Morgan:News:2010:Bronze Edition: December 2006

Friday, December 22, 2006

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Morgan:News:2010 |Business| #2062

VINCOR WINE SPONSORSHIP OF VANOC TO LAUNCH FEBRUARY 8 IN VANCOUVER

The president and CEO of VANOC's wine sponsor says the official launch date of Vincor Canada's corporate involvement as a supplier to the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) is February 8. The launch will take place at VANOC's headquarters in east Vancouver.

The company, one of Canada's largest wine merchants, became a subsidiary of the giant US wine firm, Constellation Brands of New York, about seven months ago. Vincor Canada has wineries in British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick.

CEO Jay Wright says the company is using the wine volume usage of 30,000 bottles by the Torino Winter Games as a starting point in its negotiations with VANOC over what role it will be playing with the Olympics, and it may have some more details to discuss about how that might work during the launch, but there are still quite a few decisions that have yet to be made about how it will participate. "We'll probably be providing more clarity at that point," he says.

Wright had earlier indicated there would be some "innovative" aspects to the supplier deal, which is in a VANOC category that is valued between C$5 million and C$15 million, though he refused to say what the specific value of his firm's combination of cash and value-in-kind arrangement is.

Wright says, however, there "are going to be some exciting things that we're going to talk about" at the launch. He also expects to be talking about the royalties that Vincor will be providing to VANOC for the use of its branding at the February 8 event. "It's an all-inclusive package that we've been working on."

Part of the negotiations with VANOC, he says, will deal with which Vincor wineries in Canada will be supplying the wines. "I can't really tell yet. We're working through some of the specifics with VANOC. My instincts at this stage would be that we really want the BC wines to take the lead. We're real proud of that. We see not just our wines, but all wines from British Columbia really having an opportunity here, in that time period. No question. Especially with all the tourists coming to BC then, and we wanting to get some of them into the [Okanagan] Valley. No question."

Wright says, however, that although there are logistical issues involved in transporting wines in bulk from other parts of the country to the Greater Vancouver and Whistler venues, Vincor's Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick wineries won't be left out, that each area of his companies wineries will want to leverage the most from the sponsorship. "It's one of the reasons why we're excited about this. VANOC wants these to be Canada's Games. We have wineries all across the country and sales and distribution all across the country, so we can leverage that. We're working in detail on that right now."

The talks are also working on rough estimates of the annual volumes of wines that might be needed, although it's expected that the bulk of the wines will be weighted toward 2009 and the first calendar quarter of 2010, although the deal goes all the way through to the 2012 Games in London, England as far as support for the Canadian Olympic Team is concerned. "We'll have a lot more clarity in the next six to nine months there, as VANOC's general sponsorship program comes together as well." That programming is expected to begin after the Chinese Summer Olympic Games are finished in August 2008.

Another part of the negotiations, which Vincor is working through with VANOC, is whether Vincor will have access to functions related to VANOC's corporate and government relationships, such as supplying wine to BC Canada House when it is set up in Beijing to market the 2010 Games and British Columbia to China during the 2008 Summer Olympics, or whether Vincor will have access to wine supply to federal or provincial government functions, or the functions of corporate sponsors to VANOC. "We're working through those details, too. And we want to work very closely with all the other partners of VANOC for the '08, '10 and the '12 Games. But any wine in Canada needs to be purchased through retail channels [for regulatory reasons]. But we'll work with all of our partners to maximize our sales there."

Wright says the Liquor Control Boards of BC, Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick have all been doing their best to help Vincor and VANOC with the issues the sponsorship poses for their regulatory regimes. Under Canadian law, each province is responsible for regulating its own liquor laws, and so there is variability between them. "We have taken the idea of our partnership to the major liquor boards across the country and they're pretty excited about the fact that we have the partnership, and we're working on ideas together. They have programming that they work on 18 months into the future, so we're working with them on their programming out into the future on how we can leverage the sponsorship with the liquor boards. The nice thing about our business with the liquor boards is that they are agents of the government, and also have an interest in supporting the Canadian Olympic Team. They're marketing and merchandising folks are very open to coming up with new promotions and merchandising ideas to leverage the support to the Canadian Olympic Team." Wright said that would include point-of-purchase promotions, among many others.

Wright says the marketing activation of his company's role in the sponsorship agreement will be multifaceted. "It'll start to unfold in early February, exploiting the February 8th launch, and continue to unfold over the six months after that, and be in full swing by then."

Wright says branding his company's wines with VANOC logos and slogans will begin as new vintages appear. "As our new vintages get rolled out, we'll be doing that. We're going to be doing Inniskillin, Jackson-Triggs, Sawmill Creek, Naked Grape, our First Nations winery Nk'Mip Cellars, Sumac Ridge and See Ya Later Ranch." Wright isn't sure yet which wine will first sport the logos, but they will come from the wines produced from the 2006 vintages that were just completed in British Columbia and Ontario this fall.

Wright adds that there are still some negotiations to take place with VANOC over whether it will particpate in so-called swag projects. These involve, for instance, product gift packages or baskets from various suppliers that are given to a wide range of people connected with people that help host the Olympic Games and promote the Canadian Olympic Team. "I don't know how much of a priority it will play with VANOC, but we're here to do whatever we can to help.

Wright confirms that his company is not involved in the companion Own the Podium program, to which a number of VANOC sponsors have agreed to contribute under separate sponsorships. It's aim is to help Canadian athletes achieve medals at the 2010 Winter Games. "We're just digesting what we've done so far," Wright says.

Wright says the genesis of the sponsorship deal was in 2003, when Wright began skiing with the president of the Canadian Olympic Committee, Chris Rudge, on the weekends. "He and I started chatting about this. Donald Ziraldo, [co-founder and president of Vincor's Inniskillen Wines] also had a relationship with Chris. So we tested the idea with Inniskillen for the Winter Olympics in Torino in sponsoring the Canadian Olympic Team in the 15 months before the Olympics. That was successful. In 2006, with Inniskillen, we supported the [Canadian] Alpine Ski Team, so this is a logical extension of the relationship we had begun with the COC. It morphed into the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee. [VANOC CEO John Fulong] came and found us, and Steve Ballger, our head of marketing, had a real passion for this as well, given the success we'd had with Inniskillen and the sponsorship of the Torino Games, and to take it to the next step."

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 22, 2006

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Morgan:News:2010 |Business| #2061

LAUNCH OF PROGRAM TO MARKET CIRCULATING OLYMPIC COMMEMORATIVE COINS TO TAKE PLACE JANUARY 26

A spokesman for the Canadian Mint says the public launch of the new 2010 Olympic coinage will take place January 26. Although coin-collector packages of them will be available at the time of the launch, it will be at staggered time after that before they enter the money supply.

The Vice-President of Communications for the Royal Canadian Mint, Pam Aung Thin, says the public-relations launch and the start of marketing of the coins, on which we first reported November 29, involves a new "loonie", which is the nickname Canadians call their $1 coin, and 10 new quarters. "The coins will be unveiled January 26, but they'll actually go into circulation at different times over the next three years leading up to 2010. The dates will be unveiled on the 26th. We'll be talking about what the entire program will look like, and the approximate times they'll go into circulation."

The Mint's marketing program will take advantage of all of its standard marketing and distribution channels, as well as specialty channels that deal with the Olympics. "It'll be through a combination of public relations, advertising and other marketing activities. Whenever the Royal Canadian Mint produces what it calls 'commemorative coins' -- circulation coins that appear in your change but with a commemorative design -- whenever we put into circulation a coin with a different design from our regular coins, we're obliged by law to let people know there's a new coin in circulation, that it's a different design and that it's legal tender."

She says that it will be a consistent program over the next three years as the new coins begin to circulate. "Our coins, up to this point, all had various themes, but one theme wasn't necessarily linked to the next. This [the 2010 coin initiative] is really part of a three-year program... What we're trying to do is bring the coins to all Canadians over the next three years and help make them accessible."

The quarters will feature various winter sports events that will take part in the 2010 Olympics, but the $1 coin will commemorate the Games themselves. The Mint often strikes new versions of the country's quarters, worth 25 cents, but only rarely changes the "loonie," so named because it has a loon, a northern bird, on the back side of the coin. The last time was in 2005, to mark the 25th anniversary of the Terry Fox run, but the previous time before that was 1992, when it issued one that marked Canada's peacekeeping role. She adds that release of the various sports coins will be timed to coincide with other events that will also be marketed.

The Mint earlier this year produced a limited collectors run of a silvered $1 coin, with coloured Olympic rings, but it did not go into circulation. Aung Thin says we'll have to "wait and see until January 26" to find out if the new loonie will be in a colour that's different from the brown metallic look currently in use or whether they will have any unusual features or spot colours. "We'll be showing everything on the 26th... and to give people a full perspective.

The marketing and sales of the coins aids VANOC. Because the Mint has a supplier sponsorship agreement in place with the organization, it pays a royalty for each one sold.

The run of the Olympic commemorative coins in packages will be limited, depending on the market demand. The coins will be in people's pockets long after the Games are gone. The Mint spokesman estimates that both the dollar and quarter coins circulate for about 30 years.

Meanwhile, Aung Thin says that so far, the Mint has not made any plans, that she is aware of, at least, to launch a $25 commemorative Olympic denomination. The Mint applied for and received permission from the Canadian government to produce such a denomination. "We apply for different denominations, just because we have to go through a legislative process... It doesn't mean we have such a currency, it just means that we have permission to do so. Sometimes we ask for things in anticipation, but not necessarily having a design behind it. There's nothing I can talk to you about today, but there may be more information available about it in January.

Meanwhile, she says, the Mint does not yet know the design of the Olympic medals, which it will be producing under its arrangements with VANOC, with the precious metals supplied by BC-headquartered mining company Teck Cominco. But how the three organizations -- VANOC, Teck Comico and the Min -- will deal with the logistics of when metal will be needed and how much are still being worked out. "I'm not sure how that's going to work, to be honest," Aung Thin says, "We're just beginning our discussions with VANOC and Teck Cominco."

Does she have any sense of the timing of when the medals might be made? "Sometime before 2010," she smiled. "Hopefully."

