive design and energy saving methodology including 'Green Building' design standards", as well as experience in mountain-resort planning and design.

The Village will include housing, an athlete centre as well as community and commercial facilities, such as support services for the people living there. Construction is due to start in the spring of 2008 and be completed by November, 2009. As it's finalized, the the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee will install what it calls the Olympic Overlay. This includes temporary Games facilities, such as tents for group dining, as well as a medical clinic, some training facilities, security and the like, as well as extra parking spaces for Games officials and the Olympic family, which includes sponsors representatives.

Some preliminary work has already begun or is underway now. It includes the field survey, a geotechnical review and the terrestrial ecosystem mapping that provides a preliminary environmental inventory.

BACKGROUND

The documents that provide an overview of VANOC's expectations of the Athletes Village in Whistler shows that it will be more than "a place which offers more than just a bed and meals for its residents – also offered are a variety of recreational and entertainment activities to provide a friendly, multicultural environment for the athletes to relax and enjoy their stay." It will also be patrolled by security forces around the clock during the time it's in use.

The village site is expected to be divided into four main sections, including the: a residential zone, an international zone, several operational areas and the transportation and parking areas.

The residential zone will house up to 3,000 athletes and team officials from more than 70 nations in a mix of single-family, townhouse and apartment units. A portion of the Athlete Village could be temporary units, and VANOC and the Development Corporation expect it will house a permanent athletes centre.

Dining facilities, a medical clinic that will include anti-doping facilities, a fitness centre, a number of meeting spaces and equipment storage areas are expected to be housed within the national Olympic Committee team-services area.

The international zone involves of a variety of commercial areas to service the village population, such as a barber shop and hairstylist, a post office, a coffee house, a film processor, a calling centre, an Internet café, a drycleaner and other similar services.

Team welcome ceremonies will take place in a central plaza on the first day of each team’s arrival. This ceremony is expected to be accompanied by the raising of that nation’s flag.

Operational areas are situated in a "back of house" location that provides access to the logistics yard, the cleaning and waste compound, the housekeeping services section and the technological infrastructure that deals with computers and networking. Fit-out and maintenance personnel are also expected to use some of the space within the operations area.

The transportation and parking areas are expected to provide drop-off points for teams, guests, media and the village's workforce.

Immediately following the Olympic games in February, 2010, the Athlete Village will host all of the Winter 2010 Paralympians in March, 2010. WVDC officials expect the design firm to accommodate all of the accessibility requirements of about 1,500 Paralympic athletes and officials travelling to competition venues within the Whistler area.

An Athlete Centre that can handle at least 300 athletes as well as associated training and support facilities is part of the Athlete Village legacy plan. This Centre is intended to provide permanent accommodation for Canadian high-performance athletes, and to support the area so that it can host World Cup and World Championship events. The Centre will provide support facilities such as workout rooms, classrooms, gymnasium, dining, treatment rooms, office space and daycare.

Here is a list of the functional areas required within an athlete village as listed in VANOC documentation:

AREA A
External Permit Parking
External Guest Parking
Motorpool Parking
Driver's Lounge
Bus Mall / Athletes
Vehicle Screening Area

Area A Sub-Total square footage: 270,000

AREA B
Accreditation Centre
Mag and Bag
International Zone
Media Centre
Security Command Centre

Area B Sub-Total square footage: 115,000


Area C
Dining Hall (Athlete)
Dining Hall (Workforce)
Food Prep/Handling/Storage
Casual Dining

Area C Sub-Total square footage: 25,000

AREA D
Residences (services for the national Olympic Committees from various countries)
Polyclinic/MRI/Dental
Team Storage
Training Area
Village Operations

Area D Sub-Total square footage: 500,000

Area E
Materials Handling
Housekeeping
Cleaning/Waste
General Site Storage
Maintenance
Fit-out/Ops
EMS Staging
Technology

Area E Sub-Total square footage: 120,000

Site Total in square feet: 1,030,000
Site Total in square metres: 95,690

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



Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #725
ITQS OFFERED TO HEADHUNTERS, PERSONNEL AGENCIES FOR STAFFING REQUIREMENTS


The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee has issued invitations to headhunter and personnel agencies to quote on conducting searches for various categories of positions ranging from executives to temps.

The VANOC documentation on for both the executive searching and for the office staffing are similar. The Committee wants the chosen agencies to "conduct the searches for various categories of either senior management and executive-level positions or other staffing, and to "assist VANOC in its personnel needs on an 'as and when required' basis."

Much of the staffing demands in the near term will be an expansion of VANOC's marketing and construction sections. Over the coming months VANOC says it will be recruiting for the following departments that are just now being set up: Marketing, Communications, Creative Services, Licensing & Brand Management, Revenue, Venue Development & Construction, Environment & Sustainability, Human Resources and Finance.

In general, once the firm chosen has found candidates for a particular position as detailed by VANOC, the resumes and profiles are given to Renee Murdoch, VANOC's Manager of Human Resources. After she has a look through them, she coordinates the for the candidate interviews and how they are conducted.

Both ITQs close next Monday.

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



Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #724
US SECURITY COULD CREATE 'PERFECT STORM' FOR 2010 TOURISM; SWEDEN TO BID ON 2014 WINTER GAMES; PIZZA BRANDING CHALLENGE CONTINUES


Three moguls we bumped into today...

  • As U.S. Customs increases its security methods this week by requiring those holding visas to be fingerprinted and photographed entering the country from Canada, a Bellingham immigration lawyer is warning further expansion of the system could have a significant impact on U.S. tourism to Canada in 2010. Greg Boos made the comments during yesterday's cross-border business conference hosted by the Pacific Corridor Enterprise Council and the Bellingham / Whatcom Chamber of Commerce & Industry. He notes that American plans call for expanding the current system to check people as they are leaving the United States. He said it would be an expensive, complex system that may not work well at first. That he said, could create a "perfect storm," for Canadian tourism as the U.S. government attempts to fix the glitches during the 2010 Olympics period. Bellingham is the American city nearest the Canada-U.S. border on the major highway route between Seattle and Vancouver. The conference was also told that U.S. Democratic representative for the Lake Stevens area of Washington State, Rick Larsen, is proposing legislation requiring the American government to detail its plan for how Olympic border traffic will be handled. Larsen is co-chairman of the recently formed Washington State Governor's 2010 Olympics Task Force.

  • By the time Vancouver is hosting the 2010 Winter Games, it will be doing business with the eventual winner of the International Olympic Committee's franchise for the 2014 Winter Games, and the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee will include that winning city in the hand-off portion of the 2010 Closing Ceremonies at B.C. Place. But before that, the representatives of the cities bidding for the 2014 Winter Games will be arriving in Vancouver during the next few years for advice on things they need to do to prepare their bid and its documentation for the IOC. Sweden is the latest to enter the 2014 race; it will be the country's seventh attempt to hold the Winter Games since 1984. Other possible contenders for those Winter Games include Salzburg or Innsbruck in Austria; Sofia in Bulgaria; and Pyeongchang, which nearly won the 2010 Winter Games, or Mushu, both of which are in South Korea.

  • That brand-protection squabble between Olympia Pizza of Vancouver and VANOC is on lawyer time these days, but it hasn't gone away. Most Alvand says he hasn't heard from the Canadian Olympic Committee about a letter he had sent to it about a month ago. The restaurant had been told to remove the Olympic rings and torch symbols on his signage, which he's used without incident for nearly two decades in the city's populous West End area. The symbols are registered trademarks of the COC and VANOC. The Committee has extended his compliance deadline to December 31st, however.


RESOURCES

'Washington State governor sets up 2010 task force'
[Morgan:News:2010:Number:526; Published on Thursday, September 9, 2004]



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



Morgan:News:2010 |IOC| #723
SIEBER APPOINTED TO VANOC'S BOARD OF DIRECTORS AS COC, IOC REP


The Canadian Olympic Committee has appointed sport expert and IOC bureaucrat Walter Sieber to the 20-member Board of Directors of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee.

The Montreal-based, internationally renowned Sieber, who is vice-president of the COC's Executive Committee, will join six other COC representatives on the Board including the COC's president Michael Chambers, IOC member Charmaine Crooks, Olympian Catriona Le May Doan, business executive Michael Phelps, IOC anti-doping watchdog Richard Pound and COC secretary-general, Chris Rudge.

Sieber has contributed to Olympic Winter Games in various positions, including as a board member for the Olympic Games in Calgary and as chef de mission of the Canadian team in Albertville in 1992. He was involved in all of the Canadian bids for Olympic Games since 1980, and was vice-president, Sports for both the Toronto 1996 and Québec 2002 bids.

Chambers says that Sieber "has played a major role in international sport for the last 30 years, and possesses an incredible breadth of knowledge regarding Games and international competition."

Sieber is currently a member of the International Olympic Committee's Olympic Games Program Commission and the Summer and Winter Games Selection committee for Athletes.

He also sits on the IOC's working commission that is analyzing and preparing the reports on the bid cities for the summer Olympic Games in 2012. His sports expertise comes from being the general coordinator of FIFA, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association. During his 15-year tenure there he managed dozens of FIFA World Cups and World Championships.

Sieber was also the Director General of Sports for the 1976 Summer Olympic Games in Montreal, and worked as an advisor for organizing committees for the Olympic Games in Moscow and in Seoul.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 8, 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 |Sports| #722
CURLING FEDERATION TO LOBBY IOC AND VANOC TO APPROVE SINGLES CURLING FOR 2010 GAMES


The World Curling Federation, at its semi-annual meeting in Sophia, Bulgaria, today decided that next month it will ask the International Olympic Committee to approve an individual curling event for men and women for the 2010 Games in Vancouver.

The request is to go by January 11 to add the singles event to the usual four-person men's and women's curling events, which have already been scheduled for 2010.

Federation president Roy Sinclair there are plans to hold a test event at the 2006 world curling championships. That will be followed by world singles championships in 2007, 2008 and 2009. Curlers with the 15 best rankings from those three events -- plus Canada as host -- will qualify for the 2010 Games in Vancouver, assuming the IOC and the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee both grant approval.

Curling isn't the only sport trying to achieve additions to the 2010 program. Lobbying is also underway at the moment at the IOC level to approve Paralympic snowboarding, natural luge and women's ski-jumping. In general, decisions on adding games don't need to be made until 2007 or so.

Putting singles curling on the schedule will add scheduling pressure on the requirements for the sites already flagged to handle training and the events in for the 2010 Games. Training is currently scheduled at yet-to-be-built Hillcrest/Nat Bailey Stadium Park Curling Centre and the existing eight sheets of the Richmond Curling Club, which will be dedicated to Olympics use during the 2010 Games.

The site plan was developed by VANOC with the City of Vancouver, through the Curling Sport Working Group, representing Curl BC and the Canadian Curling Association. The President of the World Curling Federation (WCF) was involved with the review of VANOC's curling technical plans from the beginning of the bid process years ago.

VANOC currently plans to hold preliminary curling draws (with four-person teams), from February 8 to February 15, 2010. The semi-finals and medal games will be held over a three-day period on February 17, 18 and 19 that year.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 8, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |Torino| #721
SAMSUNG OUTLINES MARKETING PLANS FOR 2006 WINTER OLYMPICS AS PRELUDE TO 2010


Here's how Samsung Electronics, an international mobile-phone manufacturer and an international sponsor of the International Olympic Committee is implementing its marketing with the torch relay that leads up to the Torino 2006 Winter Games in Italy.

In many ways, it will be similar to what it did during the Summer Olympics in Athens, and it could give you some ideas for implementing your own marketing plans, as well as ideas about what it might do with the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Il-Hyung Chang, Senior Vice President and Chief Communications Officer at Samsung Electronics, says the Olympic Torch Relay is "the biggest emotional festival for all human beings and the major symbol representing the Olympic Spirit."

Samsung Electronics employs about 88,000 people in 89 offices across 46 countries. The company is the world's second largest producer of mobile phone. Since 1997 Samsung has been The Olympic Partner, known in the IOC world as a TOP sponsor, in the wireless communications equipment category. The company's sponsorship deal involves sponsoring every Olympic Games between now and 2012.

TOROC, the Torino Olympic Organizing Committee, has endowed Samsung with the title of Presenting Partner to the relay. It will be offering people from its 46 countries the opportunity to carry the Olympic torch within Italy. The Games will be held February 10 - 26, 2006.

Chang says that making the effort has been quite worthwhile for his company. He notes that after Samsung took part in the Athens 2004 Olympic Torch Relay as a presenting partner, the "corporate favourability" of the firm amongst its target markets increased by 7% -- compared to a 3% increase after the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

TOROC arranged a news conference about the torch relay, and was invited to take part in it Samsung.

The Olympic Torch Relay for Torino will start in Rome on December 8, 2005 and last until the start of the Games. During that time its winding path will cross all of Italy's regions and provinces, covering approximately 11,300 km of the Italian Peninsula. TOROC will use about 10,000 torchbearers to make the journey. Because it's the third Olympics Italy has hosted over the years, Samsung is working with TOROC to share the historical significance of the 2006 Games and emphasize the Italian culture and heritage internationally during the relay.

Samsung will also have promotional vehicles within the core convoy. They, in turn, will install Samsung showcasing stands in sponsor villages, and they will also organize the hospitality program for Samsung's torchbearers as part of its Olympic marketing. It will also do a number of consumer promotions, some of them organized in other nations by its offices in those countries,

Samsung will select 'Samsung' runners by promoting the fact they'll enjoy a once-in-a-lifetime experience to carry the flame in Italy.

It will also sponsor a number of events to encourage participation in the run by public figures, former athletes and Olympic medallists, actors, musicians, fashion leaders, "inspirational community leaders", volunteers and people who have overcome hardships. These individuals will be billed by Samsung as those who represent "the Olympic Spirit."

Also making a return for the Torino Games will be the Olympic Rendezvous at Samsung an entertainment and relaxation lounge for athletes, their families and VIP spectators; it too has been a major part of the company's Olympic sponsorship activities since Sydney 2000.


Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 7, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |Business| #720
IMG URGES COMPANIES TO LOOK NOW FOR POTENTIAL 2010 ATHLETES TO SUPPORT


2010NewsWatch

The director of athlete representation at the Canadian branch of IMG an international sports-marketing company expects the run-up to the 2010 Winter Games will reverse the declining trend of corporately sponsored athletes.

Dan Cimoroni says in Toronto that over the last few years, Canadian companies have been backing many athletes or professional sports federations, and instead focusing only on the relatively short periods when ad campaigns work with the Olympic Games themselves.

He understands why, he said, in an interview in the Canada's national newspaper, the Globe & Mail, which quotes him as saying, "They want to come in and scoop the asset for as little as possible and still get the bang of the Olympics. Some of the financial numbers have retracted to the point where the athletes are in a corner and corporations can do those kinds of things. I'm not suggesting it's bad that a corporation will write a cheque... (but) I think the corporate client that gets the biggest bang for his buck has long-term partnerships, not five weeks or three months. They have four, five, 10 years together."

Cimoroni says companies ought to be looking for possible athletes training now for 2010.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 7, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #719
NEW YORK STARTS POUNDING AWAY AT 2012; YUKONER AIMS AT 2010 SKIING; ALASKAN BLOWS WHISTLE FOR 2010


Three moguls we bumped into today...

  • From the Holy Smokes Department: New York City's one of five cities in the running to host the 2012 Summer Olympics, along with Paris, London, Madrid and Moscow. Today, New York's 2012 Bid committee mailed a three-pound coffee-table-style book -- calling it a promotional brochure -- to the 117 voting members of the International Olympic Committee. The book, which measures 38 by 26 inches, features black and white photographs of New York landmarks and Olympic performances. The book, written in five languages -- English, French, Spanish, Russian and Arabic -- was also sent to leaders of national Olympic committees and international sports federations. The IOC will select the host city at a meeting in Singapore July 6.

  • A rising cross-country skiing star from the Yukon says he's got 2010 in mind these days as he works on perfecting his training. Graham Nishikawa, who's been skiing since he was 4, told the Whitehorse Daily Star newspaper it's a long-term goal, and he first has to deal with several World Cup races, inclu9ding one next year in Canmore, Alberta, as part of his preparation for 2010. "I'll be about 25 or 26 years old (in 2010)," the Star quotes him as saying, "and that’s just peaking in this sport. The guys winning the World Cup races right now are 32, 33 years old, so it’s an age-mature sport. You need to develop endurance. It takes a lot of years of training."

  • Not everybody's training to compete in the 2010 Olympics, but will be involved nonetheless. Twenty-four-year-old Brandy Coonrod, for one, is planning on being a hockey referee in the 2010 Games. The resident of Anchorage, Alaska, played various forward positions since she took up the sport her friends were playing 10 years ago. She told USA Hockey Magazine today she's officiated at games involving both sexes. And, she adds, "The boys are more challenging... Boys will take care of a situation right away. You'll see a reaction sooner or later, but girls, they hold grudges."


Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 6, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #718
RECORDS MANAGEMENT PROCESS EXPANDED AND FORMALIZED


The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee has begun expanding a formal records-management program to deal with the burgeoning amounts of material in-house as well as with the Olympics museum and knowledge-transfer projects.

The system, which will be overseen by staff of the Records Management division, will deal with handling, tracking and classifying mail and other documentation as it arrives, moves internally and leaves VANOC headquarters. It will also deal with document movement between HQ and the office it has set up in Whistler, and a similar office it will eventually establish in Vancouver, as well as with the International Olympic Committee, its Museum and the formal transfer of knowledge program operated by an IOC affiliate, which is used, as VANOC uses it, to guide operations of other Olympic franchises.

The system will have aspects of a corporate library to it, as it works with various departments to ensure documentation that is shared with other departments is checked in and out, and to ensure that reference materials are properly catalogued and classified. It will also deal with the archiving of documentation, and ensuring that, even if archived, it can be located and retrieved, physically and electronically.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 6, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |IOC| #717
WADA AWAITS U.S. SHARE OF ANNUAL FUNDING, NOW NEARLY SIX MONTHS LATE


The United States government, as of December 1, has still not paid the full amount of its US$1.45 million share for the Montreal-based World Anti-Doping Agency, despite WADA's policy that the amount was to have been paid months ago.

WADA will be deeply involved in monitoring the 2010 Winter Games, so its financial health is of concern to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee.

WADA spokesman Frédéric Donzé says, about America's 2004 payment, to which the United States and Canada agreed earlier this year during cost-sharing negotiations, "From 2004 on, countries are supposed to pay their contribution for the ongoing year at the latest on June 30. We have always known that the U.S. budgetary process means they would pay, at the earliest, in October. This year, as in the past few years, the U.S. is operating under a continuing resolution, which means the 2005 budget, and therefore, our payment, has to be passed by the Congress. Even under the resolution, we have received a down payment from the U.S. and we are confident that we will get the rest of the payment from the United States in the next few days, as mentioned to us."

WADA is governed and funded by the Olympic movement and most of the world's governments. Canada, the United States and the rest of countries of Central and South America, including those in the Caribbean, are responsible for 29% of the US$10 million in funding WADA receives each year from world governments. Canada's contribution this year is US$725,000, while the United States agreed to pay US$1.45 million.

WADA, run by the International Olympic Committee's representative on the 2010 Winter Olympics Organizing Committee, Dick Pound, performs anti-doping testing for the Olympics movement both during the games and, in the case of many industrialized nations, such as Canada, it also performs out-of-competition testing between Olympic Games for the Canadian Olympic Committee and the Canadian Paralympic Committees, and all of their affiliated sports federations. As IPC president Phil Craven says, "Out-of-competition testing is the most effective means of doping control."



Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 6, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #716
VANOC'S POOLE NEXT TO RECEIVE BC HALL OF FAME AWARD; ALL STAR 2010 CAST ARRIVES IN ABBOTSFORD; SPEED-SKATING'S HUGHES STARTLED BY COC


Three more moguls we bumped into today...

  • The chairman of the board of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee, Jack Poole, has won the 2005 WAC Bennett Award and will be inducted into the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame at a gala affair on May 18 at the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre. Last year, VANOC CEO John Furlong received the same award. This year's award is being given for Poole's "leadership, insight, networking skills, energy, business acumen and considerable enthusiasm" for his work at the volunteer chair and chief executive officer for the Vancouver 2010 Bid Corporation. Poole, say the Hall of Fame supporting documents, "led a diverse bid team made up of government, community, business and sport representatives in what was a successful bid to gain hosting rights to the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. Later, he continued his commitment as co-chair of the 2010 Transition Committee and in October 2003 he was unanimously elected chairman of the board of VANOC." Poole, a co-founder of the development firms Concert Properties and Daon Development, was the founding chair of the Molson Vancouver Indy race car championship, and was appointed to the Order of British Columbia in 2003. WAC Bennett was a former premier of British Columbia.

  • It was an all-star meeting of 2010-related people meeting with political representatives and staff of 90 Olympics-related community committees in Abbotsford, a city in the Fraser Valley east of Vancouver, the past week. The provincial government continued its re-birthing plans of converting isolated 2010 Committees into a much wider amorphous cultural and corporate force that has 2010 as its general direction and motivator. The cast included B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell; the provincial government minister in charge of the 2010 Secretariat, John Les; VANOC's senior vice-president for revenue, marketing and communications, Dave Cobb; 2010 LegaciesNow president and CEO, Marion Lay; Lay's executive director for Legacy Initiatives, Gordon Goodman; Brian Krieger, the general manager of the 2010 Commerce Centre, and former Olympian rower Silken Laumann. The occasion was to outline to the community groups, now generically known as Spirit of B.C. Committees, how 2010 Legacies Now will work on spreading provincial funding during the lead-up to the 2010 Games. 2010 LegaciesNow says it will keep them current and help them to "explore Olympic and non-Olympic opportunities for their community in the areas of sport and recreation, arts and culture, tourism and convention, trade and investment, procurement, human resources, literacy and volunteerism." Spirit of BC Community Committee people who gathered in Abbotsford included representatives from political councils, arts and culture groups, aboriginal groups, current and former Olympic and Paralympic athletes, persons with disabilities, sport, recreation, literacy, women and youth as well as business, community, multicultural and service organizations.

  • Speed-skater Clara Hughes, the only Canadian Olympian to have won medals in a Summer and Winter Olympics, told the Toronto Star newspaper she was startled by the Canadian Olympic Committee's goal of winning 35 medals in the 2010 Winter Games. "When I hear 35 medals, I really wonder how they're coming up with these numbers," Hughes told the newspaper. "You need to think long and hard about statements you're making on how you're going to do. You need to have everything perfect just to make the podium, let alone win the race, because that's what the Olympics is. It just makes me shake my head when I hear those predictions because I know what it takes." She told the newspaper her time is limited with her coach, physiologist, massage therapist and physiotherapist because of a shortage of funding in the system. The paper also quotes COC president Chris Rudge as saying the point of setting the goal is reach it with the help of corporate sponsorship, not declare it's a done deal, "We're not trying to put the athletes out on a limb. We're putting the system out on a limb - ourselves, the sports federations, the government... That's what we're putting under pressure, not the athletes. We're trying to get for the athletes what they need to be successful."


Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 3, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #715
26 DEPUTIES TO CONSIDER ON FEDERAL SIDE OF 2010; VANOC LAUNCHES ANOTHER BRAND-PROTECTION LAWSUIT; MORE ON VP OF SUSTAINABILITY


Three moguls we bumped into today...

  • It's often said that small committees with competent people on them make for good management when you're dealing with a wide range of stakeholders. That's definitely the case for VANOC. When CEO John Furlong went to Ottawa to give a presentation about his plans for the 2010 Winter Games, there were 26 deputy ministers who showed up to hear how it might impact their departments. Dealing with Ottawa involves much longer lead times, in part because the federal government is so much more complex and larger than provincial governments. When VANOC needs to deal with provincial government or municipal government bureaucracies, it's a much different story. Senior management usually deals directly with the City Managers in Vancouver, Richmond or Whistler, or with Annette Antoniak, the provincial government's deputy minister for BC Olympic Games Secretariat and Intergovernmental Relations, Ken Dobell, the deputy minister to BC Premier Gordon Campbell. Paul Taylor, B.C.'s deputy minister of Finance.

  • VANOC and the Canadian Olympic Committee have jointly launched another brand-protection lawsuit, this one against the owner of several related websites. The defendant is J. Darren Carlson, also known as Jon Carlson, from Vancouver, who owns the domain names "vancouver2010.org", "vancouver2010.net", "vancouverwhistler2010.net" and "vancouverwhistler2010.com". The first two, created five years ago and due to expire on December 20, resolve to an "Under Construction" page. The third domain name doesn't resolve but it and the fourth were parked last month with a domain-name agency, and the "vancouverwhistler2010.com" resolves to the agency's home page. The latter two domains also are due to expire this month, unless they are renewed. VANOC said it had sent letters to Carlson since October 2003 trying, unsuccessfully, it turns out, to get ownership of the domain names. VANOC spokesman Sam Corea says the lawsuit began when Carlson allegedly refused to transfer ownership of the domain names to VANOC.

  • Here's more information on what VANOC is looking for in the role of vice-president of Sustainability, when they finally hire somebody to the role. The person will be responsible for "environmental, economic and social sustainability." according to VANOC documentation. They'll be reporting to the Senior Vice President, Services and Planning ; that's the new title for Terry Wright's role. The Sustainability position will work on development and management of community- and stakeholder relations and for setting up and looking after partnerships related to sustainability, inclusivity and aboriginal participation. The documentation adds that "This will include community organizations, Host First Nations [aboriginal organizations], government and non-government organizations, business associations" and the like. They'll also be responsible for developing and implementing "strategic and governance management systems for sustainability in its broadest sense." Interestingly, they'll also be responsible -- and not VANOC's Communications Department -- for media relations and public presentations about VANOC's sustainability position, performance, progress and issue management.



Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 3, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #714
THE WRIGHT WAY - THE OPERATIONS OUTLOOK FOR THE ORGANIZING COMMITTEE - PART 4 OF 4 - SHIFTING WIRES


Editor's note: This is final section of a four-part report on our interview with Terry Wright, the senior vice-president of planning and operations, about the status, policies and strategies the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee intends to use as it as it plans and begins to implement the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games over the next three or four years. - Editor]


Early last month, Terry Wright and a representative from VANOC's telecommunications supplier, Bell Canada, attended a week of technology debriefings in Beijing about the Athens Summer Olympics, in which experts from the Athens organizing committee and its major computer and network suppliers reported on their experiences. Wright's background, before becoming involved in the 2010 Games, was that of a computer consultant dealing with resource-management software, and he's worked at a number of large-scale game events, although this is his first Olympic Games.


There are several major sections to the Technology portfolio -- the computers and the networking services will be supplied by IOC international sponsors, as will the timekeeping, by the Swatch Group of Switzerland, which will be returning to its Omega brand for the 2010 Games. Belgium's multi-national Atos Origin has been providing the networking and database services to Olympic Games for more than a decade, while China's Lenovo Computers has contracts to supply the computers up to the Beijing Summer Olympics in 2008, including the 2006 Winter Games in Torino. Negotiations are underway now by the IOC to determine whether Atos Origin and Lenovo will be working on the 2010 Games. Samsung is expected to provide wireless communication devices, including upgraded versions of television coverage on wireless phones, a technology it will debut during the 2006 Torino Winter Olympics.

All of this technology grouping is expected to work with the telecommunications services and equipment supplied by Bell and it, in turn, with the extensive broadcasting and Internet services that will be supplied by various companies and countries, such as NBC for American broadcasting, the European Broadcast Union, for all of Europe (Italy is not yet a part of the deal), and the firm to be chosen in February for Canadian broadcasting. In addition, the IOC will be providing the Olympic Broadcast Service, for countries that aren't connected with the formal arrangements.

Wright says that he learned a number of lessons from the Athens debriefing, one of which will be influential in a decision VANOC is about to make. VANOC has not yet hired one of its last senior vice-presidents, the person who will be in charge of Technology for the Games, but it is actively recruiting for the position now. Wright says that team-building and team-melding skills will be of considerable importance for the SVP of Technology.

"These are big, sophisticated companies. The international firms work together every two years, and then have to work with a bunch of local companies, such as telecom services, local volunteers, local expertise, local materials delivery and so on, to form a seamless partnership. The senior VP of Technology will have to build and manage a partnership of disparate people, with different objectives. And they're from all over the world. Working with them is like being in the Tower of Babel -- and electronically, too."

Wright, noting that major IOC sponsors are usually favoured to renew if they wish isn't sure whether Lenovo will be involved in the 2010 Games. "They don't have a market position in North America, so we don't know if they'll renew or not. Obviously, it would be in our interest if they renewed -- and renewed early, because you don't want to be waiting until the last minute to know who your computer supplier is. That's a decision you want to have three or four years out, because we have to start building our testing labs for the equipment." Athens used nearly 125,000 square feet for its technology testing and warehousing components.

Wright says he was also intrigued with the approach Athens took to managing the common technology objectives, equipment and resource allocation, and that it was a significant issue. "Whether it's radios, or PCS, or LAN lines, or computers, or servers, they had one sub-function within Technology, and that's all it did, was manage the resources with all the outside users. They had just one place to go to. That allowed all the other functions, which are, in essence, service delivery, to stay out of the resource-allocation fight, so they could just get on with getting their system built or their job done. It's a good approach."

That doesn't stop it from being complicated, though. Wright says that for the Athens Games, which are roughly three times bigger than the 2010 Winter Games, the project management office that was established within Technology, which, in turn, linked to the central project-management office, had more than 9,000 milestones all on its own. "All of the players on the Technology team worked to milestones on schedules. Almost more than Venues, this is going to be our most schedule-driven division."

Wright and Matheson have also had a number of discussions about the approach VANOC will take to the management and supply of energy to the 2010 Winter Games, in part because of lessons from this summer's Olympics, when the city of Athens was hit by a massive power outage only a week or so before the Games were due to begin. Wright expects power management and supply will be a full-fledged department within VANOC, instead of being shunted to the side within the Technology or Venues sections. "The whole conception of how the Games are going to get served, from a power perspective -- permanent, temporary, generators; all the different permutations and combinations that will be required -- was something, for the first time, that the Athens organizing committee made into a function, and dedicated management to it early. We've made the suggestion to Steve, and I think he's going to act on it, to bring in a manager or director of Energy quite soon."

Wright notes that Athens spent the equivalent of C$80 million on energy. "We won't spend that much, but it's a big number for us, and we don't want power outages during the Games."

The idea is to have the power manager coordinate VANOC's requirements and responses with the management team assigned to each of its venues, and with all the suppliers. In Athens, it was the first time Wright had encountered the concept, "and it made a ton of sense to me."

In British Columbia, the utility BC Hydro, notes Wright, supplies electrical power. The focus, until now, has been on NBC, as the American broadcaster, but it was actually its parent company, General Electric, which won the bid for a number of exclusive rights at the 2010 Games, and it will be involved in providing temporary power to the Games venues. VANOC's manager of Power and its staff will also work with those firms, and many others, to ensure stable and redundant power supplies to the venues and the broadcasters. In addition, VANOC will work with sustainable-energy volunteers. "The back-up power requirements -- depending on whether it's different aspects of technology, or broadcast or Games operations -- are very complex, and they're all different. That was new to me."

Wright says that in other games, in his experience, the main power supply was backed up with a generator or, if it was critical, double generators. In Athens, he says, they used various combinations of redundant main power supplies, with generator backups. "They had 10 or 11 different scenarios for power back-up."

[This completes our four part series on how the operations of the 2010 Winter Games will evolve over the next few years. - Editor]

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 2, 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 |VANOC| #713
THE WRIGHT WAY - THE OPERATIONS OUTLOOK FOR THE ORGANIZING COMMITTEE - PART 3 OF 4 - SHIFTING TIMES


[Editor's note: This is part 3 of a four-part report on our interview with Terry Wright, the senior vice-president of planning and operations, about the status, policies and strategies the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee intends to use as it as it plans and begins to implement the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games over the next three or four years. - Editor]


Terry Wright agrees there has been some slumping of timelines, even though VANOC is determined to have its major venues, with the exception of curling, built and ready for test events by late 2007.

For instance, original planning, detailed in the Bid Book provided to the IOC in the spring of 2003, forecast the Sliding and Nordic Centres would be completed by the spring of 2007, not six months later as they are now expected to be delivered. And the buildings of those centres, even as late as last year, were expected to go to the designers six months ago.

This simply does not concern Wright at this point, because VANOC is far ahead of where Games development for the Summer Olympics in Athens, or the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino. "We've had a few things that have moved a little bit, but if you look at the overall project, if you look at where we are in the substance of it -- by comparison to any of our predecessors, we are still so early. The Torino people cannot believe what we're doing, and neither could Athens... Athens had one of its test events a month before their Games, and that was the first time anyone was ever in that venue. We're looking at training events two years before our Games."

Wright acknowledges that VANOC's timelines, even as far back as three years ago, when the bid book was in preparation, were always "aggressive" and will stay that way. "There's a method to this. We're going to keep everybody's feet to the fire on venue delivery, because it's the only true way to build slack into your schedule. If you aim for an early date, you marshal yourself to stay on that date." Later, he noted, "We'll always project things to be worse than they are, to keep people's focus on them. The reason we set aggressive, early dates was so that we didn't find ourselves where we ran into big difficulties."

Wright points out that the trail and bob-luge tracks, both of which were critical to the development of the venues, were designed during the last six months, starting last May, as the first phase of the projects, with the second phase, the design and construction of the buildings themselves coming second. "Those two major elements, we did in a slightly different order, to accommodate Steve Matheson's arrival, so he had a chance to pick his fundamental design teams" -- Sandwell Engineering, in the case of the Nordic Centre, and Stantec, in the case of the Sliding Centre -- who are doing both the building designs and the site master planning. "We're in a situation where, for instance, Stantec's just come on, but the run dynamics of the bob-luge track are virtually complete -- there's only one last sign-off to do -- so they have a very comprehensive package to work with, and they just have to take it to the next level."

