Morgan:News:2010:Bronze Edition: October 2005

Monday, October 31, 2005

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Morgan:News:2010 |Sports| #1274
ALPINE CANADA NOT EXPECTING SPONSORSHIP 'CHILL' FROM VANOC - ESSO MARKETING CONTROVERSY

The president of Alpine Canada, one of the most business-like national sports organizations in the country, says he doubts if the recently settled blow-up between the 2010 Organizing Committee and Esso Canada will affect sports sponsorship.

Some businesses that sponsor national sport organizations were just as surprised as anybody at the way the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) took Esso to task over a contest the oil company was running to promote Hockey Canada, another national sports organization. They were wondering if they should have a closer look at the wording of their own sponsorship agreements.

However, Alpine Canada's Ken Read says about corporate sponsorships, "We do not expect any chill Ð- in fact the market has been very active. Many Canadian corporations realize only a handful of corporations will be able to acquire Olympic rights. Many are active on an annual basis within sport, focusing their resources to support the development of high-performance programs. Some 'bridge' between Olympic and non-Olympic [sponsorship], often becoming [national sports organization] sponsors as well to gain access to athletes, events for annual client hosting and to be seen investing in athlete-development programs."

In fact, says Read, the sponsorship market has been so active for sports recently that, "I would propose that we are beginning to see a much higher level of interest in supporting our amateur athletes, as Canadian corporations realize this is something Canadians support -Ð that it is good for the motivation of youth, for nation building and community investment as well as good for business."

Read says it's important to keep the issue between VANOC and Esso in perspective, "The ownership issue [of rights] between Olympic and non-Olympic sponsors is not new. Each time Canada has hosted the Games -- 1976, 1988 and now 2010 -- the issue is closer to the surface, but for a national sport organization that is active in the market, these rights are closely monitored by all parties... We make it clear to our commercial partners that we do not own Olympic rights or imagery and work closely with them in the development of their PR activities and leveraging."

Read says that brand protection between VANOC and the national sports organizations (NSOs) is a two-way street, and he's happy to be on it. "VANOC has been extremely supportive, working to protect our properties as well. They have communicated to us recently that they are requiring all Olympic/Paralympic sponsors to clear image use of a sport with the NSO. This is an extremely effective philosophy, as it protects the NSO from any implied connection to athlete development or an individual athlete that may be conveyed through imagery or association."

Read notes that all winter national sports organizations were required to sign, back when VANOC's predecessor, the Bid Corporation, was preparing its bid, documents that made marketing and promotional boundaries clear. "A sport is permitted to promote all aspects of athlete development, programs, events right to the World Cup and World Championships. The Canadian Olympic Committee owns the Olympic Team and all rights associated with it. Typically, as is the case for 2010, these properties are seconded to the Olympic Organizing Committee."

Alpine Canada is running promotions to get people to attend its World Cup events in Lake Louise, Kitzbhel and Cortina, in association with its sponsors. Adds Read, "We use references to the Olympic/Paralympic Team, preparation for the Games and other imagery, but only in news content and never in connection with a commercial partnership."

Read says this may seem limiting to national sports organizations, but he says that "Each does receive significant direct benefit from the Olympic/Paralympic partnership, through 'Own the Podium', through Olympic/Paralympic preparation and finally through the support provided to the athletes, coaches, support staff and NSO through the Olympic/Paralympic Games Missions of the COC and Canadian Paralympic Committee."

BACKGROUND

The Business of Alpine Canada's Draw

Alpine Canada's upcoming World Cup events at Lake Louise is expected to attract the second-largest international TV audience for an annual sporting event in Canada. It's expected this time to be an accumulated audience of about 120 million for the five events, which are broadcast live to about 50 countries.

The event, from Alpine Canada's point of view, is an anchor to the western Canadian tourism market. It's an early season primer aimed at the C$350-million destination tourism market for skiers and snowboarder who travel to the Alberta Rockies. It's also, according to market research, one of the most significant drivers for the C$9 billion tourism market of western Canada.

This is one reason Travel Alberta, Banff-Lake Louise Tourism, the Fairmont Chateau at Lake Louise and the Lake Louise Mountain Resort have all stepped up their investment into the event significantly.

It's also a major corporate-hosting event, bolstered by the World Cup Business forum, now in its third year. The annual direct investment of the World Cup into the local economy is reportedly about C$7 million.

Alpine Canada has sponsors a several levels of its sport program: The Husky Snow Stars Skill Development program for children age five to 10); the Devonian Properties Rising Star camps, known as the MARS K2 for those aged 13 to 14); and the J1, for ages 15 to 16, plus the Canadian Alpine Championships, the Pontiac GMC Cup and Canadian Championships, the CIBC Coupe Nor-Am Cup and the Telus Canadian Disabled Alpine Ski Championship.

Alpine's sponsor tiers are in four levels, Platinum: C$1 million or more; Summit: C$500,000 to C$1 million; Champion: C$200,000 to $500,00 and Sponsor: below C$200,000.

In the past three months, Alpine Canada has added two new Summit partners: Husky Oil, moving up from Champion, and the company called Resorts of the Canadian Rockies. As well, it has recently signed two new Champion partners -- the accounting and management consulting firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers and Sun Microsystems. Alpine Canada is now working on two more partners in the coming weeks Ð one for the Summit class and one Champion class.

RESOURCES

Alpine Canada's website page listing its major corporate sponsors:
www.canski.org/e/html/services/e_sponsors.htm

This is the link to Esso Canada's contest, which, as of this writingg, has not yet been updated as a result of the company's negotiations with VANOC:

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on October 31, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #1273
FURLONG REPORTS NEGOTIATONS HAVE RESOLVED AMBUSH-MARKETING CONTROVERSY INVOLVING IMPERIAL OIL

The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) says that after a day of negotiations on Friday, it and Imperial Oil have resolved their differences over how the oil company was promoting its Hockey Canada sponsorship.

John Furlong, VANOC CEO, said in a statement, "After working diligently over the past 24 hours, VANOC and Esso have reached agreement on modifications to the "Cheer On Canada/Torino, Italy" promotion so that it is no longer associated with the 2006 Olympic Winter Games and Canada's Olympic Team."

The issue was over a contest that Imperial Oil subsidiary Esso Canada was running to promote its sponsorship of the national sports federation, Hockey Canada. The main prize of the contest -- besides a return business-class trip for two to Torino, Italy, a hotel stay and C$3,000 in spending money -- included tickets to see Canada's "national" team play in Torino in February. No mention was made at any part of the contest about the Olympics.

VANOC's statement and the original complaint by VANOC, alleged in a prepared news conference in Calgary last week, made no mention in specific terms of what aspects of this incorporated ambush marketing, other than the relatively vague comment that the contest created "an association" with the Torino Winter Olympics.

The major point of contention, according to VANOC communications department representative Mary Fraser, was the purchase of Olympic tickets for promotional purposes, which she says violates rules of the International Olympic Committee, and the reference to the "national" team. "The only team representing Canada in Torino in February is the Canadian Olympic Team," she notes.

Fraser, who worked with the sports federation that represents Canadian freestyle skiing for 10 years before recently joining VANOC's communications section, says that all the national sports federations are "well aware" of what can be done or not done in reference to Olympic promotion.

Hockey Canada, however, earlier defended Esso's contest and the way it was promoted.

The news conference that brought the matter to light was held in the middle of last week's news cycle and, as a result, there were numerous stories that carried VANOC's point of view. However, the news release from VANOC that announced the resolution of the controversy was issued at 7:15 pm Vancouver time Friday evening. The timing relegated news coverage of the solution to small stories well buried in weekend newspapers and only minor coverage during the weekend news cycle.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on October 31, 2005

Friday, October 28, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #1272

VANOC PREFERS BUSES TO VANCOUVER-SQUAMISH FERRY

As we understand it, VANOC isn't going to go ahead with the idea of a passenger-ferry service between Vancouver and Squamish, and is instead expected to use a large fleet of buses, many of which it is expected to store near the Cambie Bridge in Vancouver, to move people between Vancouver and Whistler venues during the 2010 Winter Games. The possibility of such a ferry has been on the table since 2002, when it was suggested in advance of the Vancouver bid being made to the International Olympic Committee. At the time, the ferry decision, part of a series of options that covered highway and rail work, was expected to cost C$270 million, with an annual operating expense of C$7.5 million. Various reports indicate VANOC won't finalize its transportation studies until it can incorporate the experience of the Torino Winter Olympics, which VANOC intends to observe starting in February, but dealing with the numbers of people travelling the highway in the morning is a major factor in the planning. While the Games are on, it's said that people in Vancouver going to Whistler will have to board a bus, and residents living along the highway will likely require a permit to travel it while the Games are on. It's expected that there will also be security checks along the highway.

VANOC CONTRIBUTION TO RICHMOND OVAL HOLDS AT C$60 MILLION
VANOC has again told Richmond, as planning for the new Richmond sports complex nears an end, that its contribution to the project won't exceed C$60 million, which is for the centrepiece of the complex: the long-track speedskating oval. The entire complex, due to be completed in early 2008, is expected to cost nearly three times the VANOC contribution, about C$178 million.