RESOURCES

Our story about how the coins will look, and the rough timing of their circulation:

'Canadian government to issue $1 and ten 25-cent coins for the 2010 Winter Games'

[Morgan:News:2010:Number:2016; Published on Wednesday, November 29, 2006]

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 21, 2006

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2060

Here are three moguls we ran into today:

POLITICAL MACHINES SETTING UP TO PROTEST IOC'S RULING ON WOMEN'S JUMPING

That rumble you hear is from the political machines in Canada gearing up to protest a decision made three weeks ago by the IOC to reject women's ski jumping as a competition at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Whistler. The national newspaper, the Globe & Mail, today reported Canada's federal minister of Sport, Peter Van Loan, as saying he is "very disappointed" by the decision. It quotes him as saying, about the decision and a likely discrimination suit filed with the Canadian Human Rights Commission over the matter by a lawyer representing Canadian female ski jumpers, "The clearest statement I can make is that we are very disappointed with the IOC decision, and I mean that as a strong statement... I want to commend these ski jumpers for taking the incredible effort to change the minds of the IOC and I encourage these efforts -- it's quite heartening." The IOC has said that it was turning down the application for the 2010 Games for technical reasons dealing with the depth and breadth of the competition, not because of sex discrimination, and it left the possibility open that the sport could be included in the 2014 Winter Games. The leader of one of Canada's smaller opposition parties, the New Democratic Party's Jack Layton, is also quoted as saying about the decision, "I couldn't believe it. It was like something out of a past century, or worse. You would have thought we were at a point where equality in sport would be recognized." Layton, the newspaper reported, called for all parties to rally in a "national campaign" to help the women. "If I had to say something to them, I'd say, 'You've got courage, and Canadians are going to come behind you with support that you couldn't even have imagined.'"

VANOC TO SOON START ON DETAILS OF OVERLAY PLANNING AND PROCUREMENT PROCESSES

VANOC will be starting in the next few months the detailed planning and working on the technical drawings of what it calls the Olympic Overlay for all of its venues. The overlay includes the temporary structures, from extra seating to security, that will be set up from roughly the third calendar quarter of 2009 until their taken down around April of 2010. The overlay is necessary to make the venues, most of which are built for long-term use, operational for the Games. In addition, they will also be starting work on the development and implementation of what appears to be a comprehensive commodity program to support the design, development and delivery of the Overlay infrastructure. You can expect that function to be soon working out how to do the necessary Expressions of Interest, and subsequent tendering, awarding contracts and administering them, and it will be similar to the way the Finance and Procurement departments have been handling that process to date for other aspects of VANOC's operations. They'll also begin assembling the VANOC infrastructure to handle the research into the many different commodity types and quantities, and putting that into the EOIs and Request for Quotes according to the location of various venues and their functions, and connecting that with value-in-kind, both from their existing sponsors, from those yet to be announced, and from those posed within other arrangements. As we understand it, they'll be doing market research to identify potential suppliers and commodities, setting up a technical library for the commodities they need, and develop a database of commodity and supplier contact information. They'll also begin work in the next while to decide whether its less expensive to go out to the market to have things fabricated, or have an in-house fabrication department do the work.

OFFICE HOURS SENT FOR VANOC AND ITS VENUE CITIES FOR HOLIDAY WEEK

VANOC's headquarters offices in Vancouver and Whistler are closed from December 22 through to and including January 1, for the holiday season. The VANOC offices will reopen on Tuesday, January 2. The Vancouver 2010 Information Centre in Whistler will be closed from December 24 to 26, as well as the 31st and January 1, but will be open December 27-30 from 11 am to 5 pm. It will reopen to its regular hours on january 2. Vancouver city hall will close tomorrow at noon, and will reopen at 8:30 am January 2. The municipal halls of Richmond and Whistler will be closed Monday and Tuesday, as well as Monday, Jan. 1. They will be open from 8 am (8:15 for Richmond) to 4:30 pm the rest of the time.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 21, 2006

Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #2059

THE CANADIAN GOVERNMENT TO DIG EVEN MORE DEEPLY INTO ITS FINANCIAL RELATIONSHIP WITH VANOC

The 2010 Winter Games Federal Secretariat, a part of the federal government's Canadian Heritage ministry, is expected to begin closely reviewing every aspects of its financial relationship with the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) in February.

Canadian government documents indicate that Ottawa intends to hire another consultant -- for up to $75,000 -- to work on the project until December, 2007, with options to extend that at the same rate for up to three more years until the Games are over. The documents note the 2010 Games have a high public profile, as far as the government is concerned, and that there are a lot of Canadians watching how it all goes together.

This latest microscopic inspection is in addition to the accountant it's in the process of hiring to go through all of the spending and cash flowing between the Ministry and VANOC from now back to VANOC's inception in September, 2003. Last March, it asked for a company to review VANOC's construction department, to ensure it was running properly.

In what's known as the Multi-Party Agreement, the governments of Canada and British Columbia both agreed to provide C$365 million in funding to cover infrastructure and legacy costs. Under the deal Canada would also provide an additional C$187 million to provide "essential federal services", such as security and immigration services, for federal coordination and Paralympic Games operating costs for a total of $552 million.

The documents also note that bulk of the C$552 million the Canadian government has budgeted to eventually invest in hosting the 2010 Winter Games by the time they end in March, 2010, is the C$290-million contribution to the construction of VANOC's venues by the Heritage department; an amount matched by BC government. The documents note that the Heritage Ministry, now controlled by a Conservative government, is about to enter is fourth fiscal year of contributing to the 2010 Winter Games venue program and has so far paid about C$109 million to the Games, based on terms and conditions contained in four separate, annual contribution agreements that were negotiated by the previous Liberal government.

The job of the financial consultant has a number of straightforward goals, according to the documents: to ensure that the federal financial contribution to the 2010 Winter Games Capital Plan is secure, that it's being properly used, and that VANOC's accounting is correct, that all corporate documentation released by VANOC -- such as its yet-to-be released Business Plan, its quarterly and annual reports, other financial reports, its invoices to the government, capital plan budgets, risk analyses, follow-up of audit recommendations and any subsequent "management action plans" and the like -- are properly reviewed and analyzed, that independent recommendations to the senior management of the 2010 Federal Secretariat are prepared and presented, and that professional advice on key financial decisions are provided as required.

The documents say that these "due diligence" reports need to focus on the "risks and their impact on the overall federal investment to the 2010 Winter Games Capital Plan."

And why is all the necessary? The documents say "The main purpose... is to generate knowledge and information for public dissemination."

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 21, 2006

Morgan:News:2010 |Sports| #2058

CANADIAN SNOWSPORTS ASSOCIATION WASTING NO TIME IN PREPARING FOR 2010'S NEW SKI CROSS COMPETITIONS

The Canadian Snowsports Association, with only three years to get Canadian ski-cross athletes ready for the 2010 Winter Olympics, has decided not to wait for a formal, final decision from the 2010 organizers, and has begun spending money on management planning and preparations.

The International Olympic Committee decided three weeks ago that ski cross would be the only new event added to the competition line-up of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC). Since the decision, VANOC management has been preparing its recommendations on the implications of that decision on the operational side of the Games, so it can forward the information to VANOC's Board of Directors for a decision at its January meeting. The Board has final say on confirming the IOC's decision, according to the IOC, although it's expected to do so.

Dave Pym, the managing director of the Association, who works from the Telus-supported CSA office in Vancouver, says that there is a great deal of planning work to be done in the next six months to focus on the 2010 Games. That work couldn't seriously begin until the IOC's decision, and now there's no time to lose.

"The VANOC Board is unlikely to make its decision before the end of January, as a result of the negotiations and discussions it has going on with the IOC," he says, "I have to get [management in place] as quickly as I can because we have a ski-cross World Championship coming up in the latter part of January, and we want to start working towards our training camps. I'm concerned about time. I believe VANOC and the IOC will come to a decision that will see ski cross entered into the Games, and I'm trying to be prudent, but I have to take the risk as I do my due-diligence."

Pym notes that January is a key month for doing that due-diligence, because the first event of the Ski Tour is January 11-15th in Sun Valley, Idaho, and the World Freestyle Ski Championships are on the 10th of January, and there may be athletes in those competitions that could be good at ski cross.

Since the IOC's decision, the CSA has been involved in discussions with those in charge of Alpine Canada, the Canadian Freestyle Skiing Association and the Canadian Snowboard Association, along with the Canadian Olympic's funding arm, Own The Podium 2010 and those contributing to its funding: VANOC, Sport Canada, and the Canadian Olympic Committee, although Pym says he has not yet talked directly to VANOC about the situation. Pym says that, as a result of those discussions, "I'm confident that we will have sufficient funding in place to meet our objectives."

Those groups have now agreed to the type of work and initial funding arrangements that will be necessary for the CSA to begin working on the details of what needs to be done, and when.

Pym lists the work that needs to be accomplished within just the next six months:

Hire a full-time consultant to "prepare a comprehensive program and create a high-performance plan" for Canadian skiers to reach the 2010 podium in ski cross. The consultant needs to start no later than January 15, but preferably as soon as possible. They'll definately be on the job until the end of June, but if things work out, the contract could be extended to March 2010, the end of the Olympic Games.

The consultant, who will report to Pym, will help prepare the strategic plan with the goal of "achieving Podium results" at the 2010 Games in men's and women's ski cross. The consultant will also help the organization prepare an operating plan and the necessary internal structure for the high-performance program within the CSA. That includes identifying, selecting, training and managing athletes from the current Alpine and Freestyle sections that could be competitors, as well as athletes "currently competing outside of sanctioned FIS/CSA events such as X-Games and Ski Tour."

Pym says that means there are no athletes yet who can yet feel comfortable they will be in the 2010 Games for the event. "Our goal is to get the very best athletes that we can find in Canada capable of winning in ski cross. It doesn't matter where they come from."

Figure out the ideal characteristics and identification criteria for athletes to ensure that within the pool of competitors, the "best possible" athletes are identified, selected and trained.

Develop recruitment plans for a ski cross training camp at VANOC's Cypress Mountain ski-cross venue for late March or early April, including camp operations, and discuss the design of the venue with VANOC and technical experts from the International Ski Federation (FIS) "to meet Canada's athletic needs."

Develop plans to send a CSA-endorsed observer team to selected events of the USA's 'Ski Tour,' FIS Freestyle World Ski Cross Championships and the X-Games, to learn what they can about potential competitors and operations.

Figure out ways to help Canadian-athlete training during the winter a year from now, right through to the 2010 Games, by using existing snowboard cross, freestyle or alpine facilities, as well as scheduled cross events held by the Canadian Freestyle Skiing Association and the Canadian Snowboard Federation.