Their work is expected to be finished, with the projects going out to tender, in March and April, with construction to start in May and June. "We're still on target for that," says Wright, "and that target's three years old." And, he adds, "We could easily build that thing in two years, and we've allowed three. We effectively have a year of grace in our sliding schedules. We don't want to take the year, but we've got it. With the Nordic Sliding Centre, you really want three because of seasons, and if you had to have it ready a year later, it wouldn't be the end of the world; it would still give you a full winter of testing, but we want two. That's just aggressive."

Wright says that, for the most part, VANOC doesn't want to concern itself with major construction projects in the last two years before the Games; it prefers to concern itself primarily with event-testing and preparing for the Olympic overlays on all the venues, which will be imposed in the last half of 2009. "If we can achieve that, it will really affect our ability to hit the operations with a clear head, instead of, like the Summer Games in Athens, where you're finishing things right up to the last minute, which affects your overlay, impacts all your technology -- there's a huge bump-on effect of something like that. We're quite comfortable with where we are in the venues schedule."

The senior vice-president says, "We keep two different schedules, really. We keep the schedule that's near and dear to our heart of dates by which we might get worried, and then we have the official schedule for the IOC and for everybody else, including our partners that is quite a bit earlier than that, and we're going to continue pushing everybody to that earlier schedule. We're just trying to ride in front of the wave."

Wright says VANOC is still on track with having the Richmond-based speed-skating oval ready for use by late 2007, despite the delays as the organization re-evaluated its original proposal of building the track at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby. "And, frankly, if it was ready in the spring of 2008, we'd still be two years ahead of Torino, which is going to have its oval open in the equivalent of 2009."

There are two curling venues, one in Vancouver and training rinks in the Richmond sports complex that will also house the speed-skating oval. The Vancouver venue is tied up in city politics at the moment, because the original configuration of the C$28.2 million project involved tearing down Nat Bailey Stadium, a sentimental favourite for Vancouver baseball fans. The Vancouver Parks Board, in response to public lobbying, has agreed to see if it's possible to locate the curling rink on the property in such a way that the Stadium is not substantially affected, and a decision on that is not expected until March or April.

"We're still looking at whether there's a different way of building that," confirms Wright. "One of the nice things about having new sets of eyes, such as those of people like Steve [Matheson], is that he has a lot more experience than I do in building things." Wright adds that VANOC is "amenable" to looking at anything that improves the long-term development of the Games and its legacy. "We've already made some changes," he says, referring to moving the speed-skating oval to Richmond from SFU, the International Broadcast Centre from Richmond to Vancouver, and re-organizing the construction schedule for the hockey rinks located at the University of British Columbia. "And we'll make some more if we believe it's in the best interests of the Games in the long-term legacy."

Even though VANOC is aiming at being able to open the snow sports venues, such as the Nordic and Sliding Centres in the Callaghan Valley, west of Whistler, in the winter of 2007/2008, it's not being aggressive in booking high-performance events that winter, because, as senior vice-president of Sport, Cathy Priestner said earlier, it's not a good idea to go directly into World Cup-level events. "Virtually 95% of our test events will be during the winter before the Games [2009/2010]," says Wright. He adds, "The winter before that [2008/2009], we'll do training events -- low key things, such as local and regional events, especially in new events. We could do a hockey World Cup, or curling, tomorrow, but the Nordic sports and, to some extent, the Alpine sports, because their new, the soft warm-up is better. I suspect you'll see people skiing in the Callaghan in the winter even before that [2007/2008]. The project is the kind of thing that gets finished all at once; it will come on in different pieces."

Wright says VANOC is still wrestling with whether to move some of the Alpine test events to the Creekside location in Whistler from the Callaghan Valley. A few months ago, CEO John Furlong suggested the decision would be made this month, but that, too, has slipped a bit. "I think we're getting closer to arriving at some conclusions, but we still have some homework to do, and I suspect we won't make a final decision until February. There are some pros and cons to it, and we just want to make sure we've thought the thing through. We don't have a huge rush to make the decision. It has some ripple effects, but we could probably make the decision as late as June or July, and not hurt ourselves, but it's something we'd like to decide sooner, rather than later."

[In the last section of this four-part series on operations, Wright talks about how VANOC’s will deal with two major hard elements of the Games: technology and power delivery. - Editor]

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 2, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #712
THE WRIGHT WAY - THE OPERATIONS OUTLOOK FOR THE ORGANIZING COMMITTEE - PART 2 OF 4 - SHIFTING LINES


[Editor's note: This is part 2 of a four-part report on our interview with Terry Wright, the senior vice-president of planning and operations, about the status, policies and strategies the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee intends to use as it plans and begins to implement the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games over the next three or four years. - Editor]


Some departments of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee, says Terry Wright, are already working on their internal strategic plans because of their timing within VANOC, and they're part of the first wave where planning and coordination is now moving into the implementation mode, ahead of the rest of the functions, in the second wave.

They include Venues, run by VANOC senior vice-president Steve Matheson, and Marketing, run by VANOC senior vice-president Dave Cobb, both of which are lead functions. "Steve Matheson is full on. We're into the concept design in two facilities -- the two Centres -- and shortly a third, in the case of Richmond's oval, and not long after, UBC. Just by their nature, we're shrinking the planning cycles for them," says Wright. Project-management and support-staff recruitment is already underway for supervising those venues.

Marketing department development is also already underway, with staffing for one of its major divisions, Communications, begun as well, although it appears VANOC will do a second round of advertising for the vice-president of Communications. The application window closed earlier this month, but it appears the quality of the applications received so far isn't yet sufficient to make an appointment.

Meanwhile, Andrea Shaw, a marketing consultant who was the 2010 Bid Corporations's vice-president of Communications, has been hired to deal with a second major division of Marketing, sponsorship, as the January 1 milestone, where VANOC can legally begin offering sponsorships under IOC authority, nears. As Wright puts it, "We're going to take it up a notch, dealing with how we're organizing Communications, because it's effectively active now."

The planning team of four coordinated by Wright is also dealing with aspects of the Games development where early intervention will, hopefully, reduce costs either as the venues come on stream, or are converted to Games use during the summer of 2009 when what is called the Olympic Overlay will be imposed on them.

At least, that's the ideal. Some examples of what that means: knowing where closed-circuit camera positions along the Sea-to-Sky highway allows underground cabling and so-called "drop-out boxes" to be designed and placed under the roadway, or where conduits are required for TV crews, power requirements or computer network services to the International Broadcast and Media Centre, which is just beginning construction on Vancouver's waterfront. Those kinds of things, and many more besides, saves the cost of trying to put them in later by tearing up the highway or digging into pristine Convention Centre walls. Says Wright, "We have a couple of people on that team who have a pretty good background in transportation, and some of their decisions will have to be made before a general manager of Transportation is hired... and if we have to bring in power from two different substations to give ourselves some redundancy in 2010, that has to be thought through now."

But it doesn't all work out well for the small coordination and planning crew. An example of that is the Vancouver Athlete's Village, to be built as the lead project of a large urban redevelopment of the south-east shore of False Creek in the city's downtown core. The City has provided a number of different preliminary layout designs for the Village as it fits into ideas for the larger development and moves through a highly politicized process, and the VANOC team has to go through each one, looking for things that will help or hinder athletes or their support services. "We have one individual with a great deal of experience in village development, and another one with almost as much, in that little team of four people, we're providing our perspective for the City of Vancouver, and, shortly now, with Whistler."

The City of Vancouver's process for public approval of what it wants to do with the much larger area of old warehouses and industrial land that includes the location of the Athlete's Village is in two phases. The Official Development Plan for the whole area must first be approved by City Council, and then the detailed planning for the Village section itself. The current plan calls for the ODP to be approved by Council sometime this month, and the detailed planning to occur, with various public meetings, to occur between January and April, which is the deadline set by VANOC for its requirements. "We set dates with the City that were quite a bit more aggressive than April, because then you know you've got a very good chance of meeting the dates you really want."

Whistler has created a development corporation, with its own Board of Directors, to deal with the construction of the Whistler Athlete's Village and, probably, the nearby Whistler Media Centre, both located in the Function Junction area south of Whistler. They'll be sharing some of the same services, and they'll also share some of the same transportation requirements. The feasibility study work phase of those complexes --- how it would be best delivered, how much will be permanent, and how much will be temporary -- begins in January. "It's basically being staffed with people from the municipality of Whistler and with some of our people. They may bring additional people on as they go, but the Board of Directors of the corporation has, fundamentally, some top-notch development expertise, and that will help us," says Wright.

Besides the roughly 50 major departments that will eventually comprise VANOC as the Games near, there are also approximately 30 stakeholders -- including a wide range of governments, Crown corporations and agencies that affect the 2010 Organizing Committee and how it does its job. Wright says that as the departments are expanded, the role of inter-stakeholder communications will expand with them, rather than VANOC's senior management bogging down in trying to keep things coordinated. It will be what he terms "a measured delegation of authority." He adds, "As we move forward, it'll become much more of a multi-lateral process, on a function-by-function basis. It'll be our job -- VANOCs and the heads of the various secretariats -- to ensure the multi-lateral working relationships are, in fact, working well. Our job is to establish the mechanisms for transportation, villages, security, cleaning-and-waste or whatever, ensure people understand the linkages, make sure there's been a clear delineation of responsibility, and then being sure that we build teams. Once our people are on board and they're engaged with the various levels of government they affect and that affect them, we'll only have to manage by exception. The people that we put in place to run the functions should be able to manage 99% of the issues with their counterparts at the different levels of government."

That kind of delegated authority has worked and not worked in about equal measure, depending on how companies set up their organizations and staff them, but Wright is optimistic. "I think we're going to be more successful than most, simply because we're at it now. We're having partner meetings every two weeks; they're only just doing that now in Torino, a year before their Games. We started nine months ago. We're building that culture into the concept and chemistry of our organization, and our stakeholders are building it into theirs."

Wright anticipates that municipal secretariats, similar to those established by the federal and provincial governments, will soon be set up to deal with VANOC, to ensure there is coordination even at that level. The City of Vancouver yesterday appointed its chief engineer, Dave Rudberg as its general manager for Olympic Preparations.

BACKGROUND

The nine-member Board of the Athlete Village Development Corporation includes representatives from the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee and two each from the Resort Municipality of Whistler and its subsidiary, the Whistler Housing Authority.

The Board of Directors is:

  • Jim Moodie, the president of Vancouver-based Moodie Consultants
  • Eric Martin, the vice-president Bosa Development
  • Duane Jackson and Steve Bayley, Whistler Housing Authority
  • Marianne Wade and Ken Melamed of Whistler council
  • A representative of VANOC, who has yet to be named
  • Jim Godfrey, Whistler's municipal manager or his designate
  • And a member of the public who is also yet to be named; the position is to be advertised.


[In part 3 of this four-part series on operations, Wright talks about VANOC’s development schedule and whether the delays encountered already will have an effect on the Games themselves. - Editor]

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 2, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #711
THE WRIGHT WAY - THE OPERATIONS OUTLOOK FOR THE ORGANIZING COMMITTEE - PART 1 OF 4 - SHIFTING GEARS


Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| (Feature) The Wright Way - The operations outlook for the Organizing Committee - Part 1 of 4 - Shifting gears

[Editor's note: This is part 1 of a four-part report on the status, policies and strategies the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee intends to use as it plans and begins to implement the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games over the next three or four years.

[These reports stem from a detailed interview with VANOC's senior vice-president of Planning and Operations, Terry Wright. Wright was appointed last June to his role without the type of competition that selected the other senior VPs. His job is effectively the second in command to CEO John Furlong. Wright was also with Furlong in a similar role as the Bid Corporation was formed and ultimately won the Games, and he’s president, as has Furlong, over the transition to the Organizing Committee.

[Wright wrote the first white paper on whether Vancouver could get the bid in 1997, which was originally conceived by the former director of North Vancouver’s recreation commission, Gary Young. Wright was a senior manager with the 1999 Pan American Games, the Goodwill Games and the World Masters' Games. He was also on the management team for the 1994 Victoria Commonwealth Games and Expo 86, a transportation-themed world's fair in downtown Vancouver in 1986.

[In part 1, Wright talks about how the overview planning portion of his job is about to come to an end, and what comes next. - Editor]


The key architect of the 2010 Winter Games says his primary role as chief planner is slowly switching now to that of chief operations officer, as the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee's year of planning works its way toward a conclusion.

Terry Wright, VANOC's senior vice-president of Olympic Planning and Operations, says now that VANOC has a senior VP in charge of Venues, Steve Matheson, the division of labour has begun in development of the 2010 Winter Games. "We've moving towards venue planning through Steve, and non-competition venue planning with me. We're just evolving how we address the challenge."

In an in-depth interview with Morgan:News:2010, Wright says that by this coming spring, VANOC will have fully shifted gears from the planning stage to the implementation phrase. "The first step was how we are going to organize the Organizing Committee. This year, and probably into about March, 2005, we've been doing what we call 'foundation planning.' We've been determining how we're going to organize ourselves into the various functions within the Organizing Committee, and how we're going to organize between ourselves and our key partners: the City of Vancouver, Whistler, Richmond, the federal government, the provincial government, the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Committees, First Nations. We've been figuring out who's going to be responsible, for what, and trying to describe each function within VANOC. We're going to try to arrive at the first version of our business plan by the end of April, roughly. That will conclude the foundation planning."

The business plan is necessary to ensure that VANOC's cash flow matches operations, and the operations matches the organization's timetable. "Planning is done in pretty close partnership with our Finance area, because the two are symbiotic. There's a cost element to it all." Wright, though, says his job at that point will delve much more deeply into breathing life into the fledgling organization, which has only about 40 full-time people at the moment. As the organization reaches the benchmark in the spring, it will also mark the time when VANOC's first major venues, the Whistler Sliding Centre and the Whistler Nordic Centre, two projects that total C$100 million in combination, finish their design and go to out to construction bidding.

VANOC has worked out that it will be comprised of about 50 major functions, or line departments, and they have to be fleshed out. "From 2005 and concluding about the fall of 2006," says Wright, "we need to prepare a business plan by function -- some call it a strategic plan by function. We'll determine, for each function how we're going to organize that function to deliver the Games. The second phase of planning is the function organization."

Some of the major departments include Venue construction and management, Marketing, Revenue generation, Communications, Sports and a number of major components to it, such as Ice, Sliding Centre, Nordic. Other functions include the Athlete Villages, Transportation, Accommodation, Security and its liaisons, Logistics, Broadcasting and its liaisons. A number of these are currently handled either by senior vice-presidents or, in the case of the latter grouping, by a small four-person team, each member of which has extensive Olympic Games experience, that are working with Wright on foundation planning. "In the next six to nine months, we'll be starting to put somebody full time into looking after those functions."

Transportation services is a good example of what's required and what VANOC will be dealing with, he says. "If you look at the last three or four Games, the transportation project staffing has peaked somewhere between 150 and 200 people. That's a big organization all on its own. There is a parallel organization that's formed as we begin working with TransLink, BC Transit, the international airport and others. We have to figure out how that's all going to work, how it's going to get led, what will be the main sub-functions within it, why they're going to be established and when, their terms of reference and scope." That, in turn, has to be fit into a constantly growing staffing plan, and the funding for the salaries and support requirements will also be developed. "We'll probably shoot for the second iteration of our business plan in the fall of 2006," Wright says.

VANOC, during the coming year, must also ready itself to absorb the extensive amount of knowledge that the 2006 Winter Games in Torino, Italy, will be generating as its Games launch a year this February, as well as extract even more information from the Knowledge Transfer Program and its database maintained by the International Olympic Committee. "We will try to go into Torino with at least a mindset of what that functional business plan looks like. There will be some exceptions, but it probably means that for most of the major functions, like Transportation, that we'll have to have hired the senior leadership pre-Torino. That will give them some time to get established, maybe make an advance visit or two to Torino, they will have looked at the knowledge generated by other Games, and they will have got a sense of how to organize and deal with their major challenges."

Besides observing the operation of the Torino Games first hand, the department heads and senior executives will be a major section of the audience for the Torino post-mortem meeting, already scheduled for April, 2006 here in Vancouver. "By the summer and fall of 2006, we'll be in position, as an organization, where we know how each function will work, and the stage after that is developing the operational plan for each function. Then we'll know exactly how we're going to build each function, how we're going to staff it, what it's going to look like."

Then comes the implementation of those plans in 2007, and it's no coincidence that VANOC's major venues will become operational in the latter half of that year, with major construction on the two Centres in the Callaghan Valley west of Whistler, along with the Richmond speed-skating oval complex completing by that winter, UBC's new hockey rinks, and work completed on upgrading Cypress Bowl in West Vancouver for skiing events and Whistler Creekside ready for the Alpine events. The winter of 2007/2008 will see some of the first test events -- they'll be relatively small-scale local and regional competitions, not big professional operations -- but they'll take place under VANOC auspices, with some volunteer crews.

[In part 2 of this four-part series on operations, Wright looks at how some of VANOC’s departments, because of their timing, are already working on operational plans. - Editor]

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 2, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #710
RECRUITMENT UNDERWAY FOR SECOND LEVEL OF SENIOR MANAGEMENT


VANOC has begun recruiting several executives as it continues to expand its second layer of management. They include a vice-president of Sustainability, a vice-president of Culture and Ceremonies, and three directors -- one each for Nordic Sports, Sliding Sports and Ice Sports.

On the sustainability side, the International Olympic Committee requires host cities to include the environment as a third pillar, along with sport and culture, to ensure that Games development is increasingly environment-friendly, particularly in construction, management and legacy. Vancouver is one of the largest urban areas to host a Winter Olympics (as is Torino's 2006 Winter Games in Italy).

Senior vice-president of Planning, Terry Wright, says VANOC perceives the VP as being in charge of what he calls "an Olympiad of sustainability, like the cultural Olympiad." When VANOC moves into operational planning, in the summer of 2006, the major environmental work in all the venues will come to the forefront. "We also have to see, once that person comes on, how we can do that without interfering with sponsor exclusivity -- we can't tread on that ground."

The first major topic the VP of Culture and Ceremonies will tackle: the hand-off ceremony at the end of the 2006 Winter Games in Torino, Italy. The new VP is expected to be in place by February 1, which will give that person a year to prepare. The hand-off ceremony occurs at the end of each Olympics, and involves, usually, a portion of the closing ceremony of the Games, in part to promote the next Games of its type. Last summer, Beijing, which will be the next Summer Olympic venue, took part in the Closing Ceremonies of the Athens Summer Olympics. Similarly, Torino took part in the Closing Ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

The Director of Ice Sport will be in charge of delivering all of VANOC's ice sports, such as ice hockey, curling, figure skating, the short- and long-track speed skating, all of which will be held in Vancouver, as well as two Paralympic Games, which will be held in Whistler: ice-sledge hockey and wheelchair curling. The Director of Sliding Sports will be in charge of bobsleigh, skeleton and luge The Director of Nordic Sports will provide similar expertise for biathlon, cross-country skiing, ski jumping and Nordic combined. The latter two directors will also be in charge of running the Sliding and Nordic Centre complexes in the Callaghan Valley, just west of Whistler, from the time they become operational, late in 2007.

All of the directors will be required to manage how technical information needed for the various ice-venue designs is provided to VANOC's venue development teams and provide expertise on the legacy aspects of the venues. As the Games get closer, they'll be in charge of setting up and implementing the testing and training events at the venues, and working with the broadcasters to ensure the Games are properly televised.

The Directors of Ice Sports, Sliding Sports and Nordic Sports are expected to be hired within by January 1.

BACKGROUND:

VANOC is looking for people with similar types of experience for the three directors of sports, who will eventually report to a Director of Sport Director. Each will have similar duties and responsibilities, but will be focused on their areas of expertise. The requirements of the Director of Ice Sports is a typical example. VANOC, in that case, is looking for a person who has taken part in ice sports as either an athlete, coach or venue manager. They will also need previous experience in venue design, development and management of an ice-sports facility, and previous event experience in planning and executing ice-sport competitions, preferably at an Olympic or World Championship level. They'll also have to know the people involved in the various international ice-sport federations -- in the case of the Director of Ice Sports, that would be the International Ice Hockey Federation, the World Curling Federation and the International Skating Union, as well as their national equivalents. The person to be hired will also have to have experience recuriting, working with, and training, technical officials and a large number of volunteers. As well they'll develop a number o publications for each sport under their wing.


Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 2, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #709
VANCOUVER APPOINTS VETERAN ENGINEER TO HEAD UP CITY'S 2010 SECRETARIAT


The City of Vancouver has appointed Dave Rudberg as its general manager for Olympic Preparations. Rudberg has been Vancouver's General Manager of Engineering for 13 years.

The new position will head up what will become the city's municipal secretariat to help the City government deal with all the jobs necessary to work with the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee to prepare for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

"We are delighted that Dave has agreed to take on this enormous task," said Mayor Larry Campbell. "There is so much work that needs to be done over the next few years. It is important for us to have someone as experienced and respected a leader to ensure that Vancouver is ready to host the world in 2010."

The position will be the lead City staff person working with other levels of government and VANOC. It will be responsible for coordinating the work of all City departments that have a role to play in Olympic preparations, and will oversee such areas as venue development, infrastructure improvements, security, communications and the like. It's expected to be expanded as VANOC expands.

Rudberg is already familiar with the City's involvement with the 2010 Winter Olympics; the engineering department is one of the lead departments dealing with planning for the Vancouver 2010 Athletes Village, and worked directly with Larry Beasley, Director of Current Planning, Piet Rutgers, Director of Planning & Operations at the Vancouver Park Board, and Ian Smith, the Senior Planner of the Central Area Major Developments Group and others at City Hall dealing with it and various aspects of the City's involvement in preparation of the 2010 Bid Book for the International Olympic Committee. As well, he's also been heavily involved in the City's planning with the Richmond-Airport-Vancouver rapid transit line, which today received final approval from the Board of TransLink to begin construction.

As chief city engineer, Rudberg ran a department of about 1,800 staff with an annual budget of more than C$200 million. He is also experienced at negotiating with other levels of government, handling project management, dealing with labour issues and collective bargaining, and working on various development projects.

"Dave understands completely the City's infrastructure requirements, sustainability issues and long-term planning challenges," noted Judy Rogers, City Manager, and a member of VANOC's Board of Directors. "He will be excellent at protecting and advancing the City's policy objectives and financial interests, and ensuring that the Games leave the best legacy for the citizens of Vancouver."

Tom Timm, Rudberg's second in command for six years, replaces Rudberg.

“This is a particularly critical time in Vancouver as we get ready to undertake some major initiatives such as the Olympics, Southeast False Creek and RAV,” said Rogers, noting that Timm is also familiar with the issues. "It means there will be a seamless transition for our organization.”

Timm is a professional engineer who has worked with the City for 26 years. During that time, he has had responsibility for a variety of engineering areas including streets, sewer, waterworks, budgets, yards and facilities, and major projects. Other highlights of his career include: serving two years as Vancouver’s Chief Building Official, being a member of the City’s Major Projects Steering Committee, serving as an alternate member of the Development Permit Board, and representing the employer during three rounds of collective bargaining.


Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 1, 2004

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Morgan:News:2010 |Business| #708
ALPINE CANADA, GENERAL MOTORS SWITCH GM CUP TO FOCUS ON TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT


Alpine Canada, the sports federation that represents Canada's national alpine ski team, and one of its major sponsors, General Motors, have agreed that the Pontiac GMC Cup will be used to bolster technical-skills development as the team takes aim at winning medals at the 2010 Winter Games. The Cup, for the past 36 years, has been awarded at the championship level.

"In order to keep up with the evolution of the sport of alpine ski racing, we have decided to focus on the technical development of our athletes," said Max Gartner, the Chief Athletics Officer for Alpine Canada. "It is important to spend more time on technical events during the formative development years. This will allow us to develop our athletes to the desired technical level needed to compete successfully at the World Cup level in all disciplines, including speed events. This is a strategic change that is part of our long-term development plan."

"We are ready for 2010," said Allison Forsyth, member of the Canadian Alpine Ski Team and one of the best technical skiers in the country. "I believe the emphasis on technical skiing is just what we need to put Canadian skiers on the podium."

The Pontiac GMC Cup series will involve 32 races in four provinces leading to the national championships in March. The series starts at Panorama Mountain in Invermere, in British Columbia, on December 15 and will culminate with the 2005 Pontiac GMC Canadian Championships at Mont Ste-Anne and Le Massif, in Quebec, from March 17-22. The best young athletes from Canada compete head-to-head against athletes from the Canadian Alpine Ski Team in speed and technical events.

Gartner says "The implementation of the new strategy at this level is imperative in the development of our young skiers. This year the program will offer sixteen slalom and giant slalom races held in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec."

Tom Laurie, the manager of Sponsorships & Promotions for GM of Canada. says that GM has also extended its support:

  • For the past three years, Alpine Canada has used the engineering staff at the GM aerodynamics lab in Warren, Michigan, where the national men's team used a state-of-the-art wind tunnel -- typically used to test the effects of wind on future car and truck designs -- to hone their racing techniques. That will continue.

  • It will continue to support athletes by offering a year's free use of a Pontiac or GMC vehicle to any Canadian Alpine Ski team member who achieves a top-ten world ranking, wins a World Cup race or is awarded an Olympic or World Championship medal.

  • It will host ski- and snowboard-waxing clinics at Pontiac GMC dealerships across the country to encourage more Canadians to enjoy the sport while raising funds for local ski clubs.

  • Pontiac GMC Dealers will continue to support the Provincial Ski Associations in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec.


Alpine Canada is the governing body for ski racing in Canada. About 27,000 Canadians take part in the sport as coaches, officials, and athletes, including the racers of the Canadian Alpine Ski Team and the Canadian Disabled Alpine Ski Team.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on November 30, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #707
EBERSOL SON'S BODY FOUND IN JET WRECKAGE; PARALYMPICS AND DEAFLYMPICS LINK UP; BASEBALL ON 2010 CURLING RINK SITE OK'D FOR 2005


Three moguls we bumped into today...

  • The body of 14-year-old Edward (Teddy) Ebersol has been found crushed beneath the wreckage of the small charter jet in which he, his father and older brother were riding Sunday. Teddy was the youngest son of NBC Sport chairman Dick Ebersol, the man in charge of the NBC broadcast of the 2010 Winter Games. The jet crashed and burned on take-off at Montrose, Colorado, and Ebersol and one of his older sons, Charles, 21, were hospitalized with undisclosed injuries after stumbling out of the wreckage in shock. NBC is reporting that the pair are in stable condition and expected to make a full recovery.

  • Phil Craven, the president of the International Paralympic Committee and Donalda Ammons, the interim president and secretary general of the International Committee of Sports for the Deaf, which is also known as the Deaflympics, signed a Memorandum of Understanding in Washington, today. It lets deaf athletes with an additional disability compete in each organization's sanctioned competition events, such as the 2010 Winter Olympics, as long as they meet the usual eligibility criteria for the event. Both organizations will also co-operate in keeping international sports organizations in the loop about what they're doing, and to set up a structure for resolving any disputes between them over criteria.

  • The City of Vancouver's Parks Board says the Vancouver Canadians baseball team will allowed to lease Nat Bailey Stadium until the end of 2005 as studies continue on how best to fit the Vancouver 2010 curling rink into the location. During the Bid phase, the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee and the City suggested the aging Stadium, a sentimental favourite facility in Vancouver, be replaced by the new C$43.8 million curling rink, but public pressure prompted the Park Board to see if the rink can be built while keeping the Stadium. The Parks Board's master plan for the area, which requires public hearings scheduled for early next year, is expected to be completed in April. Construction of the rink by VANOC isn't due to start until the summer of 2007.


Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on November 30, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #706
SENIOR VP OF SPORT TALKS ABOUT VANOC'S ROLE IN CANADIAN SPORTS DEVELOPMENT, ANTI-DOPING, AND TIMELINES


The senior vice-president of Sport for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee says her "Own the Podium" approach is changing how winter sport funding and organization works in Canada, and support for its goals will be among VANOC's main sponsorship requirements.

Cathy Priestner - in an in-depth interview with Morgan:News:2010 that delves into Canada's sport-performance plans, anti-doping and her expertise - says that VANOC and the Canadian Olympic Committee have taken a major role in the program. "For the first time in history, we've been able to facilitate bringing together all of the winter sports, and all of the funding partners, sitting in one room with [Stephen Owen, the federal government's] minister of sport and says, 'This is what we've done. We have a plan, and we're going to move forward.'"

Priester says that the plan, which she researched and authored on behalf of the 13 winter Olympic sports earlier this year, completing it just before she was hired by VANOC, is a strategy for how Canada will become the country with the most medals in 2010. That will require winning at least 35 by at the end of the 2010 Winter Games. It involves, she says, corporate Canada, and includes VANOC's first major sponsor, telecommunication giant Bell Canada, "and we've said to the federal government, collectively, 'We need your help on this, too.'" The organized sports have been meeting on a regular basis since last February to complete the strategy and begin its implementation.

Priestner says that this year there are more than a dozen organizations related to winter sports working up sponsorship campaigns, and that donor fatigue, particularly among corporations, starts to become a concern on both sides of the table. Priester says the "Own the Podium" approach is designed to come to grips with the issue. "We've got this plan, and we're saying that for every dollar that comes in, this is how it's going to be allocated, so if you're writing the cheque, or I am, or the feds are, those dollars are going to be maximized because they're going toward the same programs, the same plan, the same vision. That has to happen more."

The COC's goal, stemming from the "Own The Podium" strategy, is to have Canada place among the top three nations at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Torino, which would mean Canada receiving 25 medals, among the top 16 countries at the 2008 Games in Beijing (18 medals) and first at the 2010 Games in Vancouver/Whistler (35 medals). These goals are part of the COC's strategic plan, which was unanimously endorsed by the organization's Board of Directors at its semi-annual meeting in Toronto this weekend. The COC Board includes representation from all of Canada's summer, winter and Pan American sport federations as well as Olympic coaches and athletes.

Priestner calls VANOC, as a representative of the Olympic movement, "a really odd-ball player in this game, because we come along every 20 or 30 years, and we're considered fairly neutral in the sense that we don't have an affiliation or an alliance, and so we're in a position where people maybe trust us a little bit, and see us as being able to do things like this."

The senior vice-president says VANOC doesn't want or run or control the approach, "but we can help facilitate it, which is what we've been able to do, and that's the role we've taken. We're expecting our sponsors, when they come in, to contribute to this program on the sports side that everyone's agreed they want; we don't want sponsors going six different ways. The more we can do that, the more we will."

Priestner, like all the senior vice-presidents at VANOC, is responsible for a wide range of specialized departments within the organization, many of which will inflate with staff, coverage and influence over the next few years, slowly at first and then with increasing speed as the Games nears and preparations balloon. She is responsible, as she put it shortly after being hired to the job last June, for "anything that directly touches an athlete" in the 2010 Winter Games.

She works on the development of VANOC's venues to ensure the field of play -- the areas where the Olympic and Paralympic athletes actually compete -- as well as to see that the athlete-support systems are in good shape, from an athlete's point of view, for all of the various types of games. It's her job also to ensure that the legacy aspects of the venues that are being built or renovated for the 2010 Games will work well for the population of Greater Vancouver and Greater Whistler after the Games, but also work well for the Canadian performance-athlete system, which travels to various facilities nationally and internationally for training and competition.

Priestner's responsibilities cover those roles for both the Olympics and Paralympics. Though much of the Games organization and support for both sectors of the Games and their athletes are expected to be fully integrated -- the same services and supplies will be used, for instance -- she'll eventually hire a Director of Paralympics, dedicated to deal with components of the 2010 Games that are specific to those athletes and field of play. "We would like to have all of our key directors for Sport, Medical, Paralympics and NOC services prior to [the start of the 2006 Winter Games in] Torino. That would be the goal so that we can get them to get over there and have a good look [at Torino's operations.]"

Priestner says the "Own the Podium" approach has high-performance athletes and Canada's approach to developing them at its core for purely Canadian reasons. "We have a strong desire [at VANOC] to have our athletes be successful in 2010," she says. "We're not responsible for implementing the Own the Podium program, that's the responsibility of the Canadian Olympic Committee and the sports federations. Our position is to try to help with the funding and other support. The strategy for winter sports in Canada has changed from six months ago; it's based on the Report and the information that came out of it. And the plan proposed by it has changed, almost systematically, almost 100% of the sports organizations, with perhaps the exception of only one or two, how they thought they were going to move forward to 2010. On the VANOC side, our success will be judged in two ways -- that we put on an extraordinary Games, and how well Canada did on the podium. So we have a vested interest in ensuring that our Canadian athletes are getting, and have, everything they need to prepare, and be at their best in 2010. We've committed to building the facilities early, if we can, although that's obviously an expensive process, because the sooner you build them, the sooner you have to operate and maintain them. At VANOC, we'll ensure we provide every opportunity, within the constraints of international rules, to ensure they have as much as they can get from us to perform."

Priestner says, however, those constraints, imposed by the IOC, force VANOC to ensure the field of play and the venues are offered fairly to all the nations attending, not just Canada. "Leading up to the Games, we have international obligations to providing access to the rest of the world to our facilities. It's normal, though, if you have Games in your country, that your athletes, just by the default of them living here and being here, will have better and easier access to venues than the rest of the world. I don't know of an Olympics organizing committee, in the last 15 years, that didn't focus, as well, on their country performing well. The IOC says 'Get your athletes where they need to be. We want to see them on the podium.' And they're telling us that, as an Organizing Committee, it's not our job to produce the athletes, but certainly there's little criticism from the IOC if the country puts more resources into its own sports, such as allowing athletes to get on the facilities more, or whether it's extending ice seasons."

By that, Priestner means that setting up funding so that athletes and their organizations have the ability to practice and test equipment on either side of a major event, when tracks or ice are readied to a professional level for the event. Using the sport of bobsleigh as an example, she notes that a typical winter-event season is usually too short for doing much testing and measurements of new equipment, in addition to normal practicing. "If you can add a couple of weeks of ice at the beginning, and a couple of weeks of ice at the end of a season, they can do more testing, for research and development. Every host country does that, but Canada hasn't been able to do it because it can't afford to keep the track open an extra month or so."