KODAK SETS UP TRIP-TO-TORINO CONTEST
Kodak, which is a corporate sponsor of the International Olympic Committee, today announced its ÔGo for the Gold' photo contest. It intends to give away four six-day trips to Torino, Italy, for the Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games. The US company says the contest is open to anyone to submit a picture and story of "their greatest personal 'Olympic moment' Ð from scoring the winning goal on a recreational soccer team, to finishing a community-building project." Contest details are available on http://www.kodakgallery.com, and that's where submissions should be sent. In addition to the trip, the four grand prize-winners will receive a Kodak digital camera and "serve as on-site Olympic reporters for the KODAK Easyshare Gallery." Winners have access "to some of the best Olympic venues and will tell the story of their trip to the world in their own personal web page" in February.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on October 28, 2005

Thursday, October 27, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #1271

Here are three more moguls we ran into today:

MCW CONSULTANTS TO FIT UP VANOC'S NEW HQ

A Toronto-based, international, mechanical- and electrical-engineering firm, with offices in Vancouver, has won two separate contracts offered by the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC). The contracts, given to MCW Consultants, involved dealing with all of the mechanical and electrical work that VANOC needs done before it can move into its new headquarters in east Vancouver. VANOC has said it would like to obtain a LEED Commercial Interior Certificate as it readies the two new adjacent buildings for its occupancy. It took possession of the two empty office buildings in September and expects to be fully moved into them by early next year. One building is seven storeys with a total of about 117,000 square feet (or about 21,000 square feet per floor), and the other is a two-storey building totalling about 113,000 square feet (about 56,500 per floor). The buildings are secure and fully air-conditioned, but need to be fitted up with various plumbing, electrical, lighting, networking, garbage collection, recycling and security systems. MCW Consultants has worked on a number of large projects in the Greater Vancouver area over the years, including the International Airport upgrading, the UBC Life Sciences building and Canada Place. Throughout the company, it has more than 140 employees, about half in the Toronto office.

VANOC/ESSO BRAND-PROTECTION ISSUE HITS THE TOP NEWSCASTS
Once again, VANOC made the top of most BC radio and TV newscasts today, and again it was for its brand-protection policies, instead of how it's doing in developing the 2010 Winter Games. Those kinds of stories, which first emerged last summer as it tried to deal with a recalcitrant Vancouver pizza parlour's alleged infractions of its brands. and various other small firms, resonate strongly with news editors -- and negatively with the public. The fact that this time VANOC has taken on a major oil company and focused on Esso's offer of a trip for two, with spending money, to a Canada hockey game at the Torino Winter Olympics, hasn't lessened the interest in the concept, and it's added to the perception that VANOC can be a business bully. Few people in the public are even aware that VANOC has an interest in the Italian Olympics, that Esso is a competitor of VANOC sponsor Petro-Canada and the implications of that, fewer still get the concept of ambush marketing, and fewer still would understand why a couple of hockey tickets with an Olympic logo on them should generate all the rhetoric issued to date, and, apparently, planned. VANOC this time has also taken on an opponent with deep pockets, a lot of lawyers and a full-time public-relations team with a strong community-relations budget that includes long-time support of Hockey Canada. Hockey Canada has backed Esso's position, while the IOC has backed VANOC's. The International Ice Hockey Federation is run by Rene Fasel, who is also the chair of the IOC commission that supervises the IOC's 2010 franchise. The first shots of the Esso contest affair were made, ironically, about the same time as Fasel was giving a glowing report to the IOC executive board about VANOC's progress including, the fact that Fasel "drew particular attention to the good relationships between Vancouver 2010 and its local partners."

2010 FUNDING POTENTIAL AN ISSUE IN ABBOTSFORD MAYORALTY ELECTION
The possibility of money connected to BC government's support of the 2010 Winter Games has become an election issue in the race for the mayor of Abbotsford, a city east of Vancouver. The local issue as capital-expenditure referendum that's being put to votes at the same time as next month's municipal elections. An integral part of the city's three-year Capital Legacy Plan is a C$30-million sports multiplex. Some of the mayoralty candidates say it should be approved because there will likely be help in funding it from 2010 Games-related programs, such as 2010 LegaciesNow. Other possible candidates say it's just as much of a possibility that such support won't arrive.

RESOURCES

Our earlier story about the work to be done at VANOC's new headquarters:

'Organizing Committee mulls over the possibility of going green as it prepares its new headquarters'
[Morgan:News:2010:Number:1153; Published on Monday, August 29, 2005]

J. Martin, P.Eng.
Vice-Chairman
MCW Consultants
Suite 200, 740 Nicola Street,
Vancouver, BC V6G 2C1
Tel: 604.687.1821
Fax: 604-683-5681
E-Mail: Direct: JMartin@MCW.com
Office: mcw_van@mcw.com
www.mcw-ers.com

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on October 27, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |Sports| #1270
HOCKEY CANADA CALLS VANOC'S BRAND-PROTECTION DEMANDS "HEAVY HANDED"

A rift has developed between Hockey Canada, which is one of the national sports federations that will be involved in the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, and the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC). The split is over the Esso brand-protection issue.

A formal statement issued late today, co-signed by Hockey Canada's communications director, manager and two co-ordinators, says, "It is unfortunate that VANOC has taken such a heavy-handed approach against a national sport federation, by going public today on an issue that Hockey Canada has been discussing and looking to resolve with VANOC on behalf of our premier sponsor, Imperial Oil."

The Esso campaign involves a prize of a return trip for two to see a Canada Hockey game at the Torino Olympics in February and $3,000 in spending money. VANOC CEO John Furlong said Wednesday in a prepared news conference that Esso had made "a big mistake" in setting up the promotion.

Hockey Canada says that Imperial Oil, Esso's parent company, has been a major sponsor of Hockey Canada for 23 years, and, as far is sports organization is concerned, "Imperial Oil has the right to use and promote the Hockey Canada trademark with Canada's national minor hockey development programs and Canada's Men's and Women's National hockey teams. Imperial Oil's association is with Hockey Canada and we believe that the Imperial Oil promotion and any commercial gain from the promotion would be associated to Imperial Oil's sponsorship to Hockey Canada and its National hockey teams."

Hockey Canada says Imperial Oil -- and itself, for that matter -- "acted in a manner consistent with previous promotional activities and with the legal commitments as agreed to between Hockey Canada, the Canadian Olympic Committee and the Vancouver 2010 Bid Committee."

Hockey Canada believes that the Imperial Oil promotion doesn't constitute "illegal or unethical advertising" and that the promotion "is a proper exercise of the rights Imperial Oil has acquired from Hockey Canada."

Hockey Canada says its corporate partners contribute to Canadian athletes, whether they are skating for the first time or whether they are providing "Olympic glory for all Canadians to participate and celebrate in."

The trio say that Hockey Canada "strongly believes" that Canada's national men's and women's hockey teams will be "a major contributor to the success of the 2006 and 2010 Olympic Games." To achieve this, it says, Hockey Canada requires the ability to market itself and its teams to generate the revenue necessary to attain this goal."

It also points out that the funding and support provided by Hockey Canada's partners, sponsors and licensees allows it to fund the development and organization of hockey throughout Canada, from minor hockey programs through Canada's National Men's and Women's Teams. "Without the financial support of these partners, Hockey Canada would be unable to maintain its tradition and history of excellence in hockey and provide all Canadians with great Olympic and international hockey memories," they add.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on October 27, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |Business, VANOC| #1269
IMPERIAL OIL "SURPRISED AND DISAPPOINTED" AT VANOC'S CALL FOR END TO 2006 MARKETING CAMPAIGN

Imperial Oil says it'll have another look at its marketing campaign that's connected to Hockey Canada, but it's "surprised and disappointed" that the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) decided to take this heavy-handed action.

That's the official statement from the company after VANOC CEO John Furlong publicly accused it during a Calgary news conference this morning of making a "big mistake" by holding a marketing promotion contest that offers a return trip for two the Torino Winter Olympics and tickets for an Olympic hockey game where Canada is playing.

The tickets, VANOC says, contain trade marks and can't be used for promotional purposes without VANOC's written permission. Petro-Canada is an official sponsor of the Olympics through VANOC, at a value estimated to be C$63 million by VANOC. Furlong also claimed that VANOC had tried to get the attention of Imperial Oil for two weeks about the matter, but couldn't make an impression.

In a formal statement issued this afternoon in response to the VANOC demands that the marketing campaign be discontinued, Imperial Oil said the company "has recently been made aware of their concerns and has been in discussions with VANOC about the situation both through Hockey Canada and directly. In addition, Imperial is currently re-examining the marketing campaign at the centre of VANOC's objections and will adjust those areas where necessary."

On the other hand, it says, "Hockey Canada and Imperial Oil have diligently exercised our rights to associate ourselves with Canada's national hockey teams without in any way infringing the Olympic brand or its trademarks. Imperial's association is with Hockey Canada and not the Olympics. This marketing campaign also covers Canada's participation at the World Junior Championships in December 2005 and is similar to the company's Salt Lake City campaign, which was run without objection. Prior to undertaking this marketing campaign, Hockey Canada reviewed and approved all aspects of the promotion." The Canadian branch of the international oil company says it has been a strong supporter of hockey in Canada since 1936 and a sponsor of Hockey Canada for more than 20 years.

Imperial Oil points out that Hockey Canada is the sole governing body for amateur hockey in Canada and oversees the management of hockey programming from the entry level to participation in international competition, including World Championships, the World Cup of Hockey and Olympic Games.

Imperial Oil's statement says that, "along with all Canadians, is proud of Canada's national hockey teams, both men and women, when they compete abroad. It is our hope to share this pride with our customers and to continue our longstanding support for hockey in this country."

It adds that through Imperial's relationship with Hockey Canada, the company has been directly involved in supporting amateur and minor hockey development programs across Canada. "This direct support has helped Canada send its most skilled men and women hockey players to international competitions to represent all Canadians."