Develop a plan for using the new camps at Farnham Glacier in eastern BC for summer and fall ski-cross training. Pym says that should be straightforward to set up. "The facility at Farnham is there, it's magnificent, all of my sports used it this past summer -- alpine, freestyle, snowboard -- and we did some snowboard cross [training] there. We can easily adapt it for ski cross."

Prepare the job description and hiring criteria for Canada's first Olympic ski-cross coach.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 21, 2006

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Morgan:News:2010 |Business| #2057

BC BISOMESS EXECUTIVES STRONGLY OPTIMISTIC ABOUT 2010'S ROLE IN BC ECONOMY

B.C. business people are overwhelmingly optimistic about how the 2010 Olympics will affect the province as a whole, though they are far less positive about the effect 2010 will have on their own businesses.

That's the main conclusion of a province-wide poll that was conducted by Synovate, a market-research firm, on behalf of the Certified General Accountants Association of BC. The organization represents 13,000 accountants and students.

Synovate conducted 500 telephone surveys of B.C. businesspeople. The poll included questions on the issues affecting small- and medium-sized businesses in B.C. as the province heads towards 2010 and the Olympic Games.

Almost three-quarters of survey respondents, 74%, said hosting the 2010 Olympics would have a positive impact on B.C. as a whole.

However, 55% said the years leading up to 2010 and the Games themselves would have no real impact on their own businesses, while 40% said 2010 would have a positive impact.

Only a small number of businesses, 7%, offered up the concern that hosting the Olympics might result in the accumulation of huge debt for the province.

Approximately one-third of B.C. businesses do not expect any obstacles to thwart their company's ability to take advantage of 2010. The remaining two-thirds of businesses are most concerned with the availability and affordability of qualified labour (19%) and their distance from Vancouver (13%).

"People or "human capital" is also a fundamental driver of economic success," says Moe Jones, president of CGA-BC. "If we are to build a prosperous future we must focus on producing, attracting and retaining the people who will drive our economy."

Overall, 44% of B.C. businesses report that they face labour shortages that restrict their ability to meet demand. Labour shortages are more pressing among the larger companies surveyed (those with 10 or more employees) and less so among smaller companies with one to three employees.

The biggest gap between supply and demand for skilled professionals is expected in the resource sector -- 41% say they will have trouble filling these position -- and in the transportation/communication/utilities sector (34% expect to have difficulty).

In the years leading up to 2010, many B.C. businesses are expecting expansion in several areas.

Thirty-five percent expect to be spending more money and/or resources on expanding their workforce; on sales staff and materials (24%); on new machinery and equipment (22%); and on adding new product lines or services (21%).

Only 9% of businesses feel they will be getting a new or larger office or plant space for 2010. Over 40% predicted they will not be spending more money or resources on any of the five areas presented.

Generally, the mood of B.C. businesses is optimistic. B.C. businesses expect the province's economy to improve rather than worsen over the next four years, by an overwhelming ratio of 54% to 8%. The remaining 37% expect the economy to stay the same.

Margins of error for the poll at the 95% confidence level are plus or minus 4.4% for the total sample of 500.

RESOURCES

You can see the full results of the poll by downloading this PDF file

files.newswire.ca/567/CGABC2010.pdf

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 20, 2006

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2056

Here are three moguls we ran into today:

HUMAN RIGHTS COMPLAINT OVER SKI-JUMPING DISCRIMINATION ALLEGATIONS TO BE FILED

The Canadian national newspaper, the Globe & Mail, reports today that lawyer Nina Reid is preparing to file a formal complaint with Canada's Human Rights Commission as a way of challenging the IOC's November decision to reject women from taking part in ski jumping events at the 2010 Winter Olympics. The complaint, which is likely to be filed next month on behalf of a group of Canadian women ski jumpers, is expected to be closely focused. Reid's claim is likely to be that the federal government is providing public funds to the Canadian representatives of an organization that allegedly discriminates on the basis of gender. The newspaper notes that "an international decision that has ramifications in Canada can be served with a cease-and-desist order of a discriminatory practice, an order to correct the practice, and compensation that doesn't exceed a C$20,000 fine." It's expected, however, that Reid would focus her complaint on targeting the much larger portion of Canadian government funds that are being used by VANOC to build the temporary ski jumps in the Callaghan Valley, near Whistler, as part of the Nordic Centre sports complex. The newspaper quotes Reid as saying, "These are public funds, and VANOC is holding an event that not everyone can be a part of, based on gender." The newspaper also quotes VANOC spokesman Mary Fraser. She said, according the report, that VANOC had to respect the IOC's decision, and its reasoning that there were not enough nations with a sufficient number of participants to justify the addition of ski jumping, she said. According to Ski Jumping Canada, women jumpers from 14 nations currently compete in 20 events staged by eight countries, but it's not clear how many would appear at an Olympics. "This has nothing to do with gender," the newspaper quotes Fraser as saying. "It has everything to do with the levels of competition. The IOC has certain guidelines for a certain level of competition and this sport didn't measure up. It doesn't mean that for every year [the IOC's decision] will be no, but this year, it will be no." The BC government's opposition critic assigned to the Olympics, Harry Bains of the BC New Democratic Party, says the BC government, "failed to take a strong enough stand for gender equality, and now we see the consequences. With the Olympics rapidly approaching, this government must show leadership immediately."

COC GIVES KUDOS TO OWN THE PODIUM PROGRAM

The CEO of the Canadian Olympic Committee, Chris Rudge, says Canadian Olympic athletes did much better this year than in previous years because of the decision to establish the Own The Podium program, plan to invest it with up to C$110 million in private and public funds to improve athletes for the 2010 Winter Games, then set up a separate, but similar program for the Summer Olympics. "We hit the targets we had established," Rudge says, "What is more important is we knew why we did it. We didn't get lucky. We went in with a vision for success and understood what we would have to do. The big payout is, moving forward, we can re-apply those things to continuing to build winter sports and summer sports."

VANOC EMPLOYEES BY THE NUMBERS

VANOC is now, apparently, at the size where it can have two different numbers for how many employees it has, and they can both be right. VANOC issued a news release yesterday to discuss, among other things, its 2006 "milestones." The release says, "VANOC's employee team grew to 298 and moved into its new headquarters, known as Campus 2010." The move occurred much earlier this year. On the same day, it issues its formal report covering the first quarter of its 2007 fiscal year. On page 6, in the management discussion section, it reports that, "At October 31, 2006, VANOC had 282 full time employees." VANOC spokesman Chris Brumwell, asked about the two numbers, says, "Both numbers are accurate but the larger one includes the secondees, such as our secondee from the Ministry of Environment who is working with our team on weather systems and forecasting for the Games. We'll be more clear next time."

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 20, 2006

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2055

Here are three moguls we ran into today:

MONTREAL PAYS OFF OLYMPIC STADIUM

The final cheque to repay the mortgage for the 30-year-old Montreal Olympic Stadium was sent from the Olympic Installations Board to the Quebec Finance Department in mid-November, according to report carried by Canadian Press today. The Canadian Olympic Committee would not comment on the final payment. But a report for national TV broadcaster, CTV, by Montreal's Tania Krywiak said, "They did tell us they would continue to use the Olympic Stadium as a venue to host sporting events as well as commercial events." As far as the City of Montreal is concerned, says the report, "They tell us they are just not ready, they are not willing and don't want to take over the Olympic stadium." The initial cost of the project was projected to be C$250 million in 1976 dollars, but there were a lot of over-runs, and the final bill was said to be C$1.5 billion. The Quebec government introduced a tobacco tax in May 1976 to help pay for its investment. Officials estimated the debt would be cleared by September, but the smoking ban introduced in May slowed down tobacco sales in the province.

SWEDISH NORDIC TEAM TO TRAIN AT MOUNT WASHINGTON

The Swedish Nordic team has confirmed it will train on Mount Washington's facilities, a boost for the area around Comox on the east side of Vancouver Island. The team has committed to a summer training schedule for mid-July to mid-August starting next year, for up to 25 athletes and coaches, as well as for the winters of 2007/8, 2008/9, and it expects to have 50 people on site from January 20 to February 20, 2010. "We've known our conditions and Nordic product are a perfect fit for teams training for 2010. This is the first international team, but it won't be the last," according to Don Sharpe, director of business operations for the Mount Washington Alpine Resort.

2010 ORGANIZATION E-MAILS CHRISTMAS NEWSLETTER

VANOC today distributed its Christmas issue of an electronic newsletter that provides the headlines and links to a number of news releases and features that have appeared on its website in the latter half of this year, but there's also a link to a 50-second "Holiday Message" from CEO John Furlong. The video, in which Furlong speaks in English with French subtitles -- those are the official languages of VANOC and the IOC -- appears to have been shot in a residential area with a decorated evergreen tree behind him -- is both a Christmas message and a plug for the organization's website. "We're all very grateful you've chosen vancouver2010.com to participate and subscribe to, and that you're keeping in touch with our project here in Vancouver. We'd like you to share this with your friends and we try to build on and develop Canada's Games," he says. The newsletter, from VANOC's Communications department, reports that, "Since its relaunch in February 2006, the vancouver2010.com website has served up more than 10 million page views to nearly 2 million visitors." The e-mail coding contains campaign tracking links that in several cases can be used to provide information about which e-mail recipient viewed portions of the message.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 19, 2006

Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #2054

2010 ORGANIZING COMMITTEE REPORTS ITS FIRST OPERATIONAL SURPLUS AS IT RELEASES ITS FIRST-QUARTER FINANCIAL REPORT

The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) registered a net revenue surplus for the first time in its three-year history during its first fiscal quarter ending October 31, according to a report on the quarter issued today.

And while VANOC is neither on time nor on budget, compared with its bid book, the organization is financially healthy and getting healthier.

VANOC isn't yet out of an overall deficit position, counting from the start of its life on September 30, 2003, on operations, but it's not far from it now. Morgan:News:2010 expects that it could be operationally in the black, overall, perhaps by the end of its fiscal year, July 31.

Since inception, it's spent C$92.8 million on operations, not counting venue construction, and its total operational revenues have been C$86.7 million so far, a difference now of only C$6 million. The equivalent on the construction side: it's spent a total of C$182.4 million from inception to the end of last October, and it's taken in just over C$192 million, all but about C$2 million of that from the BC and federal governments, for a an overall surplus at the end of October of C$9.6 million. (VANOC's not a normal business, and it's accounting reflects that. See BACKGROUND, below, for a few of the major ways in which its accounting, which still follows GAAP guidelines, varies from a normal business.)