Priestner was managing director of Sport for the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in 2002, before moving to a similar position as director of Games for a short time for the organization getting the 2006 Winter Games ready in Torino, Italy. Then, for what she calls cultural and personal reasons, she resigned from Torino and became involved in a Calgary car dealership, but then took on the task of writing the "Own the Podium" report.

She says, "That's one of the things we did in Salt Lake; we got another month of ice on the track, and it made huge differences in the results. It's all within the rules of fairness; it's just practical stuff, but it's more money, in many cases, coming into the system, that will allow the access."

The VANOC executive says also that the major benefit of her experience in Utah and Italy is, as she puts it, that, she knows a lot more, right from the beginning of her tenure in Vancouver. "Each Olympic Games is unique, regardless of what your expertise is, and what you've been hired to do. Having done a Games is a huge asset to what you bring to another organizing committee. There are few people at a senior level who do more than one Games. When I went to Italy, I was told I was the first senior person to go from one Games to another. So most people don't bring a lot of Games experience into Olympic Games, which is too bad, because you spend four or five years learning while you help them grow, and then you take it to some job that's completely different, and you aren't able to apply it. What I learned was how to do it, and what we need to do. And that's something I have brought here, and I'm starting with that. I know the relationships, who's important and what's important. I know what this looks like at the end. If you haven't done it before, it's really hard to know what that last six months is like before you put the Games on."

For example, Priestner points to a soon-to-be created VANOC department called Stadium Production, which deals with the ambiance and the look-and-feel of the venues. "At Salt Lake, we devoted ourselves to making the venues really feel special [for spectators] and make the facilities comfortable for the athlete, not just the comfort of the locker rooms. But you had a much different environment when you went to the snowboard venue, than when you went to the figure-skating venue. The figure skating was soft music; it was rock 'n' roll when you stepped onto the snowboard venue. It's way to early to deal with that in detail for the 2010 Games, but I think we can improve on that here, and I can be thinking of that now, instead of thinking about it only two or two-and-half years before the Salt Lake Games. We want our venues to rock, and we want the athletes, the spectators and the communities that are hosting them to be a blend, so that it fits together, to be something that is going to be second to none. We'll take it to another level from what I've done before."

Priestner is also concerned with handling the possibility of what are known, somewhat euphemistically, as "program additions." That is, whether there will be more sports added to the 2010 Winter Games than was envisioned at the time Vancouver won the bid.

The IOC has to approve each additional event, and each addition has a range of ripple effects on the presentation of the Games. Besides the potential of additional revenue through souvenir and ticket sales, a new sport also comes with additional costs.

Even though the IOC may approve an additional sport, the 2010 Organizing Committee has the option of accepting or rejecting inclusion of the sport into their Games. Lobbying is underway at the moment at the IOC level to approve Paralympic snowboarding, natural luge and women's ski-jumping at least. "We'll deal with those after Torino," says Priestner. "If we were going to add something, either Olympic or Paralympic, we would like to add a sport that we feel Canadians could do well in, like Paralympic snowboarding. We haven't got the request yet, and I've been hearing lots of different sports proposed. We don't want to build more venues, because we're trying to minimize the cost, and we don't want to add a lot of new athletes to the program, because that increases the size of the Athletes Village, transportation increases, food, constraints on the number of days on the venues -- it's not simple to just add a sport. There's a lot of impact."

Priestner says, however, that it's par for the course for each organizing committee to face the possibility there will be additions to its program, so it's not that it's too late yet for more sports in 2010. But, as she puts it, we'd be interested in looking at additions if they have minimal impact on our operations."

VANOC's Sport director says she's not worried yet by the amount of time it's taking for finalizing the alignment of some of the trails to be used by the Whistler Nordic Centre. Geological testing for some of them is still underway, and that's work that, from original plans, was to have been completed late last spring, and a second deadline of October, has now come and gone. "It's a normal problem," she says. "When you build something like the Nordic venue, where you're defining a lot of kilometres of trail systems, there are lots of considerations. If you could just design the perfect course, and cut it, that would be the easiest, but it's not environmentally friendly -- our staff is working very, very hard to ensure there is minimal impact, environmentally, on these venues; it's critically important, and it's definitely a challenge to do it. So if you respect that, and work with the technical requirements, the elevations, and the angle of the climbs that are needed, then it's going to take some time, and you have glitches. You're trying to minimize the impact and maximize what we get out of it in the end."

She's not overly concerned yet about the timeline, though, because VANOC has deliberately designed venues to be finished early.

But finishing a venue early has its own costs, besides advantages, because they have to be operated once they're ready. And that, in turn, requires advance planning and some salesmanship to entice organize sports onto those facilities -- and that, in turn, assumes they'll be ready for those events.

VANOC has already begun setting up a preliminary schedule for using the Whistler Sliding Centre and Nordic Centre during the winters of 2007/8, 2008/9 and 2009/10, as part of the Centres' business plans. "We have to run one major test event for every discipline," says Priestner, "so with Paralympic and Olympic events, there are about 18 or 19 official test events, and they have to be at a World Cup, or world championship level. We have those reserved right now, but they're not yet a done deal, because we're quite far out for some of those years and the sports federations won't confirm until a little further on. We will also run, in the newer venues, where we don't have the development, the volunteers and the technical expertise, what we call 'training events.' You can't run a world championship in speed-skating, for example, or sliding, or Nordic, until you've started with a local event, then a provincial and then a national. We need to have that full compliment in some venues, and we don't have a lot of history for them."

That start-small-and-get-bigger process ensures the venues work properly, from staffing to equipment, but also that they are safe for the athletes and spectators alike. "The better the athletes," she notes, "the more you have to ensure safety. But the ice venues, such as skating, you don't need to test quite as much as the outdoor venues." By the time the 2010 Games arrives, Priestner says, VANOC will have run more than 50 events spread out over the venues.

Priestner points out that the design has been completed for Vancouver 2010's bobsleigh-luge-skeleton track "and it's going to be spectacular. It really satisfies the technical aspect of the sport and the speed. It's bringing everything together, and we have good terrain for it." The track, designed by international expert Udo Gurgel of IGB, has a running length of about 1,400 metres, with 16 bends. The races will last about 52 seconds, with speeds of more than 130 km/h expected.

Another major component of her venue responsibilities is called National Olympic Committee Services (NOC), which also includes the Paralympics. "We'll have up to 90 countries coming here and competing," she points out, "and we need to work over the next five years with each of those nations -- to help them make all of their arrangements, to confirm their allocations in the athlete villages, food, beverage, transpiration, security -- to make sure they are, hopefully, getting most of what they want, and definitely what they need. We're the liaison to the rest of the Organizing Committee for them."

Priestner is also in charge of the full gamut of medical services for the Games, and not just at the venues. That includes planning, building and outfitting the full-service medical clinics, called "polyclinics, at each of the two Athletes Villages. She's also responsible for providing emergency medical care at each of the venues, along with oversight of the Olympics' increasingly sophisticated system of anti-doping controls, hearings and even the anti-doping laboratories that will be built as part of the Games venue construction. There will be designated Olympic medical stations even at the hotels housing members of the so-called "Olympic Family", such as employees and managers of the Games sponsors, suppliers and dignitaries. "All of those medical services have to be organized according to Olympic Committee standards, and the sampling [for anti-doping tests] occurs at each of the venues; the lab itself will be centralized."

At first glance, it might seem that these types of medical facilities, particularly the anti-doping lab, might be provided as part of a package of services that moves from Olympics to Olympics, Priestner says that's not the case and the facilities need to be new for each Games. "Ideally, it would be nice to go to an existing lab, because building an anti-doping lab is very, very complicated. It has to be homologated [certified] to ensure the apparatus, the testing and the protocols are accurate, and it can take up to three or four months to certify a lab once it's built. But sometimes they become permanent labs. If a host country needs an anti-doping lab, they'll build it for that purpose -- Calgary did that during the 1988 Winter Games. Recently, they've been more temporary. The challenge in moving something like that from place to place is the change in technology and the drugs you're testing for; it changes immensely between Games. The changes require a different set of protocols, equipment and expertise, and I suspect in the area of anti-doping that will always be the case. We never used to do blood-testing, and now we do, and it could evolve to genetic testing or almost anything, depending on how the requirements change."

Priestner says she hopes that the anti-doping system that will be built for 2010 will be sophisticated enough to catch any athlete cheating. "That would be the goal, to keep ahead of, or up with, what's happening. Anti-doping's tough in [the high-performance sport] world because the protocols are always some years behind the actual sophistication of doping, so that gap has to somehow get filled if you're going to have a really strong program."

Most of the industrialized countries now subscribe to the anti-doping policies of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), headquartered in Montreal. It's an international organization set up to combat doping in sport, and its current president is also a member of VANOC's Board of Directors, Dick Pound, one of the Board's International Olympic Committee members.

WADA is governed and funded by the Olympic movement and most of the world's governments. Canada, the United States and the rest of countries of Central and South America, including those in the Caribbean, are responsible for 29% of the US$10 million in funding WADA receives each year from world governments. The Americas portion comes to US$2.9 million. Canada's contribution this year is 25%, US$725,000; surprisingly, the United States will pay only 50% or US$1.45 million, even though it has about 10 times the population of Canada.

"The international sports federations are slowly getting on board with WADA's directions, and it's important that the federations and WADA connect when it comes to anti-doping. You don't want the federations to establish their own protocols and testing independently of WADA; you want them to be consistent with WADA, because at the end of the day, WADA will be doing the testing [at the 2010 Games]. The federations' role, and this is where they are getting more proactive, is to fill the gaps of WADA and make sure the federations are spot- or random-testing at competitions -- because WADA doesn't come in and do that -- and that they are consistent in enhancing what is being done, in the global sense. I don't think we're 100% there with the international federations. On the winter side, we're actually very, very strong, and doing a pretty good job." The Canadian Olympic Committee, which deals with national sports federations, is a signatory to WADA.

BACKGROUND

The Canadian Olympic Committee's works on various levels with what it calls its "partners": VANOC, Canada's federal, provincial and territorial governments, athletes, coaches, national sport federations, Canadian Sport Centres, the Calgary Olympic Development Association and business and private supporters. The COC also says it needs to do a more effective job with all three levels of government "to generate the additional funding required to properly fund high performance sport in Canada."
As part of its strategic plan that complements the "Own the Podium" program, the Canadian Olympic Committee said this weekend it is restructuring itself to focus more on:

  • Getting athletes and coaches more involved in its activities;

  • Advocating for increased funding and changes to the current sport system;

  • Setting up fundraising, international training and preparation programs for athletes;

  • Creating "holistic" athlete-support and educational programs.


Specific initiatives include, it says:

  • Organize high-quality team-preparation and training programs as part of the COC's newly established "Excellence Series", that it hopes will better prepare Olympic hopefuls, coaches and sports for upcoming Olympic Games;

  • Conduct a pre-Games, on-location training camp for athletes and coaches prior to the Olympic Games in Beijing;

  • Involve the COC's newly restructured athlete advisory body, the Athletes Council, into all high-performance planning initiatives and set up a similar initiative with winter sports;

  • Work collectively with Canada's summer sports to set future performance targets and plans to achieve them, with the assistance of international sport experts;

  • Expand the COC's athletic and community-relations programs so that they are geared to increasing awareness of the Olympic movement in Canada, ultimately leading to increased funding for high-performance sport;

  • Create a new Canadian Olympic Excellence Foundation to raise funds to support high-performance sport.


--

Why does Canada pay more, proportionately, than the United States for WADA? Because that's what it agreed to do in negotiations with the U.S.

Here's the official answer, from Frédéric Donzé, a spokesman for WADA in Montreal: "Basically, the International Inter-Governmental Consultative Group on Anti-Doping in Sport, a caucus of the world's governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) active in the fight against doping, committed in 2001 to fund half of WADA's operating budget. The governments involved in the Consultative Group also determined and agreed to the formula by which they will fund half of WADA's budget through to at least 2005 -- that is, the percentage that every continent will pay. Within each region, governments agree internally to each of their individual share."

RESOURCES

A summary of the "Own The Podium" planning meeting last February, which outlines the program's goals and the people, including those from VANOC, involved:
http://www.biathloncanada.ca/main.asp?cmd=doc&ID=1797&lan=0

World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)
http://www.wada-ama.org/en/t2.asp?p=41650&pp=41648

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on November 29, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |General| #705
NBC'S EBERSOL AND SON HOSPITALIZED, YOUNGER SON KILLED, IN COLORADO CHARTER-JET CRASH


NBC's Dick Ebersol, the most important man in television for Vancouver's 2010 Winter Games, has been hospitalized following a chartered-jet crash in Colorado, along with his college-age son, Charles, but his 14-year-old son Edward is missing and presumed dead after the cockpit was ripped from the fuselage and the plane burst into flames seconds after take-off.

Ebersol is chairman of NBC Sports, and is an avid supporter of Olympic Games. General Electric, NBC's parent company, paid nearly C$1 billion on Ebersol's recommendation for the American broadcast rights to the 2010 Winter Games, half of which goes to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee. It's the 11th Olympic Games Ebersol has been involved in covering. Europe paid only about half as much, per capita, for the rights to cover the 2010 Games, and the negotiations over Canada's broadcasting rights are not expected to be completed until February.

Ebersol, when the crash occurred, was in the process of making his way back to the eastern seaboard of the United States -- he lives in Connecticut with his wife, TV actress Susan St. James -- after reviewing NBC's progress and facilities for the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing, and the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver. Ebersol was in Vancouver for two days last week, meeting with VANOC CEO John Furlong and dining with him and some of his executive at an expensive restaurant in Vancouver. St. James was not aboard, but has flown to the hospital to be with her family.

Neither NBC nor Montrose hospital have yet revealed the extent of the injuries suffered by either Dick or Charles Ebersol. The younger son's seat is missing from fuselage, and there is no sign of the boy or his body in the vicinity of the crash; investigators currently believe the boy may have perished in the fire.

The pilot and the cabin attendant for the jet, which carried only six, but could hold 18, were also killed, and the co-pilot critically injured, as the plane attempted to lift off from Montrose Regional Airport, near the Telluride ski resort, on its way to South Bend, Indiana, where Charles is a senior at the University of Notre Dame. Charles reportedly helped his father through a hole in the side of the burning jet; both were standing on the snowy ground in their socks, having lost their shoes during the accident, when rescuers arrived.

The weather was cold and overcast, with light snow, mist and lots of slush and water on the runway, when the CL-601 Challenger jet lifted briefly, then hit the ground at the end of the runway. It skidded sideways through a fence and broke apart as it slid across a road. There is no word yet on the likely cause of the crash.

NBC will import about 1,900 personnel to cover the 2010 Games and will escort, in three waves, about 2,000 advertisers and their representatives to Vancouver and Whistler for events leading up to and during the games. That's a total of about 4,000 people hosted by NBC for various reasons connected with 2010. And Ebersol estimates, NBC's production budget for the 2010 Games will be in the neighbourhood of US$100 million.

"The Olympics are not to us a sporting event, they're not about sports rights," Ebersol told Associated Press in June. "The Olympics are something really, really special. They are the only great family viewing experience left in all of American television. They're the only thing that puts Mom, Pop and the kids in front of the television set at the same time." Ebersol, 56, has often said he dropped out of Yale University at 19 to work as an ABC-TV researcher at the Grenoble Olympics in 1968, and the experience affected his love of the Games greatly. His theme is to tell the Olympics through an emphasis on stories about the Games and its athletes, with less focus on sports results.



Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on November 29, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #704
ANDREA SHAW RETURNS TO 2010 FOLD FOR SPONSORSHIP MARKETING


The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee has hired Andrea Shaw, a Vancouver marketing consultant, who was the vice-president of Communications for the 2010 Bid Corporation, for sponsorship sales and marketing.

Shaw, who will part of the Revenue, Marketing and Communications group run by senior vice-president Dave Cobb, starts next week. VANOC will be legally allowed to begin signing sponsorship deals in January, once its marketing plan is finalized with the International Olympic Committee.

Shaw first joined the Bid Corporation in 2001, and worked with John Furlong, now CEO of VANOC, and Terry Wright, now senior vice-president of Planning for VANOC, when they held similar positions at the Bid Corporation. She also worked with Linda Oglov, the Bid Corp's vice-president of Marketing, who is now president of Altius Sport Marketing, a division of Cossette Communications, and who recently worked on Bell Canada's successful telecommunications sponsorship bid for the 2010 Games, and both Garnet Nelson, marketing manager of the Bid Corporation, who is also now with Altius and another marketing manager for Bid Corp, Neeta Soni.

Shaw spoke to dozens of organizations across Canada, helped the Corporation work with dozens of municipalities in British Columbia during the Bid phase to alleviate their concerns, particularly in Whistler, as well as work on presentation of the Bid itself to the International Olympic Committee, a particularly tough job during the run-up, when strict rules for candidate cities meant that often quite a bit of the concepts that needed to be communicated had to go through third parties.

She and the Bid Corporation's marketing team of 18 managers, employees and contractors also had to deal with the considerable international media attention that arose when the City of Vancouver decided to hold a plebiscite on whether to host the Games; the interest only intensified when Vancouver became the first city to win such a plebiscite.

Shaw told a reporter after the IOC awarded the Games, in July, 2003, that positioning Vancouver was key: "We decided to differentiate Canada from the competition by being exactly what we are: a very young, very forward-looking country with incredible geography, cultural diversity and fair-play values, a sophisticated urban centre right on the Pacific Ocean and a world-class alpine resort nearby. Then we never wavered from that theme."

Meanwhile, the competition portion for the key job of Communications director at VANOC closes today.

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



Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #703
TEEPEE HANDICRAFTS SECOND FIRM TO BE HIT WITH BRAND-PROTECTION LAWSUIT


The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee and the Canadian Olympic Committee are jointly going after an East Vancouver merchandise company in the courts as part of their brand-protection program.

VANOC spokesman Sam Corea says legal proceedings are beginning against Teepee Handicrafts Ltd. "to prevent the unauthorized manufacture, sale and distribution of merchandise bearing the Olympic Brand. Teepee has sold and distributed merchandise bearing marks such as VANCOUVER 2010 and 2010 VANCOUVER WHISTLER without the permission of VANOC or the COC."

John Furlong, chief executive officer of VANOC, says, "The lawsuit is another in a series of steps being taken by VANOC to protect the Olympic Brand. Official merchandise will be an important part of our efforts to finance the 2010 Winter Games."

VANOC says its lawyer had been in discussions with Teepee since September 2003 in an effort to stop the sale of merchandise allegedly relating to the 2010 Games. The lawsuit was launched after Teepee, says Corea, "refused to confirm in writing that it would not in the future manufacture, sell or distribute merchandise bearing VANCOUVER 2010, 2010 VANCOUVER WHISTLER or other aspects of the Olympic Brand."

RESOURCES

Teepee Handicrafts Ltd.
1623 E. Pender St.
Vancouver, BC V5L 1W2
Phone:  604.254.7313
Fax:  604.251.5696


Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on November 25, 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 |Moguls| #702
VANOC OPTIONS BILLBOARD SPACE; TORINO OLYMPIC OFFICES RAIDED BY POLICE; IOC EXECBOARD UPDATED ON 2010


Three moguls we bumped into today...

* Just as promised in the Bid Book, the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing
    Committee has taken options on all outdoor advertising space in the Vancouver and Whistler areas for the period of the Games, plus 10 weeks on either side. TransLink, the Vancouver Airport Authority, Viacom and Pattison Outdoor have confirmed VANOC and its sponsor companies have the right of first refusal on all their advertising space in those areas from January 5 to March 16, 2010. The move is necessary as part of VANOC's obligations to the International Olympic Committee to prevent ambush marketing by competitors of the sponsors. The billboard purchase practice, now a required promise from all bidders for all Olympic Games, was imposed following the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta when Pepsi ambushed Olympic sponsor Coca Cola by buying up billboard space, shutting out Coke. The options, depending on the firm, are expected to be exercised in either 2007 or 2008. Since then, the practice of ambush marketing has grown more sophisticated, as have the counter-measures.

  • Italy's equivalent of Canada's commercial-crime squad showed up with search warrants at the offices of the Torino Olympic Organizing Committee today, as a probe into road construction bid rigging continues. The offices of the Committee in Torino and Rome readily complied with requests for general information, according to TOROC CEO Valentino Castellani, who is at the headquarters for the International Olympic Committee in Switzerland today, and that even though the warrants suggested police were looking for evidence of "management irregularities", there was no suggestion they felt there had been criminal activity connected with the documents they copied.

  • René Fasel, chairman of the IOC's commission for Vancouver 2010, provided a short report on the status of the Games to the IOC's executive Board today. There is no word yet on what he said, but the Board spent much of the day talking about the Italian Games. IOC Olympic Games executive director Gilbert Felli said: "We had an explanation of the structure that has been put in place by the Italian government and with the different parties, to try and alleviate the lack in certain aspects of the preparations of the Games. The IOC President reasserted the confidence of the IOC and also said to the organizing committee, that it should act very quickly on the different points that we discussed with prime minister Berlusconi three weeks ago, so as to not jeopardize credibility with stakeholders. Everybody should keep their confidence in the Games. We are confident that everything is going in the right direction."


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



Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #701
CODA TO DUMP SKI-JUMPING, NORDIC COMBINED FROM CASH; ABORIGINAL SECRETARIAT AIM OF NATIVE DEAL; 2010CC SWINGS AND MISSES AGAIN


Three moguls we bumped into today...

  • The Calgary Olympic Development Association says, somewhat surprisingly, that it will no longer fund ski jumping and Nordic combined high-performance athletic development after this winter. CODA looks after the endowment fund from the 1988 Olympics, but says the 2010 Games require it to focus on providing more funding for fewer sports that have the best chance of winning Olympic and World Cup medals. The group has provided about C$10 million for the two sports since 1988. Nordic combined involves ski-jumping event and cross-country skiing. CODA says the Calgary Olympic ski jump needs C$6.5 million to bring it to current national and international standards.

  • The ultimate aim of the agreement signed today by the four aboriginal groups involved with the 2010 Winter Olympics is an Aboriginal Secretariat, much like the secretariats set up by the B.C. and Canadian governments to oversee their interests in the 2010 Games. The agreement between the Lil'wat, Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh didn't involve signatures of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee, although some staff were there. The deal is to ensure that the "protocols and traditions of their Nations are acknowledged and respected throughout the planning, staging and hosting of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games." Chief Gibby Jacob of the Squamish Nation, a board member of VANOC, said the agreement evolved from an initiative of the late Squamish Chief Joe Mathias and the Lil'wat band, adding that it confirms the intent of all four "to work cooperatively to take advantage of all opportunities including economic, and establish a clear First Nation presence in the Games while protecting aboriginal rights and title."

  • The provincial government's 2010 Commerce Centre website, the new portal theoretically for corporate information about the 2010 Winter Games and opportunities connected to them, will add the ability in January for companies to register for tailored information about the Games procurement to be sent to them via e-mail. The first company story the website featured was about a small B.C. firm that did business with the Athens 2004 Olympics, but had no connection to the 2010 Games. The second story, in 2010CC's first newsletter, is about Cuisine Unlimited, a Salt Lake City, Utah, catering firm that used U.S. Small Business Administration funding to get a leg up so that it could work with some New York partners, forming Cuisine Expressions International to help feed people in Summer and Winter Olympic Games from 1996 onward. CEI is expected to compete with B.C. companies when similar contracts for 2010 are offered.


BACKGROUND

B.C. Ministry of Small Business Minister John Les today, describing the point of the 2010 Commerce Centre website: "Leading up to, during and after the 2010 Games, the 2010 Commerce Centre will provide British Columbia businesses with the opportunity to showcase our products to the world."

RESOURCES

The 2010 Commerce Centre website
http://www.2010CommerceCentre.gov.bc.ca

Morgan:News:2010 story from last June detailing the plans for the contents of the 2010CC website:
http://www.morgan-news.com/2010/archives/2004_07_04_Bronze.htm
(User your browser's Find function to search for the word "Secretariat")

CODA's website:
http://www.coda.ca/


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



Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #700
BC OFFERS C$20 MILLION FROM 2010 SECRETARIAT FOR COMMUNITY PROJECTS


The provincial government has formally issued its guidelines for its "Spirit of B.C." program -- and only offered C$20 million for this part of it -- to help communities in British Columbia get a bit of benefit from the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

The money is coming through the Olympic/Paralympic Live Sites program. The information was provided to a meeting of many of the chairs of the Spirit of B.C. Community Committees, formerly known as 2010 Committees.

The Olympic/Paralympic Live Sites program is funded through the budget of the B.C. Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Secretariat.
 
Campbell said, "Combined with other programs to celebrate the arts, literacy, sport, and volunteerism, the Olympic/Paralympic program is one more way we can help communities show their pride in our province and reach for their own goals as we prepare to welcome the world."
 
The Live Sites Program will provide money to build or upgrade local facilities that leave "a lasting Olympic legacy within the community and for the development of Olympic event viewing venues, such as theaters, multi-media or portable teleconferencing systems, dedicated media rooms and major equipment purchases such as overhead display systems."
 
To qualify for funding, a project must be a one-time capital project that meets a need in the local community and will be accessible to the general public. The program will fund up to 50% of the cost of an eligible project up to C$330,000. Projects must be completed no later than March 31, 2006. Applications may be submitted at any time, but funding decisions will end Dec. 31, 2005. The government is still thinking about whether to set up a separate program to fund major capital projects.
 
"The program is designed to ensure a share of the benefits from the Games flows to as many British Columbians as possible," said Small Business and Economic Development Minister John Les. "We are particularly interested in projects that will add greater economic value to the community. By pooling our resources, the province and local groups can work together to leave tremendously positive legacies for all British Columbians to enjoy."
 
Local governments located outside the Greater Vancouver Regional District and the Whistler–Squamish corridor, including incorporated and unincorporated rural areas, are eligible to submit an application for program funding.  Registered non-profit societies, whose applications have been endorsed by local government, are also eligible to apply.
 
RESOURCES

  • Application packages are available from:
    - Ministry of Small Business and Economic Development web site:
    http://www.gov.bc.ca/sbed

    - From community offices of Members of the Legislature, and

    - From government agents.

  • Questions about the program are answered by the Infrastructure Development Branch, Ministry of Small Business and Economic Development:
    Phone: 250.952.0675.


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



Morgan:News:2010 |General| #699
2010'S HOST ABORIGINAL BANDS TO HOLD 'HISTORIC' SIGNING CEREMONY


The four aboriginal bands that are involved in helping to host the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics said this evening they will be signing Wednesday morning "a historic agreement" connected with the Games.

The agreement is, say representatives of the Lil'wat, Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh, is expected to ensure that "the protocols and traditions of their nations are acknowledged and respected throughout the planning, staging and hosting" of the 2010 Games.

Under the protocol, the bands say they agree to work "in a co-operative and mutually supportive manner in order to participate fully in the Games and to take advantage of the social, sport, cultural and economic opportunities and legacies that will arise as a result of the Games."

The signing ceremony, expected to take about half an hour, starts 11:30 a.m. at the Squamish Nation Recreation Centre in North Vancouver.

BACKGROUND

The Vancouver 2010 Bid Corporation reached a number of agreements in November 2002 with the aboriginal bands as it assembled the various arrangements required by the International Olympic Committee, because 14 of the 20 Olympic and Paralympic events will be held on traditional territories of the bands, particularly those of the and Lil'wat in the Whistler area and the Squamish in the Greater Vancouver area. The land is claimed by the bands, although treaties involving the federal and provincial governments have not yet been signed with them, and are in various stages of resolution, a process that is taking years.

The Olympic agreements, which are binding on the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee, provide:

  • That the Lil'wat and Squamish bands can jointly appoint one of VANOC's Board of Directors, and can appoint a representative to any advisory committees or work groups created by VANOC. Squamish hereditary chief Gibby Jacob is the current appointee.

  • Require VANOC to establish a policy on ceremonial procedures, protocol and accreditation for the Lil'wat, Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh bands. The accreditation is to include the chief of the band, members of the band councils (and a guest each), a "limited number" of band officials, and a "limited number" of band members who are interested in amateur sports and who are approved by the band councils. That accreditation is identical to that being granted to other government levels, such as Whistler and Vancouver.

  • VANOC will set up a skills and training project designed to bring "new marketable skills to the bands' members

  • Fund a Squamish and Lil'wat Cultural Centre in Whistler.

  • Set up an Aboriginal Youth Sports Legacy Fund.

  • Assure that band businesses will be able to participate in contracts for goods and services to VANOC.

  • To consult with the Lil'wat and Squamish about the possibility of using aboriginal cultural names when considering what to call the Whistler Nordic Centre after the Games.

  • That members of the Lil'wat, Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Band Councils are given priority in buying -- at standard retail value and any additional regular charges -- event tickets for the Games before the tickets go on sale to the general public.

  • That VANOC will treat representatives and guests of the Lil'wat, Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh bands "in a manner befitting their office and on a basis no less favourable than comparable representatives of other levels of government."

  • That VANOC consult with the Lil'wat, Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh bands in any discussions on how sports equipment purchased for the Games are to be donated after the Games to amateur sport organizations, local community centres and to the bands themselves.

  • Ensure that the Lil'wat and Squamish bands can also, if they wish, appoint representatives to the Board of Directors of the Society that will look after the Whistler-area venues after the Games.


In addition, The Legacy Agreement provides for a land transfer of 300 acres (122 ha) of provincial Crown land to be held as fee-simple private property by the First Nations.

In June 2003, the BC government said it would contribute C$3 million for a new cultural centre to showcase Squamish and Lil'wat culture and diversity. The provincial funding comes from an economic development fund. Total funding was C$7.7 million, including C$4.7 from the Government of Canada through a regional partnership fund for the development of the cultural centre. The Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre is to be located on 1.6 hectares of provincial Crown land opposite the Fairmont Chateau Whistler Hotel. The entire project will be approximately 25,000 square feet (2,300 square metres) for the main building and 6,000 square feet (550 square metres) for the eco-tour buildings. The cost of the project is estimated at C$18 million.

RESOURCES

Status of Musqueam band treaty negotiations:
http://www.bctreaty.net/nations_2/musqueam.html

Status of Squamish band treaty negotiations:
http://www.bctreaty.net/nations_2/squamish.html

Status of Tsleil-Waututh band treaty negotiations:
http://www.bctreaty.net/nations_2/tsleilwaututh.html

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



Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #698
VANOC TRADEMARK CASE COURT DATE DEC 16; SYMBOLARTS HOPES TO PIN 2010 POLICE; NEW IOC EXECUTIVES TO HEAR ABOUT VANCOUVER FRIDAY


Three moguls we bumped into today...

  • The next B.C. Supreme court date in the case of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee versus a family-owned website that VANOC alleges infringes their trademark is December 16. B.C. Supreme Court Judge Austin Cullen set the date to give Nikolaus Homberg, who is both a lawyer and co-owner of Algino Holdings, which is doing business as Whistler Olympic Real Estate, time to file a defence and, reportedly, a countersuit. Homberg and his 74-year-old mother set up the website, Whistler-Olympic.com, to sell a C$1-million family home, but the site was reportedly sold October 30, which would be after Homberg received letters from VANOC warning about the alleged infringement. Bradley Freedman, of Borden Ladner Gervais, one of Vancouver's top law firms, is acting for VANOC, and has been involved in other trademark infringement issues that have arisen in the last few months.

  • The president of SymbolArts, a Utah-based company that makes badges for police and fire departments as well as for souvenirs, says he hopes to supply the security forces of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games with his products for the 2010 Winter Games. Mike Leatham notes that his company, which is currently providing 10,500 badges the firm designed for Iraq's fire-and-rescue service, supplied the several-thousand security personnel for the Salt Lake City Games in 2002 with commemorative badges. He tried to get the same kind of deal going with the Athens Summer Olympics, but the Greek organizing committee wasn't interested. SymbolArts has a new 11,000-square-foot building and is listed as one of the state's fastest-growing firms. The two-storey building, in turn, has a showroom packed with various types of badges and the like.

  • When Rene Fasel, the head of the International Olympic Committee's commisson that oversees the development of the 2010 Winter Games, gives his briefing on the current status of the Games to the IOC's executive committee November 26, it'll be the first time for some of the people on the committee. Gunilla Lindberg will take part as IOC's vice-president, and Zaiqing Yu and Richard Carrion as executive-committee members. They were elected to the executive board at the IOC's full formal session just before the Summer Olympics in Athens last August. The executive board, chaired by IOC President Jacques Rogge, has 15 members, all elected or re-elected at that IOC Session, and starts its three-day session tomorrow at the IOC's headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland. Carrion was in Canada earlier this month, heading up the briefing to Canadian broadcasters about the bidding process for televised rights to the 2010 Games.


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



Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #697
HUNT IS ON FOR COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR


The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee has begun the formal process of looking for the first of its second tier of senior executives to come from outside the organization, even as it searches for a replacement for one of its senior executives.

VANOC has begun the hunt for its Communications Director, the person who will be in charge of taking over from John Furlong in shaping the organization's reputation and image during the next five or six years. The person chosen, who must be fully bilingual in English and French, will report to Dave Cobb, VANOC's senior vice-president of Revenue, Marketing and Communications. The position is expected to be filled next month. VANOC's marketing abilities expand considerably on January 1.

The experience required for the Communications Director's job is extensive -- at least a decade as a senior corporate communications manager and executive, and they will need experience in dealing with a large-scale event, such as an Olympics or a G8 summit -- it's preferred experience, but not essential -- but they will also need to be able easily to work with difficult issues -- such as navigating government relations, responding to and dealing with conflicts involving stakeholder conflicts and with difficult or problems with customers; VANOC has, and will have, a number of customer groups. VANOC considers being able to deal with corporate problems "a significant asset."