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on October 27, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #1268

Here are three more moguls we ran into today:

IOC SAYS NO TO NATURAL TRACK LUGE AT 2010 GAMES

The IOC Executive Board, meeting at its headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, has reportedly denied a request from the International Luge Federation for the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) to include natural-track events at the 2010 Winter Games. VANOC has begun the process of constructing an artificial track for luge events. The Board was meeting today in Lausanne, Switzerland. In other news from the Executive Board meeting, which was briefed on the status of VANOC today, the IOC reworked its anti-doping rules so that it will have secure ownership of all drug-testing samples taken during the Olympics for eight years. It's a method of catching any drug users who escape detection during a particular Games; technology later developed has sporadically shown that some people took drugs but the tests at the time couldn't catch them; when that happens, they were stripped of their medal and the person with the points or time immediately behind them is advanced in the record books. And the IOC executive says it will try once more to discuss the Italian law that criminalizes doping in that country, hoping it can be put in abeyance for the duration of the Torino Games. The meeting is scheduled for Friday.

NORWEIGAN TRIES C$11.70 FOR 2010 PIN
There weren't any takers for an E-bay auction of a 2010 logo pin owned by a Montreal seller a few days ago when the price was set at about C$5, but now a Norwegian using the pseudonym "Pinsy" is trying to get somebody to pay at least C11.70 plus shipping, which was the opening bid, for a similar pin. The auction, due to end October 30, is taking place on www.coubertin.com, and the lot number is 352019.

BC CROSS-COUNTRY TRIES 2010-RELATED TRAINING CAMP IN BC INTERIOR
The B.C. cross-country ski team is holding a small trial training camp this month in Blue River, in BC's mid-central Columbia mountain range about 200 kilometres due east of Williams Lake. So far, local officials say, four coaches, involved with alpine skiing, have visited the area to see if it would be suitable for summer training for the 2010 Winter Olympics. The nearby glacier, actively marketed by a local firm, Mike Wiegele Helicopter Skiing, is used for alpine events, downhill super G, giant slaloms, and free skiing, even in the summer.

BACKGROUND

The differences between natural and artificial luge tracks: Natural-track luge has no banking on the corners, so tracks can be built anywhere by packing down snow or making ice. The course is then outlined with cones, flags, hay or fencing. The average slope varies according to the location, but doesn't exceed 1.5%. That type of track requires sliders to do a lot more work to control the sled, but track maintenance is expensive.

The Olympic luge competition is called Artificial Track Luge. This type of luge uses banked curves like bobsleigh tracks and an average slope of 8% to 11% -- similar to a steep road. The sliders main goal is to be aerodynamic. Sliders often reach speeds of about 130 kilometres per hour (about 80 miles per hour).

The basic components of all tracks include start and finish areas, two straight-aways, left and right turns, and a curve combination such as an S-curve.

The word "luge" is French for sled.

RESOURCES

Mike Wiegele Helicopter Skiing, summer program:
www.wiegele.com/summer/heliskiing.php

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on October 27, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #1267

Here are three moguls we ran into today:

IOC EXECUTIVE GROUP RECEIVES BRIEFING ON VANOC

The chair of the International Olympic Committee's Vancouver Coordination Commission, Ren Fasel, today gave the IOC's Executive Board in Lausanne, Switzerland, a brief overview of the Commission's project-review visit in September to Vancouver. He also discussed the preparations for another regularly scheduled project-review visit that's due to occur in January, and mentioned the third full Coordination Commission visit that's due to take place in June. During today's meeting at the IOC headquarters, he outlined what's being done in several areas by the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC), noting that VANOC is currently focused on: Games services, authority relations, aspects of sport, media & broadcaster services, transportation matters, technology and transfer of knowledge. Fasel drew particular attention to the good relationships between Vancouver 2010 and its local partners, the fact that construction work has begun and all venues are expected to be completed by 2008. He also spoke about the status of the Canadian "Own the Podium" initiative and what he termed "the very advanced state of Vancouver 2010's marketing program." The Executive Committee also received briefings today on the state of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and the 2012 Summer Games that were just awarded to London, England.

ALBERTA LAND DEVELOPER TO SPONSOR SKI-CAMP FOR 2010-BOUND ATHLETES
Devonian Properties Inc., a decade-old land developer of properties in Canmore and Fort McMurray, Alberta, says it has agreed to sponsor Alpine Canada's K2 Development Camp for three years at BC's at Panorama Mountain Village. The cost of the sponsorship was not disclosed. The camp, 18 kilometres west of Invermere in the BC Rockies, will be held from December 1 to 5 this year. Alpine Canada, which is the national sports federation that regulates the athletes hoping to attend the 2010 Winter Olympics' alpine events, holds the camp for Canada's top racers aged 13 and 14 to provide "intense and specific training opportunities early in the season." The sponsorship means the camp can continue to train athletes for high-performance competition beyond 2010. Athletes are expected to take part in slalom, giant slalom, super-G and skills training, in addition to drills, tests and exercises, both on and off the hill. Mark Sharp, National Technical Director for Alpine Canada, says, "If we can develop 40 athletes each year, in each province, that can finish close to each other on the race course, then we will have an incredibly strong pool of talent for the future and will be fit to compete against the world's best."

WADA PUTS PRESSURE ON GOVERNMENTS TO RATIFY ANTI-DOPING PLEDGE
Governments aren't moving fast enough for WADA chair Dick Pound, and he's offered an incentive. The Montreal-based World Anti-Doping Agency today urged governments to act quickly to ratify the International Convention on Doping in Sport that was adopted unanimously by the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization on October 19. WADA chair Dick Pound, who is also a director of VANOC, says, "Governments have assured the sports movement that they would adopt this convention in time for it to be in force during the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Torino. This is a very important demonstration of government commitment to our partnership in the fight against doping in sport." Thirty countries must ratify the Convention prior to December 31, if it's to become effective by February 1 and cover the 2006 Torino Winter Olympics. So, says, Pound, "WADA will create a special recognition for all countries that ratify the Convention by December 31st. We want to establish a permanent Wall of Fame in our headquarters for those countries who delivered on their promises made as early as two-and-half years ago and who have worked to make this Convention a reality." WADA has urged all of its Foundation Board members, including those from the sports movement, to encourage speedy ratification of the Convention. Pound will be requesting a progress report from its members at the forthcoming Executive Committee and Foundation Board meetings in November. Canada and the United States are both part of the 20-member Foundation Board.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on October 27, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #1266
FURLONG DEMANDS ESSO WITHDRAW MARKETING CONTEST THAT USES TORINO OLYMPIC TICKETS AS A PRIZE

The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) has accused Imperial Oil's Esso division of ambush marketing by running a contest in which two tickets to a Torino Winter Olympics hockey game are part of the prize.

In a speech this morning in Calgary, VANOC CEO John Furlong said, "We respect Imperial Oil/Esso for their long-standing support and meaningful contributions to the development of Canadian hockey. I cannot believe that Esso would intentionally put at risk funding for Canadian athletes, sport and cultural legacies for all Canadians and the 2010 Winter Games. I think they have made a serious mistake and we're asking them to correct it by withdrawing the marketing campaign immediately."

The contest, called "Cheer on Canada - Torino, Italy" is worded this way: "Italy is beautiful. Hockey is exciting. Put them together and you have one amazing, unforgettable trip. Every Esso visit is a chance to win a week-long trip to Torino, Italy from February 13-19... where you and a friend can cheer on Canada's National Men's and Women's Hockey Teams!" The contest's main prize is a return business-fare trip for two, C$3,000 in cash and "Tickets for 2 to see two Men's and one Women's hockey game in Torino, Italy." The contest started October 3 and is due to run to January 22. The Torino Games start February 10.

"Attempts to make such false associations with the Olympic Games undermine the rights of Canadian companies that have committed significant financial resources to become Olympic sponsors and support the ambitions of Canadian athletes," maintains Furlong. "We cannot expect Canadian corporations to continue to support our Games and our athletes if their competitors are allowed to derive the benefit of their investments."

That last remark is a reference to the fact that in June, oil company Petro-Canada, an Esso competitor, struck a deal to contribute cash and supplies worth C$62.5 million to VANOC over the next eight years to be a national sponsor of VANOC.

Esso has not yet responded to VANOC's public demand, but Furlong's prepared speech, deliberately made in a city that holds one of Esso Canada's major offices, and during which he was flanked by Dave Cobb, VANOC's senior vice-president of Revenue, Marketing and Communications and Olympic gold medallist Mark Tewksbury, would appear to indicate that Esso officials had resisted the idea of cancelling the contest in behind-the-scenes discussions held between VANOC and Esso before the speech was made. However, Furlong says the company won't return his call. "It's so incredibly frustrating that this company would not even talk to us. I mean, if they won't even talk to us, we're not even able to properly articulate how significant and how damaging this is to what we're trying to do."

VANOC's logic goes like this: Although the Imperial Oil/Esso contest does not use the symbols of the Torino 2006 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, the reference is "clear and in direct association" with the Games. A VANOC spokesman says, "The referenced dates are during the Torino Winter Games. The referenced hockey games are the hockey games at the Torino Winter Games. The tickets to those hockey games will bear various Olympic marks and accreditations." They note that VANOC's major sponsors have negotiated "exclusive association" with the Olympic brand and the Canadian Olympic team through the next four Olympic Games: Torino 2006, Beijing 2008, Vancouver 2010 and London 2012.

Gerhard Heiberg, Chairman of the International Olympic Committee's Marketing Commission, says, "Sponsors who support the Olympic Games provide funds, as well as goods and services, to the organizing committee of the Games and the national Olympic committees who prepare the teams. Put quite simply, the Games could not take place without them. It is important that we protect our partners and that only those companies that support the Games, associate themselves with the Games and its values. Those companies that claim to be Olympic sponsors, and who are not, are not just hurting the Games, but more importantly the athletes. These companies are undermining the future of the Olympic Games and the dreams of the athletes."

RESOURCES

Esso's "Cheer on Canada - Torino, Italy" contest:

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on October 27, 2005

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #1265
BC/CANADA PLACE AT TORINO OLYMPICS TO OPEN LATER, CLOSE EARLIER -- NOW, HOW WILL THEY EAT CAKE?