As for whether all of its competition and non-competition venues will be ready it time, it certainly hopes so. It expects seven of the competition venues to be completed by the end of 2007, with the balance completed by the end of 2008. It's still a high-pressure dash to get the Hillcrest curling venue, now coupled with VANOC's construction department looking after building the accompanying swimming pool for the Vancouver Parks Board, done by the expected deadline in late 2008, and both Olympic Villages, the one in Vancouver and the one in Whistler, have to be done by November, 2009; VANOC doesn't say so, but they are on a tight timeline to be ready by then.

The net surplus of C$34.1 million for the three months ending October 31 on total revenues of C$50.1 million compares to a deficiency of C$4.5 million for the previous (fourth) quarter that ended last July 31 on total revenues of C$12.3 million. VANOC management cautions, however, "It is typical in Games organizing committees for this excess or deficiency to fluctuate as the timing of the receipt of revenues and the payment of expenses is dependant on specific contracts, and does not follow a regular business cycle."

In part, VANOC says in its unaudited quarterly report, the surplus was due to a C$19 million advance on what Morgan:News:2010 estimates is roughly C$500 million raised so far for VANOC through auctions of national broadcast rights of the 2010 Games by the International Olympic Committee, but VANOC also had net marketing revenues of C$30.9 million -- much of that "significant milestone cash payments" from sponsors, and about C$200,000 in miscellaneous income. VANOC now has 15 sponsors at various levels of contribution.

Some other highlights:

"VANOC anticipates that all reviews of the plan will be completed in early 2007 and expects to release it to the public shortly thereafter," according to the first-quarterly report, in the management outlook discussion. VANOC's chief financial officer, Rex McLennan, says that the organization's latest business plan is still going through various approvals before being released publicly -- VANOC's Board has tentatively approved it and it's dealing with the IOC at the moment, with the federal and provincial governments to sign off on it after that. McLennan's interpretation of the quote at the beginning of this paragraph is that the full document will not be publicly released. Only the "public disclosure of major elements," will occur, he says.

VANOC chief executive officer John Furlong now expects a resolution by the end of February in VANOC's complex negotiations with the IOC about the actual share VANOC will receive from the IOC's broadcast revenues.

VANOC's venue-development expenditures for the quarter were C$46.5 million and now total C$182.4 million of the total budget of C$580 million since venue construction started. The construction contingency is C$66.8 million of that.

"National awareness" levels of the 2010 Winter Games increased from 69% in 2005 to 83% today, "in large part due to the efforts and activities of VANOC and its many partners," according to VANOC, apparently setting aside numerous news stories carried on every major news media outlet in Canada (and in many around the world) about its requirements for more money from the BC and Canadian governments this year.

VANOC says that through national tours and public events, the organization visited every Canadian province during this calendar year, and will visit the country's three territories in tours next month.

VANOC, in a making-lemonade-from-lemons challenge caused by political decisions in Whistler that meant cancellation of its proposed sledge-hockey and wheelchair curling venue there and forced them to move to Vancouver, updated its concept for the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games. It's was based on the fact that all the Paralympics were to be held in Whistler, but it is now based on the slogan "small town spirit, big city facilities and world class exposure."

The full 11-member Coordination Commission that oversees the IOC's Vancouver Olympic franchise will arrive in March to get a periodic status report from VANOC officials.

VANOC's new Pre-Games Volunteer Program is expected to grow in the next several months as volunteers provide more help with transportation, event organization and community relations in Vancouver and Whistler.

The three-year countdown to the Games occurs on February 12, so VANOC and a number of Spirit of BC communities around the province, supervised by 2010 Legacies Now -- as well as the venue cities of Vancouver, Whistler, Richmond and West Vancouver -- are planning events to mark the occasion. Planning is also under way to mark the the 1,000-day countdown which takes place on May 19.

VANOC's first sustainability report is to be published in the next two or three months, under the updated Global Reporting Initiative’s reporting guidelines. The GRI is an international method of bringing consistency to sustainability reporting, with the idea of making it as routine and regular as financial reporting. VANOC’s sustainability report is expected to discuss what it's been doing on this front from 2003 up to its last fiscal year end, last July 31, compared with the previous fiscal year. From that point on, VANOC hopes to provide an annual report for the Games coinciding with its fiscal year. [See RESOURCES, below.]

VANOC says to expect in 2007 the release of a series of Winter Games legacy reports for Lake Placid 1980, Calgary 1988, Salt Lake 2002, with a comparison report on the projected legacies for the Vancouver 2010 Games.

Back to VANOC's quarterly financial report issued today: cash from sponsorship deals was C$29.2 million (compared with C$12.3 million the previous quarter, C$3.5 million was taken in value-in-kind (VIK) from sponsors (C$963,397), and it sold C$191,257 worth of branded merchandise (down considerably from the previous quarter's sales of C$292,438). The VIK revenue was recorded when sponsors provided information-technology services from Atos Origin, telecommunications goods and services from Bell Canada, banking services from RBC and the Royal Bank, vehicles from GM Canada, fuel from Petrocan, building products from Rona, online-recruitment services from Workopolis and office furniture from Haworth.

VANOC says its new licensing arrangements with nine Canadian companies, which took place in the first quarter, cover a wide range of merchandise, and it expects to earn licensing revenues from the companies beginning in the third quarter (from next February to April). VANOC has also reached a deal with Vincor Canada, a wine merchant, to become a supplying sponsor, in a deal worth cash and VIK, but its arrangements are not due to start until February. The total value and the cash/VIK split have not been disclosed, in part because they're still negotiating it.

Total expenses for the quarter were C$16.1 million, seemingly down slightly from the previous quarter of C16.8 million, but a large part of that had to do with VANOC's foreign-exchange hedging holding expenses at bay. Actual operational expenses were up a bit. Setting aside the impact of foreign exchange, expenses were C$18.3 million for the first quarter, compared with C$14.7 million in the previous quarter.

The increase of C$3.6 million was due to total spending C$7.2 million in the Technology and Systems department, which involved planning for the technology and telecommunications required for staging and operating the 2010 Games. Atos Origin's networking crews arrived in July to begin detailed work on what will be needed for preparing technology for Games, including equipment purchases. The last half of this calendar year is the beginning of major spending on technology for the Games. Still absent is word about a computer sponsor. Chinese-owned Lenovo of New York sponsored the Torino Winter Games, and it was supposed to let the IOC, and thus VANOC, know a few months ago if it was going to extend its support past the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Its decision -- and it could go either way -- is now expected to be imminent.

Sport, Paralympic Games and venue-management expenses were about C$400,000 for the quarter ending on October 31, down considerably from about C$700,000 previously when expenses from VANOC's inspection of the Torino Games were being recorded. These expenditures are primarily for travel by VANOC staff to Olympic and sport-related events, but this is also where the expenses are showing up from what the federal government has been incurring in its several directed contracts to American and Canadian companies involved in developing the state-of-the-art weather-reporting and forecasting systems that Environment Canada is putting into place for the Games.

Marketing expenses were also down about C$200,000 to about C$900,000, in part reflecting the fact that August is a slow summer month for that sort of thing in Canada, and the month accounted for a third of the quarter. These expenses are mostly connected with sponsorship sales-and-service activities, communications events, brand-and-creative services, and sponsor planning-and-recognition activities, all of which were more active in VANOC's previous quarter.

Expenses on the human resources side ("sustainability" costs are also lumped into this category), were also down to C$6.6 million from C$7.5 million, even though VANOC had 282 full-time employees by October 31, up 32 compared with 250 on July 31.

While VANOC's estimated C$1.7 billion operational budget over its lifetime is raised from private sources by its own marketing and that of the IOC, VANOC maintains separate books for its total C$580 venue-construction budget because it is largely funded on a 50/50 split of grants by the BC and Canadian governments, along with some of the VIK amounts from sponsors, primarily Rona's building materials, GM Canada vehicles and PetroCanada's fuel.

The construction activity is largely seasonal because most of the money is spent during the non-winter months, otherwise heavy snowfalls prevent a lot of outdoor work, particularly on the Nordic and Sliding Centres in the Whistler area. During the first quarter, for instance, VANOC spent C$9 million more than it received in revenues in construction. The discrepancy is due to the difference in timing of construction funding from governments, and payments to contractors. Government contributions during the quarter were C$36.8 million, with expenditures totalling C$46.5 million.

The BC government's funding usually arrives in VANOC's second fiscal quarter, which is the tail end of the government's fiscal year. Since VANOC began operating, venue development funding from BC totals C$81 million while funding from Canada totals $109 million, but that differential too is related to timing of funding. Canada was behind for a while a calendar year ago.

On the balance sheet for the first quarter, VANOC had liquid and restricted cash balances totalling C$22.2 million. Borrowings against its term credit facilities totaled C$18.1 million. Much of the restricted cash is due to money given to VANOC by governments in 2004 which it hasn't yet used. That includes C$9.2 million for the Hillcrest curling venue, and C$8 million for the Hastings Park skating venue and C$5 million related to statutory lien-holdback amounts on venues.

VANOC's next quarterly report, covering the three months ending January 31 is expected to be available in March.

BACKGROUND

ACCOUNTING VARIATIONS: VANOC, because it has a steep growth and a defined life has a number of unusual reporting methods, and one of them is that it doesn't make sense to compare one quarter over the year-ago quarter; it makes more sense to compare it to the one before. Since VANOC also reconciles all of its revenues, expenses, assets and debts with the IOC, the Canadian and BC government and various other organizations when the Games are done, it treats all revenues and expenses as deferred -- it calls them, for instance "deferred revenues" or "deferred expenses"; for convenience and readability, we simply refer to them here without using the word "deferred". It registers no prepayments and it doesn't amortize its assets; it'll expense debts when it wraps up. Also, it reports its revenues as net because many of its major revenue sources have a cost associated with them, such as royalties it pays to the Canadian Olympic Committee for use of COC branding. In the first-quarter's case the cost attached to generating its revenues was C$1.9 million, compared with almost C$1.4 million in the previous quarter.

VANOC STATUS: VANOC management discussion in the quarterly report says, "VANOC believes that future cash flows from sponsorship, licensed merchandise, broadcasting, government contributions and other sources, along with the borrowing capacity available under the existing term credit facilities will provide sufficient funds to meet cash requirements. While the existing term credit facilities are repayable on the earlier of March 31, 2010, or on the receipt by VANOC of the final payment of the IOC contribution, VANOC believes it has secured sufficient credit facilities in order to finance its future operations for the planning, organizing and staging of the 2010 Games."