The Communications Director will become the human face of the Games, a role largely filled by Furlong to date. Although Furlong is expected to continue to appear publicly as part of reputation management, the job will devolve to the Communications Director.

The person will also be responsible for developing the specific communication strategies for all the various things VANOC will be doing, and ensuring they are implemented correctly. They'll manage issues such as the high-profile events that have troubled VANOC in the past year, such as venue changes and Olympic-brand protection activities. VANOC wants the person, however to communicate in "the most positive, inspiring terms, the unfolding story of organizing the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games." They'll also be required to "Achieve a high level of awareness and presence in the national consciousness that identifies Vancouver 2010 as a source of national pride... create an image for Vancouver 2010 that mirrors with complete fidelity the universal Olympic values and VANOC's vision, mission, values and guiding principles."

In addition the person chosen will also direct VANOC's Creative Services department. That includes dealing with issues of brand identity, image, graphic design, logo and mascot development and the overall look-and-feel of the Games. They'll also be in charge of VANOC's Media Relations department, which deals with news releases, writing speeches and creating presentations for VANOC executives, not to mention issue management in the media.

The person will also be directing the development and design VANOC's Internet site. Not much attention has been paid to it in the past year, but it will become increasingly important as the Games evolve, eventually being tied into ticket sales and event information.

Another aspect of the lengthy job description is that they will direct the Community Relations function, including staffing an office readily accessible by the public. That's already been set up, in a small way, in Whistler, but has yet to be developed in Vancouver.

One of the main skills required, which they'll be able to achieve in their spare time: "Close attention to detail."



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



Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #696
MANAGER OF HUMAN RESOURCES EXPECTED TO PLAY INTERIM ROLE AS CHAN'S REPLACEMENT


The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee's manager of Human Resources, is expected to fill in as the interim head of Human Resources until VANOC can hire the next person on its list of job candidates.

Renee Murdoch was second-in-command and reported to Jeff Chan, the senior vice-president who suddenly resigned from VANOC's inner circle. Murdoch has been with the organization since the Bid Corporations days, and had continued on in the role when VANOC took over the Bid Corporations' role last year when Vancouver was awarded the Games. She was a Vancouver-based HR consultant before joining the Bid Corporation

VANOC spokesman Sam Corea adds, however, that "the executive team works as a group" to deal with all aspects of hosting the 2010 Winter Games, including the human-resources aspects.

Murdoch is not expected to need to be in the interim position for long. Chan was chosen out of 125 applications from 14 countries for the job, which pays between C$200,000 and C$250,000 per year, and it's expected that VANOC will return to its candidate shortlist to replace Chan. Those on the short list had gone through a number of detailed interviews before the decision was made, and many are likely to be still available.

There is no question that Chan's decision came suddenly, that it caught people in the organization off-guard or that VANOC is feeling quite cautious and sensitive about the entire matter. Corea, normally open with the media about most aspects of the Games, was careful and distant when talking about the Chan situation.

Corea - when asked about the reaction of VANOC CEO John Furlong, whether Furlong would be commenting later, whether the Board of Director's Executive Committee, which reviews major employee decisions, was aware of the impending resignation, whether Chan would be returning to his former employer, McKinsey & Co, or even Corea's own reaction to the news - simply repeated that Chan's resignation was "a personnel matter," and that the brief formal statement was all that VANOC was prepared to say about the matter.

Corea sat in on our detailed interview with Chan November 5, making notes of the discussions. We later discovered that Furlong, when he returned from his trip to Beijing, was aware of those discussions, particularly the portion dealing with Chan's approach to unionization and labour relations meetings with labour leaders in B.C.. When Corea was asked if he was aware whether Chan was contemplating the action during the interview, he answered the question indirectly by saying only that he had not spoken to the former HR chief since he was told about the resignation.

When Chan was hired, Furlong said that one of the most challenging aspects of any organization that must expand rapidly is the construction of the organization itself. Furlong said that, for him, it was essential that the head of Human Resources for VANOC needs to figure out the proper strategy for building "in an orderly fashion against the master schedule and strategy that our team has developed." Furlong said that in choosing Chan, he needed somebody who, in addition to their HR experities was "somebody who could contribute to the overall delivery of the project."

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



Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #695
CHAN ABRUPTLY QUITS AS SENIOR VP OF HUMAN RESOURCES


The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee has had its first major resignation.

A brief statement issued a few minutes ago simply says that Jeff Chan has resigned his position as Senior Vice President of Human Resources and is planning to return to Ontario. Spokesman Sam Corea says only that, "VANOC wishes Mr. Chan future success. Recruitment will commence shortly for a senior executive to oversee the human resources function at VANOC."

There is no immediate word on the reason for the resignation, and Chan gave no hint that he was thinking of such a move during lengthy Morgan:News:2010 interviews earlier this month. VANOC CEO John Furlong was not immediately available for comment, and did not provide one in the announcement.

Chan was hired June 22 as one of the first five senior vice-presidents, and had just purchased a house in Vancouver. For the past 10 years, Chan, has been working with the management consulting firm of McKinsey & Company in Toronto.


Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on November 23, 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 |VANOC| #694
FIRST FINANCIAL STATEMENTS SHOW PLETHORA OF FUNDS AND OBLIGATIONS


The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee has issued its first audited financial statements that cover the period from incorporation on September 30, 2003 to July 31, 2004. (A year ago, the 2010 Bid Corporation, VANOC's predecessor entity, issued its first and last financial statement.)
 
It's an unusual balance sheet, because of VANOC's unique legal and operational structure.

VANOC's total revenues of C$55.5 million were virtually all from funding of C$51 million from the Province of British Columbia and C$4.4 million from Canada as part of their venue-development commitments. The federal and provincial governments have agreed to provide up to C$620 million for venues, and for post-Games endowment funds, during the course of the Games development process, and the funding listed in the financial statements for the year is the first part of that. The statements note in the fine print that VANOC is still awaiting C$220,000 from the federal government for part of its contribution to the Venue Development Fund (VDF) -- a separate account that deals solely with constructing the venues -- the amount is listed as a holdback account-receivable.

Expenditures in the VDF totaled C$35.4 million. The largest part of the Fund's expenditure was C$30 million, which was put aside into in a new organization, the Athletes Village Trust, for the development of the Vancouver Athletes' village. The funds in this Trust, plus its interest, will be given to the City "subject to establishing and achieving certain milestones, which have not yet been agreed upon," according to the statement's notes.

VDF expenditures also included a C$3 million grant to Tourism Whistler for expanding and environmental upgrading of the Whistler Conference Centre. Other venue expenditures included a variety of preliminary design, consulting and environmental work for several projects, including the Whistler Nordic Centre and Whistler Sliding Centre; those amounts are listed in BACKGROUND, below.

VANOC has arranged a C$15-million rolling line of credit with an unidentified bank to help pay for its operations. By July 31, it had drawn down almost half of that -- C$7.2 million in various methods, some of which were at 10 basis points below the bank's prime, which was 3.75% on July 31. The credit facility is guaranteed by the bank having first call on VANOC's "personal property."

The statements reveal that until VANOC was able to set up its line of credit, the Canadian Olympic Committee carried it to the tune of C$1.9 million, in addition to the the C$1.3 million bond to the International Olympic Committee that was required under the Host City Agreement a week after Vancouver was awarded the Games. VANOC has since paid the money back to the COC. VANOC, under a joint marketing agreement, has agreed to pay the COC C$73.5 million in cash and contributions-in-kind during the eight year life of the agreement, but there were nothing required to be paid during VANOC's first fiscal year.
 
In its first fiscal year, VANOC reports deferred operating expenses of just over C$6 million. This covers expenses such as the start up of the 2010 Games office, staffing and equipment costs; about a third was for finance, administration, legal and insurance; another third -- C$2.5 million was for payroll in various forms. Operating revenues during VANOC's fiscal year were relatively small because its marketing activities, will account for the majority of operational revenue and expenditures, and they don't get underway until fiscal year 2005. Because of the defined life of VANOC, all operational expenses and revenues are recorded as deferred; they'll be recognized in VANOC's fiscal year ending July 31, 2010, the year in which the Games are held.
 
VANOC's statements were audited by Ernst and Young LLP using Canada's generally accepted accounting standards, and its covering letter is unqualified. Volunteer services aren't recognized in the financial statements, and while donations of goods and services are recognized, the statements say there weren't any during its first fiscal year.

The document also notes that VANOC set up the 2010 Games Operating Trust Society last March. It will eventually receive the C$110 million Legacy Endowment Fund, which is a grant equally divided between the B.C. and federal governments. It will pay for the operating, maintenance and some capital costs of venues after the Games are completed, because VANOC has no ownership interest in any of them. B.C. turned over its share of the funds last March, at the beginning of its fiscal year. It will also hold the Amateur Sport Legacy Fund, which will be 60% of any surplus that VANOC makes from the Games. It will pay for amateur sport development and coaching programs. Under the arrangement that created the Society, VANOC and each of its partner organizations -- various governments, the Canadian Olympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee -- each appoint one member to its Board of Directors.

The statements also reveal that VANOC has agreed to protect the owners of two alpine venues for "any shortfall in their expected earnings in relation to their venue operations as a result" of VANOC events being held at the venues. They include the Cypress Bowl Recreations Limited Partnership, the Whistler Mountain Resort Limited Partnership, and the Blackcomb Skiing Enterprises Limited Partnership. There's no estimate at this point as to how much that's expected to be.

BACKGROUND

VANOC's first-fiscal-year expenses per venue, so far:
  • Vancouver Athletes Village: C$30 million
  • Whistler Conference Centre: C$3 million
  • Whistler Paralympic Arena: C$825,000
  • Whistler Nordic Centre: C$679,064
  • Whistler Sliding Centre: C$349,694
  • Speed Skating Oval (primarily Burnaby's Simon Fraser University): C$126,070
  • Secondary ice-hockey arena (Vancouver's University of British Columbia)
  • Freestyle skiing and snowboarding venue (West Vancouver's Cypress Bowl): C$56,017


RESOURCES

VANOC Audited Financial Statements 2004 (1.2 megabyte PDF file)
http://tinyurl.com/oes or
http://www.vancouver2010.com/NR/rdonlyres/en5bc2ca7ijok6wyqrq7ywdiht6b62w3jp6ubmr5qq6drlbinbs3f4xl7seyobxey5yplkkimh4cec/VANOCAuditedFinancials2005.pdf


Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on November 22, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #693
STAFF FOR SEATTLE'S NEW 2010 STEERING GROUP BEGIN WORKING ON MEETING SCHEDULES


The director of the Office of Intergovernmental Relations for the City of Seattle says the full 2010 Steering Committee set up last week by mayor Greg Nickles is expected to meet quarterly for the first few years, then more frequently.

Susan Saffery adds, "We are still determining a schedule for upcoming meetings. We expect that a smaller executive committee and a working group meeting will be held at least a couple of times in between the quarterly meetings."

Saffery says that Committee co-chairs, Darrell Bryan of Clipper Navigation and Bill Chao of LPL Financial Services, "are interested in raising private dollars to fund this effort. We have not budgeted for this in our Office's budget but consider it part of our responsibilities."

The OIR director says the group will begin by drafting over the next couple of months its own mission statement, followed by a work plan and budget for the group. "We are identifying some areas of opportunity for our community and state."

She confirms that the co-chairs have volunteered their time, as have other Steering Committee and Working Group members, noting, "There has been a lot of interest and enthusiasm to the mayor's invitation to participate."

Saffery says that staff from her office -- Keith Orton and Kristine Kertson -- have already been speaking with and attending some of the meetings with people and committees interested in aspects of the 2010 Games and related tourism and business opportunities from two Washington State counties, Whatcom and Snohomish, as well as in the state government.

"We will continue to co-ordinate with other efforts around our state," she says, adding, "We will be working closely with our Office of Economic Development, our Office of Arts and Culture, and the Seattle Center as well as the committee members."

She notes the city has had several informal sessions so far with the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee, and that mayor Nickels was in Vancouver last month for the Greater Seattle Chamber's Leadership Conference, and had the opportunity at that point to meet with VANOC Board of Directors chairman Jack Poole and VANOC board director, Squamish chief Gibby Jacob. "They expressed their interest in working closely with Seattle."

The also says the she, Orston and Kirtsen have also met with representatives of VANOC, as well as with Vancouver City, B.C., and Canadian federal representatives who are working on the 2010 Games. Orton also attended the Spirit of 2010 Business Summit in Vancouver last May. A smaller but similar meeting will take place here in Seattle on December 9 under the auspices of the Washington State's Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development.

RESOURCES

Susan Crowley Saffery
Director, Office of Intergovernmental Relations
City of Seattle
600 4th Avenue, Fl. 5
PO Box 94746
Seattle, WA 98124-4746
206.684.8268
Susan.Crowley.Saffery@Seattle.Gov
http://www.seattle.gov/oir/


Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on November 22, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #692
VANOC, COC GET INJUNCTION AGAINST DOMAIN OWNER; CORUS REPORTEDLY TALKS TO CBC RE 2010 BID; BELL, ROGERS CLEARED FOR TV RIGHTS SPONSORSHIP BID


Three moguls we bumped into today...

  • The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee and the Canadian Olympic Committee now have an interim injunction as part of its brand-protection policies from the B.C. Supreme Court against the owners of a Brackendale business calling itself "Whistler Olympic Real Estate" and operating a website using the Internet domain name whistler-olympic.com. The court order, issued today and which lasts until the full injunction hearing is concluded or until a further order of the court, prohibits the domain's owners from transferring ownership of the domain name to anybody else. A court date for the hearing hasn't yet been set.

  • Corus Entertainment of Toronto, Ontario, is reportedly talking to the Canada's national broadcaster, the CBC, about a partnership in which Corus's specialty channels would be used to broadcast Olympic content should CBC win the bid to televise the 2010 Winter Games. Corus owns YTV, a popular children's cable channel and W Television, a woman's specialty cable channel -- plus a number of TV stations and other firms, including Nelvana Ltd., a producer and distributor of children's programming.

  • The Canadian Competition Bureau has rejected a complaint by Canada's national broadcaster, allowing Bell Globemedia and Rogers Media to jointly bid on the Canadian broadcast rights for the 2010 and 2012 Olympic Games when the International Olympic Committee opens the sponsorship offer in January. The CBC alleged in August that if the firms submitted a joint bid, CBC wouldn't have access to a sports specialty channel, limiting its ability to compete against them. But spokeswoman Purvi Radia says the Bureau found no reduction in competition would automatically follow. IOC officials met with the CBC, Bell Globemedia, Rogers Communications, CanWest Global and The Score last week in Toronto to discuss the details of what is was offering and how bidding process would work. Bell Globemedia controls the CBC's competitive televisioin network CTV, as well as specialty cable channels CTV Newsnet, TSN, RDS and OLN. Rogers controls Sportsnet as well as a number of radio stations and magazines. The networks are to make their proposals starting February 7 at the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.


RESOURCES

Corus Entertainment's financial picture and contact info:
http://investdb.theglobeandmail.com/invest/investSQL/gx.company_prof?company_id=197487

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on November 22, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #691
BOB/LUGE TRACK: 16 BENDS, 1,400 METRES, 52 SECONDS; LES SPEAKS DEC 23 ON 2010 AND SMALL BIZ; RICHMOND OVAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE DETAILS


Three moguls we bumped into today...

  • On November 2, we told you that Stantec Architecture had won the contract from VANOC to design the C$55 million Whistler Sliding Centre near Whistler, that Stantec will provide general site-engineering services and provide VANOC with a detailed design and site master plan for the venue. We now know that the track, which has already been designed by Udo Gurgel of IGB, has a proposed running length of about 1,400 metres, with 16 bends. The races will last about 52 seconds, with speeds of more than 130 km/h expected. The venue will also include a storage area for 50 sleds and has a proposed capacity of 12,000 spectators. The Stantec team has a lot of experience in the complex task of building sliding centres, with many of the members having already participated in the design of the Salt Lake City sliding centre for the Games in 2002. The core team includes: Stantec Architecture, Stantec Consulting, resort architects Stonefield Development's Vancouver office; Van Boerum & Frank Associates, Inc. of Salt Lake City, a consulting-engineer firm that worked on the 2002 Winter Olympics's bob/luge track; and R.H. Strong & Associates Inc of the Vancouver suburb of Delta, a refrigeration consulting engineering firm that worked on, among other many other large industrial things, the ice plant for Vancouver's General Motors Place, a National Hockey League stadium.

  • The Richmond Chamber of Commerce has booked the B.C. Minister in charge of the provincial government's role in the Winter 2010 Games for a speech December 23 entitled "2010 Small Business Opportunities." The breakfast with John Les, the minister of Small Business and Economic Development, starts at 8 a.m. at the Best Western Hotel at 7551 Westminster Highway at Minerou Boulevard in the Vancouver suburb. The promotional material from the Chamber says, "Hosting the 2010 Olympic Winter Games will open windows of opportunity. In the year ahead, small businesses in B.C. will see yet more opportunities to expand and grow as we lead up to the 2010 Olympic Games." Corporate sponsors of the event include Bell, Coast Capital Savings, Great Canadian Gaming Corporation, Harmony Airways and the Vancouver Airport.

  • Here are the specifics for the three advisory committees the City of Richmond has set up to help it as it builds the sports complex that will include the 2010 long-track speedskating oval (we first mentioned this on November 9). Resumes from the public interested in doing the volunteer work on the committees have to be sent to Richmond by December 1. The Richmond 2010 Olympic Oval Project Steering Committee will provide advice to Richmond City Council and senior staff regarding business aspects of the overall direction of the Oval project, including long term planning; policy decisions; business operation; governance structure; intergovernmental and stakeholder relations; negotiation and tenant leasing advice. The Richmond 2010 Olympic Oval Project Building Committee will be a technical committee to support and provide advice to Council, senior City staff and the Project Manager on all aspects of the design and construction of the Oval; and The Richmond Olympic Oval Project Stakeholder/User Committee will be an ad-hoc committee to provide advice to senior staff and the Project Steering Committee on the project and ensure there are opportunities for the public, stakeholders, organizations and agencies to be involved.


RESOURCES

Stonefield Development:
http://www.stonefield.net/index2.html

Van Boerum & Frank Associates:
http://www.vbfa.com/new_main_page.htm

R.H. Strong& Associates Inc.
260 - 8208 Swenson Way
Delta, BC V4G 1J6
President Ron Strong: RonStrong@telus.net
Vice-President Eric Bradley: EricBradley@telus.net
604.951.0717


Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on November 22, 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 |VANOC| #690
OLYMPIC ORGANIZERS SUE OWNERS OF WEBSITE OVER DOMAIN NAME


The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee and the Canadian Olympic Committee have jointly started a law suit against the owners of a business calling itself "Whistler Olympic Real Estate" and operating a website using the Internet domain name "whistler-olympic.com."

The site currently resolves to an operation that seems to be interested in providing erotic movies to cellphones. Until November 16, 2004, the day the lawsuit began, the domain name was used for the Whistler Olympic Real Estate website, which advertised investments in Whistler real estate, but is still registered as being owed by the same people involved in the real-estate website. 

The domain name, says VANOC spokesman Sam Corea, is registered in the name of a lawyer, Nikolaus Homberg, for the organization Algino Holdings in Brackendale, a village near Squamish, on the road between Vancouver and Whistler. Nikolaus and Ingrid Homberg are listed as directors and officers of Algino Holdings.

The websites use Internet code within its pages for search engines that contain the Olympic-related terms "Olympic", "Olympic games", "2010 Vancouver", "Whistler games" and "Olympic games". "Internet users searching for information relating to the 2010 Winter Games might be directed to the defendants' website rather than a genuine Olympic or Olympic Games-related website," says Corea.

"The lawsuit is part of VANOC's ongoing efforts to protect the Olympic Brand", said John Furlong, CEO of VANOC. "Our business is organizing the Games. We owe to it all Canadians to do our job properly to create conditions that will result in success for Canada's Games in 2010. Any surplus funds generated by VANOC in its Games organizing efforts will be devoted to the development of amateur sport in Canada. That's the goal we all want to achieve."

The lawsuit began after Homberg, says Corea, told VANOC in response to its request to either stop using the domain or transfer it to VANOC, Homberg sent a letter to VANOC saying that he represented "a group of international businesses and investors" that "promotes and sells multi-million dollar homes and properties in Whistler", that the domain was "being used to show and market Whistler properties and homes" and was receiving "over 1,000 visits per week", and that his clients would not consider changing the domain name unless VANOC offered "compensation commensurate with our project".

Corea says VANOC repeated its request, adding a warning that it would start legal proceedings if necessary. However, Corea says, "The defendants continued to operate the Whistler Olympic Real Estate website and use the whistler-olympic.com domain name for that site."

There were no more letters to be written, so VANOC started the lawsuit a week later.

RESOURCES

The website in question:
http://www.whistler-olympic.com

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on November 22, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #689
PRIESTNER SUGGESTS CANADIAN SPORT SYSTEM NEEDS TO REVAMP STRATEGIES TO WIN MORE MEDALS


The senior vice-president for Sport for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee says Canada will have to do some specific things if it expects to reach its goal of winning the most medals at the 2010 Games.

Cathy Priestner, who won a silver medal herself for Canada during the 1976 Winter Games, completed a study called "Own the Podium" just before being hired by VANOC this summer, looking at what Canada needed to do to improve its so-called conversion rate, the percentage of Olympic medals compared with wins during World Cup events in the same winter and summer sports. Her research showed Canada's rate was around 25%, while the average for large nations was 50%-67%, and a few countries were as high as 115%.

She told Vancouver Province reporter Terry Bell, as part of a story published on Sunday, that Canada's rate means, "We aren't doing a very good job of preparing for the Olympic Games. Whether it's having enough understanding of what's different about them, and what sort of preparation is necessary leading up to them, or whether it's not being familiar enough and acclimatized to the venues... that's one piece. The second piece is, our number of athletes in the system. With our success rate being low, that means we need more athletes who are in that position to medal."

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on November 22, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |Business| #688
SENIOR SEATTLE EXECUTIVES MAKE UP 2010 STEERING COMMITTEE


The make-up of the new 22-member Greater Seattle 2010 Steering Committee, announced late yesterday by Seattle mayor Greg Nickles, are all senior executives and includes Microsoft, Boeing and a senior labour leader.

The first meeting of the committee is expected shortly. Marianne Bichsel, Nickles's senior communications and policy advisor, says she expects it will work closely with the state and Bellingham efforts, which have already begun. She also says she's not aware of a budget for the Committee, nor of any payments, honorariums or otherwise, to the co-chairs for their work on the Committee.

GREATER SEATTLE 2010 STEERING COMMITTEE

Co-chairs:

  • Darrell Bryan, General Manager and Executive Vice President of Clipper Navigation
  • William Chao, Principle of LPL Financial Services.


Committee members:

  • Robert Marcovitch - President, K2 Sports
  • Connie Marshall - Mayor, City of Bellevue
  • Ben Moore - Managing Director, Seattle Repertory Theatre
  • Steve Morris - President, Seattle's Convention and Visitors Bureau
  • Carla Murray Vice-President of Operations, Starwood Hotels and Resorts
  • Aaron Reardon - County Executive, Snohomish County
  • John Rindlaub - CEO, Pacific NW Region, Wells Fargo Bank
  • Daniel Schmitt - Executive Director, Very Special Arts of Washington
  • Ron Sims - County Executive, King County
  • Jeff Singsaas - Director of Global Events, Microsoft Corporation
  • Greg Smith - Gregory Broderick Smith Real Estate
  • Orin Smith - President and CEO, Starbucks Coffee Company
  • Mark Stiebeling - Regional Manager, Grand Hyatt
  • David Tang - Partner, Preston Gates & Ellis LLP (law firm)
  • Julius Thiry - Executive Director, USA National Karate-do Federation
  • Ron Van Pool - President, USA Swimming
  • Bob Walsh - President and CEO, Bob Walsh Enterprises
  • Bob Watt - Vice-Preesident, Government & Community Relations, Boeing Commercial Airplanes
  • Steve Williamson - Executive Secretary and Treasurer, King County Labor Council, AFL-CIO



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



Morgan:News:2010 |Business| #687
"SEE YOU" CAMPAIGN TO SOME DAY RAISE FUNDS FOR 2010 ATHLETES


Jane Roos, the executive director of the so-called "See You" athlete fund-raising campaigns which began in 1997, expects to continue the campaigns at least for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

The "See You" campaigns are specific fund-raising efforts by Olympic athletes in their "off season" to raise funds for athletes attending a future Olympics. There are currently funds set up called "See You in Torino", in which summer Olympic athletes are raising money for Canadian athletes heading for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy. Winter athletes are expected to help raise funds for the "See You in Beijing" fund after the Torino Games conclude, and the cycle is expected to continue for 2010 and for whichever city is awarded the 2012 and 2014 Games.

CEOs of Canadian organizations are currently being asked for a C$12,000 donation that gives them access to several events -- a golf tournament, a gala dinner, a cocktail party or the like -- that include Olympic athletes, to which the CEOs could bring key customers or clients.

BACKGROUND

Jane Roos is a former Olympic athlete injured in a car accident that damaged her back and killed one of her friends. She is president of Just Jane Promotions and Future is Female, two Toronto-based marketing and event-management firms. The "See You" campaigns, based on a registered Canadian charity that issues receipts for donations over C$25, have raised more than C$1.5 million over the years, with the money going to about 400 athletes to help support their nutrition, training, coaching and travel expenses. The deadline for the Torino company sponsorship January 15.

RESOURCES

http://www.seeyouintorino.com
(The "See You in Vancouver" web site is not yet established.)

http://www.justjane.ca/


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



Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #685
DECISION REQUIRED BY 2007 IF WOMEN'S SKI JUMPING, NORDIC COMBINED COULD OCCUR IN 2010


The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee says it's still possible for women's ski-jumping and Nordic combined events to take place in 2010, but the decision on any additional events will have to be made by 2007.

Spokesman Sam Corea was commenting on a push in Salt Lake City by its former mayor, Deedee Corradini, to get the sports for women on the 2010 schedule. She is part of a group organizing a fund-raising dinner in Salt Lake City Saturday as part of that push.

VANOC's competition schedule is based on the sports it provided when its Bid Book was delivered to the International Olympic Committee in early 2003.

"New events will be determined by the IOC Executive Board following the review of the Torino Winter Games program in the spring of 2006," Corea says, adding, "For now, we understand that two events could be added to the program in 2010. As a result of the provisional acceptance by the IOC for the Torino Games planning for the VANOC Sport Program is to include team pursuit in long-track speed-skating and snowboard cross."

VANOC, the IOC and the International Paralympic Committee are also investigating the possibility of including snowboarding in the Paralympic portion of the 2010 Games, but an initial decision on that won't be made for a few weeks yet.

The Vancouver 2010 Host City Contract says the VANOC has to submit the specific daily program for events to the IOC's executive board for its prior written approval not later than three years before the Games. "In short," says Corea, "final decisions on the Games competition schedule are developed after consultation with the sport federations, the IOC and the IPC, and are to be finalized in terms of planning, in our case, by 2007. We don't anticipate at this time new sports, but there could be different events within the sports, such as the additions in snowboarding and speed skating."

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



Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #684
SEATTLE MAYOR CONVENES STEERING COMMITTEE TO FOCUS ON 2010 VANCOUVER WINTER GAMES


Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels today convened a Greater Seattle 2010 Steering Committee to explore opportunities for the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver

The committee's co-chairs are Darrell Bryan, the General Manager and Executive Vice President of Clipper Navigation, and William Chao, Principle of LPL Financial Services. A list of other members was not immediately available.

Clipper Navigation owns four high-speed passenger ferries, some of which operate between Victoria, BC and Seattle, and had been offering so-called 'flu cruises' to a Victoria clinic for a couple of months earlier this year to accommodate Americans who needed to receive a flu shot but couldn't get one in Seattle. Both Bryan and Chao are minor contributors to Nickles's election campaigns, according to disclosure documents. Chao was named by Nickles to a large mayoralty task force on economic development two years ago.

Nickels said the purpose of the Committee is to build community awareness of the 2010 Games, encourage tourists to visit Seattle and the Puget Sound region around the time of the Games, and to strengthen relations with Vancouver and British Columbia.

The mayor thinks that Seattle will be able to serve as a secondary point of access for athletes, officials and visitors in the run-up to the Games, and that Seattle and the Puget Sound region. "have an opportunity to participate in such things as athlete training, tourism promotion, increased transportation choices to Vancouver, arts and cultural programming as well as business and trade promotion."

Nickles adds, "The time is right to begin developing a strategy for taking advantage of the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver. We have much in common with our neighbors to the north and look forward to contributing in any way we can to the success of the 2010 Games."

RESOURCES

Mayor Nickles's background:
http://www.seattle.gov/mayor/about/bio.htm

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



Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #683
ALL ABOUT TORINO - VENUE ORGANIZER'S OFFICES RAIDED BY POLICE; COFFEE-TABLE BOOKS BEING ISSUED; HALF OF VENUES UNFINISHED


Three moguls we bumped into today that all happened to be about the Italian Games...

  • TORINO: Italian news media are reporting today that police under guidance of an investigating magistrate have raided the offices of Agenzia Torino 2006, the body set up by the Torino Olympics Organizing Committee to build Olympic venues. The reports indicate the raids, which included the offices of a private Italian company, are part of a probe into contracts awarded for road construction. A statement issued by Agenzia Torino's director-general, Mimmo Arcidiacono, says,"the measures taken by the magistrate have no impact on the agency's operations or its works, which are proceeding as usual at all our sites."

  • TORINO: Just in time for the Christmas buying season a year ahead of the Italian Winter Games, Agenzia Torino has released quite a bit of its own files in the form of its first big coffee-table book. The 400-page tome, by two Turin Polytechnic lecturers, Marco Filippi and Franco Mellano, is called "Turin 2006: Focus; All The Olympic Projects In One Volume" and is in English and Italian. It involves photographs, designs and technical files courtesy of Agenzia Torino 2006. It is being published by Mondadori Electa and sponsored by the Italian national government and various municipal authorities and Agenzia Torino. There are three sections. The first focuses on sports facilities, the second on the Olympic village and the third covers roads, ski lifts, artificial-snow facilities, race tracks and slopes. Early next year, a second book, devoted to the work sites and the construction of the Italian Olympic projects, will be published. It's not yet known if the Vancouver Olympic organizers will commission such books but the timeframe for doing so would be in late 2006 or early 2007.

  • TORINO: We said yesterday that delays in completing Italy's speed-skating oval in time is reportedly forcing one of the major test events to move to Salt Lake City. And the hockey rink is still a large hole in the ground, part of which was excavated when authorities had to blow up one of three unexploded World War II bombs they discovered as they were digging the hole. But that doesn't tell the whole story of the construction status there: with 14 months to go to the start of the Italian Winter Olympics on February 10, 2006, 30 venues out of 65 are still to be finished. The ski jump ramp at Pragelato has been inaugurated and the Palavela complex is about to be finished. All the ski-lift facilities in the mountains are already ready and Agenzia Torino 2006 has beaten some of its own project schedules, but not all of them.


Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on November 18, 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 |Sports| #682
FUND-RAISING DINNER AIMED AT ACHIEVING WOMEN'S SKI JUMP, NORDIC COMBINED EVENTS FOR 2010 GAMES


The former mayor of the home of the 2002 Winter Olympics, Salt Lake City, Deedee Corradini, has helped organize a fund-raising dinner for this Saturday evening to help raise funds to support women's ski jumping and Nordic combined (cross-country skiing and ski jumping) for the 2010 Winter Games.

They are the only sports at the Winter Olympics without a women's division. Corradini got involved after talking by chance to a relative of 19-year-old American Lindsey Van, rated the number two female ski jumper in the world, about women's ski jumping. Corradini says that even though about 25% of ski jumpers registered in the United States are women, she was surprised to learn about the lack of an Olympic event in those sports for women, so she volunteered her experience and contacts from the Salt Lake City Games to help women jumpers achieve the goal of gaining Olympic status at the 2010 Winter Games.

Women's Ski Jumping USA is the official host of the US$150-per-plate dinner, entitled "A Night with Olympians - Past, Present and Future", on Saturday.

The decision to add women's ski jumping is ultimately made by the International Olympic Committee. The International Ski Federation held its first Continental Cup event for women ski jumpers in Park City, where the 2002 Olympics were held, last July so it could start building enough athletes and events so that the decision to create an Olympic event is a natural evolution, rather than a political decision.

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



Morgan:News:2010 |IOC| #681
NEW VICE-PRESIDENT PREDICTS VANCOUVER WILL ENCOUNTER POLITICAL PROBLEMS


2010NewsWatch

Vancouver Sun reporter Jeff Lee, who is nominally the only reporter the newspaper has that covers the 2010 Winter Games on a regular basis, writes from a media tour of the Torino Winter Olympics in 2006 that organizers hope Vancouver manages to stay clear of political problems like those that have rocked Torino recently. The Torino CEO nearly quit when the Italian government appointed a supervisor for the Games after projects of a C$270 million loss for those Games.

Lee, in an article to be published in the Sun tomorrow, interviewed Gunilla Lindberg, the secretary-general of the Swedish Olympic Committee and the IOC's newest vice-president. Lindberg told Lee that she has been involved in 18 Olympics, adding, "There has not ever been an Olympics where the host city has not had problems, and Vancouver, for certain, will have some."

But, Lindberg also told Lee that strong leadership and direction from the Vancouver Organizing Committee will help solve any problems that arise. Lee says one of the things that bothers her and other IOC members was the lack of Canadian media at Torino's world press briefing this week.

Apart from The Vancouver Sun, no Canadian representatives -- including anyone officially representing VANOC -- were present. Charmaine Crooks, a former Canadian IOC member who was a member of VANOC's Board of Directors, attended the first two days, but as a member of the IOC's press commission.

"It is something that concerns us," Lindberg told Lee. "Canada is the host country of the next Winter Games after this one, and the media should be taking advantage of everything they can to learn what will be necessary to cover the Olympic Games in 2010."