The BC Government's Olympics Secretariat, the agency that's supervising and coordinating the government's interests in the 2010 Winter Olympics, has begun setting the dates for specific events at BC/Canada Place, which it is setting up for marketing the 2010 Games, among other reasons, at the 2006 Winter Olympics.

The multi-million building was only due to be open and in use for about four months, but that was back in May. That's now slipped to about three months, since it will open later and close earlier. Now, as the building is being readied for its trip to Italy, the Secretariat planners have begun thinking about how to feed people at these events, and others that are expected to be scheduled directly, or through its sponsors and users of the venue. So it's willing to make what it thinks is a sweet offer to a catering company. We'll get to that in a moment.

First the events: The Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy, take place February 10 - 26, while its corresponding Paralympic Games take place March 10-19. British Columbia Canada Place, as its more formally called, is now due, under a C$240,000 project-management contract held by Golder & Associates, to open on January 15, which is about a month later than planners expected only last May, and is expected to close on March 20, which is 11 days earlier than last expected.

Events scheduled so far include;

British Columbia Canada Place Grand Opening: January 22, 2006
Torino Opening Ceremonies Event: February 8
Tourism Industry Nights: February 13 and 14
Sponsored Reception: February 24
Torino Closing Ceremonies Event: February 25

Organizers at the Secretariat say that the sophisticated log-house type of building, constructed in BC by Sitka Spruce Homes for C$4 million and then taken apart and shipped to Italy for assembly in downtown Torino, is supposed to include "the finest British Columbia building materials and create an environment to showcase the newest and most advanced British Columbia and Canadian technologies."

In addition, they say, "The concept of the Place is that it contains an exhibition so innovative and so stunning that visitors to Torino will be motivated to visit or invest in BC."

The idea, as well, is to use the location to showcase British Columbia and Canada when the building plays host to Canadian athletes, dignitaries, businesses and media, as well as be open most days to the public, a public which is expected to be highly interested in all things Olympic.

Now the offer: The Secretariat says it is looking for a caterer to hire. But not just any caterer. Instead, it wants one that's willing to provide "a taste of British Columbia" and offer "international-calibre food and beverage". But it also has to arrange its own access to a commercial kitchen in Torino, set up storage facilities and transportation, to be responsible for insurance, permits and all the other regulatory requirements to do its job, and to provide and pay all the staff it wants to use and look after their housing and transportation needs.

It is also instructed to obtain "donated or subsidized British Columbia-based food and wine" that would be served in the building as a method of providing the Secretariat with what is being euphemistically called "budget relief." It would also like the caterer to have the "flexibility to respond to on-call and last-minute catering requirements."

The BC Secretariat, funded by the Ministry of Economic Development, hasn't yet set a budget for this part of the project; they want to see what how the proposals come in. They also want the caterer to deal with all the risks of the project -- which may involve scheduling problems or delays, problems training staff, problems with inconsistent products and delays getting the products to the BC/Canada Place, and difficulties getting the necessary licenses required in Torino.

Oh, yes. It also wants the caterer to have a "willingness to provide a cash and/or value-in-kind sponsorship" for BC Canada Place. If we read that right, we're fairly sure it means the Secretariat wants all this and to at least get parts of it for free or, happy day, to be paid for it.

Documentation connected with the project does not indicate any quid pro quo, such as marketing rights, to offset these requirements.

We probably shouldn't use the phrase "glutton for punishment" to a caterer, but if this sounds like a deal, you should contact the BC Secretariat before November 17.

RESOURCES

Mail to:

BC Secretariat
Purchasing Services Branch
Box 9476, Stn. Prov. Govt.
Victoria, B.C. V8W 9W6

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on October 26, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #1264

Here are three moguls we ran into today:

VANOC'S PIN MAKER GETS TO THE POINT

Regina Leader-Post newspaper reporter Bruce Johnstone has gleaned some additional bits and pieces about the recent lapel-pin contract that Laurie Artiss Limited (LAL) of Regina won earlier this week from the 2010 Winter Olympics. LAL had answered the Request for Proposal by teaming up with Aminco International of Lake Forest, California, which had the contract for the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002, to do merchandising and marketing. Pins connected to Olympics are purchased traded and sold by the millions. LAL, which has supplied the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) for 18 years, will be producing about 2,000 designs on themes that involve sport, history and culture over the course of the agreement with the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC). Initial pins, based on the 2010 inukshuk logo, will be ready for retail sales in December, followed by some ski and hockey pins connected with February's start of the 2006 Olympics in Torino -- VANOC, through a marketing agreement with the COC, has Canadian rights to the Torino Games. The company expects to set up a small office in Vancouver, likely in 2008 or 2009, to help with the pin requirements, and they expect to take on additional artists. The terms of LAL's deal aren't disclosed, but the company says it has made "a tremendous financial commitment to VANOC for the license," and so the company must sell a considerable number of pins to offset the commitment. Laurie Artis, the person who began the firm after leaving his job as an editor of the Leader-Post, is now retired and living in B.C. Karen Pasterfield is the president, and her husband Chris Pasterfield is the vice-president. The company's core business is supplying pins for "schools, churches and local sporting groups," which it will continue to maintain.

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SAID TO HAVE NIXED SEPARATE SPORTS MINISTRY
Globe & Mail reporter James Christie writes today that the federal cabinet has decided it won't set up a separate ministry of sport with its own budget, although the Martin administration says it's still considering the concept. However, writes Christie, Paul DeVillers, the former secretary of state for physical activity and sport, whom Martin commissioned to write a report on the concept, is convinced the decision has been taken. He tendered his resignation as Martin's parliamentary secretary on October 5 over the matter, so the Simcoe North Ontario MP could "be free to speak out on the issue." The federal ministries of Health and of Heritage are responsible for various policies and budgets dealing with sport, recreation, fitness and "active living."

SAMSUNG'S TORINO OLYMPIC AD CAMPAIGN TO START A MONTH BEFORE GAMES
Co-marketing campaigns by major Olympic sponsors continue to ramp up. Samsung Electronics, an international sponsor of the Olympics, says its major advertising campaign to support the 2006 Torino Olympics and its connections to it will begin in January, about a month before the Italian Games begin. "The company expects to place a range of television, print, and outdoor advertisements in a number of selected markets around the world," a Samsung spokesman said. The company had annual sales of more than C$64 billion in 2004. The advertising agency involved in Samsung's Olympic project is Leo Burnett, part of the French advertising company, Publicis Groupe.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on October 26, 2005

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #1263
WASHINGTON STATE EXPECTED TO GO AFTER SPORT EVENT "RELATED TO" 2010 OLYMPICS

Washington State governor Christine Gregoire is expected to announce Wednesday morning "a major sporting event related to the 2010 Winter Olympics will be sought for Spokane." The city, in the state's north-central area, is about 250 kilometres southeast of Vancouver, B.C.

Her office will say only that the state is planning a bid to host "the highest-profile Olympic sporting event outside of the actual Games."

Gregoire met earlier this month with BC premier Gordon Campbell, but there was no word at the time about this development.

She's expected to provide word that the state's financial support will be given to attract the 2009 world figure-skating championships. Toby Steward and Barb Beddor, the husband-and-wife team that is bringing the 2007 U.S. National Figure Skating Championships to Spokane, are expected to be at the announcement in the morning.

BACKGROUND
Our earlier story involving the Washington State governor:

'BC, Washington State sign co-operation MOU
to focus on 2010 Olympics and related issues'
[Morgan:News:2010:Number:1221; Published on Tuesday, October 11, 2005]

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on October 25, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #1262
ORGANIZATION OF CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICE TO DEPEND ON PERSON HIRED TO RUN IT

The senior vice-president of Sport for the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) says the development of the Chief Medical Office for the Games will depend on who's hired to run it. And that, in turn, depends on who applies for the job this month.

Cathy Priestner, whose duties include supervising the development of the medical-support system at the 2010 Games, says the Chief Medical Officer, expected to be hired next month, won't start developing the office until they return from helping with the Torino Olympics. The job requirements include the CMO being on the International Olympic Committee's medical commission at the Italian Games.

The CMO is responsible for a vast array of medical and related procurement and how the Games health system integrates with the public and emergency health systems during the development of the 2010 Games over the next four years.

"Our goal at this point is to know who the individual will be," says Priestner. "And then, depending on who they are, we're flexible in how we would build into the position, and how we support the position. If a person comes in who's very operational and they're ready to start in February, that's a possibility. But it may be that there's a bit more senior-administrative support for them while they ease out of other commitments."

She notes that since the office is usually run by a senior physician, they have to decide how their practice or similar obligations will be handled while they work on the Games. "Depending on the individual, we'll establish an office that will work for them and for us."

Priestner says the person selected for the Office is a doctor specializing in sport medicine who has extensive knowledge of the medical profession and can work easily with a range of other types of medical practitioners but who also knows their way around the labyrinth of the Canadian medical bureaucracy. The CMO also works with the World Anti-Doping Agency, run by VANOC director Dick Pound in Montreal, in setting up testing protocols and facilities at the 2010 Games.

"We'll also have a position," she says, "that's more of a senior administrator. That person would typically not be a doctor, but might be the senior administrator of a hospital or that kind of work."

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on October 25, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #1261
FARNHAM GLACIER PROJECT: ONE DOWN AND SKI-JUMPING TO GO FOR 2010 ORGANIZATION

The CEO of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) says the fulfilment of a deal to open up Farnham Glacier in the Rockies for summer training facilities by winter athletes was a special VANOC project that started in the spring of 2004.