RESOURCES

The Global Reporting Initiative for Sustainability...

www.globalreporting.org

... and the guidelines VANOC is expected to be following in its report:

www.globalreporting.org/ReportingFramework/G3Online/

Our report on the companies that won product licensing deals with VANOC:

'First nine licensees approved by VANOC; product in stores by January'

[Morgan:News:2010:Number:1939; Published on Wednesday, October 25, 2006]

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 19, 2006

Monday, December 18, 2006

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2053

Here are three more moguls we ran into today:

BELL CANADA PARENT TO SELL SATELLITE SUBSIDARY FOR C$3.42 BILLION IN CASH

BCE, the parent company of VANOC's biggest corporate sponsor, Bell Canada, has agreed to sell BCE's communications-satellite division, Telsat, to C$3.42 billion in cash. Telsat, expected to be part of the distribution network for the 2010 Winter Games broadcasts although Bell has always declined comment on that concept, was bought by a new company formed to own it: the company is made up of PSP Investments, which is Canada's Public Sector Pension Investment Board, and Loral Space & Communications of New York (NASDAQ: LORL). Because of existing capital losses, the transaction will be completed without taxes, according to BCE. The sale is subject to regulatory approval both in Canada and the United States, and is expected to close by next July or so. Along with with the proposed sale, BCE has made commercial arrangements between Telesat and another Bell Canada sister company, Bell ExpressVu, that guarantee ExpressVu access to current and expanded satellite capacity, including the launch of Nimiq 5 in 2009. As the deal closes, Loral -- a satellite manufacturing and services firm -- will contribute its Loral Skynet business, which involves complementary satellite services in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America to the new company. Combined with Telesat's existing services, in North and South America, the new Telesat will be a global operator of scale, headquartered in Ottawa. PSP Investments -- the pension-fund manager for Canada's federal government's public service, the Canadian Forces, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and other Canadian investors -- will hold majority voting control in the new company.

VANOC TEST SITE VS. ECONOMICS TUGS AT 2009 CURLING LOCATION

Edmonton Sun newspaper sports columnist Terry Jones suggests there's a behind-the-scenes tug-of-war going on over where the final event should be held, in late 2009, to determine Canada's curling entry to the Canadian Olympic Team. The choices, according to Jones, are VANOC's not-yet-built curling venue and Edmonton's existing curling facilities. VANOC, reportedly, wants them held in Vancouver, where it is expected to build a new curling rink / swimming pool combination complex that will have temporary seating for up to 6,000. It wants the event held at the facility to test it before the Olympic and Paralympic curling games are held there a few months later. The top eight curling teams for men and women, however, could be expected to draw something in the neighbourhood of 275,000, such as the 281,000 that showed up for the 2005 Brier competition. The Ford World championship, to be held in Edmonton in April, has already sold nearly 111,000 tickets, Jones reports, suggesting that some potential Olympic curling teams feel the game is for its fans, and note that only one Canadian team would be going to the Olympics. On the other hand, he quotes Warren Hansen of the Canadian Curling Association from his home in Vancouver, "In Edmonton there would be C$1 million of facility costs. Here there would be none. The Vancouver 2010 people want us to do it here. It's going to be a while before it all shakes down. A lot depends on the venue, what they're going to produce and what it's going to be like. We don't know many details. Right now we don't know enough to make a decision."

ICE FISHING PROPOSED FOR 2010, AND OTHER MUSINGS

Ah, yes, grab yourself a coffee or similar beverage for this one. These are the slow-news days in the week before most of the northern hemisphere shuts down for the Christmas holidays. That's when you're most likely to spot rare bloggers amongst the 57 million that exist, writing with tongue jammed firmly in cheek about such things as why ice fishing ought to be added to the 2010 Winter Olympics:

sportstime.thebestedu.net/?p=31

RESOURCES

PLP Investments website:

www.investpsp.ca/en/2_1corpo_profile_en.htm

Loral Space & Communications website:

www.loral.com

Bell ExpressVu

www.bell.ca/shopping/PrsShpTv_Dth_Landing.page

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 18, 2006

Morgan:News:2010 |IOC| #2052

IOC PICKS BEST OF TORINO OLYMPICS TV COVERAGE

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has picked the winners of the "Olympic Golden Rings 2006", a bi-annual contest to determine the best televised coverage of this year's Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Torino, Italy. This year, 27 films from various countries were submitted to an international jury chaired by the IOC's former president Juan Antonio Samaranch, which met at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne over the weekend:

The Best Olympic Program

Gold: Seven Network Australia -- "Prime Time, XX Olympic Winter Games"

Silver: NBC Olympics -- "Men's Downhill & Women's 1500m Long-track Speedskating"

Bronze: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation -- "Torino 2006, the Olympic Winter Games on CBC"

The Best Sports Coverage

Gold: Alpine skiing -- Men's downhill, SRG Switzerland

Silver: Cross Country -- YLE Finnish Broadcasting Co.

Bronze: Freestyle Moguls / Aerials -- Seven Network Australia

The Best Olympic Feature

Gold: NBC Olympics "Opening Tease"

Silver: Seven Network Australia "Olympic Wrap"

Bronze: YLE Finnish Broadcasting Co. "Try, Finn, Try"

The Best Athletes' Profile

Gold: NBC Olympics "Profile of the Russian figure skater, Irina Slutskaya"

Silver: Eurosport International "The Emperor's March -- profile of Norway's Ole Einar Bjoerndahlen & France's Raphael Poiree"

Bronze: NOS Television, Netherlands "Double Davis -- profile of American speed skater Shani Davis"

The prize ceremony was held before an audience that included IOC President Jacques Rogge, members of the IOC Radio and Television Commission, and various representatives of the broadcasters that held rights to the Torino Games, along with representatives of the Torino Olympic Games Organizing Committees, various international sports federations, and local government officials. The Olympic Golden Rings are an international competition created in Lausanne in 1976 and held every two years after the Olympic Summer and Winter Games.

RESOURCES

A photo of the CBC winners:

www.olympic.org/uk/news/photo_uk.asp?idProv=1995&Picid=638

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 18, 2006

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2051

Here are three moguls we ran into today:

PUSH FOR MORE VANOC SPONSORSHIPS TO TAKE PLACE IN 2007

It's starting to get late in the process for VANOC to be selling sponsorships with end dates in December, 2010, because time is running out for the sponsoring companies to activate them and get a return for the sponsor. By the same token, it's also getting late for large sponsorship arrangements that end in December, 2012, for the same reason. VANOC expects to bolster its management of sponsorship sales in a few weeks with a manager whose job is to focus specifically on convincing companies to become Tier 2 and Tier 3 sponsors. The job of the new Manager of Sponsorship Sales is to also "develop acquisition strategies for specific product categories", "Build consensus amongst VANOC Functional Departments of VIK [value-in-kind] requirements," and "Meet with companies to qualify them as potential VANOC sponsors", all of which indicate VANOC is still in the planning stages on aspects of these tiers. Supplier deals have contracts that so far end on December 31, 2010, except for the latest, wine supplier Vincor Canada, whose deal ends December 31, 2012. Vincor's extended arrangement could be a precedent for allowing longer work-out marketing arrangements to make some of the larger supplier contracts worthwhile financially to sponsoring firms. [See BACKGROUND, below, for examples of Tier 2 and Tier 3 sponsors.]

VANOC TO SET UP COMMUNICATIONS OFFICE FOR NATIONAL OLYMPIC, PARALYMPIC COMMITTEES

A specialized communications office is to be set up in the next few weeks at VANOC headquarters and staffed with a manager in charge of mass marketing associated with Olympic and Paralympic committees in countries around the world that will be providing teams to the Games. The office will be responsible for researching, designing, writing and editing official mass communications through various media channels, and publications for the committees -- such as films, posters, maps and documents -- and for managing various special projects. The staff will also be involved in writing technical text about various aspects of Olympic and Paralympic operational planning and organization for the audiences of the national Olympic and Paralympic Committees. The office is also expected to provide support to the national Olympic and Paralympic services teams that support the athletic teams by writing and producing internal communications, such as those aimed to VANOC staff, and training manuals for volunteers. The office is expected to be largely self-managed, and entirely responsible for delivering the larger communications projects. The tempo of the office is expected to start off fairly slowly as the research, designing and writing get going this year and next, but the pace is expected to speed up as the Games approach to the point where the communications become "time-sensitive" during the Games, according to VANOC. That's because office managers will be attending daily operations meetings, and the information disseminated during these meetings will need to get out quickly. As for those special projects, they'll be dealing with "Chefs de Mission seminars and meetings, material logistics, customs and freight forwarding for delegations, access for athletes and officials at the medals presentations," according to VANOC.

NHL'S BETTMAN EXPECTS 2010 OLYMPICS BREAK TO BE BETTER PLANNED THAN 2006

The latest musings on 2010 and ice hockey by National Hockey League commissioner Gary Bettman were published today in a question-and-answer interview by columnist Ryan Pyette of the Winnipeg Sun newspaper. Pyette asked, "Will the NHL extend the Olympic break in 2010 to benefit the participating players?" Bettman replied, "We're not taking a month off. We're going to the Olympics in Vancouver and it's going to be better planned than it was in going to Torino. With the labour disagreement, that [Torino] deal was put together with six months of planning because the players wanted to go." Peyette than asked, "Will NHL participation be a determining factor in where future Winter Olympics are held?". Bettman replied, "It's one factor. Olympics are always easier in North America in terms of travel and wear and tear on the players, plus TV coverage. But we're not shutting down the league for an extended period of time. We should never forget that the Stanley Cup is the ultimate quest for our players and teams."

BACKGROUND

Tier 2 sponsors are known as Official Supporters to VANOC -- these include, so far, BC Lottery, the Canadian Mint, mining company TeckCominco and Aliant Canada (which is rarely mentioned and not acknowledged by VANOC in the same way as the rest because it's a legal entry connected with Tier 1 sponsor Bell Canada). These, as far as we know, all have arrangements that end in December 2010. Tier 3 are called Official Suppliers by VANOC. These so far include Dow Chemicals Canada, Epcor (an energy-utilities equipment contractor), Haworth (a US-based office furniture supplier), Vincor Canada and Workopolis (electronic job listings).

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 18, 2006

Friday, December 15, 2006

Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #2050

TORINO'S BC CANADA PLACE WAS ALL ABOUT 2010, SO WHAT ABOUT BEIJING'S VERSION? NOT SO MUCH

The BC Olympics Secretariat has begun the process of looking for a firm that will design and implement the interior displays of BC-Canada House at the 2008 Summer Olympics.