Crooks said she didn't want to criticize the lack of Canadian media at the conference. But she is concerned that media organizations should be attending events in Torino and other Olympic sites.

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



Morgan:News:2010 |Sports| #680
2010 OLYMPICS PLANNING CITED AS MAIN REASON FOR CANCELLING VANCOUVER'S MOLSON INDY


Molson Sports and Entertainment has cancelled the Molson Indy in Vancouver because part of its annual temporary track will be affected by the City's planning for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Jo-Ann McArthur, president of Molson Sports and Entertainment, notes the 2.9-kilometre temporary street circuit runs through the downtown False Creek district, a portion of that district is in the planning process for, among other things, the Vancouver Athletes Village for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.

Champ Car Executive Vice President Joe Chrnelich has been quoted by The Sports Network as saying "There were a variety of factors that contributed to the ultimate decision not to add the event to our 2005 calendar. Clearly, planning for the Olympics has had an impact on our situation, but we certainly understand as the Olympics is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a city. We wish the city of Vancouver well in its Olympic endeavor and we hope future circumstances will again allow us to bring Champ Car racing back to the streets of Vancouver."

The Athletes Village itself, which is centred on Manitoba Street, is far enough to the west that its construction, expected to start in June, 2008, and be completed by the fall of 2009, is not directly influencing the decision. But the City's overall planning for the southeast False Creek area, the eastern edge of which borders the track, involves road, sewer and other service changes over the next few years that will prevent a portioin of the track from being used.

The 2005 Champ Car schedule will continue to include its traditional stops in Toronto and Montreal as well as an inaugural race in Edmonton.

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



Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #679
SPALLUMCHEEN TO OFFICIALLY INVESTIGATE 2010 REGIONAL BENEFITS; TORINO CONSTRUCTION DELAYS CITED; FUMING IN TERRACE


Three moguls we bumped into today...

  • The Township of Spallumcheen in B.C.'s Okanagan has appointed Councillor Brigitt Johnson as its representative for dealing with 2010 LegaciesNow concepts. Spallumcheen was responding to a suggestion from the mayor of nearyby Armstrong, Jerry Oglow, that the two communities join with Enderby to form a committee to look at ways of tapping into funding for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. At the moment, Spallumcheen is thinking about setting up viewing areas in the communities for some of the more popular 2010 sports, but other tourism-related ideas are expected to be explored.

  • The official site of the International Skating Union shows Torino as the location of the 2005 Speed Skating World Championships, but an Italian internet news site, Libero.it reports the Championships will be moved to Salt Lake City, due to the delays in the construction of the 2006 Winter Olympics Speed-Skating Oval, the current site of the event. The event was to take place there January 25th to the 30th.

  • From the Tell Us What You Really Think department: Yesterday, we told you some folks in Vancouver and Squamish were unhappy with the Olympics over brand-protection policies. Today, it's the Terrace-Kitimat area in the central northwest part of the province. Today's issue of the Terrace Standard newspaper, which has a circulation of about 8,000, contains an editorial that literally fumes over the B.C. Liberal Party's rejection of a motion during its convention two weeks ago in Whistler by northern party representatives calling on the Party to endorse the Kermode bear as the 2010 mascot. The political problems with doing that could be seen from some distance, so the concept was easily sidestepped, but the editorial takes exceptional issue, suggesting it's a significant slap to the people of the northwest. As it puts it, "There may be some dispute about taking the Kermode and trivializing and transforming it into costume-like figure, but the point is that it represents a great chance at placing the northwest upon the world stage. So for B.C. Liberals, giddy as they probably were at being in Whistler, the site that will profit immensely from the 2010 Games, to bury the motion is to insult the northwest. What then would B.C. Liberals like to have as a symbol? A rusting sawmill in Terrace? Line ups each month in the alleyway outside the building containing the Terrace Churches’ Food Bank? Local Liberals say we should not get excited. The premier seeks to soothe the northwest by saying he himself is a big Kermode fan. They say it is not members of the B.C. Liberal party nor the government that will make the decision about the Olympic symbol. Perhaps. But a clear message has been delivered and it is this – you out there beyond the lower mainland, you don’t count. Back to your sod huts."


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



Morgan:News:2010 |Business| #678
"BEETLE WOOD" TO BE A PART OF THE BUILDING HOUSING THE 2010 MEDIA CENTRE


Products of the forest industry sector in British Columbia's South Cariboo's area, in the central part of the province, are expected to be seen at the 2010 Olympics in at least one of the major venue sites.

The chairman of the 2010 committee for the BC Log and Timber Framers, Wally Bramslaven, says there's quite a bit of lobbying going on to the architects, engineers, designers and developers of 2010-related projects.

Bramslaven says, for instance, beetle wood will be part of Vancouver's new Trade and Convention Centre. That's from trees that have been killed by a severe infestation of mountain pine beetles that has particularly affected the central interior of the province. Bramslaven says the seven-acre ceiling of the huge building, now just starting construction on Vancouver's waterfront and to be used for the 2010 Olympics media centre, will be veneered with three-by-six decking made from the wood.

Since 2000, the B.C. forest ministry says the amount of beetle wood harvested has increased from 16% to 54% and quite a bit of government-sponsored work is underway to find a use for it.

BACKGROUND

What the mountain pine beetle does to the wood of the trees it attacks: The beetle carries carries the spores of a specific fungus on its body and deposits them under the tree's bark, where they quickly germinate. As the fungus grows into the wood, it clogs the water passages in the tree, and that interrupts the sap flow, killing the tree and turning its needles red.

The fungus, however, leaves a blue-coloured stain in the wood which detracts from the aesthetic value of the wood when it is cut, but reduces, at least for the moment, the commercial value of the timber.

The trees are harvested as soon as possible to minimize the staining, and the wood is dried to kill the mould. Although the blue-black colour of the stain itself is not a mould, it looks like it to consumers who are concerned about the effect mould has on health, especially in enclosed environments. Some large retailers, particularly in the US, are demanding stain-free lumber so they don't have to explain things to customers, hence the government and industry interest in finding uses for it.

A variety of strength, durability, treatabilty, glue-strength and finishing tests performed by Forintek, the B.C. government-supported forestry laboratory, shows that the stain has no effect on any of those value, but that bluish, charcoal and reddish stains had the best effect in masking the colour.

RESOURCES

One person's blue-stained wood is another person's marketing opportunity. “Denim Pine” is the marketing name of this unique feature and an industry association, based in Quesnel, a town in the south-central part of B.C., has been formed to promote it. The idea is to sell a variety of blue-stained products such as flooring, paneling and furniture. You can also see example photos of the stain in wood:


A study of the properties of blue-stain beetle damaged wood in PDF format:
http://www.durable-wood.com/pdfs/Bluestain_properties.pdf

Forintek:
http://www.forintek.ca


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



Morgan:News:2010 |Torino| #677
RETAIL PRODUCTS ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN GOES FOR CHRISTMAS PUSH IN ITALY AND VIA THE WEB


With 450 days to go until the opening ceremonies of the Torino 2006 Winter Olympics, the major advertising campaign promoting the official products is underway, even though some of the souvenir categories are not yet licensed.

The major lines cover general clothing as well as mountain and trekking clothing and accessories; gadgets; gift articles, such as glassware, sunglasses or food, candy and alcoholic beverages; stationery items, such as pens, pencils and cards; jewelry such as pins and medal replicas; and toys, including puzzles, games and stuffed animals such as mascot items. They are all the focus of the seasonal and international shopping campaign that is expected to reach its peak sales volume by Christmas. Discounts are offered to employees of the Games sponsors, both local and international.

Only VISA credit cards are honored on the website store, as it is one of the international Olympic sponsors, and the prices, in Euros, don't include taxes or customs duties. Payment on delivery (COD) is only easily available within Italy; alternate payment arrangements have to be made for delivery outside the country.

Web-store purchases are limited to e500 per day (C$777) and e4,000 per month (C$6,217). Warranties are honoured by the manufacturer, not the Italian Olympic Organizing Committee, nor its subsidiaries or partners. Returns to the Olympic store are allowed within 10 days of receipt of goods -- as long as it's not a portion of the purchase, customized goods or factory-sealed items -- but return costs are the responsibility of the purchaser and so is completion of a provided form detailing the return and the address to which it must go. The costs of return are only picked up if it can be verified by the store that the product arrived damaged for reasons other than transport, or was incomplete.

BACKGROUND


The Torino Winter Olympics Committee has licensing arrangements with a wide range of suppliers, but even at this late date, some of the categories have not yet been contracted. They include:

  • Leather accessories: Wallets, belts, chains...
  • Silk accessories: Ties, scarves...
  • Sundry: Mugs, containers, picture frames...
  • Heavy cloth: Towels, cloths, bathrobes...
  • Sports equipment: Headgear, skis, sleds...
  • Sports Underwear: Shorts, socks....
  • Posters and Calendars

The major categories Italy is offering via its physical stores (there are several in each province), in alphabetical order:

* Athens 2004 Italian Athletes products (the VANOC equivalent would be Beijing
    and, possibly, Torino products)
  • Children's clothing
  • Chocolate
  • Ear warmers
  • Glasses
  • Leather accessories
  • Medals
  • Mountain and trekking accessories
  • Norwegian sweaters
  • Objects
  • Outdoor Sports - Casual Clothing
  • Pins/Key chains
  • Posters, Calendars, and postcards
  • Puzzle
  • Slippers, house and swimming pool items
  • Stationery (excluding writing tools)
  • Stuffed toys
  • Toys & Games
  • Umbrellas
  • Watches
  • Wine
  • Writing instruments


RESOURCES

Torino's web store (English version) offers ways to check the way the store works, and includes pricing, credit and shipping policies:


An overview of the Torino Olympic product licensing concepts;
http://www.torino2006.org/comitato/content.php?idm=100104&idc=0&idt=0&idr=&ida=&idcom=&lang=en&keysec=&archivio=&c=&COD_JOB_DESCR=&comune=

Official Torino licensees:
http://www.torino2006.org/comitato/content.php?idm=100365


Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on November 17, 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 |VANOC| #676
VAGUE ANSWERS TO INNOCUOUS QUESTIONS ABOUT A CONTRACT AND A MARKETING OFFICE PIQUE CURIOSITY


The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee has been unusually vague over the last few days about the answers for two seemingly uncontroversial topics, despite being pressed. Neither story seems worthwhile - yet - to bother senior VANOC management about, but it may come to that.

One topic is the value of a contract recently awarded for supplying office paper by VANOC to Dye & Durham, a company based in the Vancouver suburb of New Westminster. It's a respectable firm which has a number of unrelated businesses, but is better known within the legal industry for its support services than as a paper-supplies broker, but it does offer that service.

The contract was awarded through a public "Invitation to Quote" process via the provincial government's BC Bid system for VANOC's bulk-paper supplies over the next year. It was VANOC's first ITQ request, although it had done a number of Requests for Proposals via that method in the months previous.

The second topic that produces blank stares is whether the International Olympic Committee is, in fact, setting up an office in Vancouver sometime in the next few months to help VANOC with its marketing.

In the paper matter, VANOC had requested in the ITQ that cash rebates, based on benchmarks for certain volumes of paper being surpassed, be included in the proposals. The underlying concept was to have various prices for the paper adjusted if VANOC bought more than certain volumes during the course of the contract. The process appeared to imply that if VANOC passed those benchmarks, the cash rebates would be provided by the supplier to reduce the overall cost.

When VANOC awarded the contract, it publicly pegged the value of the deal at one Canadian dollar. That, to us, sounded like it was either good story about corporate support of the Games or possibly something was a little loonie. But we confirmed with D&D's British Columbia Sales Supervisor, Cynthia Nerland, that the company had, in fact, contracted to provide the supplies at a proper corporate value that was considerably more than C$1, but politely declined for competitive reasons, to disclose it to us.

When VANOC was asked about the discrepancy and for the actual value, spokesman Sam Corea said, "Six companies submitted quotations in response to this ITQ. The BC Bid system requires that in order to post the results of an RFP [sic] on BC Bid, a dollar figure must be provided. That's why you see the generic figure of $1.00. The actual dollar amount of the contract is held confidential between VANOC and the supplier. In this case, it does depend on the volume of paper consumed. And the names of the proponents that bid is also a matter that is between VANOC and those companies. In a competitive situation, unless we had prior agreement from all proponents that submitted unsuccessful bids permitting VANOC to publicize their names, we are unable to disclose their names."

Contract values and bidders are disclosed daily in the BC Bid system, which handles roughly a hundred or more such arrangements per month -- in fact the provincial government encourages disclosure in its policies to ensure everything is above-board. The B.C. Purchasing Commission's publication, "Proponent's Guide", says, for instance, "Information that can be released includes the name of the winner, the contract amount, the names of all proponents...". And, by definition, the system involves competitive situations for each tender. When cash rebates, for whatever reason, are offered as part of a commercial arrangement, it's especially worthwhile for the recipient to be quite clear what's going on.

We asked again two days ago for such details from VANOC, quoting the BC Bid policies, but have not yet received an answer from staff.

On the marketing-office situation, VANOC volunteered the information earlier this month that the International Olympic Committee was assigning the person who advised the Athens Olympic Organizing Committee on marketing matters to Vancouver, and that an office for the person would be established, probably in January. We were interested in knowing who that was, the size of the office and what they would be doing, particularly in light of Athens's marketing and reputation-management woes.

We've now learned the IOC isn't setting up such an office, per se, but that its wholly owned marketing-consultant subsidiary, Meridian Management SA, of Lausanne, Switzerland and Atlanta, Georgia, "always provided on-the-ground support and marketing advice to Organizing Committees and TOP Sponsors in order to ensure consistency across Games. The IOC is looking to provide similar support to VANOC," according to IOC spokesman Robert Roxburgh.

That's known in the news business as a "non-responsive response," and it always piques our curiosity when one is given, even on apparently straightforward questions and we continue to press for additional information, both from the IOC and from Meridian.

BACKGROUND

The portion of VANOC's ITQ that discusses rebates:

"...The quantities indicated above are the estimated annual order volume over the next twelve months. Actual requirements will vary. VANOC plans to place periodic orders on an as-required basis at pre-agreed prices under a Standing Offer Agreement with one Vendor. Because paper consumption is expected to increase significantly from now through 2010, Vendors shall propose to VANOC “Earned Volume Rebates” whereby Vendor will retroactively on a semi-annual basis (i.e. every six months) remit to VANOC cash rebates if certain cumulative target order quantities or purchase dollar value have been achieved by VANOC."

--

Meridian Management has two major components. Merdian Signy, headquartered with the IOC in Lausanne, Switzerland, and Meridian Atlanta, in the United States. Meridian Signy co-ordinates the Olympic marketing programs of the 199 Olympic Committees in each country, including that of the Canadian Olympic Committee, as well as those of the IOC and the various Olympic Organizing Committees, such as VANOC. Meridian Signy also negotiates and manages the international sponsorship and licensing programs on behalf of the IOC and the organizing committees. It also manages all the financial aspects of the TOP Program -- the program that deals with the IOC's international sponsors -- and other Olympic licensing and sponsorship programs, including the collection and disbursement of moneys from sponsorships. Meridian Atlanta manages the Olympic image, but it also constructs and TOP sponsorship arrangements, since many of the International sponsors are American-based firms. The Meridian Atlanta office also develops and maintains the marketing communications networks for the IOC. Meridian also has offices in Athens, Torino and Beijing, so it's expected to set one up in Vancouver as well.


RESOURCES

Dye & Durham:
http://www.dyedurhambc.com/

A brief overview of the IOC's marketing structure:
http://www.olympic.org/uk/organisation/facts/structure/index_uk.asp

A portal page for B.C. Government's procurement policies, some of which affect its BC Bid section:
http://www.pc.gov.bc.ca/

The B.C. Purchasing Commission's current "Proponent's Guide" (A summary table that discusses what can, and can't be disclosed is on page 26)
http://www.pc.gov.bc.ca/data/docs/Proponents_Guide_April2001.doc

Meridian Management, SA:
http://www.meridianmgt.com/

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



Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #675
RICHMOND LOOKS FOR PUBLIC ADVISERS TO OVAL; VANOC SEEKS CAD TECHNOLOGIST AND ADMIN ASSISTANT; RICHARDS POPS A CORK


Three moguls we bumped into today...

  • The City of Richmond has begun looking for members of the public to advise it during development of the Richmond Oval, home of the long track speed skating competition for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. The Council has set up several advisory committees to help it determine the general direction, design and construction and post-Games operation and use of the Oval. The City has begun looking for applications for volunteers. Deadline for applications is 5 p.m. on December 1.

  • The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee's Venues department is looking for a computer-aided designer technologist with at least three years experience to do production support for the Venue Development team as it works on its planning and delivery of the Games Overlay. It will be emphasizing the temporary fit-out and operational design requirements. It's also looking for an administrative assistant to the director of VANOC's Whistler office. The postings for both jobs closes November 26.

  • From the "Every Little Bit Helps" department: Some of the proceeds from Sumac Ridge Estate Winery, based in Summerland, in B.C.'s Okanagan, will help popular local high-performance skier Kristi Richards train to compete in the 2006 and 2010 Winter Olympics. She's currently training in Colorado, and will begin World Cup work-ups in December. Cellar Select Merlot and Cellar Select Sauvignon Blanc will both carry the Olympic Dream label and features a picture of Richards. The company says both wines have won gold medals in recent competitions. Sumac Ridge joins Summerland's Beanery Coffee Co, which is packaging an Olympic Dream coffee blend so that proceeds from the sale of the coffee will help Richards. Cheques C$1,139 from the sale of the coffee so far have been turned over to Richards. Last year, Willowbrook Lane of Summerland began producing a specially packaged fudge to raise money for Richards.


Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on November 16, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #674
RICHMOND PICKS CANNON JOHNSTON TO DESIGN OLYMPIC SPEED-SKATING OVAL


Richmond City Council has selected MHPM Project Managers Inc., a national Canadian firm with a Vancouver office, to provide project management services for the design and construction of the C$124-million Richmond Olympic Oval and City Centre Waterfront Park.

Cannon Johnston will lead a team of architects and engineering designers for the Richmond Olympic Oval. The project includes design of a multi-purpose sports, recreation and community facility that is expected to be a landmark on Richmond's waterfront. The work will include a new City Centre Waterfront Park and a public plaza surrounding the building.

"The Cannon Johnston team has shown that they share our City's vision for the Richmond Olympic Oval," Mayor Malcolm Brodie says. "It will help us transform our waterfront and City Centre with a legacy facility and park that will dramatically transform our City. The Oval will meet a number of critical community needs, provide a significant sports legacy and be an outstanding venue for the 2010 Winter Games."

Cannon Johnston was involved in the preliminary conceptual design on the Richmond Olympic Oval, completed in response to VANOC's request for proposals on the speed skating facility. Cannon Johnston specializes in Olympic and other multi-sport games venues and in community sport and recreation facilities.

Vancouver's Bob Johnston, a Cannon Johnston principal and the lead project architect, is considered Canada's Olympic Oval expert. His experience includes work on the long-track speed-skating venues for both the Calgary 1988 and Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Games.

"This is outstanding opportunity to create one of the premiere venues for the 2010 Games and showcase Canada's design ability." says Johnston. "The Richmond Olympic Oval will combine dramatic design with functionality and provide a lasting legacy for the entire community."

The decision was the second blow this year for Vancouver's Bing Thom Architects, the firm that was proposed to design the oval when it was to be hosted by Simon Fraser University. Besides Cannon, it was among the five firms that made Richmond's shortlist for consideration, including the IBI Group, working with Canadian International Timberwork Design Group, Hughes Condon Marler Architects and Italy's Studio Zoppini Associati.

RESOURCES

Cannon Johnston
Principal: Robert Johnston, MRAIC, AIA
1500 West Georgia Street Suite 710
Vancouver, BC Canada V6G 2Z6
T: 604-688-5710
F: 604-688-5702
http://www.cannondesign.com


Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on November 16, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |Business| #673
BELLINGHAM WORRIED ABOUT CONTROLLING EXPECTATIONS FOR 2010 VISITORS


2010NewsWatch

The president of the Bellingham and Whatcom County Convention & Visitors Bureau, John Cooper, has reportedly said the biggest challenge its 2010 Committee has is managing community expectations, adding that Bellingham residents should not expect a huge tourism boom during the games.

His comments were reported in The Western Front, Bellingham newspaper. Bellingham is a city in Washington State, about 80 kilometres south of Vancouver, about halfway to Seattle. The committee was also told the Trade Development Alliance of Greater Seattle has arranged a 2010 Olympic Winter Games Business Conference for Dec. 9 in the city to aid businesses in building corporate alliances, and that committee board members should attend.

"The Olympics will bring what the (Utah committee for the 2002 Winter Olympics) called the afterglow effect," he told a luncheon of the business people in the committee. "It will bring visitors to the destination after the Games are over. The media is what will bring people to the area. The exposure this region will get will pay off years after the Games."

The newspaper's reporter, Kara Johnson, quotes Cooper as saying the committee "is focused on informing local businesses about preparations they can make now, so that they are not overwhelmed with work later."

The newspaper noted that Washington State's government has formed the Governor's 2010 Olympics Task Force to work on projected tourism, transportation, and goods and services opportunities in the area.

As well, members of the Bellingham task force, Johnson reported, had traveled to the 2002 Olympic Games' host, Salt Lake City, in March to discuss transportation issues with city officials.

The paper reports the committee projects traffic on Interstate 5 through Whatcom County to be between 80,000 to 140,000 people. And it says Task force co-chairman Sid Morrison says the committee projects an increase in the Peace Arch border-crossing traffic, and the crossing would run between 105% and 140% of a peak summer-travel day.

The international border is a factor that makes these games unpredictable for surrounding cities, Cooper said. During the Utah Games, cities within a 100-mile radius of Salt Lake City felt an impact, and though Bellingham lies 60 miles from Vancouver, the border may deter people from visiting the state, he reportedly said.

Hotels in the area are preparing for a rise in demand. The newspaper says that Sandy Jilton, director of sales for the Best Western Heritage Inn in Bellingham, told it that the hotel has sufficient space to accommodate people traveling to the Games. She was quoted as saying, "We run at half of our summertime capacity during the winter months. But the value of the Canadian dollar versus the American dollar will probably be a factor in where people choose to stay."

Cooper reportedly felt that state suppliers would have an opportunity to build and supply facility construction for the 2010 Games, but that the county will not see the benefits immediately.

The paper quotes Christine Jenkins, the marketing and public relations manager for the committee, as saying, "I am excited for the games. It is a neat way to showcase our region."

RESOURCES

Registration page regarding on the December 2010 conference:
http://www.cityofseattle.net/tda/evolympics2010.htm


Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on November 16, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #672
RESTAURATEUR WON'T CONCEDE TO VANOC; DELTA 2010 TO HOLD SPORTS AWARDS BANQUET; OLYMPICS ON ISLAND AGENDA


Three more moguls we bumped into today...

  • The story of the public relations problem for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee over enforcement of Olympic trademarks continues to have legs in Vancouver and Sqamish. Mosi Alvand, a co-owner of the Olympia Restaurant in Vancouver's crowded West End has written an open letter to news media objecting to the idea of removing a torch and the five Olympic rings marks from his signage outside and inside the pizza and souvlaki restaurant. The letter says, in part, "They want me to take down signs I have had on my restaurant for the last 15 years. I say no. Everyone is supporting me, except the Olympic people. John Furlong, CEO of VANOC, came to my restaurant to talk with me, but we cannot agree. I have more than a thousand signatures on a petition already. Seven hundred signed in person at my restaurant last week and more than 300 through my new Web site in less than two days. People sign every day. They tell me not to give up. My restaurant is small, seats 50, so I cannot afford a lawyer. So I will go to court and talk to the judge myself if I have to, and take my petition. People said they will come with me to court, too. I think if more people everywhere knew about it, they would visit my Web site and give me their support, so I am writing to you. I love the Olympics, but they are not being fair." VANOC is not too popular in Squamish at the moment, either, for leaning on a vocal local construction contractor and a committee that was planning on celebrating the Olympics with some banners. Squamish is a large town about halfway between VANOC's venues in Vancouver and Whistler.

  • The Spirit of B.C. Community Committee in the Vancouver suburb of Delta will be involved with other like-minded groups in hosting and promoting a sports-award banquet on June 18 to help raise funds for, among other things, a local sports hall of fame. The idea arose after discussion about what happened to local sports celebrities after they did whatever made them famous. Committee chair Stephen Fera is thinking that they could do something similar to a hall of fame that's been around for some years now in another Vancouver suburb, Burnaby.

  • The members of the provincial legislature that represent Vancouver Island organized an economic development conference, which about 300 business people attended, in Nanaimo, and, it turns out that part of the agenda, designed to promote the area for business, included the 2010 Olympics. Alberni-Qualicum MLA Gillian Trumper, one of the organizers, says, "The Olympics was part of it. By working together as a unit, we can make the most of getting the Olympics and getting some of the benefits, and go forward in the next few years in prosperity on the Island." "Trumper says she and others were pumped by the optimism at the meeting.


RESOURCES
Olympia Restaurant's website (with pictures of Alvan and his signage)
http://www.998denman.com

Mosi Alvan's e-mail: Mosi@998Denman.com


Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on November 16, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #671
IPC TO CO-MARKET WITH RIGHT TO PLAY; AUSTRIA JOINS LIST AS 2014 WINTER GAMES POSSIBLES; ARMSTRONG CONSIDERS 2010 COMMITTEE


Three moguls we bumped into today...

  • The International Paralympic Committee of Bonn, Germany, and the Right To Play organization, based in Toronto, have signed a co-marketing deal that will see Paralympic athletes making appearances at Right to Play events, among other things. Right To Play is an international humanitarian organization that uses sporting and playing programs to encourage physical, social and emotional development of disadvantaged children. Right To Play also uses sport values to promote, as it puts it, "development, health and peace." IPC president Phil Craven and RTP CEO Johann Koss completed the deal this morning. Among other things, Paralympic athletes take part in Right To Play's internet communications, do speaking engagements and other Right To Play events, and contribute to RTP's "Red Ball Report" newsletter. They'll promote the Paralympic Games while they're at it.

  • The Associated Press reports that Salzburg and Innsbruck will make a joint Austrian bid to host the 2014 Winter Olympic Games at a presentation to the Austrian Olympic Committee in Vienna December 15. They were runners-up in the bid to host the 2010 Winter Games. These are the winter Games that will directly follow Vancouver's, and executives of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee will eventually begin briefing them on what to do and what to avoid, just as Italy's Torino is doing for VANOC. When the 2010 closing ceremonies are held, the city hosting the 2014 Games, which will be chosen in 2007, is expected to take part in the hand-off portion of Vancouver's ceremonies. Other cities interested in bidding for the 2014 Games include Tromsoe in Norway, Sofia in Bulgaria, plus Muju and Pyeongchang, from South Korea. another joint effort. Pyeongchang, you'll recall, beat Vancouver in the first round of voting for the 2010 Games, but lost in the second and final round.

  • Armstrong, a town in British Columbia's south-central Okanagan area about 300 kilometres northeast of Vancouver, is thinking about joining up with two other nearby communities, Enderby and Spallumcheen, to form a Spirit of 2010 committee, with the idea of attracting tourism to the area during the Games.



RESOURCES

Right to Play overview:
http://www.righttoplay.com/overview.asp

A 30-second video clip featuring Canadian ski Olympian Steve Podborski, who helped with Telus's telecommunications proposal for the 2010 Games, talking about Right to Play:
http://www.righttoplay.com/media/video_media_nov_2004/Steve_Small.mov


Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on November 16, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #670
CHAN'S CHALLENGES - ANY VOLUNTEERS? - PART 4 OF 4


[Editor's note: This is the last of a four-part Morgan:News:2010 feature; it's an in-depth look at the human resources function of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee, a role that includes dealing with both staff and volunteers. These reports are based on a wide-ranging tour of the role by Jeff Chan, the man VANOC CEO John Furlong put in charge of it. In this part, Chan discusses the roles volunteers will play and how, in general, they'll be organized.]

==

VANOC has estimated in a number of places that it expects to need between 35,000 and 40,000 volunteers for the 2010 Winter Games. That's a large number compared with other Olympics. For instance, 45,000 were used by the Athens Summer Games, which is roughly three times the size as a Winter Olympics, and Torino expects to use about 20,000 volunteers. "Every one has a different mix of employees and volunteers," says VANOC's senior vice-president of Human Resources, Jeff Chan. "In Athens, 50,000 volunteers, I heard, was the objective, 30,000 were recruited and it had to hire 20,000 additional employees. Yes, there's an 'ouch' component to that. Our number of volunteers were estimated during the bid. That may overstate the numbers slightly."

Chan points out that one of VANOC's goals, besides avoiding having to hire thousands of people for pay essentially at the last minute to fill gaps in volunteer roles, is to ensure it gets the number of volunteers right, since there's a per-volunteer cost to VANOC. They receive training and uniforms, and there are recruitment costs along with the overhead involved in managing a number that's too large or too small, as well.

"We're going to be pretty careful about how many we recruit. On the other hand, for every, say, hundred volunteers that you have a legitimate role for, we're probably going to need some other number in excess of that to ensure that, as people are called away or are unable to attend or fall away, there will be others who will be able to answer the call. We'll [need to] have a pool of people ready to step into the breech and take over those roles. On our staff side, we have to ensure we have people who have a lot of experience in working through the preparation and organization time, and who really understand what has to happen across every one of our venues, and all of our functions. When we bring in volunteers who have had only a short period of training, and who are coming from other parts of Canada and the world, we have to ensure that we have them paired up with people who have a much better grounding."

Chan confirms that Canadians will have to compete with those from the rest of the world for volunteer jobs. "We'll look internationally. We'll find a lot of Canadians from outside Canada who want to come back. I kept on running across Canadians in Athens who had nothing to do with our Committee, but were just there volunteering. We'll also be looking for people who are just interested; the same kind of people like the Canadians in Athens, who really enjoy the experience of volunteering for the Olympic Games. It adds to the international flavour of the Games when we're able to attract volunteers from around the world."

One of the experiences for volunteers from outside the Greater Vancouver area will be finding room and board. VANOC will not be paying for accommodation or transportation for volunteers. "It's their responsibility to actually get here. Once they're on site, we'll provide the tools they need, and the uniforms and so on, that identify them as official Olympic volunteer workers."

But Chan says VANOC will provide something else for volunteers: recognition in various forms. "We want to be able to say 'Thank you!' to the people. It's not like you're going out for an evening and putting in your three hours. These will be people who will be putting in hundreds of hours." Chan says that when it comes time to recruit volunteers, they'll be asked to make commitments for either the 17 days of the Olympics or the 10 days of the Paralympics, and, preferably, both. "For working people or students, that's a big sacrifice we'll ask them to make, and we'll make sure they get the right type of recognition. We've got various colleges and universities talking about adjusting their schedules to make it easy for students, faculty or staff, to volunteer for us. We're hoping that a lot of other employers will do the same thing."

RESOURCES

The Torino Winter Games has contracted out its handling of the volunteer component of the 2006 Winter Games to Adecco, a corporate sponsor. Here's a small PDF file, in English, summarizing how it works.
http://www.adecco.nl/persberichten/Turin2006.pdf

A list of 18 stories by Morgan:News:2010 during the past year on human resources and labour issues at the 2010 Winter Games:
http://www.google.com/search?num=20&hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&newwindow=1&q=human+resources+site%3Amorgan-news.com


Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on November 15, 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 |VANOC| #669
CHAN'S CHALLENGES - THE HUMAN RESOURCES DEPARTMENT CONSIDERS ITS LABOUR ISSUES - PART 3 OF 4


[Editor's note: This is the third of a four-part Morgan:News:2010 feature; it's an in-depth look at the human resources function of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee, a role that includes dealing with both staff and volunteers. These reports are based on a wide-ranging tour of the role by Jeff Chan, the man VANOC CEO John Furlong put in charge of it. In this part, Chan considers the possibility of unionization within VANOC, and the impact VANOC might have on large labour issues.]

==

Senior vice-president of Human Resources, Jeff Chan, says that he's not philosophically opposed to, nor in favour of, unionized work forces, but he doesn't think unionization is in the cards for VANOC. "Generally, there are times when having a unionized workforce might be appropriate. Historically, that's been the case when some companies have taken advantage of their employees and forced either unfair working conditions when they had no alternative but to work under those conditions or starve. I'm not sure that's the case very often any more. Certainly with VANOC, we're looking for people who are joining us, not for a job, but because it's a calling, and they're coming here on a mission to help organize these Games." He acknowledges he expects candidates for jobs will ensure they have a competitive salary and benefits, "but really what they're most interested in is the opportunity to work on the Olympics, and I'm not sure how a third-party intervention is going to help them gain more of that opportunity."

Chan says no unions have yet approached VANOC to discuss the possibility of it being unionized, but he notes that he, VANOC's senior vice-president of Venues, Steve Matheson, and CEO John Furlong have had three meetings so far with Jim Sinclair, head of the BC Federation of Labour, and Wayne Peppard, head of the British Columbia and Yukon Territory Building and Construction Trades Council. The BC Fed represents much, but not all, of organized labour throughout the province. The Council represents construction unions in the areas where VANOC will be building venues.

He says those meetings have involved "a whole host of different issues, and we think we can actually address some of them. For instance, there's a big concern about the amount of training construction workers, or other workers in general, get, and that clearly also relates to the issues of skills shortages across North America that haven't adequately been addressed through overall training programs, training strategies, or skills-development plans that have been developed by employers. To the extent that we can have some influence on companies that are in a position to provide more training, that's something we'd want to get involved in. And it will help us."

Chan says another issues of interest to labour is purchasing, particularly of souvenirs. "We have no interest in purchasing supplies or goods -- and I guess it's most typically something like clothing -- that are being manufactured in plants that, for instance, employ child labour. Nor do unions."