And VANOC, says John Furlong, is just as determined to similarly support Canadian ski jumping, to the extent that it's become another fund-raising side project of the organization.

Canada's top alpine ski racers, freestyle skiers and snowboard athletes are expected be able to use a C$2-million training centre on the glacier, which is near Invermere, during the summers between 2006 and 2010. That's thanks to a deal was confirmed yesterday when the Brockville, Ontario, family of Don and Shirley Green agreed to contribute C$1 million to the project.

John Furlong says, "We made the decision a year ago we were going to find that million dollars, and I approached a number of companies, including [the then-CEO of Molson's Canada, Dan O'Neill]. Dan is a senior corporate leader in Canada, and has spent the last several months looking for ways to help us get that money. We were closing in on some possibilities when he met with this family, communicated the vision we had for Farnham Glacier, and they agreed to support us. Our role in it was that we were not going to stop until we got that million, and we basically connected the dots. Dan O'Neill did the final sales job on the family, and the family is just in awe of what they've done."

Furlong says there is a similar project on which VANOC is still working, "We want to... elevate the need to support ski jumping. It's a sport that is not being nurtured that well, so we have similar plans to try to find somebody to help them. [Ski Jumping Canada] benefits from the 'Own the Podium' program, but they're a long way back from some of the other sports. Our job is to try to find them some new assistance, so they can have some hope that when we have the Games here, Canadian [ski-jump] athletes are in the middle of it all. We have a long way to go there, but we're trying very hard to give them a hand as well."

VANOC's senior vice-president of Sport, Cathy Priestner, agrees. "We're talking with individuals and with companies about the sport." She adds that the "Own the Podium" program has accepted an application this month by Ski Jumping Canada to help provide funding to support the sport, which, she says, will allow its athletes to compete in both the Continental and World Cup circuits, instead of just one of them, which is necessary for the sport to qualify for the 2010 Games. Some of the OTP funds will be used for operational costs as well. "We're hoping to be able to achieve the same sort of success as we did with Farnham. We feel strongly that if we can get [corporate] support for them, it would be in everyone's best interest."

Facilities exist now. The national Ski Jumping Training Centre, which develops Canada's high-performance ski jump athletes, and promotes the sport across the country, is based at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary. And earlier this month, the Alberta Government injected C$600,000 into the support for the facility, and additional funding from the organization that runs the facility was advanced earlier this year.

Furlong says he's trying to find funding that will give Ski Jumping Canada what he calls the basics. "We want them to be able to sustain themselves, and then upping the ante by giving them additional coaching and science to apply to their training as they go forward. We're just looking to find enough financial support to make sure their program has enough funds in it that they can maintain it. It'll be the basic needs first, and after that take care of some of the other elements that we're talking about." That, he indicates, involves funding research and scientific aspects of the sport.

Priestner says that beyond trying to find funds for ski-jumping and "Own the Podium", VANOC does not have other Farnham-like projects in the pipeline, indicating VANOC should be able to turn its full attention to developing the facilities for the 2010 Games, once those aspects are completed.

BACKGROUND

The local stakeholders of the Farnham Glacier project include the Regional District of East Kootenay; RK Heli Ski, which uses the area for winter skiing; Glacier Resorts Ltd., which is proposing the massive all-season "Jumbo" ski resort for the area; Canfor, the forestry firm that has logging operations which use the Glacier's access road, but which currently stops 3.5 km from the glacier, and the Ministry of Forests. The approval to proceed with the Glacier idea was approved by the BC government until 2007 to give the government time to decide if it would approve the adjacent "Jumbo" resort. If it did, further talks by those backing the Farnham project would have to take place with Glacier Resorts.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on October 25, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #1260
CORPORATE SECTOR CONTRIBUTIONS MAY EXCEED "OWN THE PODIUM" BUDGET GOAL

The senior vice-president of Sport for the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) says she's amazed at how quickly governments and the private sector have "got on board" the 'Own the Podium' program. And it's possible its budget goals may be exceeded.

Cathy Priestner was commenting on the fact that VANOC has nearly completed the C$55 million worth of fund-raising during its discussions and agreements with its major corporate sponsors, including C$15 million confirmed by Bell Canada's CEO, Michael Sabia, yesterday. "Own the Podium" is a program designed to funnel funds to specific sports with the aim of ensuring Canada is the top medal winner at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games and at least third in the 2010 Paralympic Games.

Cathy Priestner's report in 2004 to the Canadian Olympic Committee about how Canada should focus its development funds on winter sports events triggered VANOC's support, and helped to bring in the federal government. She says, about the corporate sponsorship commitments so far, "Everybody has looked at this and said, 'It's kind of a no-brainer.' which you would never have thought a couple of years ago, considering the kind of approach and attitude Canada was taking to [sport development]." But she gives significant credit to federal sport minister Stephen Owen. After she and other VANOC officials met with him last year, he was able to convince his cabinet colleagues to support the other half of the C$110 million budget of the Program.

Priestner says the public will be hearing "a lot more support from our corporate sponsors" over the next few months, but she declined to say how much commitment has been made to VANOC by them so far. "We're feeling very confident because the initial response to the Program by all of them is the same as Michael's."

The VANOC SVP indicates it's possible that contributions by sponsors may go over VANOC's C$55 million goal. "Our first objective is winter sports 2010, and we've never said we're going to stop there. But that's our first obligation. And if there is more, this Program evolves." She notes that the summer Olympic sports federations in Canada and the Canadian Olympic Committee have now started a similar program. "They're not nearly as far along as we are; we would look at their needs and see what we could do. But our commitment at this point is to just get the Winter Program funded."

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on October 25, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #1259

Here are three moguls we ran into while talking briefly with the CEO of Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games, John Furlong:

VANOC'S FIRST BUSINESS PLAN STILL IN PROCESS

The first of an expected three major business plans of VANOC is still not ready for prime time. Several VANOC executives about a year ago expected it to be completed last spring, but a decision was made in the spring to postpone its release to this fall. Now, VANOC CEO John Furlong says, "No, it's not ready yet. We're not all signed off on it yet. We're getting close, but we have some pieces that are not ready yet. I'm not sure what the timing status of it is, but we're not there yet." Under the planning projections made by VANOC management a year ago, the 2005 business plan, which has to be approved by VANOC's board of directors, the BC and federal governments and the International Olympic Committee, would have been fairly rough and, as one said, "with all kinds of caveats stuck on it." A second one would likely be tabled in 2007, with major elements fine-tuned thanks to the experience of the Torino Games, revenue forecasts from the then-finalized TV sponsorships covering Australia, India and Japan, and information from the IOC's knowledge-transfer program, plus establishment of the sponsorships in at both Tier 1 and 2, and as more costs could be nailed down, such as the outcome of the 2006 and 2007 capital construction years. The final business plan, which would be the one VANOC would use up to, during and after the Games, would be provided to Canada's senior governments and the International Olympic Committee for approval in late 2008 or early 2009.

ONTARIO FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT WITH VANOC IN NEGOTIATION
Furlong says his next goal on expanding the psychological ownership of the Games across Canada is to sign an agreement with Ontario that is similar to the one inked with Quebec earlier this month. And he added, without elaborating on the topic, "We're currently recruiting a partner relationship so we can get additional help in bringing the rest of the country together, but the immediate effort is going to be Ontario." He said, however, that the Quebec French media were intrigued with the Quebec signing ceremony for that province's framework agreement, noting that three French TV channels carried the event live. "It was huge in Quebec. Huge. It was very positive."

SPRING PR TOUR TO HIT ON 'CANADIAN GAMES' THEME
Furlong's major public-relations tour across Canada, due to begin shortly after the Torino Olympics end next March, will, he says, focus on a theme on which he's worked for some time. "The number one objective will be to communicate that this is about all of us [Canadians], and not a few. This is about the whole country, and about giving Canadians a real connection with the vision that we have about making this Canada's Games. We're going to try to drive the values of the Games in the schools and communities across the country, to really make Canadians feel a sense of ownership about what we're doing. We'll do that with our partners, and really elevate the type of excitement there is about the project."

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on October 25, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |Business| #1258
THE 2010 GAMES IN YOUR HAND: THAT'S THE PREDICTION OF BELL'S MICHAEL SABIA

In 2010, your cellphone is likely to chirp -- or whatever ring-tone you've designated -- and it won't be a colleague or a friend on the line, it'll be time to watch the live video feed of your favourite athlete ready to start their event. And if you can't answer, there's a good bet that it'll go to the video equivalent of voice-mail.

That's the kind of speculative scenario raised as the result of some comments made to Morgan:News:2010 by Michael Sabia, the CEO and president of Bell Canada, who says Canadians will be able to watch 2010's Olympic Games on their cellphones and similar cellular devices.

"Yes, certainly. By 2010, having video on a handset will be a relatively common thing. And certainly, for these Games, it will be," he says.

Sabia, whose company is the telecommunications sponsor for the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC), has said earlier that the telecommunications technology Bell is supplying will be using Internet protocols throughout.

"We'll be bringing to the Games the latest technology the world has to offer, and it will be fully integrated, such that we'll be able to put together data, video and voice, and work those off common platforms. It'll be a kind of communications experience by the time we get to 2010 that will be, I think, quite unique in what we'll be able to do. We'll have integrated use of wireless phones and cellphones, with landline and video communications. I think the world will see Canadian technological capability that will be really second to none."

If video-phone coverage is going to be relatively common by 2010, what will be the state-of-the-art part that Bell has in mind? "I think the quality of how that's done, the interfaces that are drawn between data and information that's coming [from the Games] and how that's presented and interfaced into the video experience itself. I think there are going to be a lot of interesting things we'll be able to do. But, who knows? In our business, in the next four years, who knows what the next, next thing will be? Our commitment is to make sure that leading-edge telecommunications capability is right here."