And while promoting the 2010 Winter Olympics is one of the goals to achieve with the displays -- and it even hopes to accomplish ice skating outside the main entrance -- it's the last of six priorities as far as the Secretariat is concerned.

"The design of exhibition space as well as production of related exhibits and displays has a significant impact on influencing perceptions about British Columbia and Canada, and will be key to the project's success," documents about the project say. Unlike the Torino version of the project, which was strongly focused on the 2010 Olympics, the 2008 version will be quite different.

Here are the "core goals" of BC Canada Place in Beijing, as defined by the Secretariat, and in their order of priority:

1. To showcase British Columbian and Canadian industry, tourism and culture;

2. To serve as a focal point for Canadians and British Columbians during the 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Summer Games in Beijing, China;

3. To provide a place to showcase business programs and build relationships with journalists and dignitaries;

4. To provide an opportunity to encourage links and partnerships between Asian and Canadian businesses;

5. To position British Columbia and Canada as a location to visit and invest from both a business and tourism perspective; and

6. To build awareness of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

Right now, the Secretariat is looking for expressions of interest from firms. Those it short lists, up to three, will get a lot more detail during a meeting February 5 about the timelines and how the project will unfold, and they'll be invited to bid. The winner of the bid in the second phase gets the work. The presentations will be required the week of February 26. The contract is expected to be awarded next April.

The pavilion is in a non-descript warehouse-type building near Tiananmen Square in Beijing, and just one of the constraints on the project is that the winning firm will have just two weeks to get into the building and set up the display. The Secretariat wants the building ready to go by May 15, 2008, but it won't get access to the structure until May 1, 2008. The BC government hopes to be able to provide an "offsite staging and construction area" to offset the implications of this tight timeframe.

The Secretariat expects the design to accomplish four strategic concepts, none of them involving the 2010 Games. We quote:

Showcase British Columbian and Canadian industry, tourism and culture;

Create an environment so exciting international journalists will want to do stories about the Pavilion;

Provide an environment to showcase Canadian businesses and encourage links and partnerships between Asian and Canadian businesses; and

Position British Columbia and Canada as an exciting place to visit, to explore and to do business.

In fact, it enthuses, "The design concept and implementation plan should explore storylines that reflect the breadth and scope of what BC and Canada offer to visitors, investors and businesses. From high-tech to culture, arts and music, we want the world to learn more about us, and to create curiosity and excitement about Canada in all visitors to the Pavilion. The design project should be innovative and provide visitors with an experience that places them inside British Columbia and Canada and is so sensory they actually feel like they’ve been here."

The Secretariat's own job description is that it "has a key role in ensuring the sustainable economic, cultural, sport and social opportunities associated with hosting an Olympic event are identified early and realized before, during and after the 2010 Games."

Firms have until January 22 to let the BC government know they're interested.

RESOURCES

Our last story about BC Canada Place in Beijing

'Exterior of BC/Canada pavilion at 2008 Summer Games to focus on 2010 figure skating'

[Morgan:News:2010:Number:1987; Published on Monday, November 20, 2006]

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 15, 2006

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2049

Here are three moguls we ran into today:

VINCOR EXPANDS ON ITS SPONSORSHIP DEAL WITH VANOC

Vincor's president and CEO Jay Wright has provided more details about his sponsorship deal with VANOC. "This is by far Vincor Canada's most ambitious and broad-reaching sponsorship," he says. Financial details for the deal still aren't disclosed. However, he says the company will back the deal with a co-branded wine from its Jackson-Triggs division. "This is the very first time that Jackson Triggs... has lent its name to a joint-branded initiative," Wright says. A British-based industry newsletter, Just Drinks, reports that two varietals in Vincor's super-premium price segment will be co-branded, "while VANOC's emblem will also appear on wines from Inniskillin, Jackson-Triggs, Sawmill Creek, Naked Grape, Nk'Mip Cellars, Sumac Ridge and See Ya Later Ranch." The sponsorship, which makes Vincor the official supplier of wines to VANOC, will be implemented until December 31, 2012. The activation is expected to include periodic trade promotions, locations at Olympic venues, and visibility at VANOC events, hospitality programs, entertainment and corporate-gift opportunities.

VANOC SET-UP STAFFING MIGHT AFFECT VANCOUVER RENTAL RATES

An expert in Vancouver rental apartments suggests that VANOC's set-up staffing could have an effect on the city's apartment rental rates. Real estate agent Nicholas Meyer of Downtown Suites writes in his blog, "The advent of the Olympics in 2010, and VANOC bringing in consultants for the short term leading up to that date could also have an influence here. In this buoyant market, some rental prices are up 10%." The consultant force that will be coming to prepare for the Games are not expected to arrive in bulk until 2008 and 2009, with the vanguard primarily broadcasting crews. However Meyer says, "The Vancouver rental market continues to be strong at present, with an average price range per square foot increasing to the C$2 to C$2.40 range. Immigration to the province in great numbers combined with the strong economy is what is driving this current situation."

VANOC'S POOLE IN ORDER OF CANADA

Canada's Governor General, Michaelle Jean, saluted VANOC Board of Directors chair Jack Poole for "your commitment, for your passion and compassion" and welcomed him, and others, "among the ranks of your fellow extraordinary Canadians" during a ceremony making him an Officer of the Order of Canada in Ottawa today. Poole was named in recognition of his "achievement and merit of a high degree."

RESOURCES

Our original story about Vincor Canada and VANOC has information about the potential of the sponsorship:

'Vincor Canada to provide wines to VANOC in five-year Official Supplier deal'

[Morgan:News:2010:Number:2019; Published on Friday, December 1, 2006]

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 15, 2006

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #2048

VANOC SECURITY OFFICIAL TELLS BRITISH CONFERENCE ABOUT TORINO SECURITY CHALLENGES HE FACED

One of the people who has a senior security role for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics has outlined the four main security challenges of the 2006 Winter Games, where he was chief of security.

Francesco Norante is the security liaison between the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) and the Vancouver Integrated Security Unit (VISU). He was also the head of Security for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino.

He told delegates today to the Event and Venue Security Conference in London, England, about the main organisational structures and measures that were put in place for the Olympics 10 months ago.

Norante said that the event had presented a number of security challenges –- particularly in the planning stages -– including:

The need for joint planning and operations with private organisations "which may not share a common ethos;"

The need to co-ordinate" a multitude of resources which may only be arriving just prior to the Games;"

The need to assign full-time resources during the planning process; and

Balancing the security requirements without compromising the level of service.

He added that among the lessons learned from the Torino Games was the importance of assigning law enforcement commanders to full-time Olympic duties at least 12 months before the Games start, and the need for locating portions of the law-enforcement planning and operations team within the organizing committee's headquaters.

VANOC set up such a system shortly after it was awarded the Games in 2003, and its security unit has been working out of VANOC's headquarters ever since. VANOC CEO John Furlong has commented several times on how VISU has been deeply involved in reviewing the design of Games' venues, and complimenting the work they have done, which he says has saved a considerable amount of money in effectively designing security into the Games construction.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 15, 2006

Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #2047

2010 OLYMPIC VILLAGE MIGHT BE HEATED BY BURNING SAWDUST, UNLESS THE PUBLIC OBJECTS

The City of Vancouver council has unanimously decided to set up a C$14-million energy utility in-house to serve the 2010 Olympic village's heating requirements, but whether the heat source is provided by sewer or by burning "biomass" -- compressed sawdust pellets -- will depend on public reaction.

The decision came after opposition city councillors tried to force the original concept of using sewer heat, but failed in a vote to do so. Vancouver mayor Sam Sullivan and his NPA party felt the sawdust model should be considered.

For more than two years, the city has been talking about extracting heat from passing sewer lines to heat the eight blocks of the Village's condominiums and townhouses. But in the past week, City staff have brought forward a proposal that biomass works out to be slightly less risky, technically, and somewhat less costly upfront. But the two systems, over 25 years, work out to be essentially the same environmentally, when supplemented with natural gas heating at peak periods.

However, the biomass route requires the City to spend C$50,000 on a public-relations program as it applies to the Greater Vancouver Regional District for an emissions certificate allowing the biomass exhaust to be added to the City's air column, and public opinion could prevent that application from being approved in time to meet the Village's tight construction schedule.

So Council approved a recommendation that it make the application -- even though as opposition councilor David Cadman said, "The optics look bad." -- and, if staff can't be assured the application process will complete in time, the biomass proposal would be abandoned by mid-March and the design would revert to the sewer-heat option. On the other hand, if the approval process at the GVRD, which has run into public opposition on other additions to adding exhaust to the air column, can be accomplished without significant opposition, the Village's heating design would be focused on biomass.

Staff say that, in with either heat source, a smokestack to vent the natural-gas exhaust and, if necessary, the biomass exhaust, would need to be built "three to six metres" higher than the 12 to 13-storey buildings contemplated to be constructed near it. The heating system is to be located just west of the Olympic Village. The system would provide about 2.5 megawatts of heating energy to the Village.

The design portion is expected to cost C$350,000. Staff say they'll hire FVB Energy Inc. for the mechanical

component of the work, without a competitive bid for up to C$250,000, because it's the only firm with the expertise to do the work.

BACKGROUND

To minimize scheduling risk associated with the permit application process, the preliminary mechanical and civil engineering and architectural design is to start immediately for all components of the Neighbourhood Energy

Utility (NEU) Community Energy Centre, but not the biomass boiler system.

The implementation process that's expected:

• NEU Community Energy Centre preliminary mechanical and architectural/civil design, less biomass boiler system, initiated January 15, 2007.

• Emissions application filed and public process initiated: February 1, 2007

• Public consultation completed and GVRD evaluation process begins: March 1, 2007

• Evaluation of public response completed: March 15, 2007.

If no significant permitting impediments are identified that could prevent the project from proceeding or cause unacceptable schedule delays, then the schedule would likely continue:

• Biomass boiler system preliminary design: May to June 2007

• Biomass permit approval process: May to August 2007

• Energy centre detailed design: September 2007 – February 2008

• Energy centre construction: May 2008 – May 2009

If "significant impediments" -- that would be public opposition -- come up during the GVRD's permitting process, the City would cancel the permit application and continue with preliminary design of the False Creek Community Energy Centre, using sewer heat recovery. Here's that schedule:

• Sewer heat recovery preliminary design: May to June 2007

• Energy centre detailed design: September 2007 – February 2008

• Energy centre construction: May 2008 – May 2009

RESOURCES

Our previous report on the neighbourhood energy utility concept:

'Vancouver City Council asked to set up its own energy utility to heat Olympic Village buiildings'

[Morgan:News:2010:Number:2035; Published on Thursday, December 7, 2006]

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 14, 2006

Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #2046

VANCOUVER COUNCIL BACKS MOVE TO REDUCE STREET DISORDER BY THE TIME OF THE 2010 GAMES

Vancouver City Council has approved mayor Sam Sullivan's Project Civil City to accomplish four specific social goals by the time the 2010 Winter Olympics begin.