Safety on VANOC's job sites is another issue where VANOC and labour see eye to eye. "Construction is not something we're going to control a lot of, as [venues] will all be done by construction firms, and it will be their employees, and most of those sites won't even be controlled by us. The actual owner will be somebody like the City of Richmond [for the speed-skating oval] or UBC [for hockey rinks]. And the total amount of construction dollars that're Olympic related is really just a drop in the bucket compared to the mega-projects that are going on or planned in the province. We don't have all that much sway in this area, but to the extent we can encourage safer working conditions on our job sites, that's a no-brainer. There are those sorts of issues that, I'm sure, we can come to agreement on."

Chan concedes, however, that there are issues in which organized labour is interested that don't have much resonance at VANOC, or the provincial government, for that matter. An example is the so-called Sydney Accord that was reached with organized labour for the 2000 Summer Games, and which B.C. labour leaders feel ought to happen here. "It's a big stretch to believe that the environment in Sydney, Australia, is the same as it is in British Columbia, just in terms of the percentage of the work force that's actually unionized, so I'm not sure it makes a lot of logical sense to automatically say that it worked in Sydney and so it should work here. It's something to look at, and we're going to stay positive about it, but it's not a slam dunk the way that safety and training are."

The HR senior vice-president also says that security will be a big concern before and during the Games. There will be, Chan says, a broad, thorough screen of the sites for security purposes in a time before the Games, followed by a lock-down where strict go no-go locations and employee screening will be in place. "During construction, security concerns [from VANOC's point of view] will be far less significant," since that will be provided primarily by the construction firms. And he also says that VANOC will ensure that employee data security will be kept under the protection of the B.C. privacy legislation, and that's had a number of usual -- and not so usual -- ramifications. For instance, says Chan, a VANOC employee recently wanted to celebrate another employee's birthday, but human-resources staff couldn't confirm the date because of privacy legislation concerns. In another instance, VANOC wanted to take a photo at its information centre of employees and post it on its website, but privacy legislation required that signatures of all employees in the picture had to be acquired agreeing to the idea.

==

RESOURCES

The British Columbia Government's role in and reports involving labour training and the 2010 Games:
http://www.labour.gov.bc.ca/skills/olympicshr.htm

Putting the B.C. human resources and labour force in perspective:
http://www.labour.gov.bc.ca/skills/welcome.htm

Roslyn Kunin & Associates's look at the labour supply gap environment of the 2010 Winter Games:
http://www.labour.gov.bc.ca/skills/2010_labour_supply.pdf

[Editor's note: Next in our series, Chan talks about his other major role at VANOC - looking after its volunteer force.]


Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on November 15, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #668
CHAN'S CHALLENGES - THE INITIAL WORK UNDERWAY IN THE HUMAN RESOURCES SECTION - PART 2 OF 4


[Editor's note: This is the second of a four-part Morgan:News:2010 feature; it's an in-depth look at the human resources function of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee, a role that includes dealing with both staff and volunteers. These reports are based on a wide-ranging tour of the role by Jeff Chan, the man VANOC CEO John Furlong put in charge of it. In this second part, Chan talks how he's begun working on his task.]

==

VANOC senior vice-president Jeff Chan sees his role, on the internal staff side, as having the right people in the right jobs at the right times. He's looking for a specific kind of employee -- and, eventually, volunteer -- that will have some specific underlying social skills that will allow him to build what he calls "a collaborative and co-operative culture" inside VANOC.

That culture, he defines, is "where people have not only got their own goals accomplished, but they're looking across the organization to determine where else they can help, who could use their assistance." Chan wants them to be asking themselves, "'Where else can I help. Who could use my assistance, because if I help that person, I'm helping all of us to get across the goal line. It's not going to be about 'Can I get across the goal line first, compared to all the other people in the organization.' It only works when we all get across the goal line together. A big piece of my role is to ensure we've got the things in place to encourage that kind of culture."

Chan says a major component of his approach is to set up a structure where people don't become involved in turf wars. "What we're trying to do is ensure that people we bring into the organization share certain values, and the key value that we've been looking at, in three broad buckets, has to do with teamwork, performance orientation and a really strong passion for what we're doing, for the Games. We're looking for people who really do believe it's all about how the whole group, the total organization, performs, that it's not about how individuals perform. We'll be looking for people who are going to be watching out for each other, who want to help other people accomplish their goals in addition to accomplishing their own. It's a cliche, but it's all for one and one for all. If we do a good job of screening for those kinds of attributes in people coming into the organization, then we will not have the kind of people who would tend to create their own silos and protect their own turf. We'll be looking for people who welcome help from other people in their own areas and would not be concerned [about it]."

Chan also says a major challenge of his job goes beyond the assembly of the people; it's taking the organization apart at the end. "It's going to be from the highs of what's going on in those few weeks in February and March [2010] to, I'm sure, a huge let-down for everyone involved. Especially the ones who have been involved right from the early days. It will have been a significant piece of everyone's lives up to that time. There's also going to be a significant difficulty -- that we're going to deal with -- for anybody involved, whether it's just a year, or two years, or five or six years, of suddenly being out of work."

Chan points out that there will be a short wind-down period after the Games. "Whenever that date is, the job is going to come to a finite end. It's an end that's unlike corporate ends, which occur because something bad happens, when you've gone bankrupt or taken over. In this case, it's on the heels of a great success, but it's still an end. People will be feeling adrift if we don't do things right. That's why a big piece of my work, in the last couple of years, is looking at helping people transition post-2010 to something that will hopefully be bigger and better than where they've come from. We'll put in place some assistance programs, [do] a lot of counselling with people, and we'll use a lot of networking to try and create opportunities for people to move onto something better."

Chan says the Olympics, as an organization, is deeply involved in networking as a matter of course. "We're talking to people all the time, whether they are customers or suppliers, people in government, people who are just interested in the Olympics. They end up being a potential source of employment for our people later on, or a referral to another referral. It's the six-degrees-of-separation concept," that, he says, will help place those working at the Games.

"Right now, we have 54 people, 45 of which are employees. That won't change drastically until after Torino [in early 2006]." Chan says the buildup will continue through to next June or July, when VANOC will begin recruiting for some of the major function managers so they can be in place by next October or November, so they have several months of work under their belt before VANOC sends many of them, as a major contingent, to the Torino Games in Italy. "At that point, we'll have around 100 employees."

VANOC will also have, says Chan, a lot of our key players spending quite a bit of time in Torino learning from how those Games work. "That's the point where we've got only four years to go, and it will be the last relevant Olympics before our Games, and a last chance to take in all that learning - and a chance to adjust what we're doing on the basis of that learning. By the time Beijing comes around [in 2008] it will be only two years to go for us, plus it's a Summer Games, and so our ability to learn and adjust then is limited."

By late 2009, Chan estimates VANOC will "have on the order of 1,200 or 1,300 full time, in addition to 3,000 to 4,000 employees who will be operating just during the Games, and a little bit before and after, and the additional, say, 35,000 volunteers."

But all of that employee growth began formally six weeks ago. Under Chan's supervision, VANOC made its first formal employment offers effective October 1 to 41 of the people who had been working on month-to-month agreements since they were inherited from the legal auspices of the 2010 Bid Corporation just over a year ago. It was Chan's first major project. All of those offers were accepted, says Chan. "People are now in place with, sometimes the same, sometimes new, job titles, with salaries, as opposed to a contracted rate of pay, with a benefits program, and we're moving on now to working with their managers to set their individual goals, and really develop the priorities and plans for the individual departments that they're in. I'm sure all of the staff were pretty antsy about their situation since VANOC first hired the bulk of its executive team [in June]."

It wasn't just a normalization of roles; it was a breath of fresh air for morale at VANOC when it took place. "When you're on a short-term contract like that, you don't know when your next dollar is coming in, you're worried about your own pipeline." Chan says that once they accepted the employment offers, staff stopped worrying about whether they were going to be a part of the organization, and started "getting on with the job, they can turn their attention to the future."

To get there, VANOC did some ad-hoc market surveys to determine preliminary starting salaries for various roles, and that meant, in many cases, elevating pay rates and adding employee benefits, which most contractors had purchased privately at much higher prices or done without.

Meanwhile, consultants, hired on a request-for-proposal basis, evaluated benefit carriers and VANOC is about to make its final selection, to take effect December 1. The employment offers involved an interim benefits scheme with Pacific Blue Cross effective October 15, with some elements covered by its subsidiary, BC Life, and that coverage was close to what Chan expects will be standard for the organization.

"We still have to develop [over the next year] formal compensation structures and whatever incentive programs we want to put in place, and the method by which salaries would increase over time. The performance-management system gets tied to that, so that we have a whole system that starts with goals being set, evaluation of progress against those goals through the year and evaluation of overall performance, and the consequences -- salary increases, promotions, or maybe, demotions, incentive pay, whatever. We have to ensure everything ties together properly, and we make the right decisions based on facts -- which will be their real performance."

VANOC's payroll budget for its first full fiscal year, which began August 1, was only forecasted through to the end of December, and done so before a lot of what VANOC has become was was in place. "We're in the throes now of developing much more detailed business plans for every function, along with the budgets that go with that. What we need now is more fact-based budgeting."

Also, now that Chan is in place and the existing staffing is sorted out, systems are being set up to begin hiring people in a systematic way, including such basics as advertising positions. It recently began posting jobs on VANOC's website, but got little response, simply because people weren't monitoring it. That, in turn, meant more traditional job-posting ads had to be created and done.

[Editor's note: In part three, Chan next looks at why unions likely won't have much of a foothold at VANOC, but labour issues on a broad front will be a part of VANOC's impact.]


Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on November 15, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #667
CHAN'S CHALLENGES - A FIRST LOOK AT THE STRUCTURE OF VANOC'S HUMAN RESOURCES - PART 1 OF 4


[Editor's note: This is the first of a four-part Morgan:News:2010 feature; it's an in-depth look at the human resources function of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee, a role that includes dealing with both staff and volunteers. These reports are based on a wide-ranging tour of the role by Jeff Chan, the man VANOC CEO John Furlong put in charge of it. In this first part, Chan talks about his own preparation for the role and the common thread he'll be looking for as he begins to hire VANOC staff.]


==

The senior vice-president of Human Resources for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee, Jeff Chan, says one of his most valuable learning experiences for the Games since taking on the role last June was his trip to the Athens Summer Olympics in August.

"It really brought into perspective the size of the challenge that we have," says Chan, "and also the size of the prize as well, in terms of the kind of impact the Games can have on the country and more local environments when done well."

Chan's role is essentially two-fold: supervise the hiring of what will ultimately be more than a thousand people between now and 2010, and supervise the entire co-ordination of rounding up, training and assigning an estimated 35,000 to 40,000 volunteers for the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Chan's exposure to Olympic Games until Athens was, like that of most people, watching and hearing about them in the media over the years. But he notes that most of the people he's working with at VANOC have managed several Olympic Games and other large sports events, and so he's never had the sense of surprise at the impact. What he took away from the Athens Games, he says, "is what can actually be accomplished by a group of people who are working together well... For me it was getting myself oriented to what the scale was."

Chan is veteran in both HR and dealing with large sporting events and organizations. For the past 10 years, he has been working with the management consulting firm of McKinsey & Company in Toronto, assigned to advise a wide range of issues involving Fortune-200-size companies at various places in the world, and moved to Vancouver for this project. His earlier experience was with American Express, Honeywell (when it was called Allied Signal) and Imperial Oil.

The Winter Olympics is not the only large sports-oriented project in which Chan is involved. He is a trustee of Queen’s University in Toronto, Ontario, and a member of the executive committee of the C$200-million Queen’s Physical Education and Student Life Centre being planned now. He has been a governor of Toronto’s Variety Village, president of the Toronto Jaycees and a director of: the Toronto Board of Trade; the Canadian College Bowl; and the Queen’s University Alumni Association. He has been a volunteer with the Special Olympics (which is not related to the IOC), the Canadian Games for the Disabled (which is not related to the Paralympics, per se) and the Queen’s University athletics program. He also chaired the Vanier Cup – Canada’s university football championship - in 1998 and 1999.

"I think everything I've done has prepared me for this. Not so much in terms of organizing a world-scale Olympics, but in terms of working and leading in an organization of this size. It's probably one of the smaller organizations I've been a part of... For me it's the ideal situation to bring that kind of experience into what is essentially a start-up company. Except that we're not concerned about whether we're going to be around six months from now, or whether we're going to run out of our initial funding and go belly up. We know exactly where we're going to be on the evening of February 12, 2010. [Our concern] is about executing, and knowing all the things we need to do to get to that date, and do it well."

Chan says VANOC's plan is not to be on budget: "It's to do better than that, to leave a greater legacy [for sport]. I've helped a lot of companies create internal start-up companies, which to me, is probably the biggest driver of corporate growth, and that's exactly what I'm here to help VANOC do: to build an organization and get it to the point, that we've identified, in 2010."

Chan was not part of the small group of VANOC representatives that went to the Athens debriefing in Beijing earlier this month, but he is wistful he didn't join senior vice-president of Revenue, Dave Cobb, CEO John Furlong and senior vice-president of Planning Terry Wright. "Based on the reports that Dave, John and Terry gave, I kind of wish that I had the opportunity to get there, if only to understand how a totally different culture can approach and manage the challenge of taking on the Olympic Games. I think there would be marked differences between how we're approaching things from, for instance, how the Athens Olympic Organizing Committee and Torino did, and how Beijing will do. Some of that's based on how resources have been allocated from government versus private versus quasi-public sources. There will be lots of things we can't replicate -- wouldn't want to try to replicate -- from any of those organizing committees... The more information you have, the better prepared you are for any eventuality that might occur."

Chan says that VANOC is going through a lot of detailed planning now for how the Vancouver Games will unfold, and he sees the trips VANOC has made to Olympic Games as being extremely helpful in that.

There are a number of pieces to Chan's portfolio, but he says there's one thing that he's fully expecting: lots of those pieces will change several times over between now and 2010. In fact, he says, there are several aspects to working at VANOC that are quite different from most organizations.

"We're trying to retain a lot of flexibility in how things are being put together," he says, "and as different functions get busier, as the challenges become greater, we'll try to put more resources against them. And, other times, some functions will be completed, allowing that person the capacity to take on other roles. An example of that is venue development. There will be a point where a number of the venues will be completed. That then says Steve Matheson [senior vice-president of Venues] will have capacity, which he didn't have as the venues were being built up, to move onto other challenges."

Chan also says it's imperative as well that he ensure the people have what he calls "the right tools to operate at their maximum performance." It means, of course, putting in place a benefits plan "to ensure they're not worried about the safety and security of themselves or their families, and that they're insured against catastrophic circumstances that might occur, to ensuring they've got the right kind of training, to ensuring that they've got the right kinds of financial incentives in place to perform at their utmost, to ensuring that we've got the right kind of teamwork in place where they will share information when necessary and there's no miscommunication going on."

==

[Editor's note: In the next part of this series on Human Resources, Chan talks about how he has already begun to structure VANOC staff.]


Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on November 15, 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 |Moguls| #666
FURLONG'S RETURN TO NANAIMO; TORINO CLOSELY SCRUTINIZED NOW; 2012 GAMES PICK IN FINAL LAP AND BETS ARE ON


Three moguls we bumped into today...

  • The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee's John Furlong was among friends when he spoke to Nanaimo's Board of Trade recently. Furlong, who was well aware that the Vancouver Island city directly across Georgia Strait from Vancouver was among the first B.C. communities to form a 2010 Olympics Committee last year, spent eight years in Nanaimo during the 1980s as director of parks and recreation for the area's regional district. "Nanaimo is within easy reach of Vancouver so you're right in the line of fire for the Games," Furlong said at one point. "You're very close to the ball of energy that the games really are." Furlong, reminding his audience that sports registration by children was up strongly across Canada during and after the Athens Summer Olympics, and added that communities should think about how they can support the Games, such as staging festivals or developing sports programs, as opposed to thinking about what they can get out of it.

  • With only 452 days to go before its opening ceremonies, the Torino Winter Games Organizing Committee is now under intense scrutiny by the International Olympic Committee, even though the dispute over whether the Torino Organizing Committee's CEO was in charge has been resolved with an IOC-sanctioned negotiation over the roles of the new supervisor and the CEO has now been finalized amidst angst over possible funding shortfalls. The supervisor is an IOC member as well as an Italian government minister. In addition, the IOC commission that has supervised the Italian Games from the beginning is due to report to the IOC's executive committee at the end of this month, and to visit Torino itself in December on one of its regular on-site inspections. Sponsorship funding and raising awareness of the Games among the ticket-buying Italian population, as well as the European target markets remains a concern. The first stage of the two-step ticket-purchasing process has only just begun.

  • The process of awarding the 2012 Summer Games is on its final lap. The IOC has received the formal Candidature Files of the five cities bidding to host the Games. Paris, New York, Moscow, London and Madrid all delivered their files before the deadline of midnight Lausanne, Switzerland, time. Each book, similar in structure to Vancouver's Bid Book, totals more than 550 pages, allowing the IOC to evaluate venues, security, transportation, hotels and financing. The IOC Evaluation Commission, chaired by Olympic champion Nawal El Moutawakel, will now analyse the Candidature Files and make site inspections as follows starting with Madrid February 3 and concluding with Moscow March 14. You'll likely hear a lot of hoopla about it when the inspection team arrives in New York on February 21, as NBC, in particular will use the event for marketing purposes. Its parent company, General Electric, purchased the American broadcasting rights to the 2012 Games at the same time as it paid for Vancouver 2010's. The Evaluation Commission will prepare a report that will be published and submitted to IOC members no later than one month before the election of the host city on 6 July 6, when the IOC full session of about 100 members plan to meet in Singapore to make its choice by secret ballot. The betting is on Paris to win. British bookmaker Ladbrokes put Paris as the 1-2 favourite to host its third Olympics (it hosted the Games in 1900 and 1924). London, the 1908 and 1948 host, was at 3-1, Madrid at 4-1, New York at 14-1 and Moscow, the 1980 host, at 33-1.


BACKGROUND

Nanaimo is pronounced "Nah-NIGH-moh". Its derived from a word the area's aboriginals used when the area was explored by the Spanish and British in the 1700s to describe their confederation of tribes, "Sne-ny-mo." meaning the "people of many names."


Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on November 15, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #665
IOC TO HEAR CANADIAN 2010 BROADCASTING PROPOSALS IN EARLY FEB; FASEL TO BRIEF IOC EXECS ON 2010 NOV 26; "CULTURAL OLYMPIAD" RESUMES IN FEBRUARY


Three moguls we bumped into today...

  • Richard Carrion, the head of the International Olympic Committee's Finance section says Canadian broadcasters interested in bidding on the broadcasting and Internet rights of the 2010 Games for the Canadian market will submit their bids February 7 and 8 at the IOC's headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland. And, as he told Canadian Press that after two days of briefings today, "I would be remiss if I didn't say the [dollar] number was very important. We look at other factors but the number is the key factor. In general this has to do with what has gone on in the broadcast market. We see value shifting toward live events. Capital has been flowing toward events where it's necessary to watch it live. You can watch 'Friends' and 'Sex and the City' two days later. A sporting event you want to watch live." Carrion also told reporters that he was well aware of CBC's complaint to the Canadian Competition Bureau about Rogers and Bell Globemedia joining forces to submit a bid. "It caught our attention. Our preference is for the market to take care of itself. Give us the different proposals and let us make our choice." Carrion's proposed meeting with the Bureau has been cancelled. He also says that the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee has apparently been successful in convincing IOC officials to change the method of dividing the value of the funds from the TV rights. Just before the 2010 Games VANOC will get a fixed amount of money instead of the standard 49%. We don't have word yet on the new formula.

  • The International Olympic Committee's executive group will hear a short briefing about the status of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games's preparations late in the afternoon on Thursday, November 26. The Executive Committee briefing will be made by Rene Fasel, who is the head of the IOC's commission overseeing its Vancouver franchise. Fasel is last on the schedule of a three-hour closed-door session which will also hear reports on Athens, the 2006 Winter Games in Torino, Italy and the Beijing Summer Olympics.

  • Start getting used to hearing the phrase "Cultural Olympiad" or "Olympic Arts Festival" in connection with the 2010 Winter Olympics. That's the arts portion of the events during the years leading up to the Games, and it's normally been the province of only the summer Games. Whistler's second "Celebration 2010", expected to be jointly funded this year between 2010 LegaciesNow and Whistler, even though the formula isn't yet finalized, is due to be held in February. It'll be the last that Whistler hosts; the equivalent event in 2006 will be hosted by VANOC. Tip: Neither "Cultural Olympiad" nor "Olympic Arts Festival" are trademarked -- yet -- although "Olympic Arts Festival" does contain the word "Olympic", which is one of those claimed by the Canadian Olympic Committee. The COC at one point a decade ago started to trademark the phrase and a logo to go with it, but withdrew its application.


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



Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #664
(FEATURE) MATHESON'S METHODS: A DETAILED LOOK AT THE STATUS OF THE LEADING VENUES - PART 3 OF 3


Editor's note: This is the final portion of a three-part report on the status, policies and strategies the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee intends to use as it builds its venues for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games between now and 2010. These reports stem from a detailed interview with VANOC's senior vice-president of Venues, Steve Matheson.

[In this report, we look with Matheson at the status of the major venues and non-competition projects that are leading the construction schedule.]


==

THE CALLAGHAN VALLEY
Steve Matheson says the hard planning and consulting work is underway now and will continue for months as the implementation and construction schedules are established. "The biggest thing we need to do is complete the venues early, so we're not into acceleration costs and last-minute emergencies. Providing we can maintain the pace and keep to our schedules, I think from a venue perspective, we're going to be in pretty good shape."

Early is a relative term. For the first time, though, a VANOC official has confirmed that the Organizing Committee is about six months behind its own original planning schedules on the Whistler Nordic Centre and Whistler Sliding Centre, and instead of having the two Centres ready in spring, 2007, they'll now due to be handed over to VANOC in October of that year. That, in turn, means that designers will still be working on the projects as the tenders are going out.

"The original plan contemplated that the design would be complete for the spring of next year," says Matheson, "and to do that, we would have had to start in the summer or earlier this year. What's happened is that a lot of background environment and testing work had been done before the design was started, but we're going to be overlapping the design and construction now, so that we'll have sequential tenders for the Nordic Centre. It won't be one big tender. We're going to be building during three summers in the Callaghan Valley, and we're working now on a construction strategy that addresses the design that needs to be complete for the three sets of tenders. As a result of that, we're going to be able to ensure that the designs are complete for each phase before we tender them."

Even though the Whistler Sliding Centre and the Whistler Nordic Centre are going to be built in the same general area of the Valley and during the same time, Matheson says there isn't much need for the two design teams -- Sandwell Engineering for the Nordic Centre and Stantec for the Sliding Centre. "They're going to be independent projects." Sandwell's budget is about C$4 million; Stantec's is about C$2.3 million.

Matheson says the VANOC evaluation team that chose Sandwell and Stantec for the projects made unanimous choices by the time they were finished. "The team members did their evaluations independently, and all agreed they were the best choice." The evaluation checklist that assessed those firms and their competitors for the projects -- there were five firms invited to bid on each project -- contained a wide range of criteria, such as experience of their personnel, their depth, experience in dealing with Games design work, experience in various aspects of how a Nordic Centre works along with the jumps and trails, the staffing plan which details the number of hours various people on the team would be spending to do their part of the work and, of course, they compared fees.

The majority of the Sliding Centre's plan, the so-called bob-luge track, has already been designed. But the Nordic Centre's plan is, Matheson says, "a work in progress about the extent and layout of the trails, and the locations of the jumps." And that indicates portions of the project are still somewhat behind schedule.

The Sandwell team is working towards the first milestone of the design component of the Nordic Centre now, the Project Definition Report. As late as this summer, it was expected to be ready by October 1, but Matheson says it's now due in about two weeks. It's a draft of the direction the design team is heading, including sketches of what it will look like.

Logging the trails and runs was due to start in October, but that work has also been delayed. "This fall, we're only doing enough to provide access for drilling [for geo-technical requirements]. We want to make sure before we do some serious logging up there that the placement of the jumps is correct. We want to avoid taking our trees we don't need to, and to confirm the jump locations, we have to get the geo-technical work done. It's being down right now." The geo-technical work is being co-ordinated by a firm VANOC's used all year, Golder & Associates. "We're fine-tuning the plan for the jumps right now. The trail design is on-going. It's a very organic process that would see the trail experts up there this winter testing the preliminary trail locations."

Matheson says the detailed government environmental oversight work is continuing, a process that involves what he calls "comprehensive" reviews of just about every aspect of the project construction and how it affects the Callaghan Valley environmentally. In the case of the Whistler Nordic Centre, the provincial and federal governments have agreed to let the the federal environmental review process take the lead with the provincial government requirements using Ottawa's data. The Nordic Centre environmental studies, prepared by VANOC and its consultants has been filed. The Sliding Centre's material has not yet been filed, though it's expected to be done shortly.

For Matheson, who was the senior vice-president of Vancouver-based Dominion Construction and whose construction experience is primarily urban, it's a new experience to have projects involved in a significant environmental review process. "I can't believe the thoroughness of the process. It's incredibly thorough. We're trying to make sure we do all the right things, and give people notice so they can have input to our plans. It's going good, so far. We're being quite pro-active about getting out into the communities to let them know what we're doing, and that seems to be playing quite well." VANOC got a head start on this part of the process by contracting quite a bit of the environmental consulting work during the bid phase and shortly after the Games were awarded last year.

The five public information sessions along the corridor, required by the process so that people could understand the Nordic Centre plans, have just been completed. But there is considerably more work to be done on satisfying the environmental review process yet.

THE UBC HOCKEY COMPLEX
The University of British Columbia hockey venue complex: two rinks or three rinks? "Right," says Matheson, tongue firmly in cheek. VANOC, during the bid phase contemplated construction of two rinks, then later required three rinks to be built -- two training rinks and a competition rink. But UBC is worried it can only build two for the funds avialble. The design-build project is being built by UBC via its Properties Trust, which has arranged the lion's share of the financing through federal and provincial government grants, with the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee contributing to it. VANOC has set an overall development budget of C$38.9 million.

The UBC Centre will house men's and women's ice hockey during the 2010 Games. It's one of three hockey venues for the Games, including GM Place and the Vancouver Arena. The number of venues are necessary to deal with the number of teams expected for the Games, plus preliminary rounds and practice times leading up to and during the Games themselves.

"At the end of the day, there are going to be three rinks. What we don't know is whether we are going to be building three new ones or building two and keeping one of the existing rinks. That's a new wrinkle that's just come up in the last couple of weeks and we'll land on that decision in the next couple of weeks. Nothing is official so far, but it appears we're going to be able to keep one of the rinks, which would be great, because then we don't have to phase the construction. UBC wanted to make sure they maintained ice through this process. That was going to require us to phase the construction and demolish the existing Thunderbird Sports Centre. The current thinking, which needs to be vetted and approved with the UBC Board is that we're going to keep one of the rinks. That's going to allow us to do all of the construction at once, and it's going to save quite a bit of money."

Matheson estimates, in round numbers, a net saving to the project of C$6 million to C$7 million, but, he notes that since the original idea was to build two rinks in the first place, the savings are all on paper.

The three teams that have been selected following an Expressions-of-Interest process by Properties Trust to respond to the construction offer are Edmonton-based PCL, Vancouver-based Dominion and Richmond-based Bird Construction. Each firm has contracted with designers. UBC's proposal will be going out to those teams, probably next week. Construction is due to start next fall and be completed earlier than the original delivery date of the end of 2007. Bringing the construction requirements back to two rinks, Mathesson figures, will "buy us quite a bit of time, because it will all be done at once."

VANOC will set up a capital-works committee with UBC to supervise the project. There will be equal representation on the committee, and it will have the authority to make major decisions on the project. VANOC will get its input on the specifications of the buildings, and the things that are important to it through its project manager for the venue. The manager will be part of the committee. Matheson says it's possible he will also be sitting on the committee.

The capital-works committee model, with equal representation, will be used in situations where VANOC is working with a partner, such as the Trade & Convention Centre, where the Olympics media will be located, and the Richmond sports complex, which will incorporate the Olympic speed-skating oval, the PNE project and the Hillcrest curling facility with the City of Vancouver. VANOC is now in the process of setting up those committees.

THE RICHMOND SPEED-SKATING SPORTS COMPLEX
Richmond city council is expected to make some decisions on the C$124-million Olympic speedskating oval and sports complex at its next meeting, November 22. Richmond staff have just completed the Request for Proposal process for designers, shortlisted five, and council is expected to approve staff's recommendation for the firm. The short list includes Thom Architects -- the firm that was proposed to design the oval when it was to be hosted by Simon Fraser University; IBI Group, working with Canadian International Timberwork Design Group; Cannon Design; Hughes Condon Marler Architects and the Italian-based Studio Zoppini Associati. The winning firm will also create the master plan for the 29-acre (11.7-hectare) site, which lies along River Road between the No. 2 and Dinsmore bridges, facing the Fraser River and not far from the Vancouver International Airport. The short list of project managers to handle the job were interviewed this week.

THE ATHLETES VILLAGES
Matheson says he's not yet concerned about the length of time the City of Vancouver is taking in dealing with the requirements for the Vancouver Athlete's Village. The City, which is building the Village on the southeast shore of False Creek opposite the city core as part of a large redevelopment of the old industrial area, originally contemplated approving the area's Official Development Plan last summer. That was later pushed to September and planners are now not convinced they'll be ready for next month's deadline, suggesting it may now go to City Council in January, six months late. The ODP's approval is, theoretically, necessary before detailed planning can take place for the rezoning process and VANOC requires the City to confirm the land is legally prepared by March. "They're working through a process that satisfies the community's needs for housing and satisfies their consultation process with the community," says Matheson. "And that's just taking a little bit longer than initially thought. The delivery of the Village itself is not at risk through this process from a timing perspective, so we're not being fussed about it."

The process for constructing the sledge-hockey complex in Whistler for the 2010 Paralympics is also pushing the temporal envelope. Whistler has not yet made a decision whether to build a separate C$40 million arena and sports complex for the sport that could be used for other purposes afterward -- there are a couple of sites in mind -- or construct it as an addition to the Meadow Park Sports Centre. VANOC's bid book, which budgeted C$20 million for its contribution, suggested the sledge hockey arena, which would hold up to 5,000 people, was expected to be located in a multi-purpose complex on what are called Lots 1 and 9, an undeveloped area behind the 2010 Olympic information office in Village North. Matheson says however, that Whistler now has until April before it must declare how it intends to proceed. That decision was supposed to have been made by last June, with construction to start next summer. According to the venue agreement, the municipality has until next July to begin construction, so leaving a decision on where to built until April could be a problem without progress on design work. VANOC early this year paid for plans to be prepared for the Meadow Park option.


RESOURCES



[Editor's Note: This completes our in-depth report on the status of VANOC's venues. Up shortly: a detailed overview of VANOC's strategies on hiring its own staff, expected to be more than 1,000 by 2010, and how it will deal with the requirement of about 40,000 volunteers for the Games.]

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on November 12, 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 |VANOC| #663
(FEATURE) MATHESON'S METHODS: VANOC'S APPROACH TO LABOUR AND THE ENVIROMENT OF VENUES - PART 2 OF 3


[Editor's note: This is part 2 of a three-part report on the status, policies and strategies the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee intends to use as it builds its venues for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games between now and 2010. These reports stem from a detailed interview with VANOC's senior vice-president of Venues, Steve Matheson.

[In this report, Matheson talks about the the thorny issue in British Columbia, where about a third of the workforce is unionized, of labour, and how it affects VANOC and venue construction. He also talks about how the environmental review process is going for VANOC's two big venue projects.]


==

VANOC continues to work its way through construction-labour issues these days. Matheson - along with VANOC's senior vice-president of Human Resources, Jeff Chan ,and CEO John Furlong - have had three meetings so far with Jim Sinclair, head of the BC Federation of Labour, and Wayne Peppard, head of the The British Columbia and Yukon Territory Building and Construction Trades Council. The BC Fed represents much, but not all, of organized labour throughout the province. The Council represents construction unions in the areas where VANOC will be building venues.

Peppard and Matheson have each expressed a mutual regard. Peppard welcomed Matheson's appointment, saying it was, "an excellent choice. Mr. Matheson is respected throughout the BC construction industry. He is a team player." Matheson, for his part, says, "Wayne's a good person. He's definitely a progressive thinker, and we're working well with the Building Trades right now."

VANOC's meetings have involved, besides these organizations, open-shop and employer groups. "We're trying to get a consensus on the principles we're going to adopt for our tendering practices and our construction activities, at least for the Games. The construction is just the tip of the iceberg, because we want to get a consensus from labour for many aspects of the Games, like hospitality and transportation -- just about any aspect you can think of that's going to involve a huge labour component."

Matheson says the principles involve respect for workers, safety and training. "The good news is that all the groups that we've been talking to want to make the Games a success, and when the spotlight comes on B.C., they want us to perform well because it will reflect well on their individual groups."

One way or another, says Matheson, the principles will be built into the construction process. "Once we conclude our discussions with labour, we'll make some decisions about the principles and then we'll incorporate them into our tendering so that they're achievable."

While organized labour has been pushing for an agreement with VANOC along the lines of the Sydney Collaborative Model, used during the 2000 Summer Games in Australia to ensure labour peace, VANOC doesn't sound like it's going very far down that particular road in its talks with B.C. labour.

"It's going to be a made-in-B.C. program," says Matheson, noting that Winter Games are only about a third the size of Summer Games. "We have, in Vancouver and Whistler, a great deal of infrastructure in place already, so the actual venue construction program is relatively modest. But some of the things that were in the Sydney Accord that we want to talk about have to do with the notion of the Olympic worker, and how we can build a sense of pride and achievement with all the people involved in the Games. We think it's possible; we're going to give it a good try."

