Morgan:News:2010:Bronze Edition

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Morgan:News:Bronze:Service is published regularly, but the articles are delayed by at least three months to protect our subscribers. For timely news that comes to you, please subscribe to our Gold or Silver service at Morgan:News:2010. Bronze is free for the use of news services and for non-commercial public use under conditions described at: Morgan:News:2010:Bronze (There is a nominal charge for certain commercial uses, as described there.) You can use Google to search the site, simply add “site:morgan-news.com” after your search terms.


Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #2122

LICENSES OFFERED FOR MAKING, SELLING AND DISTRIBUTING GAMES-BRANDED LUGGAGE AND BAGS

The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) is beginning the process of pre-qualifying companies interested in licensing its brands and putting the logos and wordmarks on luggage and similar bags. Those brands includes the emblems, mascots -- once they're chosen -- and pictograms of the Games.

VANOC, which posted the Expression of Interest document on its website today and which is restricting the offer to firms with operations in Canada, says that the offer includes the manufacture, sale and distribution of the luggage, as well as the right to sell the products through wholesale and or retail channels but only within Canada. An added bonus is the the right to manufacture branded premiums for VANOC, its corporate and government sponsors to purchase and use, as well as to "any third party licensed by VANOC to perform corporate fulfillment activities." (For the types of luggage and bags, see RESOURCES below.)

Firms can apply to deal with just a selection of the types of bags, or all of them, or they can focus instead on bags that appeal to a particular demographic, such as women's bags or those for children.

VANOC says its idea is to license the luggage in such a way so as to "maximize the availability and sale of licensed products within an environment of controlled commercialization." Marks of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Torch Relays, and marks of the Canadian Olympic Committee or the Canadian Olympic team are specifically excluded from the arrangements. VANOC says it will decide on a case-by-case basis whether the contracts run without interruption to December 31, 2010 (including sell-offs), or whether they'll be renewed annually until then.

The EOI is a formal, two-part process. The first part requests firms to supply their credentials by February 19. These are analyzed by VANOC staff, which determine a relatively short list of a dozen firms. Those on the short list will get a detailed Request for Proposals document, which VANOC expects to issue on March 5. The winning firm, or firms, are subject to a number of conditions, one of which is a security and criminal-records check of its directors and officers.

The RFP, VANOC says, will be asking for a forecast of projected sales of the licensed products during the term of the license, and a detailed marketing plan, including the proposed roll-out by distribution channel, such as specialty, souvenir, gift, tourist, duty-free, sports and general retail stores. The RFP will also be looking for the proponent's financial proposal, such as the royalty structure, what advance they'll need on signing, what the minimum guarantees they'll be paying to VANOC during the term of the license. They'll also have to outline brand protection and anti-piracy measures they'll be able to take to protect piracy.

Another of the conditions restricts the type of company that can apply for the license, so that they aren't competing with VANOC's Tier-1 retailing sponsor, the Hudson's Bay Company and its related stores. For instance, applicants that own or operate general merchandise department stores need not apply, nor any specialty retailer which has previously held licensing rights to produce apparel, team uniforms and merchandise bearing Canadian Olympic Committee marks. Also banned are sporting goods retail stores.

RESOURCES

Here are the main types of luggage and bags that VANOC's license offer covers:

• Travel bags and suitcases

• Computer bags and briefcases

• Sport Bags, particularly those for hockey, snowboarding, skiing and snowshoeing

• Handbags and tote bags

• Gym bags

• Camera bags

• Duffle bags

• Cosmetic bags and shaving-kit bags

• Messenger bags

• Backpacks

---

Here's the link to the PDF file of the EOI:

tinyurl.com/yptw8h


Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 31, 2007

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Morgan:News:Bronze:Service is published regularly, but the articles are delayed by at least three months to protect our subscribers. For timely news that comes to you, please subscribe to our Gold or Silver service at Morgan:News:2010. Bronze is free for the use of news services and for non-commercial public use under conditions described at: Morgan:News:2010:Bronze (There is a nominal charge for certain commercial uses, as described there.) You can use Google to search the site, simply add “site:morgan-news.com” after your search terms.


Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #2121

FEDERAL COMMITTEE SENATOR SUGGESTS VANOC EECURITY ESIMATES BASED ON LOW-RISK SCENARIO

One of the members of the Canadian government's Senate Standing Committee on National Security and Defence says it appears the C$175 million security budget for the 2010 Winter Games was based on a low-risk scenario.

The Committee was in Vancouver this week holding hearings as part of a cross country tour holding hearings on various aspects of Canadian security.

The RCMP, through a security unit nicknamed VISU, is the overall operations co-ordinator of the security arrangements for the 2010 Winter Games, although the military of Canada, the United States and possibly other countries are expected to play a role. The C$175 million does not cover military costs, only primary security of venues and their immediate neighbourhood, dignitaries from the time they arrive at the Vancouver International Airport until the time that they leave, athlete security, community policing costs that are required by VANOC and which are additional to normal special-event policing costs, and similar operational issues. The venues covered include those that are involved in competition and non-competition, such as VANOC's headquarters, warehouses and the two Olympic Villages.

The only British Columbia senator on the seven-member panel, Conservative Gerry St. Germain, says that he understands the figure is was budgeted on a low risk concept, "based on the intelligence that's out there... that's accumulated by the RCMP, CSIS and various other agencies around the world... and I think we have to take a look at, and we should do it immediately."

St. Germain says the Committee's job is to determine whether the figure is accurate. "British Columbians, and Canadians as a whole, don't want any huge [financial] surprises as far as cost over-runs in the Olympics. There was already a cost over-run in the construction. We just want to make certain that whatever estimates are there are realistic, and that there are no surprises."

St. Germain, however, says he feels the security and budgeting is in capable hands with the RCMP. "We know that there is a huge cost and security has to be a dominant factor in the Olympics, and we've got to make sure we've got the figures right."

He said following hearings with military personnel "but they weren't asked for any projected figures about what the cost would be from their end of things." He said the committee flagged the issue, "and I hope the officials take it seriously, and we'll be following up on it."

RCMP Chief Superintendent Richard Bent told the committee that if the Games threat level increases, "I'll be asking for more resources."


Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 30, 2007


Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2120

Here are three moguls we ran into today:

VANCOUVER OKS ANOTHER C$2 MILLION FOR OLYMPIC VILLAGE DEVELOPMENT

  • Vancouver City Council unanimously approved an additional C$2 million for preparing the Olympic Village site without even a moment's debate this afternoon. The request had come from the project manager for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Village, Wally Konowalchuk, who said he needed to money to pay for a variety of items, now that the site preparations are nearing completion, such as fencing, security, first aid, change orders to existing site-servicing construction contracts and the Olympic Village; and design modifications required to accommodate updates to the site plan. Council approved his request, along with recommendations from staff on a batch of other issues unrelated to the 2010 Games, in a bulk administrative vote. The decision means the cost of developing the site and its neighbouring land is expected to cost the city about C$157 million. Meanwhile, a staff proposal that the City turn over development of the "modest-market housing" component of the Olympic Village be contracted to Millennium Southeast False Creek Properties, which is overseeing development of the rest of the buildings on the eight-block project, has been moved to an upcoming committee meeting so that people who want to speak to council members about the idea can be heard. The staff made the recommendation saying it didn't have the expertise to do the work in time to make the deadlines for turning the village over to VANOC in November, 2009. The city's Planning and Environment committee is expected to hear the issue Thursday.

    VANCOUVER PARKS BOARD DELAYS CONSTRUCTION OF VANOC VENUE BY FIVE MONTHS

  • The Vancouver Parks Board voted last night to compromise by further delaying reconstruction of VANOC's Trout Lake arena in exchange for making one of its prime user groups less angry about reduced minor ice-hockey time a year from now. The Board, which is often the focus of pressure tactics by organized groups, was faced with a packed, organized and noisy group of minor-hockey enthusiasts who protested the way the Board was originally planning to do the construction. The decision could cost the financially challenged Board an estimated C$200,000 in additional costs for the project due to construction inflation caused by resetting the start date for demolishing the aging east-side arena by five months from August to December, and rebuilding it in time for the 2010 Games. The decision means the Trout Lake arena should be completed in June, 2009. The furor was caused by the planned demolition and reconstruction of the Killarney arena a few kilometres away, scheduled to start this March. The combination of the two arenas being shut down at the same time during prime hockey season would have disrupted the hockey schedules of hundreds of children during next winter. Instead, the new scheduling will mean half the hockey season will be lost, instead of all of it. As a political solution, it appears to have been a good one; everybody accepted it, but nobody liked it.