Sabia says construction of Bell's infrastructure for the 2010 Games has already begun. "We're now in the build activity itself. We've done a lot of the engineering work. We're actually in construction in some places, and some facilities are largely done in Vancouver and Whistler. We believe we're in quite good shape, and everything is moving along quite well."

Bell's telecom structure is just going to be one piece of the technology puzzle that will be assembled to support the 2010 Winter Games over the next four years. Atos Origin, the huge networking company, will be moving its Winter Olympics team from Torino to Vancouver once the Italian Games are over next spring, so it can start planning the integration between Bell and Swatch, the Swiss timekeeping company that will be returning to its Omega brand as it sets up to deliver the times and scores for all events of the 2010 Games.

As well telecommunications, networking and information generation all need to funnel to the traditional broadcast elements of satellite feeds, TV, radio and the Internet.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on October 25, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #1257
MARKETING SVP OFFERS THOUGHTS ON TIER 2 SPONSOR LOGISTICS, THE STATUS OF 2010'S TORINO CEREMONY AND A COUNTDOWN CEREMONY IN BC

As we waited at the back in a crowd for a VANOC event to play out, we talked to Dave Cobb, the senior vice-president of Revenue, Marketing and Communications of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC). Here's what we discovered:

Cobb says he expects to sign one or two Tier 2 sponsors before the end of the year. "Our plan was not to have any of those until '06, but I think we will have some before then. I'm hoping to get a couple done before the end of this year, but if it pushes into the new year, well, then we're still well within our plans."
Cobb says the eight-minute portion of the 2006 Olympics closing ceremony that is to be used to promote the 2010 Winter Games to the world-wide audience that'll be watching will start with the traditional and ceremonial hand-off of the Olympic flag by the mayor of Torino, Sergio Chiamparino, to the new mayor of Vancouver, who won't be known until the city's elections November 19. (Incumbent mayor Larry Campbell is stepping down. Campbell's last meeting in Vancouver Torino's mayor was in March, 2004, when the two mayors, on behalf of their cities, signed a "Convention of Co-operation," described as "an official pact that will see the two cities sharing social, cultural and economic knowledge and experiences.") What happens after the flag exchange during the closing ceremonies, though, is still being kept secret. Cobb says the planning for the event is well advanced, but sidestepped a question about whether rehearsals for what he called "the creative piece" had started, preferring instead to say it was being "worked on." He added, "Our people are in close contact with the people at Torino already, to make sure the transition to our piece fits with the overall program." We asked if the event would be a video, a staged event like the 2010 logo launch, or some combination. "It'll be partly a lot of things," was all he'd say. "We're keeping tight-lipped about it because we want it to be a surprise."
Cobb says VANOC will "probably" do an event to mark the four-year-out anniversary -- February 12, 2006 -- of the start of the 2010 Games, but he notes that almost all of VANOC's executive and quite a few of the staff will be at the Torino Olympics to see how they are run at that time. "I don't think it's going to be a huge event [in Vancouver], but we've done something in Whistler counting down the years," he says. "There will be something we'll be doing, but as far as it being a countdown event, we won't be spending a lot of time on it." The logistics and the decision-making that's going into getting all those VANOC people there, set up with a place to stay and integrated into the Games process -- including all the accreditation necessary -- has become known in-house as the VANOC Observer Program. The planning for that, says Cobb, is "well underway."

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on October 25, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #1256

Here are three moguls we ran into today:

VANOC SIGNS MAJOR SPONSOR IN AUTOMOTIVE CATEGORY

The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) has landed what is expected to be its final Tier 1 sponsorship, to join such firms as Rona, HBC, RBC Financial Group and Bell Canada. It's expected to make the announcement about which firm has been awarded the sponsorship in the Automotive category within a few days. It has not yet signed any Tier 2 category sponsors, although it is in discussions with 10 to 15 firms. It's been developing the concepts for how to deal with the Tier 2 category, starting in the late spring, refined them during the summer and now has staff working full time on arranging them.

BC FABRICATOR ADVERTISES FOR STEEL WORKERS IN WINNIPEG
Here's some powerful evidence of the tough time Greater Vancouver construction firms are having in getting skilled workers for projects during a time that's to include the build up of the 2010 Winter Olympics. A steel fabrication firm, Lower Mainland Steel of Surrey, a municipality south of Vancouver, is running ads on Manitoba radio in an effort to attract workers for major projects. Ron McNeil is the company's co-owner and manager, which has a five-acre plant; the firm is also closely connected to Rand Reinforcing, which acts as the firm's placement division.

TV SALES PROJECT TO RISE DUE TO ADVENT OF 2006 OLYMPICS
Here's a ripple effect of the strength of the Olympics broadcast contracts. Technitrol (NYSE:TNL) of Philadelphia, a technology company, says its Pulse subsidiary, which it bought just last month, reports that sales of televisions in Europe are "expected to strengthen into 2006 as a result of the Winter Olympics" that are to be held in Torino, Italy, starting in February. But, it also adds, that TV sales in that same financial quarter will also be bolstered by the effect of World Cup soccer matches.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on October 25, 2005

Monday, October 24, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #1254
GAMES IN A HURRY TO ACQUIRE 35,000 GOLD-COLOURED MEDALLIONS FEATURING 2010 LOGO

The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) wants to have 35,000 gold-coloured, circular medallions made by the end of the year, which doesn't give the company that ends up doing it much time to make them.

According to a VANOC document, the five-centimetre-wide medallions are to have a front facade that "will present a unique image that honours some of the key participants in the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games." The document says that the design is to "include a central figure raised above the background face of the medallion and highly polished to reflect light and figuratively come to life."

The background and polished image are to be layered by various surface treatments or patinas of matte and gloss so that they "provide an illusion of depth."

However, the document does not say what image will be provided for the front; it's still being designed. The back face of the medallion, however, is ready to go: it will feature the Vancouver 2010 logo, as well as text in a circle around the outside of the logo that says "Olympic Winter Games, February -- Vancouver 2010 -- Jeux Olympiques D'hiver."

VANOC is being vague about what the medallions are for: however, the general idea is for VANOC "to provide a unique memento... to a broad group of participants." The medallions will not require engraving or a ribbon, but will need to be attached to an explanatory card measuring about 12 by 20 centimetres.

VANOC also wants 250 boxes for the medallions that have the 2010 logo either stamped or applied with the tone-on-tone process, plus another 250 boxes with the logo on the inside, so it shows when the box is left open, as in a presentation. It also wants 250 velvet pouches, with the VANOC logo on the outside, that will fit the medallion.

Companies have until November 4 to let VANOC know about their quote. The supplier will be selected, says the document, on Friday, November 11, which is a national holiday in Canada, with the company ready to start work on the approval process the following week. The company should be in production by November 21 with delivery on Thursday, December 29.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on October 24, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #1253

Here are three moguls we ran into today:

VANOC TAPS REGINA COMPANY TO MAKE LAPEL PINS FOR 2010

The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) has awarded its exclusive license to make lapel pins to Laurie Artiss Ltd. of Regina, Saskatchewan. The firm will manufacture, distribute and sell pins and accessories bearing the brands of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games. For the Vancouver 2010 pin program, Laurie Artiss will form a partnership with Aminco International (USA) Inc. of Lake Forest, California, to form a new company to fulfil unspecified licensing conditions. The terms of the deal were not released, however, a royalty is usually based on the quantity of the product sold at wholesale value. The pins will be available just barely in time for the Christmas retail season at stores belonging to the Hudson Bay Company, as well as in specific souvenir and gift shops in urban areas and ski resorts, starting in December. "Pins are one of the most popular, accessible and collectible products associated with the Olympic Winter Games," says Dave Cobb, VANOC's senior vice-president of Revenue, Marketing & Communications. Since 1988, when the International Olympic Committee officially recognized pins as Olympic Games memorabilia, about 30 million pins have been traded at Olympic Games just at pin trading centres run by IOC sponsor Coca Cola. Laurie Artiss was involved in the Calgary 1988 Olympic Winter Games pin program, as well as being a Canadian Olympic Committee pin supplier between then and 2004. Aminco has 28 years of experience and was the pin licensee for the Salt Lake 2002 Winter Games. The Vancouver 2010 exclusive pin license was awarded through a Request for Proposals process. The sale of Vancouver 2010 pins, and all officially licensed products, provide revenue to the Games.

BELL "OWN THE PODIUM" DEAL INCLUDES BRANDING ROYALTIES FROM TORINO MARKETING
There was a wrinkle to the Bell announcement it would be putting C$15 million toward the "Own the Podium" program: C$10 million of that will be from the funding it was directly providing as part of its sponsorship of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC). An additional C$5 million, also counted as part of its overall C$200 million support for VANOC as announced last January, is to be raised from the sale of "special Olympic-branded products" as part of Bell's marketing program for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy.

ROCKIES SKI RESORT USES SNOW GUNS TO PREPARE FOR OLYMPIC-BOUND ATHLETES
The world's best ski-racers will train at Panorama ski resort, in the Rocky Mountains southwest of Banff, Alberta, starting November 4, preparing for the World Cup circuit and the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Torino, Italy. Canada, Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Sweden are just some of the nations using the Alpine Canada-sanctioned race-training facility, which is expected to be tapped for training 2010-bound teams as well. Which is why snow guns are currently laying a base of machine-made snow on Show-off and Old Timer, preparing these runs for the event. First Tracks, a ski magazine, paraphrases Panorama's Snow-Making manager, Todd Partington, as saying Panorama is able to make snow on 40% of its terrain (over 2,800 acres and 4,000 vertical feet). Up to 70 snow guns can propel out the flakes at once, pumping up to 2,800 gallons of snow per minute onto the mountain, he said. He added that snowmakers control the type of snow that blankets the ski runs, based on what the runs are being used for. According to Partington, more water is used for building the snow base and on race-runs; less water is used for softer snow. The depth of snow accumulated from snowmaking is also dependent on the run. How much traffic the run gets, how steep it is and how much sun exposure it gets, all determine how much snow is needed on the run. "The steeper the run, the more snow that is needed, as more gets pushed off the sides," explained Partington. "We work with the groomers to determine when a run has enough snow, and depth can be anywhere from 30 cm on a flat run to 90 cm on a high traffic, steep run," he added. VANOC will be incorporating snow-making machinery for its Cypress Bowl facilities in West Vancouver.