VANOC is going to have different levels of supervision over the construction of the venues. "It's going to be a mix," says Matheson. "It depends on whether we are directly responsible for the design and construction, or whether we are going to be working through partners. Generally speaking, we'll have a project manager on each of the venues. The two people we're hiring right now [for the Callaghan Valley venues] will be staff positions. The model that we've got in mind is to hire people who have the flexibility to go from venue design and construction to the overlay construction and then perhaps into the Games's operation and the take-down process. They're going to be familiar with the venues, and it's going to be end to end. That's going to require a certain set of skills for the people that we hire."

[Editor's Note: In the final portion of our three-part report on VANOC's venues, we take a closer look with Matheson at the progress -- or lack of it -- being made on some of the major venues.]

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



Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #662
(FEATURE) MATHESON'S METHODS: VANOC'S STRATEGIES IN BUILDING ITS VENUES - PART 1 OF 3


[Editor's note: This is part 1 of a three-part report on the status, policies and strategies the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee intends to use as it builds its venues for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games between now and 2010.

[These reports stem from a detailed interview with VANOC's senior vice-president of Venues, Steve Matheson, the former senior VP of Vancouver-based Dominion Construction.

[In essence, VANOC will have most of the major sports facilities completed late in 2007 so it can begin allow sports teams, particularly Canadian ones, to train on them during the winters of 2007, 2008 and 2009, and to practice how those facilities will be run.

[A number of other projects, notably the two Athletes Villages, and the curling rink, won't be ready until 2009 for specific reasons. During the summer of 2009, VANOC will undertake a major construction aspect at all the venues: putting in the so-called Olympic Overlay -- extra seating, security, computer networking, broadcasting and other requirements that have to do with just the Games themselves. Then, in the late spring and summer of 2010, the overlays will be removed and the buildings turned over to the organizations that will operate them permanently.

[In Part 1 of our reports, Matheson, appointed last June, talks about the strategic approaches he and his staff will be taking with the projects.]


==

The senior vice-president of Venues for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee says that there will be several different strategies used for constructing or renovating seven of the venues, but most will be the traditional construction methods.

"Most of them will be design-bid-build," Steve Matheson says. "I would think that we'll look at options for some of the renovation projects that don't lend themselves as well to that process, just because of the amount of unknowns when we go to scope out the work. Sometimes we might be better off to have a construction manager in the process."

Only the ice-hockey rink complex to be built at the University of British Columbia will be constructed using design-build.

Matheson adds, however, that cost-plus contracts might be considered, probably for work that'll be done in late 2008 and 2009 as VANOC begins the process of installing the temporary components to the venues that are necessary for hosting the Games, but won't be part of the long-term projects. "At the very end, for the [Olympic] overlay, when things are really happening quickly, we might be forced into that kind of scenario, but that would be our least preferred option. There's no real control over costs, but it's the way to get things done fast."

VANOC will only be building two of the major venues from the ground up -- the Whistler Sliding Centre and the Whistler Nordic Centre. For the rest, it will either providing significant funding or operational grants as the venues are renovated or built by others.

Matheson, however, is well aware of the pressures on VANOC to meet budgets. "The only part of our [construction and renovation] program that is going to be done in the last six months will be the overlay."

The two Centres, now in the design phase, are to be constructed in the Callaghan Valley, west of Whistler, starting in the late spring and early summer, if schedules are kept.

One area of the design process that Matheson, who was appointed to the job June 22, is now working on involves LEED, the acronym for Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design. It's an American-based certification method for environmentally efficient construction, and it's a requirement by the International Olympic Committee -- and a promise in VANOC's Bid Book -- that venues will be built to LEED standards. That, in turn, has generated a construction-industry debate in British Columbia whether the LEED standards and home-grown standards are better. The industry views LEED as having established a beach-head in western Canada via the Olympics.

"We have a commitment to sustainability for the Games and the venues," says Matheson, "and where LEED is applicable, it's mostly to building projects, we're going to adopt the LEED approach to sustainability. We may not go through the rigour of the formal accreditation process for each venue, because there is a cost associated with that. We would rather spend that money on actual sustainable items that go into the buildings. We're using LEED as a guide. But it's not all that applicable to things like the Nordic Centre and other outdoor projects. So for those kinds of developments, and we've got quite a few of them in Whistler and at Cypress [Mountain in West Vancouver], we're looking more to a best-practices guide for sustainability."

Matheson says VANOC has set up two industry committees -- The Sustainable Energy Committee and the Sustainable Transportation Committee -- to give his team "some of the best leading-edge thinking when we look at options for sustainability for the design of the venues."

Matheson says that structure will allow VANOC to have "really good input" to the options for sustainable design and construction, "then we'll chose the ones that make the most sense to us within our means and give us the biggest bang for our buck."

[Editor's note: In Part 2 of our three-part series on the status of venues, Matheson outlines his approach to the somewhat thorny issue in British Columbia of labour. In part 3, we'll take a closer look at the status of some of the venues that are now in progress.]

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



Morgan:News:2010 |IOC Business| #661
CANADIAN BROADCAST RIGHTS NEGOTIATIONS BEGIN WITH BRIEFINGS, LEGAL CHALLENGES


The first part of a two-part process that will decide who will get the lucrative broadcast rights to the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver has begun, along with the jostling among the players for position at the opening gate.

The IOC's man in charge of Internet and TV Rights, Finance chairman Richard Carrion and some of his staff are in Toronto to brief executives of Canada's two major broadcasters, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the Canadian Television Network, on the details of the Games's rights for the Canadian market, and the process the IOC will follow to award them.

Bell Globemedia, which owns CTV, has said it will work with Rogers Communications to submit a bid, but the CBC has asked the Canadian Competition Bureau to rule on whether the Bell/Rogers arrangement would be a restraint of trade [see BACKGROUND, below].

In essence, the IOC will call for proposals to its offer at the beginning of January, and Canadian companies will have about a month to submit their bids. As they do so, they will be bearing in mind several things. First, the CBC, which has broadcast the Olympic Games for years with the best coverage in the country and has an excellent sports team to do it. Second, Bell Canada, which is connected to CTV, set up a package to sponsor the Vancouver 2010 telecommunications requirements worth a record-breaking C$200 million to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee and VANOC, though not directly involved in the IOC's process, has said repeatedly it is most interested in bids that are best for the Games and sports in Canada, and that the IOC, after assuring itself that a company can handle the job technically, is primarily interested in the value of the bid.

The IOC, in this case, is selling the Canadian rights to the Vancouver Games in 2010 and the Summer Games in 2012, which have not yet been awarded to a city, as a single package. The IOC takes 51% of the bid funds for its own uses, and splits the remainder between the organizing committees to help pay for their Games, with a formula that's essentially two-thirds for the summer games and one-third for the winter games. In addition, the IOC puts 5% of each Games's portion into a hold-back fund, which is provided to the organizing committee after the Games are held.

The IOC has already followed a similar briefing/bidding negotiation process when it awarded the American rights to NBC, and the European rights (except for Italy) to the European Broadcast Union. NBC paid C$3 billion for the package of those two games to be broadcast to a population of 293 million, with C$1.127 billion of that assigned to Vancouver's Games. The European decision, covering 454 million people, is expected to add about C$330 million to Vancouver 2010.

BACKGROUND

Who owns what: BCE is the parent company of Bell Canada and Bell Globemedia. Bell/Rogers could be expected to use Bell's CTV as the main TV broadcaster, with support from its specialty cable channels: TSN, Outdoor Life Network, CTV NewsNet, and, CTV's French network in Quebec, Réseau des Sports, and it also owns one of Canada's two national newspapers, the Globe and Mail.

Rogers has a network of radio stations and a regional sports operation, Rogers Sportsnet. Rogers is also the largest cable company in Canada. BCE owns the one of the main satellite-broadcasting companies, Bell ExpressVu.

It's not clear at the moment what would happen with the Bell/Rogers arrangement when it comes to wireless phone sports broadcasting, expected to be a fairly significant outlet by 2010. Rogers Wireless is in the process of becoming the largest wireless company in Canada, with 5.1 million voice and data customers. It normally competes fiercely with Bell Mobility, which has about 4.5 million subscribers.


RESOURCES

Biography of the IOC's Richard Carrion:
http://www.olympic.org/uk/organisation/ioc/members/bio_uk.asp?id=50

Canadian Competition Bureau:
http://competition.ic.gc.ca/epic/internet/incb-bc.nsf/en/Home

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



Morgan:News:2010 |Torino| #660
ICE-HOCKEY TOURNAMENTS BEGIN IN SCRAMBLE FOR 2006 WINTER OLYMPICS


Six qualifying tournaments for Olympic ice-hockey are getting underway in various parts of the world for both the men’s and women’s tournaments of the Olympic Winter Games, which take place in Torino, Italy, in 2006. It's 455 days today before the Italian Games start.

Eleven women’s teams will battle it out in their three groups, while 12 men’s teams will face off in three pools of four, as they attempt to edge their way closer to the Games.
 
The three women’s Final Olympic Qualification tournaments will be played in Podolsk, Russia; Bad Tölz, Germany; and Beijing, China. In Group A, Russia will take on Japan and the Czech Republic in Podolsk, while Group B sees Germany, Kazakhstan, Latvia and Slovenia take to the ice in Bad Tölz. Finally, Group C features China, Switzerland, Norway and France competing in Beijing. The women’s tournament is a final Olympic qualification tournament, which means that the top team in each group will proceed directly to the Olympic Games in Turin.
 
Podolsk is a city just south of Moscow. Bad Tölz is about 30 kilometres south of Munich.

The men’s three Pre-Olympic Qualification tournaments will take place in Briançon, France; Nowy Targ, Poland; and Stavanger, Norway. France, the host of the Briançon Group will play against Bulgaria, Estonia and Romania, while Poland hosts the Netherlands, Lithuania and Croatia, and Norway will host as it plays against Hungary, China and Serbia & Montenegro. Since these are pre-Olympic qualifications, the teams that wins in each group will earn the right to participate in the final Olympic qualification tournaments that will be played February 10-13.

The Torino 2006 ice-hockey tournaments will take place over 15 days of competition, just over a year from now. The women’s tournament will run from February 11-20 2006, and the men’s competition from February 15-26, 2006. The matches in these two competitions will take place at the Palasport Olimpico and the Torino Esposizioni. About 435 players are expected to be at the Games in Turin.

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



Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #659
VANOC EXTENDS DATE FOR WHISTLER-AREA PROJECT MANAGERS; BELL PUMPS C$2 MILLION INTO SKATE CANADA FOR 2010 DEVELOPMENT


Two more moguls we bumped into today...

  • The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee has been advertising on its web site for about a month for project managers to work on the big construction venues in the Callaghan Valley, west of Whistler. Now, the adds have been extended until November 19. It appears that people aren't yet accustomed to using VANOC's website for job-hunting, so VANOC has decided to bolster the web material with good ol' fashioned print ads. VANOC's human-resource policies went into place October 1, which allowed the organization to begin hiring people to salaried positions. The Committee feels there will be a fairly slow build-up of staff over the next year. The ramp-up for hiring will begin about the time the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy, are held.

  • Bell Canada, which is a major sponsor of the 2010 Winter Games, is now also a major sponsor of Skating Canada. It's set up a seven-year sponsorship project worth more than C$2 million. The money will allow the speed-skaing teams to expand their training and research programs and add support staff. The sponsorship involves several events, including a short-track World Cup in Chicoutimi, Quebec, starting next month and a long-track World Cup in Calgary in January, as well as Olympic trials for the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver. Canada has been ranked first in the sport, which includes both long-and short-track racing, since 2001.


RESOURCES

VANOC's web page looking for construction project managers:
http://www.vancouver2010.com/GettingInvolved/JobsContractOpportunities/CurrentJobs/041014_PrjtMgr_WhistlerVenues.htm

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on November 10, 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 |Moguls| #658
BAGSHAW'S BACKGROUND FROM AMONG THE 200; TORINO EXECUTIVE CRISIS FADING, BUT PRESSURE CONTINUES


Three more moguls we bumped into today...

  • Ken Bagshaw, appointed yesterday as head of VANOC's Legal Affairs department, may have been close to home as the head of the Vancouver branch of the national law firm Borden Ladner Gervais, where VANOC is a client. But it was the international executive-search firm of Korn/Ferry that found him. It conducted a national search for the position at VANOC's request during the last few months. Ten percent of the 200 candidates for the job were from outside of Canada, with the rest mostly from British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec. Bagshaw remains a director of the City of Vancouver's Police Board as the representative for the Vancouver Police Foundation; he's been a director at the Police Board since February, 2001. In the past, he has been involved as Chair or a Director with: the University of British Columbia Board of Governors and the UBC Foundation; The Hamber Foundation; The Heritage Trust of BC; the provincial government's Minister’s Advisory Committee for the BC Festival of the Arts; the World Conference on the Arts, Business and Government Society; the BC Arts Board; the Anna Wyman Dance Theatre Foundation; the Vancouver Art Gallery Association; the West Vancouver School Board's Citizens’ Finance Committee and the West Vancouver Electors Association. And lest you think that Bagshaw's BLG was VANOC's only law firm, various partnerships in Vancouver provided the Vancouver 2010 Bid Corporation with legal services - Blake Cassels & Craydon, Lawson Lundell, Farris, Davis and Co as well as BLG.

  • The executive crisis at the Torino Olympics appears to be settling down. Valentino Castellani has reached an agreement that could allow him to stay as head of the organizing committee known as TOROC. Castellani said he would resign at the next Board meeting November 24 because of a power struggle with the Italian government over control of the Olympics following reports of a C$278-million cost over-run that prompted the government to install a supervisor for the Games over Castellani. The CEO said he felt undermined by the government's appointment of Mario Pescante, culture ministry undersecretary, as overall supervisor of the Games. But Castellani met with Pescante on Tuesday and indicated he had decided against submitting his resignation, even though Pescante stays as his boss. However, the Italian government cabinet will discuss the Games situation at a meeting Thursday. The IOC is getting increasingly worried about the Italian public's interest in the Games and a shortage of sponsors. The IOC is pressuring Italy to have some of its government corporations buy sponsorships as a possible method of dealing with the shortfall.

  • Resorts of the Canadian Rockies, Bennett Jones, Alberta Economic Development and Alpine Canada will co-host the second annual World Cup Business Forum at Lake Louise in Alberta's Rocky Mountains on November 26. It's one of a series of corporate events held in conjunction with the Lake Louise Winterstart World Cup, sponsored by Canada's CIBC Bank. Executives from across the country have been invited to the Forum to discuss North American Free trade, with keynote speakers with the former Albertan premier, Peter Lougheed and Peter Watson, from the Woodrow Wilson Centre in Washington DC, who was formerly on the U.S. National Security Council when George Bush, Senior was president. Watson is a former Chairman of the International Trade Commission. Alpine Canada will also be holding its fourth annual Partner Summit at the same time, for the organization's corporate sponsors who, as Alpine Canada says, "play an increasing role in providing the human, technical, and financial resources required to make Canada a world-leading racing country by 2010." This gathering will be held on November 28.


RESOURCES




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



Morgan:News:2010 |General| #657
2010'S SECURITY BUDGET COULD BE ADJUSTED SHOULD THREAT LEVEL CHANGE


2010NewsWatch

The spokesman for the Integrated Security Planning Group of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee says the security budget, currently pegged at C$172 million, is still adequate but may be changed if the threat assessment changes.

Sargent John Ward was quoted in the current issue of Business in Vancouver, a weekly tabloid newspaper, as saying the budget was developed during the bid phase based on expectations in 2002. But, he reportedly added, "As we go along, if we determine there is a requirement for other things, we will adjust the budget." Security planning for the Games has been underway from the early days of the bid phase.

The Group, which assigned two of its members to go with the Vancouver contingent that saw how the Athens Summer Olympics operated and is expected to do the same for the Torino and Beijing Olympics, is chaired by RCMP Superintendent Bob Harriman, who also represents RCMP detachments in Richmond and Whistler, which are both hosting venues. Its representatives includes VANOC, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the federal government's Department of National Defense, the Vancouver and West Vancouver police departments - which are independent of the RCMP - and the International and Canadian Olympic Committees.

An RCMP officer, Inspector Louis Lahaie, was also assigned to the Canadian Olympic team when it was in Athens this summer. Vancouver's Emergency Operations Centre is expected to act as the Olympic Security Command Centre during the 2010 Games.

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



Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #656
IOC POUND'S BRAND-PROTECTION RATIONALE; PETITION TO SUPPORT EXISTING SIGNAGE GROWS; COSPORT PUSH BEGINS


Three more moguls we bumped into today...

  • One of the directors representing the International Olympic Committee on the Board of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee, Dick Pound, has weighed in on VANOC's brand-protection polices. Pound, who was the IOC's chief marketer from 1983 to 2001 and now runs its anti-doping bureau, makes his case in an editorial page article in today's issue of The Vancouver Sun newspaper. After describing the situation, the former president of the Canadian Olympic Committee concludes, "VANOC needs a policy that is clear and unequivocal: any unauthorized use of the Olympic marks, whether deliberate or inadvertent, is prohibited. Any unauthorized commercial or organizational suggestion of some connection with the Games (such as "Vancouver 2010," "Whistler 2010," the "Vancouver-Whistler Games," "Team 2010," etc.) must be prevented and VANOC must vigorously enforce its rights, with legal action, if necessary. Failure to implement such a policy puts the Games in jeopardy. This is no joke. There are a lot of parasite marketers and ambush marketers out there, waiting like vultures to seize any opportunity to exploit weakness in enforcement of the Olympic marks, or even to attack their validity. The stakes for everyone connected with the Games are too great to permit exceptions."

  • Mosi Alvand, the Olympia Pizza restaurateur in Vancouver who was most vocal about his opposition to the Canadian Olympic Committee's brand-protection policies when it came to removing the Olympic rings and torch from his signage, may have talked things over with VANOC CEO John Furlong, but he's still front-and-centre on a website designed to collect petition signatures to back him in his objections. At last word, Furlong was awaiting Alvand's decision on an offer of some sort of help from VANOC to deal with the issue, and Alvand was working with a lawyer to draft a reply.

  • The U.S. Olympic Committee has begun promoting CoSport as the organization's official seller of tickets and packages for the 2006 Torino Olympics. The announcement quotes Matt Bijur, who was hired as president of the company a few weeks ago, but makes no mention of Bijur's boss, Sead Dizdarevic.


RESOURCES

Olympia Pizza's petition website:
http://www.998Denman.com/

Images of signatures already garnered from Olympia Pizza's petition:
http://www.998Denman.com/petition01.htm
U.S. Olympic Committee announcement about CoSport and its services:
http://www.usolympicteam.com/117_27881.htm

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



Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #655
FORT ST. JOHN TO GO FOR B.C. WINTER GAMES IN 2010


The city council of Fort St. John, in northeastern British Columbia, has voted unanimously to submit a bid for the 2010 B.C. Winter Games, which is scheduled to take place between the end of the 2010 Winter Olympics and start of the 2010 Paralympics.

The B.C. Winter Games have been held annually, more or less, for some time in various communities around the province. The vote came after city manager John Locher tabled a report to council in which he said, "I think we need to step up to the plate and host events of this nature." But the report also noted that Fort St. John's Sports Council was opposed to a bid for that particular year because it felt it would be too soon after it hosts the 2007 B.C. Winter Games, but they would feel better about bidding for the 2010 games instead.

Locher told city council the sports council felt it would be too much to soon for corporate donations and for volunteers. Locher felt, however that Fort St. John has been strongly promoting itself as a major service centre in northeast B.C., and that it "may be sending the wrong message to the province and to the region" if they didn't bid for the games. Locher also told council expertise disappears if there's too great a time between such events.

The city hosted the Northern B.C. Winter Games in 2000, which needed about 2,000 volunteers. The provincial winter games are expected to require even more volunteer help and a financial commitment by the city.

The provincial government's bid documents say it will provide about C$500,000 through 2010 Legacies Now and the B.C. Games Society to whichever community wins the bid. Victoria decided to squeeze the B.C. Winter Games between the two Olympic events to create a six-week long feeling in the province of a grand winter festival that year.

The deadline for submitting the bid is February 28.


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



Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #654
VANCOUVER, BEIJING TO MARKET, TO MARKET; SCOTT RETURNS TO X-COUNTRY; BJORNDALEN AIMING FOR 2010


Three moguls we bumped into today...

  • The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee may be doing some sort of co-marketing projects with the organizing committee that is working on the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. VANOC CEO John Furlong says that while he was in China last week, "We were approached by the organizing committee marketing folks about looking at some things we might do jointly with them." He didn't elaborate because there's still some aspects to firm up.

  • Canadian cross-country gold medalist, Beckie Scott, 30, has decided to return to the sport after taking the summer off. A number of officials from Vancouver 2010 and the Canadian Olympic Committee were on the stage when Scott was finally awarded her medal in Vancouver earlier this year for her performance during the 2002 Winter Olympics in Utah. "I'm in," she told Ski Racing Magazine as she reported to the Canadian team training camp at Silver Star, British Columbia. She told the magazine that her spirits improved considerably during the break and she wants to compete at least in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, "I was pretty sure I was done this spring; I was almost 90% sure I'd call it a career, but I didn't want to make any hard announcements." Scott married three-time U.S. Olympian Justin Wadsworth, who retired after the 2003 season; they have a home in Bend, Oregon, and have just completed their Canadian residence at Panorama resort in British Columbia.

  • Ole Einar Bjorndalen, 32, of Norway, is a five-time Olympic biathlon gold-medal winner who says, as he prepares for a Norwegian cross-country event and a series of cross-country World Cup races, that he's aiming for at least the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. He told the Norwegian newspaper "VG" that he and his wife, Nathalie Santer, 30, who has three biathlon World Cup victories and 15 podium wins, are training in their new hometown in Obertillach, Austria, which, at 1,400 meters in the middle of the Alps is, according to Bjorndalen, a perfect place to train and prepare for the thin air competitors will experience at the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Italy. His wife expects to retire after the Torino Games, but he says, he wants to race through the 2010 Olympics. He's quoted as saying, "Ski racing is so much fun that I can’t imagine stopping anytime soon. The couple spend about 100 days per year, mostly in the summer and fall, training. The rest of the time is spent at camps and races.


RESOURCES

Silver Star web cam:
http://www.silverstarmtn.com/weather/webcam2.html

Beckie Scott's records:
http://www.fis-ski.com/uk/604/613.html?sector=CC&listid=&competitorid=55256&type=result


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



Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #653
BUZZ EQUALS WHISTLER REAL ESTATE, NOT VISITS; BORDEN'S OLYMPICS CONNECTIONS; ANOTHER REASON FOR BRAND PROTECTION POLICIES


Three more moguls we bumped into today...

  • Sheila Broughton of Vancouver-based Pacific International Securities was quoted today by the Canadian Press agency that she's "pretty excited about the year coming up" for Intrawest, which owns one of the sliding sites for the 2010 Winter Games, Blackcomb Whistler; it's 2004/2005 season opens November 25. She was quoted as saying that it's still too soon to expect extra travel volume in Whistler ahead of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. "There's a lot of Olympic buzz in Vancouver (but) I wouldn't expect there're that many tourists who are thinking, 'I've got to come to Vancouver this year before the Olympics.'" However, she reportedly added, "I would say it has impacted real estate" as buyers pick up resort properties ahead of the Games.

  • As we've noted, the new chief of VANOC's legal affairs is Ken Bashaw. His soon-to-be-former law firm, Borden Ladner Gervais, has also been involved in other Olympic activities. Lawyer Bruce Carr-Harris of the Vancouver office successfully represented cross-country skier Beckie Scott and the Canadian Olympic Committee in the international arbitration to award Ms. Scott the Olympic Gold medal for the 5km free pursuit at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City. Bagshaw also has connections to the University of British Columbia, which will host some of the 2010 hockey training facilities for VANOC. Back in 1990, he was appointed chairman of the University of B.C.'s board of governors.

  • Besides the desire to adhere to the host-city contract when it comes to brand protection, VANOC has other incentives to plug away at operations who are using its trademarks: money. The senior vice-president of Revenue, Marketing and Communications, Dave Cobb says, "The IOC has the ability to withhold money that we would otherwise get from international sponsors and international broadcasters. There are severe financial penalties if we don't do what we agreed to do, which is only allow partners of the IOC and partners of VANOC to use the brand." The fund, at the moment, is notionally in the millions of dollars already, and is paid out at the end of the Games.


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



Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #652
IOC TO SET UP MARKETING OFFICE IN VANCOUVER IN JANUARY; COBB STILL WORKING ON MARKETING DEAL; CHIEF WONK ON HORIZON


Three moguls we bumped into today...

  • The International Olympic Committee's Marketing department installs a liaison person with each Games organizing committee fairly early on, to help out with the co-ordination of marketing activities, and integrating the goods and services of the so-called "TOP" sponsors, those of trans-nationals that who have direct arrangements with the IOC. The IOC Marketing rep who was in Athens will relocate to Vancouver in January. The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee spokesman Sam Corea says, "Just as VANOC has attended de-briefings from Athens, and attempts to learn from the organizing committee in Torino, the IOC Marketing person has been through several games and brings this experience to us. The experience of the IOC Marketing department is valuable to any organizing committee."

  • Dave Cobb, VANOC's senior vice-president of Revenue, Marketing and Communications, was aboard the jet returning from Beijing last week when he read through draft two of the official marketing agreement he is negotiating with the IOC. It's still going to take a face-to-face meeting to finalize the agreement, he says, and he hopes, considering the jet-lag effects of the flight, to persuade the IOC's marketing people to hold the meeting in Vancouver in the next couple of weeks.

  • Now that Ken Bagshaw has been hired as VANOC's new chief of legal affairs, the next hiring expected is that of the Senior Vice President of Technology and Systems. Recruitment is underway.



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



Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #651
BORDEN'S BAGSHAW TO BECOME CHIEF LEGAL OFFICER FOR ORGANIZING COMMITTEE DECEMBER 1


The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee will hire Kenneth M. Bagshaw, Q.C., as the seventh senior vice president, effective December 1. Bagshaw, whose title is General Counsel, will head up the organization's legal affairs team.

VANOC spokesman Sam Corea says Bagshaw will be responsible "for leading all of the legal functions for the Games. His role will cross key functional areas including general corporate and commercial law, construction and engineering law, procurement, employment and labour law. He will act as a key internal advisor to the senior management team of the corporation on legal and other business matters. As a member of VANOC's senior executive team, he will share responsibility for the broad leadership of the organization and for the ultimate success of the Games."

He's familiar with VANOC already. Bagshaw will join the Organizing Committee from Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, where he has spent his entire legal career, including when it was known as Ladner Downs. Borden is the law firm VANOC has been using for its brand-protection work. Bashaw is the regional managing partner of Borden's Vancouver office and a member of that firm's National Executive Committee.

VANOC CEO John Furlong says, "As our organization continues to evolve, and as we face the challenges of bringing our plans to life, Ken's wise counsel and advice, keen business sense, and great enthusiasm for our mission will be a welcome addition to our team.

Bagshaw says, for him, it's a broad picture. "I see this as a wonderful way to contribute to the realization of a new heightened sense of stature for B.C. My entire career has prepared me for this... step in my life."

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

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Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #650
FURLONG OUTLINES LESSONS AND TIPS TAUGHT DURING DEBRIEFING OF ATHENS OLYMPICS


The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee's CEO, John Furlong, says he learned quite a few lessons, ideas and tips for hosting the 2010 Games during the post-mortem meeting between the International Olympic Committee and the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.

The debriefing meeting was attended by about 160 executives of the existing and future Olympic Games and cities bidding for them. They included about half a dozen people from VANOC. The meeting was held last week in Beijing, where the next Summer Olympics will be held, in 2008. Furlong and his senior vice-president of Revenue, Marketing and Communications, Dave Cobb, were there for four days. VANOC's chief planner, Terry Wright, and a representative from Bell Canada, VANOC's telecommunications sponsor, attended technology debriefing meetings which presaged the main briefing and lasted about a week.

Furlong said the sessions, on a wide range of matters involving Games hosting, lasted between one and two hours, depending on the topic, plus about 45 minutes for questions and answers. "It's in their words, and about their experiences," says Furlong about the presenters, executives of the Athens Organizing Committee, who told them that the Greek organizing committee expected to show a financial surplus, "and it's left to the organizing committees of future Games to take from their lessons what they can."

The key lessons for VANOC that were taken away, according to Furlong (the quotes are his words):

  • It's about people. "The thing I took from the meeting more than anything: it's people who run the Games. It's much less about facilties and other things than it is about having great people, providing them with the resources and the empowerment to make decisions. They talked about trying to create a structure where decisions could be made as far down in the organization as possible, so that things weren't held up by the need to have decisions made at a high level. That kind of decision-making really fosters a sense of teamwork. That means, of course, that you need to find good people."

  • A unified vision. The vision of the Games and what could be done with that vision "has to be compelling," and it has to be shared by all the partners involved with the organizing committee that were involved in staging the Games. In Athens's case, it was about the Games coming home to the Greek city. Furlong said it was necessary to spend "quite some time building a consensus around that vision to make sure that everybody was working for exactly the same cause." VANOC has yet to publicly discuss its vision for the 2010 Games.

  • This is "first and foremost" a sporting event for athletes, and that has to be the priority of an organizing committee. Sport must be prominently profiled inside the organizing committee "at the highest level, and that's what we're doing." Furlong added, "They reminded us again and again, to focus on the fact at all times that we're putting on a competition... that are staged at the highest level in the world."

  • Stay in contact "day to day, week to week" with all of the international sports federations involved in the Games. "They have an enormous stake in the success of the Games," says Furlong. "If these relationships are not maintained and looked after, they can be problematic and create a lot of grief for the organizing committee."

  • Understand the lessons of other Games, but not to copy other Games. "Look and see, and have a spirit of wonder about what they've done. Take the best of it, if you can, and use it, but stamp your own image on your project."

  • Organizers should use, as much as possible, expertise from previous Games. "In the early stages of organizing committees," says Furlong, "there's a tendency to think you can find all the expertise you need locally, or in the host country, and this is not always the case. Sometimes it's quite difficult to find the expertise, and so they recommend finding some of the best people and bringing them to your country to help you get through the complex things quickly."

  • Things change, all the time "and if you think they won't, you're in for a surprise," so build flexibility into the organizing committee from the beginning. "No matter how focused you are, or how well you think things are going to flow, they're going to change. Create an organization that is fluid and that it can adjust easily, so they can see the challenges and make the changes. It's especially important to have that flexibility as the committee moves from the planning phase to the operational phase." Furlong also said he was told there should be flexible financial forecasts, as well. "Keep monitoring them and keep changing them. They said things will change; some of the achievements you think you're going to have, you won't; and you'll be surprised by some of the ones you will have. Use the forecasts for decision-making as things go along."

  • Plan aggressively against the timelines. Don't let deadline dates go by and don't accept delays at all. "They were very strong in saying that we should stay right out in front of the project and [that we should] really monitor our progress, and not get lazy."

  • The time when the organization moves to venue-based operations has to be carefully managed. Furlong said this aspect isn't as important to VANOC as it was to Athens or as it is to the 2006 Winter Games in Italy because of the differences in the way the venues work in Vancouver. Those cities built most of their venues as new facilities; in Vancouver, a few major venues are being built, but the rest are renovations of existing structures. "The Games are staged through venues, and so it's important to be on top of the [transition] process -- they call it 'venuization'. Plan for it early, and have staging teams at each venue."

  • Give yourself enough time to put the venue teams together. "Typically you have a venue team that has a little bit of every function [of the organizing committee] at each venue. They all come together, you have a leader, and the venues are presented. The point was to think early on who might be in those teams and who might lead them, how they will work, and how they will affect the look and feel of the Games."

  • Integrate the organizing committee's partner organizations so that the whole structure works fluidly at the time the Games are delivered. "In our case," says Furlong, "that might mean having various functions within the committee, but also includes things like security, governments and others who have a stake in the perfect execution of the Games." Furlong says he was told the process of integration was always challenging for committees. "The message was: don't underestimate how difficult it is. Spend a lot of time on it, think it through and get people committed to it, and start to practice it. That's a topic that comes up a lot when you're talking to committees as they move from one stage to another."

  • Keep an eye on your partners. "The partners all have a responsibility, and they told us to keep an eye on them, and to make sure that while the committee is driving forward that the partners don't slip behind, and that things aren't delayed by challenges they're facing." Furlong said later the Athens group, and others as the meeting, spoke at length about relationships fostered by the organizing committee, "with governments, the media and with partners, stakeholders and sponsors, and using all these relationships to build the power of an event like this should have. And to use the expertise these groups have to make the Games better. And to communicate with these as much as possible so they understand how the project is moving along. They can be helpful in maintaining the project in the broader community." Still later, Furlong added, "Trust takes hard work."

  • Teamwork works. Particularly if you foster "a real spirit of teamwork internally, within the organizing committee, and find people who really know how to be in an environment like this."

  • Integrate Olympic and Paralympic planning from the beginning. "Although these are two events, it's one festival and it should be planned as one by the organizing committee."

  • Start operational planning early. "It's easy, they said, to sit around and picture what [the Games] might look like, but you have to get your head around what it will be like when you're actually going through the motions of putting on the events, filling the venues, setting up the security and doing the overlay. Get your head around the operations of the Games, so that people are learning [as they go], so that it's not so compelling, later on, when the time comes that you have to be fully operational."

  • Test, test, test. "I think Athens felt like it didn't have enough time to do that. They did quite a number of test events, but they would have rather have done more. They had challenges of doing the test events for the Opening Ceremonies, for instance. Be really sure you understand how a venue is going to work, how people are going to come and go from a venue, and don't underestimate what those challenges will look like in time." Rehearse and simulate Games and their conditions as much as possible. Create situations where they can be tested as if the Games were actually on. That's not that easy to do, but it's something we have to look at," says Furlong.

  • Scale the venues to the "demands of the host country." Furlong said some committees have made the mistake of building spectacular venues just for the Games. "You have to ask yourself: who's going to be in these venues when the Games are over? What will the venues look like then? Are they reasonable, sustainable, will they work, will they be supportable, will they be financially viable, and so on." Furlong said that wasn't a surprise to hear, because he and his staff had spent a lot of time on that aspect during the bid phase. "We tried to make sure our venues would stand up to such a test."