    CSA HIRES BAILEY TO PRODUCE SKI CROSS DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY

  • Cameron Bailey of Calgary, Alberta, has been hired by the Canadian Snow Sports Association (CSA) as a consultant to develop and high-performance strategic plan for the new events of ski cross that are in the process of being added to the 2010 Winter Games. Dave Pym, the CSA's managing director says in Vancouver that Bailey's recommendations will take about four months to develop, and they'll be given to the CSA Ski Cross Advisory Committee and to the federal government's "Own the Podium-2010" program. Bailey, a business man who is former Canadian alpine ski racer and current ski cross competitor, has been asked to help 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 who Pym says are currently competing outside of sanctioned FIS/CSA events such as X-Games and Ski Tour.


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 30, 2007

  • Monday, January 29, 2007

    Morgan:News:Bronze:Service is published regularly, but the articles are delayed by at least three months to protect our subscribers. For timely news that comes to you, please subscribe to our Gold or Silver service at Morgan:News:2010. Bronze is free for the use of news services and for non-commercial public use under conditions described at: Morgan:News:2010:Bronze (There is a nominal charge for certain commercial uses, as described there.) You can use Google to search the site, simply add “site:morgan-news.com” after your search terms.


    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2119

    Here are three more moguls we ran into today:

    VANOC TO SET UP SECTION TO LOOK AFTER GAMES PHOTOGRAPHERS

  • VANOC will set up a management position in the next few months to look after the requirements at the 2010 venues of all the accredited professional photographers assigned to the cover the Games. The director position will be focused on planning where all the photo work areas will be located within the Olympic venues and the International Media Centre on the Vancouver waterfront, as well as where photographers can be located to get good shots of the sports as they occur, ensure there's adequate lighting for the events, and how all of these will related to the Image Centre. In previous Games, the Image Centre, sponsored by Kodak for decades, processed hundreds of thousands of rolls of film, from about 800 photojournalists, and used a heavy duty database to keep track of them all. Kodak, however, has not yet renewed its sponsorship of the Olympics through the IOC for 2010. Although film is still expected to be used by some by the time the Games begin, most photographers are expected to be using digital cameras to record the events, but that simply means a changing role for the Centre. Accredited photographers are expected to receive a pre-Games digital camera tune-up, a digital camera loan and repair service, image scanning, computer workstations with considerable amounts of digital storage space, thermal proofing, large-format ink-jet output; a large-volume production output area and image transfers to CD. The image centre is also expected to provide equipment and the necessary technology for broadcasting images to editing suites anywhere in the world.

    VANOC SUSTAINABILITY SERVICES TO BE DISCUSSED IN WHISTLER

  • David Crawford, VANOC's director of Transportation & Sustainability Services, is expected to speak at the next meeting of the Association of Whistler Area Residents for the Environment, scheduled for February 7. Crawford is expected to talk about VANOC's plans for zero waste, and other sustainability goals.

    NO MARKETING FOR OTP PROGRAM DURING MUSIC TOUR

  • The popular Canadian band Barenaked Ladies said they would donate a portion of their ticket revenue for their current tour to "Own The Podium", a program designed with the help of VANOC and the federal government to raise the chances of Canadians winning medals and the 2010 Winter Games, and they got a lot of publicity about it. But the ads for the concert are now being run in Vancouver media and there's no mention of the concept in them.


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 29, 2007


    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2118

    Here are three moguls we ran into today:

    BELL CANADA LINKS $500,000 ABORIGINAL DONATION TO 2010 DEAL

  • VANOC telecommunications sponsor, Bell Canada, has pledged to donate C$500,000 over the next five years to an aboriginal educational organization, and has quietly let it be known that it considers it "in addition to" its sponsorship program. The donation when to the Minerva Foundation for BC Women and its "Combining Our Strength" initiative. The program, according to the Foundation, provides "opportunities in leadership development, economic security, education and cross-cultural awareness" for aboriginal women. As a Bell spokesman puts it, "These funds are in addition to a number of previous community-investment commitments Bell has made, including C$3 million to support construction of the Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre in Whistler, and a number of investments in the economic development of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside." These commitments are also obliquely related to VANOC activities. BC Premier Gordon Campbell complimented Bell on the donation to the Foundation.

    COULD CPR BE USED TO HELP CARRY VANOC TORCH?

  • VANOC and Canadian Pacific Railway, its newest Tier-2 sponsor, are keeping quiet about some of the things the CPR might do for the Olympic organization, noting that they're still in negotiations about them (and a surprising large list of other things, consdering the deal's been announced). We've already reported on a concept VANOC CEO John Furlong mentioned to the IOC nearly two years ago, about having CP do a "peace train" run that would promote the 2010 Games at the same time. Here's something else to bear in mind. The Olympic Flame, sponsored by Coca-Cola (which is also sponsoring the 2010 Games through an IOC international sponsorship), traveled by railroad on a specially designed train for a part of the 2002 Winter Olympic Torch Relay, operated by Union Pacific Railroad. The train featured a so-called "Cauldron Car" for the Olympic Flame itself. It involved two custom-painted locomotives and 16 cars incorporating the look of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games. The train transported the flame across portions of Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada and Oregon. In all, the Union Pacific train carried the Olympic Flame about 5,150 kilometres (3,200 miles) across 11 states.

    VERNON WINTER CARNIVAL BOOSTS MARKETING FOR 2010-RELATED REASONS

  • Sandi LaFleche, the organizer for the annual Winter Carnival in the BC Okanagan-area city of Vernon says the Carnival expects to boost its marketing each winter between now and 2010 as a way of increasing the size of the festival to where it becomes important enough to draw visitors coming for the Olympic Games. This is the festival's 15th anniversary; it runs from February 2 to 11. One of its most popular features involves hot-air balloon rides, which are sold out this year due to this year's marketing blitz in a province-wide business magazine. About 80 volunteers help to run the Carnival.


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 29, 2007

  • Friday, January 26, 2007

    Morgan:News:Bronze:Service is published regularly, but the articles are delayed by at least three months to protect our subscribers. For timely news that comes to you, please subscribe to our Gold or Silver service at Morgan:News:2010. Bronze is free for the use of news services and for non-commercial public use under conditions described at: Morgan:News:2010:Bronze (There is a nominal charge for certain commercial uses, as described there.) You can use Google to search the site, simply add “site:morgan-news.com” after your search terms.


    Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #2117

    ADDITIONAL NOTES ON 2010 COIN RELEASE PROGRAM DETAIL DATES AND UNUSUAL ASPECTS OF CAMPAIGN

    Here are some additional notes and clarifications about the Royal Canadian Mint's Olympic coin program we wrote about earlier today. Here you'll find details of when various coins will be released either into circulation or as collector sets for either the general public or serious collectors, and some unique things about the coins themselves.

  • Three of the 25-cent coins will feature designs of Canadian athlete medallists with the participation of Canadians, a unique feature of the Mint's program.

  • Starting in 2008, Canadians will be able to vote for their favourite Canadian medallists. Each coin will have a bronze, silver or gold finish. The RCM is the first mint to seek broad public participation in the design for Olympic and Paralympic Games coins.

  • Two one-dollar "Lucky Loonie" coins will also be struck. The first will be released prior to the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Teams leaving for the Beijing 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Games, and the second prior to the 2010 Winter Games. RBC will be the exclusive distributor of the Lucky Loonie coins through its Royal Bank branches.

  • A total of about 1,200 RBC and Petro-Canada outlets will distribute and promote the circulation coins over the next three years. Circulation coins will be released at specific intervals.

  • This year, the Mint expects to release five 25-cent circulation coins with the images of various 2010 sports on them, starting with the Curling quarter on February 23. Ice hockey will be released in April, Paralympic wheelchair curling (July), biathlon (September) and alpine skiing (October).

  • There will be 15 Sterling-silver coins with the unusual denomination of C$25, also featuring winter sports designs, with each limited to a production run of 45,000 and sales will be international.

  • A series of nine C$75 14-karat gold coins highlighting Olympic Games themes. Each will have a limited world-wide production of 8,000.

  • The one-kilo gold coins will be valued at $2,500 each, and only 20 will be minted. It's the first time the mint will be issuing a pure gold coin with a guaranteed weight of one kilogram. The coins will be engraved in "ultra high" relief. The Mint doesn't say so, but these coins are expected to be viewed by other countries as marketing for the capabilities of the Mint's manufacturing abilities, to aid in additional contracts for the Mint, since producing such a coin is a difficult process.

  • The two C$250 kilo Silver coins will be offered with a limited worldwide mintage of 2,500 per coin. The three Premium Gold coins will be valued at C$300. One is expected to be released this year, a second next year and the third in 2009, each limited to a run of 2,500 per coin.

  • There will also be three special-edition uncirculated-coin sets, one released each year starting this year and ending in 2009, each with a mintage of 30,000 containing all denominations, including the 2010 Winter Games-related 25-cent coins of that year.

  • Two Sterling silver Lucky Loonie "painted" coins will be issued, one next year and the last in 2010, with mintages of 30,000 and 40,000 respectively.