RESOURCES

Laurie Artiss Ltd. Contact info:
www.thepinpeople.ca/contact.html

And for Aminco USA:

William Wu
President
Corporate Headquarters
Aminco International
20571 Crescent Bay Drive
Lake Forest, CA 92630
Phone: (949) 457-3261
Fax: (949) 457-3270

www.amincousa.com

A story written two years ago about the Olympic pin retail market:
www.sportsspin.com/categories/olympic/olympic_1.html

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on October 24, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #1252

Here are three moguls we ran into today:

RCMP CITE 2010 "PREDICTABILITY" TO PITCH FOR SENIOR HR CONSULTANT

The RCMP is using "increased operational pressures flowing from predictable events such as the 2010 British Columbia Olympics" as one of several reasons it wants to spend up to C$500,000 to hire a senior project-management consultant. The consultant would work with the Canadian national police force's human-resource department and Project Management Office and RCMP headquarters in Ottawa "to ensure that the HR function delivers resources to meet the operational requirements of the business in a more efficient, effective and timely way," according to an RCMP-vetted document. There is, says the document, "a pressing need to ensure that the RCMP increases its ability to provide the right resources, at the right time, in the right place." The consultant would act as a "secretariat to the RCMP Business Transformation Leadership Office and the Integrated Project Management Team", and deal with "risk-and-issue tracking, impact assessments and mitigation strategies." It expects to hire the consultant in the last half of November.

VANCOUVER SCHOOL BOARD CONTEMPLATES ELEMENTARY "SHELL" FOR CITY'S OLYMPIC VILLAGE
The Vancouver School Board has approved a five-year capital plan that includes the possibility of an elementary school building constructed in the third year -- 2009 -- near the Vancouver Olympic Village athlete quarters. However the plan must first acquire provincial government approval, though not necessarily project-specific funding from that quarter. The buildings are expected to be designed for communal living for the athletes, but revert to standard, residential, apartment-style housing after the Games are finished. That, says the VSB, provides the opportunity to build a shell of a building as part of the Village that could become an elementary school afterward. The City of Vancouver will work with a private developer to deal with the industrial land between Cambie Bridge and Main Street, part of which will be used for an athletes' village during the 2010 Olympics. A school site is included in the plans, and the VSB suggests this might be away to get the building shell constructed for lesser cost to Vancouver than would otherwise occur. Planning for the school could begin about a year from now, with construction to start in 2008 and finished with the rest of the Village by November 1, 2009.

BELL RETURNS TO COSSETTE'S MARKETING FOLD
The use of the Cossette Communication Group, the Canadian-based international advertising and public relations agency, to work on today's Bell Canada announcement that it would contribute C$15-million to 2010's Own the Podium program, is making some sense now. We've learned that Cossette has again become lead agency for Bell Canada, which moved its English creative advertising, estimated at C$50 million, back to Cossette after a year with Grip Ltd., Toronto. All of Bell's media plus French creative, public relations, direct marketing, interactive marketing, business-to-business and other promotional material are already handled by Cossette. Vancouver-based Rethink, according to industry discussion, will be working with Cossette to develop English-language marketing. In essence, Bell was paying for the announcement's media relations and giving VANOC a marketing bump as it did so.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on October 24, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC, Business| #1251
BELL TO DESIGNATE C$15 MILLION TO SPORT RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY THAT SUPPORTS 2010 WINTER ATHLETES

Bell Canada said today it would provide C$15 million of its original sponsorship package for the 2010 Winter Games to help the Canadian Olympic Committee fund winter sport technological research through the "Own the Podium" program.

Bell's original sponsorship of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC), released last January, was valued by VANOC at C$200 million. It was mentioned at the time that Bell would be contributing to Own The Podium (OTP), but officials declined to say how much would be involved, although speculation expected it to range up to C$20 million.

OTP -- based on an extensive report written for the Canadian Olympic Committee by VANOC's senior vice-president of Sport, Cathy Priestner, and completed just as she started her 2010 job -- has a budget of C$110 million to be spent between now and 2010. It's goal is to make Canada the top medal winner at the 2010 Olympic Games, and the third-highest medal winner at the 2010 Paralympic Games.

The Bell funding is aimed at providing a major aspect of the OTP: to provide research and "development of innovative new technologies designed to improve athlete performance." A total of C$18 million over five years is budgeted for the so-called "Top Secret" section of OTP, a technological-research division designed "to provide Canadians with an edge over other countries in technology, equipment and training through applied research and development."

Bell president and CEO, Michael Sabia, who made the announcement, says Bell will provide the C$15 million in equal installments spread over five years. He added that while Bell has had discussions in general with the OTP staff about the directions of the research covered by the funding, he made it clear he is leaving it up to the OTP about how the money will be applied.

"We work pretty co-operatively with the national sporting federations and the Canadian Olympic Committee," he says, "and they're in the position to determine where the biggest contributions can be made, biggest advancements can be made, and where Canada is closest to having the potential to be on the podium or, indeed, to win a gold medal. What they're trying to do is match the technological issues with each one of those areas. We have talked with them about that, and are involved in it, but, clearly, they're the experts, and we're happy to support that.

Sabia says there are no telecommunications technology "in the specifics of Own the Podium." He added that there is a great deal of such technology involved in the Games, "but this [Own the Podium] has more to do with friction on ice and on snow, how to reduce wind resistance, and training techniques, and those are not things that telecommunications technology is focused on."

BACKGROUND

OTP documentation shows that "Top Secret" projects are grouped by theme and are expected to have impacts on more than one sport. They include research into air, ice and snow friction, training technology and techniques, injury prevention and sport-specific equipment.

Examples include wind-tunnel testing for skeleton, luge, alpine skiing, cross-country skiing and speedskating. The testing helps athletes learn the best body position and the aerodynamics of various suit materials, and designs can be examined. Video analysis of movement during a sport is being produced for research, there's new equipment provided to help coaches monitor athletes, and ice/snow friction research working groups have been formed to work on interrelated issues.

Paralympian sledge-hockey athletes are hoping that research on sledge sliding speed and new composites for sticks will also help their sport, skiers are focused on improving and tracking the dozens of types of wax that can be applied to their skis, and how the waxes interact with various types of snow, particularly the kind found in the Whistler area.

---

The announcement was made during what was, for VANOC, a relatively lavish media event staged at BC Place Stadium in downtown Vancouver, in a fourth-level reception area overlooking GM Place. Both buildings are venues for the 2010 Olympic Games.

The announcement, made by Bell Canada president and CEO, Michael Sabia, was backed by speeches from VANOC CEO John Furlong and VANOC's senior vice-president of Sport, Cathy Priestner; Lou Ragagnin, chief operating officer of the Canadian Olympic Committee; and by three Canadian Olympic athletes.

They were supported by a formal two-level stage, a triple podium on which the athletes could stand for news photos, a large solid blue backdrop to hold the logos of the organizations involved, and which incorporated a video screen roughly 10 feet by 25 feet.

The screen was used to feature two videos, one dealing in general with sports research. It was also used to show a slide photo of the federal government's minister responsible for Sport and the national government aspects of the 2010 Games, Stephen Owen, who gave a speech by amplified phone. Reporters were also provided with copies of the videos for TV newscasts, and technical support, including a teleconference, if they couldn't be at the event.

There were also a couple of emotional moments, one occurred as Priestner, during her speech mentioned Mark Lowry, the Canadian Olympic Committee's Executive Director of Sport, who died of cancer on Friday and who was one of the main people involved in setting up the "Own the Podium" program, and a similar moment happened during Ragagnin's speech, when he also mentioned Lowry.

Sabia and his senior executives arrived and left by limousine. Furlong left by cab.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on October 24, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #1250
VANOC MAKES INTRODUCTIONS THAT RESULT IN FUNDING FOR FARNHAM GLACIER SUMMER SKI CAMP

The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) has helped make the introductions necessary to connect a wealthy Ontario family to the Olympic sports industry. The result: Canada's top alpine ski racers, freestyle skiers and snowboard athletes will be able to use a C$2 million glacier training centre in B.C. during the summers between now and 2010.

The training centre, located on Farnham Glacier in southeastern British Columbia east-southeast of Invermere, is expected to be named "Camp Green on Farnham Glacier Ð High Performance Training Facility," in recognition of the C$1 million contributed by the Don and Shirley Green family, from Brockville, working with the Calgary Olympic Development Agency (CODA), VANOC, Alpine Canada, the Canadian Freestyle Ski Association and the Canadian Snowboard Federation. One million dollars in matching capital costs is to be contributed by CODA, plus C$350,000 for annual operating costs. The facility, reviewed and approved by B.C. Land and Water Corporation, will open next summer.

VANOC CEO John Furlong says, "It has been a privilege for VANOC, together with Dan O'Neill [former executive for Molson's Canada], to have played a part in bringing this dream to reality. He said that VANOC "worked closely with Dan O'Neill to introduce the Green family to the project [and] thanks to the generosity and vision of Don and Shirley Green, and CODA's commitment to Canadian sport, 'Camp Green' will no doubt play a key role in Canada's success in 2010."