The project's goals are to:

1. Increase housing opportunities and eliminate homelessness, with at least a 50% reduction by 2010.

2. Eliminate the open drug market on Vancouver's streets, with at least a 50% reduction by 2010.

3. Eliminate the incidence of aggressive panhandling with at least a 50% reduction by 2010.

4. Increase the level of public satisfaction with the City's handling of public nuisance and annoyance complaints by 50% by 2010.

Council also agreed to spend C$300,000 from the city's 2006 contingency reserve to create a new Project Civil City Implementation Office, with a Commissioner to run it.

The mayor also intends to chair a Project Civil City Leadership Council, that would meet quarterly starting in January. The council, he says, includes the Canadian Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the BC Ministers of Health, Employment & Income Assistance, Solicitor General, Attorney General and the federal government's Industry Ministers of Human Resources & Social Development.

The implementation team involves key city staff such as the City Manager, Chief of Police, General Manager of the Park Board, General Manager of Community Services, and the General Manager of Engineering, "as well as appropriate staff with the Provincial and Federal governments." Meetings are expected to be held bi-weekly and will by chaired by the Mayor for at least the first six months.

The approval came in a 6-5 vote along party lines after hearing from nearly 40 speakers, most of whom opposed the concept, claiming it was an attack on the homeless.

Sullivan said earlier he wants to spend C$1 million from the city's Olympic Legacy Fund to work on the project. The Fund was only recently established and spending from it won't start before the City's new fiscal year.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 14, 2006

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2045

Here are three moguls we ran into today:

VANOC NAME BECOMING "ATTACHED" TO VANCOUVER CLEAN-UP PROJECT

A Vancouver City Council meeting discussing mayor Sam Sullivan's new "Project Civil City" civic-disorder clean-up proposal has been told today that the name of the 2010 Olympics is starting to become attached to the project by the homeless people likely to be affected by the initiative. A representative of the Carnegie Community Action Project, one of the organizations that help in the downtown east side of Vancouver -- the core of the city's homeless section -- told council that the mayor's goals of cutting street disorder in half by 2010 and using funds from money set aside for 2010 legacy projects to do it are the reasons that the Games's name is being attached to the project, and it's being referred to informally on the street as "The 2010 Olympics City Clean-up Plan" and similar names. VANOC has spent time and money over the last couple of years, focusing on ways to help improve the east side of Vancouver as part of its social program in conjunction with City of Vancouver programs, however speakers on the lengthy list who want to talk to council on the concept so far have not mentioned this involvement.

VANOC TO START MAKING DETAILED PLANS FOR TICKETING, FOR AIRPORT IN NEXT FEW MONTHS

VANOC expects to assign a senior manager in the next couple of months to deal with the range of issues that connect the 2010 Winter Games and the Vancouver International Airport. The issues include transporting athletes and VIPs from and to the airport from all the Greater Vancouver VANOC venues, as well as various security arrangements. The job entails managing specific venue resources and budgets, but the manager is also expected to "act as arbitrator where required." VANOC, which expects to start selling tickets in 2008, is expected to begin detailed planning in the next two months of how the ticketing system will work, establishing the range of ticket packages, and work out tour operators and loyalty programs will work. Other projects for the function: setting up employee, volunteer and school programs. During 2007 and 2008, VANOC expects to negotiate and finalize ticket allocations for its various contractual commitments. This includes ticket packages for the international sponsors of the 2010 Games that work with the International Olympic Committee, VANOC's Canadian sponsors, the IOC VIPs, the national Olympic and Paralympic Committee, and the national international sport federations that represent all the sports at the Games. Between now and the Games, VANOC also expects to do sales of suites for the venues, and that also includes development of packages and collateral material.

RICHMOND APPOINTS COUNCIL REPS ON OLYMPIC-RELATED COMMITTEES

The City of Richmond has appointed members of city council to four 2010 Olympic-related committees for 2007. On the Olympic Business Advisory Committee are Richmond City councillors Cynthia Chen, Bill McNulty and Harold Steves. On the Olympic Oval Building Committee are Rob Howard and Linda Barnes, and on the Olympic Oval Stakeholder/User Committee are Derek Dang and Sue Halsey-Brandt. The Spirit of BC Richmond Community Committee will include Bill McNulty.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 14, 2006

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2044

Here are three moguls we ran into today:

VANOC 1st QUARTER REPORT NEXT TUESDAY

VANOC's quarterly financial report, including management discussion, analysis, will be published on its website -- www.Vancouver2010.com -- at 8 am Vancouver time next Tuesday.

VANOC MANAGER TO HELP RUN WHISTLER SKI CHAMPIONSHIP IN MARCH

VANOC's manager of Alpine Skiing, Peter Bosinger, will be a member of the executive committee which will run the 2007 Pontiac GMC Canadian Skiing Championships at Whistler from March 20-28. The Committee will be chaired by Tony Holler, who has been involved in all aspects of organizing and executing ski racing events from juvenile races to NorAm races for a dozen years. Dr. Holler sits on the Board of Directors of BC Alpine Ski Association and is Past President of the Whistler Mountain Ski Club. Besides Bosinger, the other members of the executive committee include assistant race chair John Rea, Alpine Canada president Gary Allan, the senior vice president of operations for Whistler/Blackcomb Doug Forseth and the Strategic Alliances manager for the Resort Municipality of Whistler, John Rae. This race series is one of the training events for upcoming World Cup races at Whistler. About 300 volunteers are expected to work on the Championships, which will provide them experience for the World Cup event next season and for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. The Canadian Championships will provide the opportunity for Canadian athletes to compete for the first time on the Dave Murray downhill course, the same course that's to be used at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

2010 ABORIGINAL CONFERENCE SPEAKERS LIST SET

The keynote speakers' list and some of the main session topics for the 2010 Aboriginal Business conference in Vancouver has now been firmed up. The main speakers include the BC Premier Gordon Campbell, the Canadian government's minister in charge of the federal responsibilities for the 2010 Games, David Emerson, VANOC CEO John Furlong and Chief Gibby Jacob, Squamish Nation Hereditary Chief and Member of the VANOC Board of Directors. Some of the main session topics, workshops and panel presentations include:

-- 2010 aboriginal opportunities

-- 2010 business opportunities workshop

-- Building, supplying and servicing the 2010 Winter Games

-- Welcome the world: aboriginal tourism

-- Business opportunities in aboriginal arts and culture

-- Retail and licensing issues around the Games

The Four Host Nations logo will also be launched during the conference.

RESOURCES

Information about the ski championships:

tinyurl.com/ycahoo

Previous stories we've written about the aboriginal conference and related planning:

'2010 Aboriginal Economic Summit conference to take place in Vancouver February 1, 2'

[Morgan:News:2010:Number:1976; Published on Thursday, November 16, 2006]

'Aboriginal longhouse pavilion, with sponsors, contemplated for Vancouver 2010 Olympics'

[Morgan:News:2010:Number:1658; Published on Thursday, May 11, 2006]

Conference registration details are available at:

www.2010BusinessSummit.com

or by calling (within Canada) 1.866.646.3561

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 14, 2006

Morgan:News:2010 |IOC| #2025

VANOC ICE HOCKEY EXPECTED TO FEATURE 12-TEAM FORMAT

The International Ice Hockey Federation has decided that the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics is expected to again feature 12 men's teams, and that the top teams in the IIHF World Ranking following the Canada 2008 events will determine the eight automatic Olympic qualifiers.

The Federation made the preliminary decisions during a meeting at its Zurich, Switzerland, office as it was briefing the national associations of the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Russia, Switzerland, Slovakia and Sweden and their national leagues about various issues.

The group reportedly discussed various ideas for the format for the men's tournament for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, but decided the final version will be finalized later. Federation President Rene Fasel, who also is the chairman of the Vancouver 2010 Evaluation Commission for the International Olympic Committee, said the current proposal has the top eight teams in the IIHF World Ranking following the 2008 IIHF World Championship in Canada receive automatic entry to Vancouver 2010.

The remaining teams, says Fasel, who keeps in close touch with management of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC), will earn the other four spots through the Olympic qualification system which will be concluded by February 2009.

The final proposal will be presented to the IIHF Congress for a vote in Moscow next May.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 4, 2006

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2024

Here are three moguls we ran into today:

VANOC COMPRESSES CULTURAL OLYMPIAD BY HALF

An article by Kevin Griffin of the Vancouver Sun newspaper on Saturday quotes VANOC's Robert Kerr, program director for the Cultural Olympiad, as saying a decision has been made to start the Olympiad in 2008, instead of in 2006 as promised in Vancouver's Bid Book for the 2010 Games. The decision was apparently made earlier this year as VANOC staff across its 60 operational functions were preparing their components of VANOC's business plan. Were internal cutbacks were behind the move? Griffin quotes Kerr as saying, "How do we best use our resources? I think the public and the community at large expects us to get the most out of our resources and create the biggest impact. In looking at that, we decided it makes more sense to focus most of our activity in '08 and through to 2010... I really believe more than ever that the Cultural Olympiad and the Olympic and Paralympic Arts Festival will be an extraordinary event and perhaps the single most important event for local artists and arts organizations that we've ever seen." Kerr told Griffin that in January, Kerr will be looking for an artistic director for both the Olympic Arts Festival and for the Paralympic Arts Festival. The Festival starts January 22, 2010 and runs to February 28. The Paralympic Arts Festival runs from March 12 to 21, the same time as the Paralympic Games themselves. [See BACKGROUND, below]

TWO SPONSOR MARKETING EXECS GET NOD FROM ADVERTISING AGE

Senior marketing executives from two sponsors of the 2010 Winter Olympics are among the nine top global players in the November 20 issue of Advertising Age, a marketing-industry news magazine. Michael Brossard, senior vice-president marketing and development for VANOC's tier-1 sponsor, Rona, was honoured as a top global marketer specifically for his strategic moves on behalf of RONA in Canada's increasingly competitive home renovation and decor market. They include, among others, sponsorship of the 2010 Olympic Games and RONA's related 'Growing with our Athletes' program. He manages a $130-million-per-year marketing budget and a staff of 75. He was also named for the company's wide=ranging advertising program, its acquisition moves, and plans for several not-yet-launched specialty stores. Also listed was Jonathan Mildenhall, vice-president-global marketing strategy and creative communications, Coca-Cola Co., which is an international sponsor of the 2010 Games through its arrangements with the International Olympic Committee. The pair were among a group that also included: Alain de Pouzilhac, chairman of France 24; Mark Read, director of strategy for the WPP Group and its CEO of WPP.com; Frank Braeken, the group vice-president of China, Hong Kong and Taiwan for Unilever; Sophie Gasperment, the managing director of L'Oréal U.K.; Ian Chapman-Banks, the general manager of marketing for mobile devices in North Asia for Motorola; Eddie Gonzalez, the chairman and CEO of Young & Rubicam Brands' Latin America and Bravo Group; and, Marie Laure Sauty de Chalon, the CEO of Aegis Media France.