  • A total of 12 Olympic Coin Sport Cards will be launched over the next three years, with this year's circulation coins marked with a painted maple leaf. The sports cards will retail for C$7.95 and will be released at the same time as the circulation coins they feature. The public will be able to buy these cards at Petro Canada outlets. Three more Sport Coin Cards are planned to coincide with the selection and launch of the 25-cent Canadian Medallist coins.

  • In 2009, as it has done for the 2002 and 2006 Winter Olympics, the Mint and its outlets will be selling a "Lucky Loonie" coin embedded in a hockey puck just before 2010.

    RESOURCES

    RCM2007@ftp.mint.ca>

    Click on the directory entitled "Canadian Olympics Program Launch January 26, 2007".


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 26, 2007


    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2116

    Here are three moguls we ran into today:

    DETAILED BROADCAST TECHNOLOGY PLANNING TO START AT VANOC

  • Detailed work within VANOC is expected to start in the next few months to unify the technology needed for the broadcast feeds of the 2010 Winter Games. The work will be co-ordinated by a new position, Director, Technology and Telecom Broadcast, that's just being established. The new director is expected to work closely with VANOC’s broadcast liaison team as well as with Olympic Broadcast Services Vancouver, the International Olympic Committee's broadcast company, as well as let VANOC's technology staff know what broadcasters will need from it. It will also contribute all the technology aspects to VANOC's broadcast rate-card program by providing service definitions, IOC approvals and rate-card communications. It will also help sent wholesale and retail pricing on the rate card.

    FOUNDATION TO RAISE MONEY FOR 2010-BOUND US ATHLETES IN NEED

  • The American Ross Powers Foundation, based in Portland, Maine, says its new "Level Field Fund", a fundraising initiative, will provide financial support for US athletes preparing for the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver. Powers, the Olympic gold medalist in men's snowboarding halfpipe competition at the Salt Lake Winter Games in 2002, created his Foundation to contribute financial support to Vermont athletes in need of assistance and has since expanded the Foundation's reach to the national level. The Foundation has already committed US$100,000 to the "Level Field Fund". It hopes to raise US$500,000 prior to the 2010 Olympics.

    PHILLIPINO ICE SKATING AT 2010? IT FIGURES

  • There will be 45 national teams competing when the sixth Asian Winter Games is held in Changchun, China from January 28 to February 4, but that's not the story. There is no snow in the Philippines, but the country, for the first time, is sending a five-man team to the Asian Games to only take part in the centrepiece figure-skating events. "We're now ready to take that challenge of going into the next level," said Ric Camaligan, president of the Philippine Skating Union, yesterday. But that's not the story, either. Here's the story: Camaligan says that if the Philipinos perform well in China, they will try to join some qualifying events for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, and they also hope to introduce other winter sports, like short-track speed skating and ice hockey, to the roster. The Asian Winter Games involves short-track speed skating, speed skating, ice hockey, biathlon, alpine skiing, snowboard, cross-country skiing, freestyle skiing and curling.

    RESOURCES

    The Ross Powers Foundation website:

    www.rosspowersfoundation.org


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 26, 2007


    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2115

    Here are three moguls we ran into today:

    COST TO VANCOUVER OF READYING OLYMPIC VILLAGE SITE ESCALATES

  • The Vancouver City project manager for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Village is asking council for another C$2 million to pay for a batch of odds and ends in servicing the site, with the money to come from the city's Property Endowment Fund. Wally Konowalchuk says the money is to pay for "expanded work under existing contracts or for new contracts up to an individual maximum of C$300,000 in value." City council policy requires that any contracts over C$300,000 be individually approved. So what is the expanded work? Konowalchuk says examples include construction site logistics including fencing, security, first aid, change orders to existing site-servicing construction contracts and the Olympic Village; and "design modifications required to accommodate updates to the site plan." The city is using the PEF to act as the developer of the public areas and social components of the Olympic Village infrastructure, as well as the rest of the Village's neighbourhood. As of last October, the city's pro forma of the project showed costs for getting the site ready for construction of the Village's apartment buildings had swelled to C$154.4 million, leaving only a C$65 million projected surplus, but last November, the project required an additional C$1 million.

    CANADIAN MINT TO START MAKING OLYMPIC-THEME COINS AVAILABLE FEB 23

  • The Royal Canadian Mint today confirmed our earlier stories which we broke last year about the launch of a series of public and collector coins to mark the 2010 Winter Games. The coins will be available as of February 23, and will involve 12 25-cent coins released between this year and 2010, for a total distribution of 350 million coins and a total of 17 designs. Each of the coins features a sporting event that takes place on snow or ice, and two of them, for the first time in the history of numismatics, will be Paralympic sports. In 2008 and 2010, the RCM will also mint two unique C$1 coins, which they'll be calling "Lucky Loonies", plus three 25-cent coins in bronze, silver and gold as a "Medalist" series. The Mint became a tier-2 sponsor of VANOC last year, in a deal worth C$15 million to VANOC in cash and value-in-kind. There are also a number of collector sets. The coins in the collector series will be sold, as they become available, through Royal Bank and PetroCanada locations across Canada, as well as from the Mint's usual retail outlets. Those companies are Tier 1 sponsors of VANOC. There will be a sterling-silver hologram series, a series that uses 14-karat gold to make them the Mint's first "gold coloured" coins. There will also be a "Gold Premium" series with three designs and production run limited to 2,500 coins. There will also be a "One Kilogram" series. These will be made in either 99.9% pure gold or silver. Only 2,500 of each of the two silver designs and 20 each of the two gold designs will be made.

    2010 OLYMPICS TO BE THEME FOR BC-SPONSORED CHILDREN'S BOOK AWARD IN 2009

  • The BC government will use sports as a theme for a 2009 book award to commemorate the 2010 Winter Olympics. The Time to Read award, aimed at five-year-olds, will be sponsored by the BC Ministry of Education, the author and illustrator of the chosen book will each receive C$7,500, and a free copy of the winning book will be given to every kindergarten child in the province during 2009. The award will be administered by the BC Achievement Foundation. "We hope that by giving advance notice of the preferred theme, books will be developed that honour this BC milestone," said Keith Mitchell, chairman of the BC Achievement Foundation. Only publishers can enter books for consideration. Self-published books are not eligible; nor are posthumously-published books. Books published from 2002 to 2008 or manuscripts are eligible.

    RESOURCES

    Our earlier stories on the program:

    'Launch of program to market circulating Olympic commemorative coins to take place January 26'

    [Morgan:News:2010:Number:2061; Published on Thursday, December 21, 2006]

    'Canadian government to issue coins for the 2010 Winter Games'

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

    The Canadian Mint's website:

    www.mint.ca

    --

    BC Achievement Foundation:


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 26, 2007

  • Morgan:News:Bronze:Service is published regularly, but the articles are delayed by at least three months to protect our subscribers. For timely news that comes to you, please subscribe to our Gold or Silver service at Morgan:News:2010. Bronze is free for the use of news services and for non-commercial public use under conditions described at: Morgan:News:2010:Bronze (There is a nominal charge for certain commercial uses, as described there.) You can use Google to search the site, simply add “site:morgan-news.com” after your search terms.


    Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #2114

    VANCOUVER STAFF RECOMMEND MILLENNIUM, NOT CITY, DEVELOP OLYMPIC VILLAGE SOCIAL HOUSING

    City of Vancouver staff are recommending to council for its meeting Tuesday that it should drop the idea of having the city build modest-marketing housing as part of the Olympic Village construction, saying it's "impractical" if the Village is to be completed in time for 2010.

    Instead, staff recommend that the city authorize Millennium Southeast False Creek Properties do it instead, with the condition that the firm retain the buildings as social housing rental for at least 20 years before being allowed to put it on the market. The number of years is important to council, which is important to council's sizable left-wing minority. They want to see it kept as social housing for as long as possible, but the larger the number the more the Millennium's internal rate of return declines. The 20-year figure gives Millennium an IRR of just under 10%.

    Millennium is the developer of the rest of the buildings of the Village, and will complete its purchase of the site after the 2010 Games are finished so it can sell or rent the hundreds of housing units that will be available. A portion, of the site, however, is to be rented at "modest market" rates. The C$30 million donated by the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) for construction of the Village, the city earlier decided, would be used to pay for the development of the less-than-market housing on the site. The VANOC funding only covers a portion of the Village development because the city decided to make the Village the core of a much large neighbourhood that won't be fully completed until about 2018.

    Vancouver's Housing Centre director, Cameron Gray, says the do-it-ourselves concept for non-market housing, approved in principal by council last November, won't work. Gray has worked on housing projects in the False Creek area on behalf of the city for more than 30 years. "The City has very limited experience in developing affordable homeownership and a development partner would be required," he said. "Bringing a new partner into the development of the Olympic Village, given the complexity of the project and the need to complete the project for the 2010 Winter Games, would be impractical." Gray says Millennium has agreed that, if asked, it would be prepared to take on the social housing aspect for the city as well.