The new facility, being set up in an effort to boost Canada's performance at home in 2010, according to Don Green. "With this new training facility, it is my sincere hope that Camp Green on Farnham Glacier will help provide our athletes with one of the many pieces needed to help them achieve gold in 2010."

John Mills, president of CODA, the legacy organization of the 1988 Olympic Winter Games in Calgary says, "This project represents a multi-year effort to give our athletes access to cost-effective, year-round, leading-edge training facilities at home, and that is what our country must have if we are to attain the goal of becoming a world-leading winter sports nation by 2010."

This is not VANOC's first involvement in the project. VANOC's predecessor organization, the Vancouver 2010 Bid Corporation, along with CODA, 2010 LegaciesNow, the Canadian Olympic Committee and the national sports organizations, operated a C$1 million pilot project on Farnham Glacier in 2003, which was later termed "highly successful." Snowcats, machines that are traditionally used for winter operations at CODA's Canada Olympic Park in Calgary, were used with helicopters as transportation to training runs.

CODA will use the money and other support to complete the project, including construction of access roads and a base camp. Up to 40 athletes are to be housed in modern tent shelters, with access to good food and support services.

"Having Camp Green in Canada for snow-sport athletes is long overdue, and I am very appreciative of the efforts that have been made," said Thomas Grandi, two-time World Cup gold medallist in alpine skiing. "The Europeans have always had the advantage on us because they train on some of the best glaciers in the world. We have one in our backyard, and to be able to make use of it is important for the development of Canadian athletes."

The Farnham Glacier site (Camp Green) will provide an alternative to costly summer training for Canadian athletes, who have usually trained in Southern Hemisphere or on European glaciers during Canadian summers.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on October 24, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |IOC| #1249
COC'S EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF SPORT, MARK LOWRY, 51, DIES OF PANCREATIC CANCER

Mark Lowry, the Canadian Olympic Committee's Executive Director of Sport. Lowry, 51, has died in his sleep at his home in Ottawa. He had been suffering from pancreatic cancer for the past two years.

"We are devastated by the loss of such a passionate and knowledgeable sport leader, and offer our deepest condolences to Mark's family," said Chris Rudge, CEO of the Canadian Olympic Committee. "Right to the end, Mark dedicated his career to advancing the cause of athletes and sport in Canada. His lasting legacy will be the successes of the many Canadian athletes and coaches who benefited from the high-performance programs -- including the Own the Podium-2010 program -- which Mark helped to create."

Lowry's last public appearance connected to the 2010 Winter Games was last July, when he was in Vancouver to start the hunt for office space for his organization as part of the COC's official evaluation and preparations for the 2010 Games. And, at the same time, he had also supplied the COC with a draft competition schedule for run-up to the 2010 Games, but at the time he had declined to be specific about which international sports federations were so far signed up to hold sanctioned events at 2010 venues before the Games.

The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC)and its telecommunications sponsor, Bell Canada, are to make an announcement about the "Own the Podium" program later today.

Lowry joined the COC in June of 1997 as the Executive Director, Sport with overall responsibility for Canada's participation at the Olympic and Pan American Games, athlete and coach programming and support to National Sport Federations.

Lowry leaves his wife Jennifer and his son, Brendan, 20.

The COC, in response to the wishes of the Lowry family, has established "The Mark Lowry Memorial Fund" to benefit Canada's Olympic athletes and coaches.

Private funeral services and a memorial service are being planned for this week in Ottawa.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on October 24, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #1253

Here are three moguls we ran into today:

VANOC TAPS REGINA COMPANY TO MAKE LAPEL PINS FOR 2010

The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) has awarded its exclusive license to make lapel pins to Laurie Artiss Ltd. of Regina, Saskatchewan. The firm will manufacture, distribute and sell pins and accessories bearing the brands of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games. For the Vancouver 2010 pin program, Laurie Artiss will form a partnership with Aminco International (USA) Inc. of Lake Forest, California, to form a new company to fulfil unspecified licensing conditions. The terms of the deal were not released, however, a royalty is usually based on the quantity of the product sold at wholesale value. The pins will be available just barely in time for the Christmas retail season at stores belonging to the Hudson Bay Company, as well as in specific souvenir and gift shops in urban areas and ski resorts, starting in December. "Pins are one of the most popular, accessible and collectible products associated with the Olympic Winter Games," says Dave Cobb, VANOC's senior vice-president of Revenue, Marketing & Communications. Since 1988, when the International Olympic Committee officially recognized pins as Olympic Games memorabilia, about 30 million pins have been traded at Olympic Games just at pin trading centres run by IOC sponsor Coca Cola. Laurie Artiss was involved in the Calgary 1988 Olympic Winter Games pin program, as well as being a Canadian Olympic Committee pin supplier between then and 2004. Aminco has 28 years of experience and was the pin licensee for the Salt Lake 2002 Winter Games. The Vancouver 2010 exclusive pin license was awarded through a Request for Proposals process. The sale of Vancouver 2010 pins, and all officially licensed products, provide revenue to the Games.

BELL "OWN THE PODIUM" DEAL INCLUDES BRANDING ROYALTIES FROM TORINO MARKETING
There was a wrinkle to the Bell announcement it would be putting C$15 million toward the "Own the Podium" program: C$10 million of that will be from the funding it was directly providing as part of its sponsorship of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC). An additional C$5 million, also counted as part of its overall C$200 million support for VANOC as announced last January, is to be raised from the sale of "special Olympic-branded products" as part of Bell's marketing program for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy.

ROCKIES SKI RESORT USES SNOW GUNS TO PREPARE FOR OLYMPIC-BOUND ATHLETES
The world's best ski-racers will train at Panorama ski resort, in the Rocky Mountains southwest of Banff, Alberta, starting November 4, preparing for the World Cup circuit and the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Torino, Italy. Canada, Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Sweden are just some of the nations using the Alpine Canada-sanctioned race-training facility, which is expected to be tapped for training 2010-bound teams as well. Which is why snow guns are currently laying a base of machine-made snow on Show-off and Old Timer, preparing these runs for the event. First Tracks, a ski magazine, paraphrases Panorama's Snow-Making manager, Todd Partington, as saying Panorama is able to make snow on 40% of its terrain (over 2,800 acres and 4,000 vertical feet). Up to 70 snow guns can propel out the flakes at once, pumping up to 2,800 gallons of snow per minute onto the mountain, he said. He added that snowmakers control the type of snow that blankets the ski runs, based on what the runs are being used for. According to Partington, more water is used for building the snow base and on race-runs; less water is used for softer snow. The depth of snow accumulated from snowmaking is also dependent on the run. How much traffic the run gets, how steep it is and how much sun exposure it gets, all determine how much snow is needed on the run. "The steeper the run, the more snow that is needed, as more gets pushed off the sides," explained Partington. "We work with the groomers to determine when a run has enough snow, and depth can be anywhere from 30 cm on a flat run to 90 cm on a high traffic, steep run," he added. VANOC will be incorporating snow-making machinery for its Cypress Bowl facilities in West Vancouver.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on October 24, 2005

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #1252

Here are three moguls we ran into today:

RCMP CITE 2010 "PREDICTABILITY" TO PITCH FOR SENIOR HR CONSULTANT

The RCMP is using "increased operational pressures flowing from predictable events such as the 2010 British Columbia Olympics" as one of several reasons it wants to spend up to C$500,000 to hire a senior project-management consultant. The consultant would work with the Canadian national police force's human-resource department and Project Management Office and RCMP headquarters in Ottawa "to ensure that the HR function delivers resources to meet the operational requirements of the business in a more efficient, effective and timely way," according to an RCMP-vetted document. There is, says the document, "a pressing need to ensure that the RCMP increases its ability to provide the right resources, at the right time, in the right place." The consultant would act as a "secretariat to the RCMP Business Transformation Leadership Office and the Integrated Project Management Team", and deal with "risk-and-issue tracking, impact assessments and mitigation strategies." It expects to hire the consultant in the last half of November.

VANCOUVER SCHOOL BOARD CONTEMPLATES ELEMENTARY "SHELL" FOR CITY'S OLYMPIC VILLAGE
The Vancouver School Board has approved a five-year capital plan that includes the possibility of an elementary school building constructed in the third year -- 2009 -- near the Vancouver Olympic Village athlete quarters. However the plan must first acquire provincial government approval, though not necessarily project-specific funding from that quarter. The buildings are expected to be designed for communal living for the athletes, but revert to standard, residential, apartment-style housing after the Games are finished. That, says the VSB, provides the opportunity to build a shell of a building as part of the Village that could become an elementary school afterward. The City of Vancouver will work with a private developer to deal with the industrial land between Cambie Bridge and Main Street, part of which will be used for an athletes' village during the 2010 Olympics. A school site is included in the plans, and the VSB suggests this might be away to get the building shell constructed for lesser cost to Vancouver than would otherwise occur. Planning for the school could begin about a year from now, with construction to start in 2008 and finished with the rest of the Village by November 1, 2009.

BELL RETURNS TO COSSETTE'S MARKETING FOLD
The use of the Cossette Communication Group, the Canadian-based international advertising and public relations agency, to work on today's Bell Canada announcement that it would contribute C$15-million to 2010's Own the Podium program, is making some sense now. We've learned that Cossette has again become lead agency for Bell Canada, which moved its English creative advertising, estimated at C$50 million, back to Cossette after a year with Grip Ltd., Toronto. All of Bell's media plus French creative, public relations, direct marketing, interactive marketing, business-to-business and other promotional material are already handled by Cossette. Vancouver-based Rethink, according to industry discussion, will be working with Cossette to develop English-language marketing. In essence, Bell was paying for the announcement's media relations and giving VANOC a marketing bump as it did so.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on October 24, 2005