  • Use temporary venues where you can. "Where you really can't see a venue playing to the long-term needs of the country, try to do it in another way, so that you don't have a venue afterward that chips away at the great good you have done through the staging of the Games." Furlong added later that, "Accelerating the growth of the city, the region and the country around the Games is great, but keep in mind that you shouldn't be doing things just because of the Games, the uses should be for the broader and greater good of the community."

  • Achieve your environmental commitments. "Do everything you can" to do that.

  • Keep an eye on the future of your staff. "They talked about investing in the right programs to retain [the organizing committee's] people all the way to the end. There's always this worry that, when you recruit a spectacular work force, and they start building the project, that six months out or a year out, they're thinking about their future careers, what they might do after the Games. You don't want people going on to something else before they're finished, and putting the Games in jeopardy."

  • Build volunteerism well in advance of the time you go to the community looking for volunteers for the Games. "Really work at building that spirit and drive within the community the value of volunteering for the Games, and how important that is to the country and to the project."


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



Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #649
BACKGROUND ON VANOC'S BRAND-PROTECTION POLICIES - IN ITS OWN WORDS


BACKGROUND

[Here's how the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee, in its own words, officially explains its brand-protection policy - Editor, Morgan:News:2010]

Protection of the Olympic Brand is a key component of organizing the Games. The brand includes the official marks and trademarks owned or licensed by VANOC.

The Olympic Brand may be used only with the written permission of VANOC, or in some circumstances the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) or the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Under various agreements relating to Vancouver's hosting of the 2010 Winter Games, VANOC is obligated to protect the Olympic Brand against unauthorized use.

Canadian and international organizations will be asked to make significant financial investments to become official sponsors of the 2010 Winter Games and acquire the exclusive right to use the Olympic Brand in their promotional campaigns. These investments will be used to help stage the 2010 Winter Games.

"We owe it to all Canadians to do our job properly to create conditions that will result in success for Canada's Games in 2010," said John Furlong, chief executive officer of VANOC. "Any surplus funds generated by VANOC in its Games organizing efforts will be devoted to the development of amateur sport in Canada. That's the goal we all want to achieve."

"Unauthorized use of official marks will impair our ability to raise the funds necessary to stage the Games," said Dave Cobb, VANOC's senior vice president for Revenue, Marketing and Communications. "Our obligations are to maintain the value and integrity of the Olympic Brand. In doing so, we give confidence to organizations that participate in VANOC's marketing program."

An estimated 40% of VANOC's operating budget will come from sponsorship arrangements. After the 2010 Winter Games are over, any surplus funds will help support amateur sport in Canada, but any deficit will be the responsibility of the Province of British Columbia.

VANOC is sensitive to the fact that many businesses in Canada use the word "Olympic" (or similar terms) in their names and marks, and in some cases have done so since long before January 1998, when Vancouver's bid for the 2010 Winter Games was first publicly discussed. In dealing with businesses that are currently using the word "Olympic" (or similar terms) in their names and marks, VANOC is applying the following general guidelines:

  • Businesses that began using the word "Olympic" (or similar terms) in their names or marks before January 1998, likely did not do so to take unfair advantage of Vancouver's bid to host the 2010 Winter Games. VANOC will not ask those businesses to change their names or marks, as long as they do not suggest a connection with the Olympic movement or the 2010 Winter Games. Nevertheless, VANOC will require that those businesses not use symbols that clearly suggest a connection to the Olympic Movement or the 2010 Winter Games -- such as the Olympic Rings, the Olympic Torch, the Olympic Motto, emblems relating to the 2010 Winter Games. or start using their names or marks for new kinds of businesses, in new locations or in new ways.

  • Businesses that began using the word "Olympic" (or similar terms) in their names or marks after January 1998 -- without the permission of VANOC, the COC or the IOC -- may have done so to take unfair advantage of Vancouver's bid to host the 2010 Winter Games. Unauthorized use that began after July 2, 2003 - when the IOC awarded the 2010 Winter Games to Vancouver - was even more likely to have been prompted by the opportunity to take unfair commercial advantage of the Games. VANOC will likely require those businesses to change their names and marks and stop using all symbols that suggest a connection to the Olympic Movement.


These guidelines are not hard and fast rules, and will not be applied arbitrarily. VANOC will assess each business individually, and will carefully consider all of the circumstances.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on November 8, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #648
VANOC LOGO DELAYED TILL SPRING; FRENCH SOON TO BE SPOKEN OFFICIALLY BY VANOC; FIRST-YEAR FINANCIALS DELAYED BY STAMPING ERROR


Three more moguls we bumped into today...

  • The original plan for making public the chosen logo of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games was to release it on February 12, which would be five years away from the Games' Opening Ceremony. Now, says senior vice-president of Revenue, Marketing and Communications for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee, Dave Cobb, it looks like it won't be made public before April. That's going to leave a marketing gap of several months between when agreements over the use of the Bid Corporation's logo expire, on December 31, and when companies, such as telecommunications sponsor Bell Canada can use a Games mark. In addition, Cobb has been alluding to the fact that, as part of the Olympic brand-protection strategy, VANOC or the Canadian Olympic Committee have been telling firms selling souvenir merchandise, such as T-shirts, to stop doing so and turn over their materials to VANOC. Cobb is aware there's a demand for such items and that he'd like to start selling authorized materials as soon as possible after January 1. "If we had done it by now [approved the logo] we could have started selling on it in January, but we're doing things as fast as we can." The delay, says Cobb, is due to the length of time to clear the logo legally through the trademark requirements of more than 200 countries. Some remnants of the Bid Corporation logo will likely be around for a few months into 2005, says VANOC spokesman Sam Corea, until Bid supporters, such as Helijet and trucking firms repaint their vehicles. "But," he adds, "that's part of the marketplace clean-up we have to do," referring to other brand-protection measures VANOC and the Canadian Olympic Committee have underway.

  • The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee's CEO, John Furlong, says the organization will beef up its bilingual staffing over the next few months, and that VANOC's "on the 70-yard line" in its efforts to find and hire a Communications Vice-President who speaks French as well as English. Although French is one of the International Olympic Committee's official languages, as well as one of Canada's, neither Furlong, his senior vice-president of Revenue, Marketing and Communications, Dave Cobb, nor current Communications Director Sam Corea speak French. "I'm about half-fluent," says Corea, who also says he isn't applying for the position to which he will eventually report. "I already have a job," he says. French-Canadian news media, both those in Vancouver and Quebec, have been feeling frustrated with the lack of French-speaking capability within VANOC. "We have some people who can speak French," Furlong says, "But they wouldn't be comfortable talking to the news media."

  • A problem with reproduction of documents is reportedly the reason for the delayed release of VANOC's first financial report. Its first fiscal year ended July 31 and auditors Ernst & Young, the VANOC Board of Directors Audit Committee and the Board itself have apparently signed off on the documents, which are also filed with the International Olympic Committee and the B.C. Government. When documents were received they were "stamped wrong" and had to be reprinted. The current release date? "A few weeks" from now.


Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on November 8, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #647
PUBLIC RELATIONS INVOKED TO EASE PUBLIC CONCERNS OVER BRAND-PROTECTION PERCEPTIONS


The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee has taken a public-relations tack to see if it can soften some of the hard edges it has acquired because of the way the Canadian Olympic Committee has approached Vancouver-area businesses with its brand-protection policies.

VANOC CEO John Furlong, and his senior vice-president of Revenue, Marketing and Communications, Dave Cobb, held a news conference today to see if they can clear up a number of media and community misunderstandings about Olympic brand protection. There have been several high-profile cases -- one involving a pizza restaurant in Vancouver and a construction firm in Squamish -- where the Canadian Olympic Committee has sent legalistic letters to firms they consider to be violating Olympic trademarks.

Some of those receiving the letters have gone public with their opposition, blaming VANOC, and various major news media have reported their complaints without context. That, in turn, has caused VANOC to receive what Furlong calls a range of reaction from the public, from those opposing the activities to those encouraging them.

Furlong says, for instance that he personally met Friday, the day after Furlong returned from meetings with Olympic officials in Beijing, with Mosi Alvand, the co-owner of Olympia Pizza & Pasta Restaurant in downtown Vancouver and one of the most vocal to express his concern. "We stood on the street and looked at the sign and talked about it. He received a letter he didn't like," said Furlong. "But he's a good guy; he's a decent individual. What he had done was inadvertent."

The signage, which has been in place for a decade, shows the five Olympic rings and a torch under the arch of the firm's name. Furlong says he's offered to help Alvand get out of his dilemma -- the rings and torches from his large sign and etched into glass inside the restaurant have to go -- and reported that Alvand said he would talk to the restaurant partners and get back to Furlong. Alvand told him that some restaurant patrons were so upset by the reported situation, they offered to put the sign right back up again if Alvand was forced to take it down.

Furlong noted that Athens had a zero-tolerance policy when it came to brand protection and refused to allow any use of the Olympic branding, even with non-commercial organizations, and, says Furlong, they "took some heat from that." But, Furlong said, "We're going to examine each one on a case-by-case basis. We're going to be human about it. We're going to start with the assumption that the use was inadvertent and go from there," Furlong said.

Cobb said VANOC has begun the legal process of taking over the protection of the official Olympic marks from the Canadian Olympic Committee, and expects to complete it by the end of the year, when VANOC has legal rights from the International Olympic Committee to the marketplace.

Cobb also reiterated that companies using Olympic-related branding from before 1998, which was when it became generally known that Vancouver wanted to be a host city for the Winter Games, were not likely to be bothered about it. But he said most of the problems VANOC or the COC lawyers have encountered have dealt with web sites or web uses of the marks since 1998 -- he didn't have exact numbers about violators but said the numbers were "in the double-digits" and legal action has been started involving the owners of the websites vancouver2010.ca and whistler2010.ca.

Cobb also said any use of the combination of the number "2010" with "Vancouver", "Whistler" or Olympic marks would also be barred.

Both Furlong and Cobb, who noted that they had talked about brand protection in various media interviews, and had distributed 10,000 copies of a brand-protection brochure since this summer in an effort to avoid problems with its reputation, took more than 45 minutes this afternoon to answer media questions about aspects of the policy.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on November 8, 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 |Moguls| #646
WHISTLER HAS TO DECIDE BY APRIL ON SLEDGE-HOCKEY PLANS; VANOC ABOUT TO START IBC PLANNING TALKS WITH CONVENTION CENTRE; VENUES HAVE SEVERAL LEVELS OF COMPLEXITY


Four more moguls we bumped into today...

  • Whistler continues to explore the three sites which municipal staff have identified for a possible sledge-hockey arena. They have until April to let the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee know how they're going to approach the project. The Whistler municipal government had also been mulling over the possibility of putting an addition on the existing sports and recreation centre in its Meadow Park location for the Paralympic sledge hockey arena, instead of building a C$40 million multi-plex centre in Whistler. VANOC has budgeted C$20 million for sledge hockey, which must seat at least 3,500. Besides the difference in funding, a facility built at Meadow Park would be community-oriented, while a facility in the village could have additional uses and might present more opportunities for corporate partnerships. There will probably be eight countries taking part in the sledge-hockey games.

  • VANOC will shortly be talking over its plans for the International Broadcast Centre with the project team building the huge new downtown Vancouver Trade and Convention Centre. The C$565 million project's ground-breaking ceremony was held this this morning and should be finished by the summer of 2008. VANOC wants to identify whether there is money the Organizing Committee should be spending now to reduce costs and make things easier for when it's time to install the Olympic overlay, as it calls it, on the Centre when the time comes to get it ready for the swarms of media arriving to cover the 2010 Games. VANOC will contribute an additional C$10 million to the Centre's operational budget for being able to commandeer the Centre in the fall of 2009 and early winter of 2010. VANOC's senior vice-president of Venues, Steve Matheson, says the IBC "will be completely built out within the building, and we'll be starting that construction in July or August of 2009. It'll be a complicated build-out in a fairly short period, so we're going to have to do a lot of planning in conjunction with the Olympic Broadcast Service, which is the driving force in this, and the various key broadcasters." America's NBC will be the main broadcaster in the complex, but the OBS will be likely the second largest, and there will also be broadcasting teams from the Canadian broadcaster, yet to be chosen, and from the European Union. All of the non-broadcast media will also be working in the building. "We'll be trying to remit the systems requirements, from our perspective, into the base building," says Matheson. "We won't have major changes to their plans; it's more along the lines of conduits and cabling," and similar infrastructure that should be put in place as the building is built.

  • VANOC's Matheson says stakeholder management adds a level of complexity to constructing the 2010 Olympic Games that isn't normally seen in most commercial or industrial construction, but it's an essential part of the process. VANOC has seven partners -- mostly various levels of government -- and a number of international and national sports federations that all have some involvement in the venue planning and oversight. "And," he notes, dryly, "they all want to know what's going on." The other level of complexity not normally found are some of the functional operational areas, such as transportation, security and broadcasting, which all have to be taken into account during the design of the venues. "We pick up the pieces when we need them," he says. "We don't need to think too much about cleaning and waste handling yet, but we do need to think about [the functional items] as they affect the design of the facilities." Add to those three layers is that planning also has to take into consideration the Olympic overlay construction requirements -- where the buildings are transformed into Olympic-specific requirements just before the Games -- with the on-going, or legacy aspects of how the buildings will be used after the Games. "It takes a little bit more time and thought to do that integration up front, but it's going to save a lot of money, and hopefully, we'll save some time."

  • Yes, we're keeping track for you: We've reported on three separate events that involve VANOC CEO John Furlong speaking at conferences in the next few months. None of them have yet appeared on the provincial government's new 2010 Commerce Centre website, which continues to report on a number of impending events that have nothing to do with the Olympics, some of which it says are to take place last October.


Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on November 8, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #645
NEWS OF EARLY VANCOUVER ATHLETE'S VILLAGE MAY BE PREMATURE; FURLONG TO EARTH; CIBC BACKS ALPINE WORLD CUP AGAIN


Three moguls we bumped into today...

  • A rumour has been in the wind in Vancouver that the City of Vancouver, which is in charge of building the Vancouver Athletes Village as part of a redevelopment of southeast False Creek, is thinking of building the series of apartment-style complexes, centred on Manitoba St and Second Avenue, relatively early instead of having them ready by the summer of 2009 as current planning envisions. The rationale was to avoid construction skill shortages forecast to be bad by 2008, and to reduce costs, but that would mean having the buildings occupied, perhaps on short-term leases that end in 2009, so the housing wouldn't stand empty. But it's news to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee's senior vice-president of Venues, Steve Matheson. "No, that's not been articulated to VANOC, at all," he reports, adding, "I don't think you'll see the general public in those buildings before the athletes." Going early would have a number of ramifications to schedules and cash flow for VANOC, but Matheson says there would be other worries, too. "It would be very difficult to get people out of their homes, even though we've told them they're temporary homes. But it's really the city's issue. We'll engage in discussions with them on it, but it's really not our decision."

  • VANOC CEO John Furlong is due to be the keynote speaker at the 19th annual GeoTec Event, a trade show and conference for the geo-technical industry, which this year is taking place in the Bayshore Resort in downtown Vancouver from Sunday, February 13 to Wednesday, the 16th. The organizers say the event's theme, "Providing Perspective, Gaining Insight, speaks to the profound impact that geospatial technology can have on complex organizations and events such as the Olympics. Several sessions are planned around the Olympic theme." The conference aims to showcase advanced earth-sciences technology. Exhibits this year include companies such as ESRI Canada, Radarsat, Autodesk, Intergraph, MapInfo, Hewlett-Packard and Leica Geosystems as well as several Canadian universities. Furlong speaks at the breakfast on the 16th. The talk is entitled, “Canada’s Time to Shine,” and organizers are billing it as a "rousing call to make these games the best they can be". It will be coupled by several technical sessions designed to "outline the impact geospatial technology can have on an event of this magnitude." They've invited several information technology representatives from both the Salt Lake City and Athens Olympic games to speak on how geospatial technology was used for security, logistics, transportation and planning.

  • Alpine Canada reports that one of Canada's national banks, the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, will again be the title sponsor for the Lake Louise Winterstart World Cup late this month. It's the second year in a row for CIBC to sponsor the event. Since finding various opportunities for marketing connected with the athletes is one of the requirements for any sponsor of events, there will be some new off-snow festivals, which will be held at Lake Louise, Alberta, during the World Cup race series. One group are the Calgary Stampede's "Barn Burner" parties, scheduled for November 26 and 27 and open to adults (18 and older). All of the members of the Canadian Alpine Ski Team have agreed to be at the news conference announcing the Winterstart World Cup events and at events to inaugurate the launch of the 2004-2005 ski racing season. As for the sports part, the men start the series with a downhill race on November 27 and a super G on November 28. The women will race the following weekend with two downhills on December 3 and 4, and a super G on December 5. For this series of races, on-site public viewing areas are only at the base of the ski hill.



Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on November 8, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |Business| #643
SUBSIDARY OF FIRM TIED TO SALT LAKE OLYMPIC SCANDAL EXPECTED TO DO BUSINESS IN 2010


The companies approved by the Canadian Olympic Committee as the exclusive ticket seller and arranger of VIP travel packages for the Torino Winter Olympics in Canada are controlled by a man who was given immunity from prosecution for his testimony at the Salt Lake City Olympics bribery trial.

And, it appears, we're going to be hearing more from him.

Torino tickets went on sale for the first time Thursday. The companies involved, Jet Set Sports and its wholly owned subsidiary, CoSport, have reached "an exclusive agreement" with the United States Olympic Committee and the U.S. Olympic Team, which extends their existing sponsorship of those organizations through the 2012 Olympic Games. This sponsorship, estimated at US$20 million, means that CoSport will be the "exclusive provider of consumer Olympic Hospitality Programs and individual tickets for the USOC and the U.S. Olympic Team" for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.

"Sure, we know Jet Set Sports," said, Sam Corea, the Communications director of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee, who did not go into detail.

Jet Set Sports and CoSport, both of Far Hills, New Jersey, about 30 kilometres west of New York, are ultimately owned by Global Sports Consultants, LLC, also of Far Hills. The President and CEO of GSC is Sead Dizdarevic, according to information supplied by the U.S. Olympic Committee. As the official corporate-hospitality sponsor of the Salt Lake City Games, Jet Set Sports reportedly brought 16,000 visitors through the city, filled 18,000 hotel beds, served 132,000 meals and sold tickets worth US$23-million. Jet Set's Olympic-related sales to Chevron, Texaco, AOL, Time Warner, Merrill Lynch and McDonald's and similar firms were estimated to be worth about US$80 million.

Dizdarevic, according to news reports of government filings at the time, told U.S. prosecutors, after being granted immunity from charges related to his testimony, he had given US$131,000 in cash to the leaders of Salt Lake's Olympic Bid Committee, dispensing the money himself at hotels and airports in 1994 and 1995. The allegations, which did not end Dizdarevic's Olympics affiliations, were said to be the basis of the government's 15-count indictment of the bid group's top two officers for racketeering and fraud.

VANOC's Corea points out those charges were later dismissed. "None of it was proved," he said. The reports indicated that defense lawyers were able to explain what their clients did with the funds received from Dizdarevic, but they did not, apparently, refute what Dizdarevic testified he did.

Jackie DeSousa, the communications chief of the Canadian Olympic Committee, which has a link to CoSport adjacent to the Torino Olympics logo on the home page of the COC's website, confirms the COC's deal. "Our agreement is with Global Sports Consultants -- doing business as Jet Set Sports -- and with Cooperative Sports -- doing business as CoSport. We have an agreement with Jet Set and CoSport to be the official ticket sales agent for the 2006 Olympic Games."

DeSousa says the two companies have somewhat different roles. "CoSport is the exclusive ticket agent for individual tickets and ticket and accommodation packages, and Jet Set is responsible for corporate hospitality packages."

She also says the firms have some history with the Olympics behind them. "These companies were the official ticket agents for the Athens organizing committee and are also the official ticket agent for the Turin organizing committee. We had an agreement with them for the Athens Games as well. We felt the Athens program was very successful and certainly our sponsors felt the same way. They were very pleased with the services provided by Jet Set. Jet Set and CoSport were also the official ticket agents for other national Olympic committees including the USOC."

Jet Set Sports and CoSport are not limited to Canada. Jet Set says it has the exclusive rights to market and sell hospitality programs and packages for the Torino 2006 Olympic Games to corporations and individual consumers in Canada, the United States, Bulgaria, Poland and Slovak Republic. CoSport is the official source for Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games event tickets in those countries.

Dizdarevic, who is reported to have already booked 500 rooms in Beijing, was in Vancouver about a year ago. On November 14, 2003, the Vancouver Board of Trade sponsored a Greater Vancouver Leadership Summit. One of the panel break-out sessions was about sponsorship and the 2010 Winter Olympics. Dizdarevic was one of the panel members, along with the panel's moderator, Linda Oglov, who was then Vice President of Marketing, Vancouver 2010 Transition Team, Gordon Goodman who is still the executive Director of Business Development Programs for the BC Olympic Games Secretariat and Linda Harmon. Harmon was listed at the time in her role as Associate Director of the BC Children’s Hospital Foundation, but she was on her way to becoming a key member of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee's marketing team.

Dizdarevic told the panel audience, "there is certainly no shame in making money from the Games, but do it honestly. It only needs one who is selfish to taint the industry."

Oglov resigned her role at VANOC last March to become the president of Altius Sport Marketing. Altius is a division of Vancouver's Cossette Communication Group, which handled the public relations activities of the 2010 Business Summit meeting earlier this year in Vancouver, and Oglov was in the audience when Bell Canada was awarded the telecommunications sponsorship for VANOC late last month. Bell and the Canadian oil firm, Petro-Canada, were the two founding clients of Altiuis.

RESOURCES

Jet Set Sports home page:
http://www.jetsetsports.com

Jet Set Sports' version of its history with Olympic Games:
http://www.jetsetsports.com/flash/resume.html

CoSport's home page:
http://www.cosport.com/

Wall St. Journal article from 2002 about Sead Dizdarevic:
http://deseretnews.com/oly/view/print/0,4060,70001345,00.html

Salt Lake City Weekly article about how Dizdarevic did business in the hospitality industry during the 2002 Winter Games:
http://www.slweekly.com/editorial/2000/city_2_000727.cfm

New York Times article from 2003, summarizing Salt Lake Fraud case:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/28/sports/othersports/28OLY.html?ex=1070600400&en=d161b1421128b5b4&ei=5062&partner=

Google's cache of a Salt Lake City Tribune newspaper article about testimony of Dizdarevic's involvement:
http://tinyurl.com/64f9o

The Canadian Olympic Committee's discussion about its arrangements with CoSport and Jet Set Sports:
http://www.olympic.ca/EN/organization/news/2003/0515.shtml

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on November 5, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #642
POWELL RIVER TO FOCUS ON CULTURAL FOR 2010; 2010 COMMITTEE RENAMING RATIONALE; CAROL'S NEW RING TONES


Three moguls we bumped into today...

  • Powell River, a town 135 kilometres north of Vancouver on the B.C. coast, is apparently going to focus on cultural aspects as it develops its 2010 Olympics ideas. The group responsible for overseeing that was originally called the Powell River 2010 Committee, but, thanks to the urging of 2010 LegaciesNow, which wants all the equivalent provincial committees renamed to include the phrase "Spirit of BC", it's now called the Powell River Ajoomixw Spirit of BC Community Committee. The group has been meeting since 2003 and it's already posted a website inviting teams and athletes around the world to consider Powell River sports resources -- the local recreational complex and curling rink -- for training purposes. Heritage Canada this year awarded Powell River the rank of Cultural Capital in Canada, and the Committee intends to leverage that for the 2010 Cultural Olympiad, a program that starts in 2006, after the Torino winter Olympics concludes and full-tilt marketing can begin. Chair Joyce Carlson says her group will told a "town hall" meeting in Powell River November 30 to discuss what it's doing, what it's planning and to hear from guest speaker Lori Baxter from ArtsNow, a program of 2010LegaciesNow.

  • And why rename all the 2010 municipal committees? VANOC director of Communications, Sam Corea, says it's for a couple of reasons. One is because VANOC doesn't want the 2010 brand to be connected to sports-related concepts and organizations, except as authorized, and, secondly, the concept of "2010" in the name of such a committee gives the connotation that the kind of work that 2010 LegaciesNow, which works with the municipal committees, will be focusing them on doing will be ending in 2010, and it won't.

  • Tourism Vancouver suggests, when the 12 days of Christmas carol is sung between now and 2010, that part of the lyrics be adjusted to "five Olympic Rings"...


RESOURCES

The 2004 list of Cultural Capitals of Canada, from the federal government's Heritage Department. Powell River's entry is described; scroll down two or three screens:
http://www.canadianheritage.gc.ca/progs/ccc/ccc2004_e.cfm
Olympic and other sports figures connected to Powell River:
http://www.prreds.com/2010_Local_Champions.htm

Everything you might want to know about Powell River & 2010:
http://www.prreds.com/2010_about_us.htm

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on November 5, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |Torino| #641
THE STRATEGY BEHIND THE SALE OF TICKETS TO THE 2006 WINTER GAMES IN ITALY


In earlier stories, we told you a bit about how the ticket sales for the Torino Winter Olympics match with those originally budgeted by the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee.

Here, in more detail, are how the Torino ticket-sales campaigns are structured and the marketing strategy behind that structure.

There are two phases. The first one starts tomorrow and ends on December 15th. The second phase starts February 10 and continues until the Games start, exactly one year after the start of the second phase.

In the first phase -- and only for the events where the demand for tickets outstrips supply -- a system of random selection will be applied to guarantee that all would-be purchasers have the same chance to have the tickets. That's designed to guarantee as much equity and transparency as possible, and to offset adverse publicity.

By the end of first phase, which is this January 31, organizers say that ticket buyers will receive official notification from Torino 2006 confirming the tickets were successfully purchased.

In the second ticket-sale phase, which starts February 10th, the public will be able to buy tickets over the Internet, by phone or in person in real time for any of the 177 sports events they want to attend. The purchaser receives a voucher at the time of the purchase; the actual tickets, however, will not be delivered to their address until just a few weeks before the start of the Games. The idea here is to reduce the possibility the tickets will be counterfeited.

As we mentioned earlier, about 35% of the available tickets have already been booked by the Olympic family -- representatives of the National Olympic Committees throughout the world, the Torino Games sponsors, the international sports federations and the Games' broadcasters. However, a quota of at least 20% of the places has been reserved for each Game.

The organizers say that setting up the sales into phases should help bolster sales because sports fans have a full choice among all the events on the calendar and among all the different price ranges.

The public will have to decide whether there's an advantage to buying early, or waiting until the second phase. In February, when the second stage of sales starts, the tickets for some of the most popular competitions, like the hockey finals, figure skating and speed skating, or the opening and closing ceremonies, may be sold out.

The prices vary depending on the discipline and the event. Two or three price brackets are planned for each event, depending on the spectators’ positions at the racing venues. The tickets most requested by the Olympic Family, according to organizers, are for hockey, as well as and speedskating and figure skating, but the initial demand is expected to be high for freestyle and curling.

The United States, Canada and France are countries where pre-sale demand is seen as high, but organizers were somewhat surprised by pre-sale strength from Japan, Russia and Holland.


BACKGROUND

In Europe, the Torino organizing committee has set up sales points that include 3,000 branches of the Sanpaolo bank, and banks of the Group, which is one of the major sponsors of Torino 2006, and the 400 sales points of the TicketMaster subsidiary, TicketOne. There's also a ticket sales call centre set up by the organizers directly connected to the Organizing Committee.

--

Exchange rates between the Canadian dollar and the Euro at the moment:
e1 = C$1.55
C$1 = e0.65

--

The single sports events will have prices that vary: from 20 euro to e70 to watch a curling match, from e25 to e110 for the alpine skiing events, from e20 to e70 for cross-country skiing, from e35 to e90 for snowboard, from e20 to e90 for freestyle, from e20 to e60 for biathlon, from e60 to e90 for the Nordic combined, between e35 and e170 for ski jumping, from e25 to e50 euro for the bob and luge races, from e35 to e50 for skeleton, from e30 to e95 for speed skating, from e40 to e90 for short track, between e70 and e300 for figure skating and between e20 and e350 for the hockey games.

Some examples of price bracketing within events: for the men’s super-G, there will be two price brackets, e30 and e110; for the short track finals, the tickets will have three: e40, e70 and e90.

To be present at the Opening Ceremony of the Games, a show expected to be watched by more than three billion people in a worldwide telecast, the organizers hope people will spend between e250 and e850; while the Closing Ceremony will have prices that range from e200 to e600.

--

VANOC's estimated single-ticket price range for 2010 events, expressed in 2002 Canadian dollars. The 2004 Euro equivalent is in brackets:
  • Opening Ceremonies C$120 (e76) to C$1,100 (e704)
  • Closing Ceremonies C$95 (e60) to C$950 (e600)
  • For prime events, such as skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, or other sports with particularly strong appeal $45 (e29) to C$430 (e275)
  • Other events C$30 (e20) to C$140 (e90)


RESOURCES

Earlier Morgan:News:2010 stories on the subject:

  • Structure of Torino Olympic ticket sales packaged to move 1.5 million tickets - [Morgan:News:2010:Number:638; Published on Wednesday, November 3, 2004]

  • C$4.6 million ad campaign to launch ticket sales for Italy's Winter Olympics - Morgan:News:2010:Number:622; Published on Friday, October 29, 2004]



Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on November 3, 2004



Morgan:News:2010 |IOC| #640
IOC'S TRANSFER-OF-KNOWLEDGE PROGRAM WINDS UP IN BEIJING


The three-day Transfer of Knowledge debriefing of the Athens 2004 Summer Games has wrapped up in Beijing, where the 2008 Games will be held, and Vancouver 2010 CEO John Furlong, one of about 400 people at the meeting, is expected back in Vancouver tomorrow.

Reports filtering out of the session, which began Monday in China, haven't been detailed. The topics covered, though, are said to have included the behind-the-scenes operational experiences in sports, finance, Games identity and vision, venue planning and operation, volunteer recruitment, Games-time operations, test events and the Paralympic Games.

Marton Simitsek, the executive director and chief operating officer of the Athens 2004 Organizing Committee, said the organizing committees of future Olympics, such as Vancouver's, weren't at the meeting to get specific answers to problems or questions they have. In a news conference in Beijing today, Simitsek said: "We didn't come here to solve problems. We didn't come to give them direct answers to questions. We came here only to give them our experience of the Games. We hope that our experience will be profitably adapted to their needs. They'll go their own way."

One item of interest that came out of Transfer of Knowledge meeting was something the Greek government did in connection with tourism spawned by the Athens Games. It has reportedly set up a strategic plan with the goal of increasing the ratio of tourism's component in the Greek gross domestic product from 18% to 40% by the end of 2010. The idea is create 150,000 more jobs in the Greek tourism industry, which reportedly employs 800,000 people now.

It was also noted that Beijing intends to increase the number of doping tests conducted for the Athens Games by 1,000 to 4,500, indicating there is likely to be a stringent program in place for 2010.

BACKGROUND

The IOC’s Transfer of Knowledge program -- in addition to meetings with staff and management before, during and after Games are held -- also involves a private knowledge base that can be accessed by organizing committee staff over the Internet. The database, first developed in Australia for the 2000 Summer Games, now includes significant reports by organizing committee staff as well as plans and information from each area of Olympic Games management.

The observers’ program, which happens around specific Games, allows those involved in setting up future Games, such as the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Organizing Committee, to see the work done by other organizing committees. A second branch of the program that ensures executives and staff get first-hand knowledge from their colleagues at other Games.

RESOURCES

Photos from the Beijing Transfer-of-Knowledge meeting are here:
http://en.beijing-2008.org/68/69/article211636968.shtml

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on November 3, 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 |Moguls| #639
FURLONG TO SPEAK IN NANAIMO, RICHMOND; 2010 LEGACIESNOW MEETS IN SUMMERLAND; KERMODE BEAR MASCOT GOES DVD


Three moguls we bumped into today...

  • VANOC CEO John Furlong will be the keynote speaker at the 2004 Annual General Meeting dinner meeting of the Greater Nanaimo Chamber of Commerce on November 10. Furlong is also scheduled to be the headline speaker at the fourth annual "Volunteer are Stars" Awards dinner in Richmond. That's the suburb of Vancouver to which VANOC moved the 2010 speedskating oval earlier this year and transferred away the 2010 International Broadcast Centre. He'll be speaking on December 1. The dinner starts at 5:30 pm at the Radisson President Hotel.

  • The Summerland Olympic Committee met last week with officials from the 2010 LegaciesNow Community Committee. The group has been travelling the province since the beginning of September. providing information on the objectives and programs of 2010 LegaciesNow with all the Spirit of B.C. Community Committees established to help drive the interests of each town or city leading up to the games. Jo Ann Reynolds, the Marketing and Events Coordinator with the Summerland Chamber of Economic Development and Tourism, says the group spent "a couple of hours discussing the status of our plan and learning more about how we can help businesses in Summerland benefit from this world-class event."

  • The push to have the kermode bear become the mascot of the 2010 Winter Games continues -- relentlessly, in the eyes of some. For instance, the local 2010 booster committee in Terrace, in northwest British Columbia, which has come up with all kinds of ways to promoting the mascot idea for the white bears, a genetic variation of B.C.'s common black bear that also go more recently by the nickname of "spirit bear", want the B.C. Liberal party to endorse their idea. And they're releasing a three-minute video on DVD about the bears and the idea to be distributed by a few hundred so-called "influential decision makers." The Liberals are in Whistler for a party policy convention, and it'll be talked up there, according to the chair of the committee, John Taylor. The Liberal constituency association president for Skeena, the area that includes Terrace and Kitimat, is Lael McKeown, who will try to present the following motion to the Liberal policy convention for a vote: "The unique Kermode (Spirit) bear repr