    Besides the lack of expertise at the city, Gray is expected to tell council that developing the 3,270 square metres (35,200 square feet) of floor space as market rental, using bonus density, would cost about C$11 million, and that C$4 million in equity would be required, even though there's no land cost. He says that C$10 million in equity would be required if the City were to be the developer of all the modest-market housing in the Olympic Village.

    Gray says the cash flow of the City's Property Endowment Fund, which is acting as the City's developer for the site servicing and other social aspects of the whole project, will be tied up for the next several years to covering the cost of servicing the Olympic Village and other projects, "and the funds are not available for a market-rental investment at this time."

    The area involved is known as Parcel 9, a city block of construction on the southeast corner of the Village, on First Avenue, just east of the flagship Salt Building.

    RESOURCES

    A parcel map of the Village is here:

    vancouver.ca/commsvcs/southeast/devapps/index.htm


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 25, 2007

    Wednesday, January 24, 2007

    Morgan:News:Bronze:Service is published regularly, but the articles are delayed by at least three months to protect our subscribers. For timely news that comes to you, please subscribe to our Gold or Silver service at Morgan:News:2010. Bronze is free for the use of news services and for non-commercial public use under conditions described at: Morgan:News:2010:Bronze (There is a nominal charge for certain commercial uses, as described there.) You can use Google to search the site, simply add “site:morgan-news.com” after your search terms.


    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2113

    Here are three moguls we ran into today:

    FURLONG FORECASTS C$65-C$70 MILLION IN SPONSORSHIP THIS YEAR

  • VANOC CEO John Furlong told reporters in Calgary that as far as corporate sponsorship of the Games is concerned, "We're hoping to get to C$65 million to C$70 million this year, and then close the program the following year." VANOC was hoping to reach C$725 million in sponsorship value to the Games, and estimates that the organization is around the C$600 million mark now. He says, however, that, "It will take us a little bit longer to get through the last C$125 million or so," Furlong said, adding, "If we can overperform, obviously we'd like to do that." His comments came after Canadian Pacific Rail became the fifth Tier-2 sponsor of VANOC, at as value to VANOC of about C$15 million, about three-quarters of that in VIK, the rest in cash.

    BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP PULLED IN PART DUE TO OLYMPIC BUDGET CHILL

  • Canada's Globe & Mail newspaper is reporting today that a lack of economic interest caused in part by the 2010 Winter Games is responsible for the decision by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) to move it's under-19 world championship to another country. The contest was to have been played by 16 countries in Vancouver this July. It's the second time the championship was forced to move. Vancouver was chosen on short notice after the original country, Malaysia, had organizational problems. A news release from Canada Basketball said the overall cost of staging the event was about C$2 million and Canada Basketball was expected to pay about C$1 million for television rights to the FIBA, but its contractor, Nucleus Networking and Consulting, discovered national and international television networks, as well as local companies, preferred to target their budgets on 2010 Olympic-related expenditures.

    DEUTSCHE BANK APPOINTS VANOC'S PHELPS TO ADVISORY BOARD

  • Deutsche Bank today announced several additions to its 12-person Client Advisory Board in the Americas, including Michael Phelps, a member of VANOC's 20-person Board of Directors. Phelps joints people such as Norman Augustine, the former Chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin and former U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow on the bank's panel. The Board was created to advise Deutsche Bank management and its clients on a range of strategic and marketplace issues, such as business development and growth, and economic, political and social trends.


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 25, 2007


    Morgan:News:2010 |Business| #2112

    CP RAIL, WEST COAST EXPRESS AWAITING RESULTS OF VANOC TRANSPORTATION STUDIES TO DECIDE IF COMMUTER TRAIN EXPANDS DURING 2010 GAMES

    CP Rail, VANOC's newest sponsor, said during this morning's announcement about its contribution that it expected to also use a Greater Vancouver commuter train system, known as the West Coast Express (WCE), to help VANOC move people during the Games.

    As CPR president and CEO Fred Green put it, "Amongst the value of the things [VANOC CEO John Furlong and I] discussed was the value and possibility of helping to get people around town during what will be a very busy time and when certain areas will be cordoned off. I don't want to speculate what would happen today beyond what we do that, which is the West Coast run, or if that would even occur."

    But Green later softened that concept during our interview with him. "We're a little ahead of ourselves," he said when asked if that meant CP would influence the schedule of the service during the Games.

    It's a touchy subject. WCE is a wholly owned subsidiary of Translink, the government-supported regional transit authority. WCE receives about C$4 million annually in operating subsidy from Translink, and the City of Mission, at the eastern end of its route, last year contributed C$144,000 to Translink to also help subsidize WCE. The train operates on the CPR's right of way in the Fraser Valley east of Vancouver, and pays track rates to the CPR, but there has been a long-running battle -- involving lawyers, other government agencies and Freedom of Information requests -- between WCE to find out how those rates are calculated, and CPR, who doesn't want that information made public. The upshot of that dispute was eventually a reduction in track rates charged to WCE by CPR. Under the present agreement, WCE has access to CPR's lines and pays track rates until about 2015, well beyond the Games.

    "It's my fault for even mentioning it," Green says today, speaking of WCE's involvement. "If we're going to do something like that, the Organizing Committee would have to determine a need for it, and if it involved WestCoast Express, we would have to work with WestCoast Express. My commitment is that should there be a need to run over our tracks to enable the success of the Games through people movement, anything that we can do, including our assets, to enable that to occur, we will do."

    The president of WCE, Doug Kelsey, echoes those sentiments. Kelsey has been a strong supporter of the 2010 Games for years, including during the bid phase, when the led the transportation planning. He is also now the chair of the Transportation Advisory Committee for the 2010 Games.

    "All transit will be involved in supporting a successful Games," he says, speaking as the Committee chair, "and West Coast Express is part of that." But Kelsey says "the true operating plan" for transportation during the Games, "has not yet been determined. There's work going on on that now. It's still early days."

    Kelsey says that the possibility of changes in the amount of track rates paid to CP as the result of potentially increased WCE schedules during the Games, is part of what has yet to be determined. "Fred got it right by saying it's too early. VANOC has to determine what the Games needs are, and those processes are going on right now, and we're helping to support VANOC on. We've got a lot of stuff going on, but those needs have not been determined yet. Once the needs have been determined, the next logical step is talking about the implications of the needs, and dollars become part of that. We know WCE has to run to get people to work anyway... but the question is about what supplemental services will be required, and that's the part that's not yet confirmed."

    There was an increase in WCE service that was outlined in the bid, but Kelsey notes, "But the bid stage, and what is going to be needed for the Games can be two very different things, because times change and needs change. "We're still looking at the inputs to determine the outputs of the transportation services that will be needed."

    Speaking as president of WCE, Kelsey adds that, like CPR, "We'll do what it takes to support VANOC's success here. I know CP feels that way, and we work very well with CP every day." But for track rates on future services, he says, "that still has to be worked through."

    WCE service links the towns of Mission, Port Haney, Maple Ridge, Pitt Meadows, Port Coquitlam, Coquitlam and Port Moody with downtown Vancouver; the full distance is 65 kilometres. It operates ten trains and two so-called "TrainBuses" per day, Monday to Friday using 37 trains. It carries about two million people per year, an average of about 9,000 per day.

    RESOURCES

    West Coast Express:

    www.westcoastexpress.com/


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 24, 2007


    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2111

    Here are three moguls we ran into today:

    2010 COUNTDOWN CLOCK TO START TICKING IN VANCOUVER FEBRUARY 12

  • The Olympic Countdown Clock is expected to be started during a ceremony at the Vancouver Art Gallery in the business core of the city. That will happen about noon on Monday, February 12. That's exactly three years to the day before the Opening Ceremonies of the 2010 Olympic Games.

    IOC CALLS FOR "MORE UNITY" IN FIGHT AGAINST DOPING

  • International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge today called for "more unity" in the fight against doping. Speaking at a symposium of news organizations organized by the Montreal-based World Anti-Doping Agency in the IOC headquarters city of Lausanne, Switzerland, he said athletes, media, sports organisations, governments and sponsors to speak out about doping. He said that several prominent cases during 2006, including incidents at the Torino Winter Games showed the situation is more prevelant, more people are being caught, and the doping supply networks and the drugs themselves are becoming more sophisticated. He also stressed IOC supports WADA's strict system of penalties for cheaters, including support personnel who have been caught helping athletes use doping methods. He said the IOC also supports WADA's education, prevention and scientific research. "Effective penalties are needed," he said, "but even that is not enough... if we can achieve a unity, we can close the gap between cheaters and doping controls. In our fight against doping, I include sponsors, because the commercial influence in sport continues to grow. Are sponsors doing enough to create an environment where doping is discouraged? I don't have the answer, but I think this deserves a closer look. It may be that cancellation clauses in endorsement contracts are not enough."