SEATTLE STORY ON WHISTLER 2010 PREP GETS WIDE COVERAGE

A lengthy Seattle Times newspaper story published the past weekend that plumped Whistler and the 2010 Winter Games preparations has been picked up by a number of newspapers along the west coast of the United States. The main themes of the stories are that the Games are under construction, the venues are expected to be ready by late 2008, and that a major marketing push will begin in the fall of 2008. That's when the 2008 Summer Olympics will be finished and that marketing agreements with the IOC specify that restrictions on promoting the 2010 Games will no longer interfere with Beijing and can be lifted. For instance, Seattle Times reporter Ron Judd quotes Michelle Leroux, Senior Public Relations Officer for Intrawest, which owns one of the 2010 venues, "You can bet your bottom dollar that as soon as Beijing is over, we'll be going out full force" to promote Whistler as an Olympic venue. [See RESOURCES, below]

BACKGROUND

What the 2010 bid book says about the Olympic Arts Festival:

"On January 15, 2010, the Olympic Arts Festival will open a five-week Celebration of the Olympic Movement. This 'Festival of Festivals' will feature a showcase of Canadian art and culture together with international participation. In more than 25 existing venues in Vancouver and Whistler, the Arts Festival will present an unprecedented choice of free and ticketed, traditional and contemporary arts and cultural experiences. Throughout the Games, the Olympic Arts Festival will expand onto the sidewalks, streets and public spaces of Vancouver and Whistler, and into the sport venues and Olympic Villages."

And what it says about the Cultural Olympiad:

"OLYMPIAD CULTURAL PROGRAM 2006 - 2010 -- The Vancouver OCOG will present a full spectrum of cultural activities, festivals, education programs, and conferences reflecting the highest achievements of Canada's diverse communities. Vancouver's aboriginal, classical and contemporary cultural organizations will anchor these programs drawing upon a variety of superlative Canadian talent. We will complete the global celebration with a broad selection of the finest creative works of other IOC nations. New works will be commissioned, new talent will be showcased, intercultural exchange will be created and new friendships will be forged."

RESOURCES

An example of the Whistler promo news stories. In this case the Seattle Times story is repeated by San Jose, California's, Mercury News...

www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/living/travel/16154833.htm?source=rss

...the same story was also picked up by a sister publication in Walnut Creek, California, the Contra Costa Times.

www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/living/16154864.htm?source=rss&channel=cctimes_living

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 4, 2006

Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #2023

STILL MORE PARTS FOR 2010'S WEATHER STATIONS TO BE SOURCED DIRECTLY

Yet another branch of Environment Canada is expected to pay C$120,000 in a directed contract to a Colorado company for upgrading even more components of the new weather-monitoring system it's setting up for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.

The Cloud Physics Research and Severe Weather Research Section of Environment Canada, in King City, Ontario, will be spending the money to upgrade an existing "Vaisala LAP-3000" wind-profiling radar system it first bought in 1995 from Radian Corporation. The funds will go to Radian's successor, Vasala, Inc. of Boulder, Colorado, with the work to be done by March.

Last June, the government department paid C$360,000 to Vasala through the company's Massachusetts office for a new companion system that is also to be delivered by next March.

Federal documents from Environment Canada justifying the decision not to go to tender on the project -- another in a series of contracts let to the company for the 2010 project in this way -- say, "It is intended to use the wind profiler in a mountainous environment for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, which will require superior ground-clutter identification compared to the existing algorithms." Prior to this contract, Environment Canada had sole-sourced about C$750,000 worth of equipment and software for the 2010 system and is also uppgrading its Qualicum weather station on Vancouver Island.

The documents say the old radar has operated continuously since it was first installed, and its processing computers, based on Intel 468 chips, are "now obsolete and beyond their expected lifetimes." They note that since the profiler's software and indoor electronics are tied to the processing computer, they will also need to be replaced, so that Environment Canada can get access to "the more-advanced algorithms that have come available over the last decade." It is also wants "to exploit the improvements made possible" through new digital techniques.

The sophisticated wind profiler operates at a radio frequency of 915 Mhz. Its phased-array antenna is capable of producing five beams: one vertical and four at side angles. The antenna, the equipment's final amplifier and the accompanying radio acoustic-sounding system systems, also purchased at the same time, will be retained.

Environment Canada documents also report that the wind profiler has been used for a number of projects, including air quality studies, severe-weather research and precipitation studies. For precipitation studies, the device is used as a vertically pointing radar, sampling precipitation to heights of eight kilometres.

The radar-processing computer upgrade, besides giving meteorologists and other scientists a better look in real time at the wind and precipitation in the mountains near Whistler, also has to control the systems and equipment that are being kept, and be able to handle all the data collected historically for reprocessing and comparisons. It also has to work with a sub-system that handles communications between remote locations and the people controlling it.

The wind-profiling system is, at the moment, at the Centre for Atmospheric Research Experiments in Egbert, Ontario. Technical staff from the contractor will be required to travel to the installation site near Whistler to set up the new and upgraded equipment and to train Environment Canada staff to install, operate and maintain it.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 4, 2006

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2043

Here are three moguls we ran into today:

VANOC TO BOLSTER ACCOMMODATIONS, RESERVATIONS AND SLIDING FUNCTIONS

You can expect to see more activity within a couple more functional areas of VANOC by February, as the organization continues to expand. For instance, instructions have gone out to hire more people in the Accommodation and Reservations sections. VANOC has been accumulating all kinds of rooms -- including hotels, motels, bed-and-breakfasts and the like -- for the last couple of years to house about 10,000 people that are part of the so-called Olympic Family that'll be helping to host the Games. They've got quite a bit of the accommodation reserved for the Greater Vancouver area, but only about half for the Whistler area. But managing all the room agreements and dates of availability and release is a mammoth, fussy job, and that's part of why those sections will be ramping up in 2007. The organization is also expected to further expand its marketing section, particularly in areas dealing with licensing as the extent of its agreements to use its brands to generate revenue expands. It is also expected to expand its bobsleigh and skeleton department, so it can begin planning how the Whistler Sliding Centre will be used during the run-up to the Games, during them and afterward, as it's to be a permanent fixture in Whistler. There's also expected to be a lot of interaction, as the Games draw near, with the International Federation for Bobsleigh and Tobogganing and with Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton, and with the Own The Podium program that will be trying to give a home-ice advantage to the Canadian national Olympic teams. Among other things -- and this will happen with many of the other sports that VANOC's hosting for the 2010 Games -- VANOC will be soon planning the pre- and post-Games events and recreational activities that accompany the Games and the test events that will occur, and that type of thing will involve set-up and preparations, and lots of technical volunteers. There's also expected to be a local-event organizing committee set up in the area.

VANOC SERVING UP FOOD & BEVERAGE SECTION

Another function VANOC will be developing starting about February is Food & Beverage. The organization expects to hire in January a Director of the function, whose main responsibility is to plan all the operational strategies, and to provide food and beverage services to all of the Olympic and Paralympic competition and non-competition venues, as well as the two Olympic Villages, in Vancouver and Whistler. The Director is to be in charge of procuring the vendors required to provide those services, and implementing VANOC's standards of service and product quality, relative to price. Among the responsibilities of the Director of Food & Beverages is to work with sponsors who will be providing their products and services as value-in-kind and ensuring the agreements VANOC has, and will reach, with those sponsors are properly implemented, and to negotiate master contracts with caterers. The person will also co-ordinate the pricing strategy for spectator concessions, sponsor hospitality catering and related contractors, as well as service VANOC's corporate and special-event requirements. The function will eventually include a Master Caterer, who will develop the menus for each customer group according to VANOC's "nutritional, ethnic and dietary guidelines." VANOC has, so far, two international sponsors in this category, Coca-Cola and McDonald's Restaurants and one official supplier, Vincor Canada, which will provide wines.

CANADIAN CURLING BUSINESS MAY BE IN FLUX

Some business decisions taken in connection during organization of two major Canadian curling events this month in Canada are worth considering in how it might have an effect on the relative popularity of men's and women's curling events at the 2010 Winter Games. In Ottawa, a Canada Cup qualifying event for women's curling involves a 44-team roster and a prize of C$71,200. Meanwhile, the men's equivalent event in Edmonton, Alberta, was scaled back because organizers were only able to attract 42 teams instead of the budgeted 48, and that meant the prize money was reduced to C$68,800. Traditionally, the men's competitions are seen as the more popular and economically successful events. Although the 2010 Games are just over three years from now, the shifting in support should be considered as to whether it's an economic oddity or the beginning of trend. The semifinalists from Edmonton and Ottawa receive berths at the Canada Cup, to be held March 13 to 18 in Kamloops, in south central BC. The Canada Cup winners go into a pool of 16 men's and 16 women's teams that are to compete for eight apiece for the 2009 Canadian Olympic trials. That competition determines Canada's representatives for the 2010 Games.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on December 13, 2006

Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #2042

BC LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE QUESTIONS AUDITOR-GENERAL OVER OLYMPIC WATCHDOG ROLE

A BC government Member of the Legislature, Iain Black, says that he's concerned acting auditor-general Arn van Iersel may have had the high public profile and media interest in the 2010 Olympics in mind when his office decided to audit the government's obligations to the Games this year.

Black, 39, who is on the Legislature's Finance & Government Services Committee and represents the Greater Vancouver area riding of Port Moody-Westwood, made the comment as the Committee began this week to consider van Iersel's five-year budget plan for his office. Various options of the plan all ask for more f