    VANOC HOPES ISU WILL APPROVE SKATING VENUE TEST EVENT IN FALL OF '08

  • There may be an approved skaing venue test in Vancouver in about 18 months. A VANOC spokesman says, "Dates for test events have yet to be formally approved by the ISU. VANOC hopes to have one combined test event with short track [speed skating] and figure skating in the fall of '08, but this is yet to be confirmed with the ISU." Vancouver is to host the 2008 Canadian figure skating championships next January at the Pacific Coliseum, a venue VANOC will be using during the 2010 Games, but it's seen as doubtful it will be an official Olympic test event under the sanction of the International Skating Union, which supervises such events, and VANOC.


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 24, 2007


    Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #2110

    VANCOUVER PARKS BOARD TO DECIDE MONDAY WHETHER TO FURTHER DELAY DELIVERY OF A VANOC ICE RINK VENUE

    The Vancouver Parks Board is expected to be asked during its meeting next Monday whether to shut down two important but aging east Vancouver ice rinks at the same time so they can be rebuilt for the 2010 Winter Olympics, or shut them down sequentially, further delaying one.

    The pros and cons of the decision have to do with construction cost and schedule risks versus inconvenience to the organized and vocal customers of the heavily used rinks, primarily minor hockey and lacrosse. In either case, they will need to be moved to nearby -- also crowded -- arenas during the 18-month demolition and reconstruction schedules, but if both rinks are shut down at once during the prime seasons, that will make more of them unhappy at the same time. Their movement, in turn, could push minor hockey groups in those nearby rinks to go even later at night and even earlier in the mornings than currently, as well as possibly turn away groups that don't reside within Vancouver's boundaries, but who use the other east-side rinks.

    The two rinks involved, which also include their adjacent community centres, are Trout Lake and Killarney. The Vancouver Parks Board has agreed to provide the two rinks to the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) as ice practice facilities during the Games, and VANOC will need them no later than December 1, 2009.

    Parks board staff are recommending the two rinks be shut down with an overlapping period where both will be out of service from late this summer to about September of 2008. Planning staff, talking about the construction industry, report that, "Cost escalation continues to be a significant factor. During 2006 the rate of escalation was 11%. For 2007, a lower number is currently being forecast at 6% on each of these projects. At 6% per year, purchasing power is being eroded at C$50,000 per month. Deferring the [start of] Trout Lake project to March, 2008, would enable a one-rink [at a time] closure scenario, but purchasing power could be reduced significantly, in the order of C$400,000."

    The Parks Board is supervising the project, with some of the funding provided by VANOC per an agreement worked out several years ago with VANOC. The estimated total cost of the two replacement projects, to be built to LEED Gold standards, is about C$20 million, much of it derived from a capital plan approved by Vancouver taxpayers in a 2005 referendum, but VANOC's contribution of C$5 million is fixed, no matter what the final cost of the projects, under the agreement.

    The subject of money on these projects is of considerable political importance to the Parks Board. Last September, hearing that its Olympic projects would be going over budget due to inflation and other factors, it approved a complex and creative refinancing deal that siphons funds from several future City and Park Board projects and cash flows, as well as adding money up front from the 2010 Organizing Committee in exchange for looking after conversion costs later, to keep the projects on time and on track. That included additional funding of C$6.5 million for the rinks project, bringing their total budgeted cost to C$26.5 million.

    VANOC as of last fall was operating on the theory that both rinks would be completed by the fall of 2008, but delays in the Trout Lake project -- reportedly due to problems with soil conditions, which required additional studies -- has already pushed its completion date back by five months.

    The Killarney project, in southeast Vancouver, is the most advanced. Work is expected to start in March and be completed by September, 2008. The development permit has been approved by the City of Vancouver, and Parks staff expect to appoint a construction manager "shortly." The Trout Lake project, in the design development and permitting phase, is expected to start in August and be completed in February, 2009. Staff are telling the Parks Board it "is currently on schedule."

    The Trout Lake project is being designed by Walter Francl Architect of Vancouver for a fee of C$1.277 million, which also includes construction administration and the schematic design for it to be converted after the Games to a new community centre. Pushing its start date back even further, feel the Parks Board staff, would make everyone involved nervous. As they put it, "A March 2008 start would result in a projected September 2009 completion. This leaves relatively little time to December 2009 (Olympic deadline) and unforeseen in this scenario are construction delays which could only be overcome by overtime work which could be costly."


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 24, 2007


    Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #2109

    CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY NAMED AS VANOC SPONSORS TO MOVE FREIGHT AND SUPPLIES FOR 2010 GAMES

    Canadian Pacific Railway (TSX/NYSE: CP) has been appointed as the Official Rail Freight Services Provider -- one of the Tier 2 sponsors -- for the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC).

    VANOC expects it to provide about C$15 million worth of cash and value-in-kind services over time, as valued by VANOC. CPR president and CEO, Fred Green, says, "The vast majority -- probably 75% to 80% -- of our contribution over that period of time... the best description of that would be in-kind. It'll be the value of the things we can do quite effectively, and the value we can provide to the VANOC team will be quite extraordinary."

    Green confirms the balance of about C$3 million to C$4 million will be cash to VANOC spread over the years of the arrangement, but he said those details were still being negotiated. "We will spread that contribution in whatever forms -- after discussion with VANOC -- about what is the easiest, most appropriate and when they need us to contribute."

    The announcement was made by VANOC CEO John Furlong during a brief ceremony at the CPR Pavilion in Calgary, Alberta, CP's headquarters. The company services about 900 communities across Canada and has nearly 16,000 employees. The six-year agreement designates CP as an Official Supporter of the 2010 Winter Games, including sponsorship rights for the Canadian teams participating at the Beijing 2008, Vancouver 2010 and London 2012 Olympic Games.

    Furlong says that for VANOC, the CP arrangement falls into three categories: cash, things "we've been able to identify within our responsibility, that can be moved over the period that CP can do for us that we would otherwise have to do." The third thing is "using the ingenuity, the magic and the imagination of a great company to create excitement [about the Games] and connect the country... and light the fire across the country that really gets Canadians excited about the Games, and helps Canadians understand what this [Olympic] opportunity is." Furlong said the shipping aspect does two things for VANOC: reduce complexity of the Games for VANOC managers, and turns over that responsibility to an organization that's both trained to do it and has the capacity to do it.

    Green says the logistics, freight rail service and truck services included in the deal, which he says will not cost CP C$15 million to provide, will use, for the most part, existing capacity on the CP freight system to move equipment and materials needed by VANOC from across North America to the places where it's required. "The nature of what we are able to do -- we have some land available, or how we can help out with some commuter trains in Vancouver, the logistics capabilities and the movement of freight -- everything from buses to personal vehicles have to be moved from all over North America in an organized and effective operation, and that's in addition to all the materials." VANOC is expected to use a large number of jitney buses, among other vehicles, to move Olympic teams to various venues during the Games.

    Green, however, says CP hasn't estimated the amount of tonnage involved in the arrangement. "To be honest, I can't tell you that we even tried to calculate that. We know there'll be hundreds of vehicles and hundreds of containers, and there will be undoubtedly all kinds of things we can't even imagine yet. I can't put it into that kind of order of magnitude, but whatever needs to be done to make this a success, we're committed to supporting the [VANOC] team." He also said "we will work out the details as we go forward" of how non-CP rail lines, such as those in the US that will be used to help move VANOC-bound shipments, would be compensated by CP or VANOC. "At the end of the day," he says, "we'll use transportation in whatever form makes the most sense to this [Olympic Organizing] committee with this huge task in front of them that will enable the to get their job done, so we're going to have to work through the details. But we're there to make sure they're successful." Green added that, "We will also build on our experience and leverage the use and visibility of our trains to help ensure VANOC makes these Canada's Games." He said that VANOC branding would soon appear on CP rolling stock. VANOC's logo appeared on CP's website this morning.

    In addition, both Green and Furlong say they two organizations are still in negotiations over a number of additional functions CP and its employees would perform during the lead-up to the Games to help market them and "create excitement" about them, but Furlong declined to disclose these.

    In May, 2005, Furlong said VANOC was thinking about using CP Rail's system to market the Games -- and the idea of peace at the same time. "We envision a unique and compelling concept," he said at the time, "A peace train travelling across the country -- on railway lines that track just above the world's longest undefended border -- showcasing and celebrating the values of peace, solidarity and fair play, and profiling the cultural diversity of Canada. A peace train could be a symbolic but powerful way to showcase the values of peaceful sport and unity among people. And as the peace train travels across our vast nation, we will take the opportunity to inspire Canadians, to touch the soul of the nation and celebrate our remarkable differences."

    But asked specifically if the additional marketing plans included the peace-train concept, Furlong sidestepped the question, repeating the concept that negotiations about a number of matters were still underway.

    CP's cross-country rail network runs not far from the Canadian/US border from Vancouver to Montreal, and also serves major cities in the United States such as Minneapolis, Chicago and New York City. More than half of the CP's freight traffic is in commodities such as coal, grain, chemicals and forest products, but it also ships automotive parts and automobiles. According to CP figures, to December, 2006, it moved

    452,259 cars of materials that were not commodities, accounting for about 17% of all shipments during the year.

    The busiest part of its railway network is along its main line between Calgary and Vancouver. The company is expected to release its fourth-quarter and full-year 2006 financial and operating results on January 30, which will be broadcast live via its website (click on the "Investors" link.)

    Green is relatively new to his positions: he was appointed president in November, 2005 and CEO last May.

    CP is the fifth Tier-2 sponsor of the 2010 Games. The others are British Columbia Lottery Corporation, the Royal Canadian Mint, Ricoh Canada and Teck Cominco.

    RESOURCES

    Canadian Pacific Rail's website:

    www.cpr.ca

    CP's investment community department's Assistant Vice-President Investor Relations is:

    Janet Weiss,

    Phone: 403.319.3591

    E-mail: <investor@cpr.ca>


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 24, 2007

  • Tuesday, January 23, 2007

    Morgan:News:Bronze:Service is published regularly, but the articles are delayed by at least three months to protect our subscribers. For timely news that comes to you, please subscribe to our Gold or Silver service at Morgan:News:2010. Bronze is free for the use of news services and for non-commercial public use under conditions described at: Morgan:News:2010:Bronze (There is a nominal charge for certain commercial uses, as described there.) You can use Google to search the site, simply add “site:morgan-news.com” after your search terms.


    Morgan:News:2010 |Government

    Business| #2108

    QUARTER MILLION IN CASH, VIK TO BE SPENT ON RICHMOND 2010 COUNTDOWN CELEBRATION FEB 10

    The City of Richmond, one of the winter Olympics four host venues, has arranged for more than a quarter million Canadian dollars in cash and value-in-kind to be spent on this year's celebrations February 10 to mark the start of the three-year countdown to the opening of the 2010 Winter Olympics.

    The event, with revenues expected to be more than C$260,000, will include using a new lighting system to portray Richmond's Host City logo on the side of city hall, followed by fireworks. Various VIPs will be making speeches during the four-hour evening event, which is expected to incorporate a new annual Winter Festival. There are also expected to be three winter Olympic sports demonstrated: bobsled, luge and curling, plus a main stage with entertainment and large display screens.

    Vancouver and Whistler are also expected to host similar ceremonies, all based on the countdown theme. Vancouver's will be held February 17 at one of VANOC's Vancouver venues, the Pacific Coliseum in east Vancouver.

    Virtually all of the funding for the celebrations are coming from the private sector, except for Richmond's contribution of C$20,000 For the first time, sponsorship of the event is coming from corporate sponsors of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) for the first time in a major way, including C$185,000 of in-kind media sponsorship derived in large part from host broadcaster CTV televising the events. Two radio stations -- an AM station based in Richmond and an FM station headquartered in Vancouver -- will also cover the events, along with support from Vancouver's Province tabloid newspaper and a Richmond community paper.

    Other major VANOC sponsors involved in the Richmond event include the Royal Bank, Hudson's Bay Company and BC Lotteries, who aim to have event areas set up, plus local operations of coffee-house chain Starbucks, McDonald's Restaurants (whose parent company is an international sponsor of the 2010 Games) and the large Richmond Centre shopping mall. VANOC is expected to help fund the events, along with Speed Skating Canada and the athletic college Pacific Sport Institute of Victoria.

    Richmond officials say the city and the Richmond Community Foundation will work together to set up and host the first annual Richmond Winter Festival as part of the events to mark the countdown, with city personnel providing event experience and helping to arrange sponsorships to support the Festival, which is expected to occur in park and on a street adjacent to Richmond city hall.

    The long-term goal of the Festival, according to Richmond officials, is to create the community's capacity to host large-scale events while marketing the 2010 Olympics and the Richmond oval. Volunteer Richmond also hopes to build volunteer experience for use during the 2010 Games by having people volunteer to work on the celebrations.

    RESOURCES

    Denise Tambellini:

    Manager, Community Relations & Olympic Protocol:

    Phone: 604.276.4349

    Fax: 604-276-4277

    Abraham@richmond.ca>


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 23, 2007


    Morgan:News:2010 |Business| #2107

    HBC GIVES MORE DONATIONS TO PROVINCIAL CANADIAN SPORT CENTRES TO HELP ATHLETES TOWARD 2010

    There were more donations for Canada's provincial sport centres from VANOC retailing sponsor HBC in various parts of Canada today.

    The Canadian Sport Centre of Manitoba has been been given a C$50,000 grant by HBC. The CSCM says it will use the financial support to help with the costs of training and setting up competitions for Manitoba's high-performance athletes. The money will also be used to help hire full-time professionals in sport physiology and sport psychology to work with the athletes.

    Meanwhile, the Canadian Sport Centre in Calgary received C$50,000 to fund "Fuel For Gold," a program that helps to ensure Canadian athletes have proper nutrition while training to compete on the world stage.

    A similar sports organization in Saskatchewan also received C$50,000. That funding will be used to improve existing programs and services for athlete training and performance, and to set up the "HBC Harvest of Gold," an athlete networking event. and a series of training sessions with Sport Medicine and Science working with the Centre. The networking events will bring current and previous athletes together to talk about their successes and challenges. The idea is to help with their mental and physical preparation leading into major competitions, such as the 2010 Olympics.

    Sport Centres in Ontario, Montreal and Atlantic Canada will also be receiving C$50,000 each. In Ontario, the money will be used to give $3,000 each to 10 Canadian athletes based on talent, as well as to help develop a Performance Enhancement Centre. In Montreal, the contribution will be used to extend athlete access to the Centre's weight-training facility, as well as to improve scientific services.

    HBC said yesterday that Pacific Sport Institute in BC would receive C$300,000.

    In 2004, In 2004, HBC won the bid through VANOC to also become the official clothing and luggage supplier for the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic Teams going to the 2008, 2010 and 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The contract also included a commitment by HBC to raise a total of C$20 million over the seven years to fund Canada's athletes, their national training centres and sport organizations. The donations totaling C$2.9 million are this year's component of this multi-year commitment.

    The funds were raised by the HBC Foundation with the help of the retailer's customers as well as from associates through programs such as the sale of a limited edition T-shirt, a "Donate your HBC Rewards Points" program, an annual HBC golf tournament, and a Cut-Out program, where customers paid C$1 to send an inspirational postcard to Canadian athletes competing in the Olympic Winter Games last yar in Torino, Italy.


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 23, 2007

    Monday, January 22, 2007

    Morgan:News:Bronze:Service is published regularly, but the articles are delayed by at least three months to protect our subscribers. For timely news that comes to you, please subscribe to our Gold or Silver service at Morgan:News:2010. Bronze is free for the use of news services and for non-commercial public use under conditions described at: Morgan:News:2010:Bronze (There is a nominal charge for certain commercial uses, as described there.) You can use Google to search the site, simply add “site:morgan-news.com” after your search terms.


    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2106

    Here are three more moguls we ran into today:

    VANOC PARALYMPIC FLAG FLIES IN GERMANY

  • It was just a small, relatively quiet ceremony on the weekend, but the official flag of the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Winter Games has now been raised in front of the International Paralympic Committee's (IPC) headquarters in Bonn, Germany. IPC President Sir Philip Craven was joined by his vice president, Miguel Sagarra, and the Paralympics member of VANOC's Board of Directors Patrick Jarvis, who is also an IPC director, in the flag-raising ceremony. The Vancouver 2010 flag will now fly beside the IPC's flag and the flag of the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games. [For a picture of the flag and the gentlemen involved, see RESOURCES, below.]

    RONA'S OLYMPIC STRATEGY BORN IN 2002

  • A profile of Michael Brossard, the chief of marketing for Rona, VANOC's renovations sponsor, reveals that the Quebec-based company's main rationale for becoming a sponsor occurred in 2002, when it was rethinking its rest-of-Canada marketing strategy and Vancouver's 2010 Bid Corporation was in the running to get the IOC's nod. The profile, published in PubZone, a Canadian marketing news website, says, "A public company since 2002, Rona had to consider its marketing strategy in the rest of Canada, where recognition of the RONA name is still growing, despite numerous acquisitions and a 600-plus store total -– and where further competition is expected from the announced entry of U.S.-based Lowe's. The answer came from Brossard, senior vice-president marketing and development: "Let's sponsor the Olympics." The deal, reached in May, 2005, was for C$68 million in cash and value-in-kind: materials to help VANOC with renovations of many of its venue construction sites. And it included funding a VANOC pet project, Own the Podium. "But RONA didn't simply turn over C$4 million to the cause," says the profile, "Rather, Brossard and the management team devised a plan, 'RONA Growing with our Athletes', whereby 100 athletes from across Canada each get C$8,000 annually for five years to help support and finance their training. Each athlete was chosen, with COC help, to be associated with six or seven local RONA stores which display 'their' athlete's name, sport, background and information on their progress, while stores, schools and community groups will promote the athletes with public appearances, motivational talks and fundraising activities." To put those amounts in perspective, Brossard's total annual marketing budget is C$130 million, C$100 million of which is for advertising, and the Olympics component is one of what Brossard calls marketing "pods." [For the link to the full profile, which is much more extensive, see RESOURCES, below.]

    VANOC INCREASES ITS PACE

  • VANOC's pulse is quickening with the start of 2007. It now has a dozen formal Expressions of Interest and Requests for Proposal listed in its section on BC Bid, including major construction work and significant communications contracts. That's by far the most such structured contracting it's done at one time.

    RESOURCES

    Photo of the three IPC senior management involved with the flag raising:

    www.paralympic.org/opencms/system/galleries/pics/current_affairs/Flag_2.jpg

    Sagarra is on the left, Craven in the middle (sitting in his wheelchair) and Jarvis.

    ---

    Profile of Rona's Brossard:

    www.pubzone.com/newsroom/profiles/profile_michael_brossard.cfm


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 22, 2007


    Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #2105

    CONSTRUCTION ON HILLCREST CURLING VENUE TO BEGIN WITH CONTRACTING CONCRETE, REBAR AND EXCAVATION WORK

    The construction consultant hired by the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) to oversee development of its curling venue and an adjacent swimming pool for the City of Vancouver has issued a series of requests for specific types of companies interested in working on the project.

    The idea -- as proposed by the firm of Stuart Olson Constructors, which is based in the Vancouver suburb of Richmond -- is to get expressions of interest by the companies, select no more than four of them and then give the four a detailed Request for Proposal. The result of that bidding process will be to award the contract for the work on the Hillcrest Curling Centre and the adjacent Percy Norman aquatic centre.

    The push to get the project done is on, and it's a tight timeline. The work that is first being offered involves concrete formwork, concrete reinforcing steel and excavation as well as backfill, all on the curling venue. The Expression of Interest documentation for them all, even though they are separate contracts, needs to be into Stuart Olson Construtor's project manager Jerry Woykin by this Friday. The RFP for those shortlisted will be issued February 5.

    For the concrete framework, the work entails forming, placing and finishing all cast-in-place concrete. The expected formwork contact area: 211,616 Square Foot Contact Area (SFCA). For the steel contract, the work involves detailing, supplying and placing all the concrete-reinforcing steel. The estimated quantity of steel is 528 metric tonnes (1,164,536 lbs.) The excavation and backfill work includes all of the bulk and detailed excavation and backfill. The excavation volume is 33,920 cubic metres (1,197,873 cubic feet), and the backfill volume is 10,503 cubic metres (370,909 cubic feet).

    This work is the start of the contracting process for the curling/pool combination, which needs to be finished by 2009, and it's the first steps since VANOC agreed that it would supervise construction of both projects, even though the City's Parks Board is paying for the pool, destined to be the largest such facility in the city when it's finished. The project is located near Little Mountain, roughly in the northern central area of the city of Vancouver.

    BACKGROUND

    The Hillcrest Curling Centre has two major phases to it: first, it'll be developed as VANOC's curling venue. When the Games are over, it will be redeveloped into a curling area with a range of community uses. Here's some of the details of the two modes:

    OLYMPIC MODE

    The Hillcrest Park Curling Venue will initially be designed as the curling competition venue for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. It is to have:

  • 88,500 sq.ft gross floor area;

  • 250 permanent seats;

  • 4 competition curling sheets;

  • State of the art ice plant;

  • Facility administration & sports offices;

  • Athlete's change rooms & equipment storage

    LEGACY MODE

    The initial design will integrate the post-Olympics conversion of the facility to include replacements for Riley Park Community Centre, Riley Park Ice Arena and the Vancouver Curling Club. It will also include a community library component. In that configuration it will have:

  • 103,500 sq.ft. gross floor area;

  • The community centre will include:

    -- Gymnasium

    -- Athletics

    -- Fitness Centre

    -- Multipurpose rooms

    -- Activity spaces

    -- Support facilities (including a District Office)

  • Community Ice Arena, which includes:

    -- 1 NHL size community hockey rink

    -- 250 permanent fixed seats

    -- Support facilities

    -- Shared ice plant

  • Curling Club, which includes:

    -- 8 curling sheets

    -- Curlers lounge/viewing area

    -- Support facilities

    -- Shared ice plant

  • Library

    RESOURCES

    The EOI documentation is on BC Bid:

    www.bcbid.gov.bc.ca

    Contact information on these three contract EOIs:

    Jerry Woykin

    Project Manager

    #200-5200 Hollybridge Way

    Richmond, BC, V7C 4N3 Canada

    Telephone: 604.273.7765

    Facsimile:-604-273-7719

    E-mail: jerry.woykin@stuartolson.com


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 22, 2007


    Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #2104

    2010 TO SUBCONTRACT MEDIA MONITORING AND DISTRIBUTION SERVICES

    The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) has begun looking for a company to supply it with media-monitoring services that will, among other things, watch for misuse of its Olympic branding in advance of the Beijing Summer Olympics and the 2010 Games.

    VANOC is asking for a full range of monitoring focused on Canadian media, but also including Internet sites and, "global news coverage, in particular USA, Europe, China and other parts of Asia." It wants full coverage of every media channel throughout the country, so it can track its messaging and the information its released, as well as how media is perceiving its image.

    The misuse component, part of a much wider VANOC campaign to combat ambush marketing, is to start six months before the 2008 Beijing Games, which are held in August, and continue for a month afterward, then restart six months before the 2010 Games, which are held in February and March, and end a month afterward.

    VANOC says the ambush-marketing system "must be able to capture the offending activity; filter, prioritize, categorize and store each webpage with infringing activity in a well-organized case-management system." VANOC says it will need to be able to tap into this database from its own computers at any time.

    The information it wants gathered go beyond just capturing the website image itself "The reporting framework should also provide contact information for site ownership and any other sites owned by that person and/or entity as well as the ability to send letters to offending parties."

    The wider-ranging media-monitoring services are to provide VANOC officials with a location where they can download, view, audition or read specific news stories about VANOC around the clock, and that the materials be available on the site in "real time", as well as perform content analysis to pull out key things VANOC might be looking for.

    Canadian copyright law allows media-monitoring companies to purchase specific licenses from the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency, a non-profit agency set up to deal with these type of issues. VANOC is specifically requesting that media-monitoring companies stay within Canada's copyright boundaries.

    There's also a related aspect: VANOC is also looking for a company to provide it with distribution services for its information distribution that would support a wide range of media, including TV, radio, the Internet and print. "VANOC’s distribution requirements will vary as it evolves and grows," says the organization. "We may see periods where distribution requirements are sporadic or it may become a daily requirement."

    The distribution would not just be full and wide. It's also looking for the capability to tailor distribution to, say, specific regions, such as western Europe, or specific types of media, such as those that follow alpine sports.

    VANOC says its call for companies interested in providing this service closes February 19, with the choice made in March. The contract will run until April 30, 2010.

    RESOURCES

    VANOC's RFP for media monitoring and distribution:

    tinyurl.com/2zzv92

    Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency

    www.accesscopyright.ca


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 22, 2007


    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2103

    Here are three moguls we ran into today:

    HBC TO DIRECT C$500,000 TO PACIFIC SPORT INSTITUTE

    VANOC's major retailing sponsor, HBC, says it will give "more than" C$500,000 to aid development of BC's Pacific Sport Institute. The funds include $300,000 to the Institute, under construction in Victoria at Camosun College, and C$5,000 each to 46 athletes to be trained there. The presentation of the money by Diane Gordon, Director of HBC's Community Investment department, which intends to grant a total of C$2.9 million to Canadian sport this year, takes place tomorrow. Roger Skillings, CEO of PacificSport, and Paul McGeachie, the vice-president of Business Development for Camosun College, will be on hand as well to officially receive the funding. PSI, expected to be completed in 2008, is forecast to provide diploma, applied-degree and continuing-education programs in health, wellness and sport leadership, as well as athletic and coaching development. Since it will be focused on researching "innovative sports technology," the Institute expects to be involved in athletic performances at the at the 2010 Winter Games, among others.

    IOC COMMISSION IN VANCOUVER MARCH 6-8

  • The date been set for a meeting in Vancouver this year of the International Olympic Committee's Co-ordination Commission, which supervises the 2010 Winter Olympics. The full 10-person commission, lead by Rene Faisel, is due to meet in Vancouver from March 6 to 8. The commission gets a full briefing by VANOC during the closed-door session of the status of the Games.

    "CHAMPIONS" EXPLAINED BY AUSSIE IN PREP FOR SEMINAR

  • Allan Snyder, who runs the Centre for the Mind, a joint venture between the University of Sydney, Australia, and the Australian National University, is preparing to host a seminar for the Beijing 2008 Olympics called "What Makes a Champion?", similar to one that he did just before the Sydney Olympics in 2000. He is talking about the new seminar now, and says champions have a distinct mind-set. "The characteristic of champions is they seem to abhor being just ordinary," he says. "They like differentiating themselves from others in everything they do. They strike out with their own brand. Champions are willing to take risks and confront conventional wisdom."


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 22, 2007

  • Friday, January 19, 2007

    Morgan:News:Bronze:Service is published regularly, but the articles are delayed by at least three months to protect our subscribers. For timely news that comes to you, please subscribe to our Gold or Silver service at Morgan:News:2010. Bronze is free for the use of news services and for non-commercial public use under conditions described at: Morgan:News:2010:Bronze (There is a nominal charge for certain commercial uses, as described there.) You can use Google to search the site, simply add “site:morgan-news.com” after your search terms.


    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2102

    Here are three moguls we ran into today:

    AIR CANADA, RAILWAY, BC HYDRO, ICBC ALL SAID TO BE TALKING TO VANOC

  • An unconfirmed report out of Toronto today says Canada's national airline, Air Canada, and VANOC are about two months away from announcing a deal in which the airline sponsors the 2010 organization for an amount estimated to be between C$15 million and C$30 million. The report, in today's Globe & Mail newspaper, says "industry sources" gave it the tip. The newspaper quotes Dave Cobb, VANOC's executive vice-president of Revenue, Marketing and Communications, as saying, "It's a category that we've been working on for a while, and I expect that over the next couple of months we'll probably have an announcement to make." But the newspaper said he would not confirm that the deal was with Air Canada, and the airline also declined comment. It's not the first time a deal in the category was close; VANOC was working on the category about two years ago, and it's not clear why arrangements were not concluded before this. The report paraphrases Cobb as saying VANOC is talking with a railway, BC Hydro, and Insurance Corporation of British Columbia. BC Hydro is British Columbia's electrical power supplier, but it also has a large environmental section. ICBC is the BC government's provincial vehicle-insurance agency, and all vehicles in the province must carry basic insurance from the organization. That's expected to be a significant cost to VANOC, as it intends to use a large fleet of sedans and buses to transport "Olympic family" members, such as VIPs and athletes.

    BC PLACE STADIUM ROOF REINFLATED

  • Engineers working at BC Place, home of the opening, medal and closing ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Games, successfully re-inflated the four hectares (10 acres) of double-ply, Teflon-coated fabric roof this morning. “Overall we are pleased with the re-inflation process,” said Howard Crosley, General Manager at BC Place. “At this point the roof looks to be in good condition and we are proceeding with a full inspection.” The inspection will be carried out by engineers from Cochrane Engineering, Geiger Engineers and roof manufacturer Birdair, who are all on site. The huge, distinctive roof, held aloft by air pressure provided by a group of huge fans, deflated two weeks ago during a storm when a micro-burst of wind tore one of the corner panels, and an mistake by fan operators as they compensated for it blew out the panel, forcing an emergency deflation to prevent further damage. Subsequent rain and snow damage caused further, smaller tears in other panels and flooding of the interior, but nobody was seriously injured. The repairs took about twice as long as officials at first expected, and the inspection today is to determine if there were any small tears that were missed during the repair phase or were caused during inflation. RCMP, which is in charge of Olympic security, have indicated that during its planning stages it considered "everything we could think of" to do with all of VANOC's venues, including the stadium. VANOC twice earlier expressed confidence in BC Place despite the mishap. Terry Wright VANOC, executive vice president of Service Operations and Ceremonies, made it three times in two weeks today by saying, in a prepared statement, "We congratulate BC Place Stadium's management team, engineers and the working crews for their professional and tireless efforts to repair the roof, and we commend them for their commitment to communicating publicly and with their partners every step of the way. Lifetime memories will be made for athletes and spectators at the 2010 Winter Games ceremonies and we look forward to continuing our strong relationship with the stadium's entire team as we prepare to welcome the world in 2010." The biggest sigh of relief at the successful inflation, however, came from organizers of a large landscaping show set to open Tuesday at the stadium.

    VETERAN TRANSLATORS NEEDED ON AD HOC BASIS BY VANOC

  • VANOC's Editorial Services department is looking for a contractor to provide help with overflow translation work between now and the end of 2010. Mostly, the work will be translating English to French as needed, with a small portion going in the reverse direction, and they may also be some call for translating other languages -- Chinese and Punjabi are specifically mentioned. The type of translation is to include newsletters, feature stories, backgrounders, fact sheets, biographies, technical reports, information books, brochures, sport-specific documents and the VANOC website. VANOC is looking for a veteran translator contractor who is good at writing in national news style, but there will also be a variety of writing styles, including narrative and technical reports, newsletters, web, speeches, presentations and audio and video scripts. The closing date of the RFP is February 17 [See RESOURCES, below for a link to the RFP].

    RESOURCES

    Translation Services RFP page:

    tinyurl.com/2k6m4q


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 19, 2007


    Morgan:News:2010 |Government

    VANOC| #2101

    VANOC, FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO ESTABLISH NATIONAL STRATEGY ON SUSTAINABILITY

    The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) and the Canadian government will work this year on developing a major national strategy on sustainability that is expected to be implemented in Canada's 2008/2009 fiscal year.

    Under the arrangement, VANOC will contract out and supervise the development work this year of what it calls a "strategic framework for a future Sustainability Awareness and Action campaign." The campaign, hope VANOC officials, will be one of the national legacies of the decision by the country to host the 2010 Winter Olympics.

    The framework is to be a series of reports -- the overview of the strategic program, the delivery strategy, the implementation schedule and budget. They are to be delivered to VANOC and Environment minister John Baird and his officials by September 30. That gives the Environment department enough time to work out how the program will be implemented and funded during the federal government's budget cycle. Assuming the framework is approved by that process, money could be available for implementing the project when the following government fiscal year begins on April 1, 2008.

    Officials say the sustainability framework "is expected to be designed as a national program that would complement VANOC's overall public communications plan." But don't expect to see the Olympic Rings anywhere when the new Canadian program is implemented, because it will be in Canada's political arena, government and VANOC officials hope, for years to come. As a result, VANOC says, "It will not involve the use of the Olympic or Paralympic brands."

    Why the Environment ministry? Environment Canada, according to VANOC, "has a responsibility to lead and contribute, through partnerships, to the promotion of environmental sustainability, conservation and best practices to maximize sustainable legacies associated with the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games."

    VANOC officials say in a document that gives an overview of the concept, that "sustainability is both a corporate value for VANOC and a core strategic objective." At VANOC, sustainability means: "managing the social, economic and environmental impacts and opportunities of our Games to produce lasting benefits, locally and globally."

    VANOC's Sustainability department has developed six sustainability "performance objectives", and that both the federal government and VANOC executives have agreed they will use the Games to "create an opportunity to advance more broadly-based awareness and action on sustainable decisions and lifestyle choices amongst athletes, workforce, sponsors, visitors, partners, communities, businesses and other organizations, and local and global audiences." The "Sustainability Awareness and Action Campaign," using the cachet of the Games and the funding of the federal government, is to be the mechanism by which VANOC takes advantage of that opportunity.

    The six VANOC objectives are, in the organization's order of importance and wording:

  • Social inclusion and accessibility

  • Aboriginal collaboration

  • Economic benefits from sustainable practice and innovation

  • Accountability through a systems-based approach to managing and reporting on sustainability performance

  • Sport for sustainable living: games-based sustainability outcomes that inspire broader awareness, action and investment in living more sustainably.

    VANOC officials argue that, "By making the interdependence between social, economic and environmental values more visible, and by stimulating interest in integrated solutions to local and global sustainability challenges, the strategic framework will also support BC and Canada's progress towards a more sustainable future."

    Under the plan laid out between VANOC and the Environment department, VANOC is to hire the contractor in the next couple of weeks so it can take part in a project planning meeting with VANOC and Environment Canada officials that is scheduled for February 16. By the end of March, which is also the end of the federal government's current fiscal year, the contractor is expected to have compiled a "best practices" report.

    Primarily, this report will be pure fact-finding. The contractor is to compile recent research and lessons on Canadian "social marketing" programs at the community, regional, national and international levels. For instance, VANOC suggests, two United Nations projects -- the Millennium Development Goals and the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development -- and their successful methods of implementation should provide good examples of international work. The idea is to document methods that have increased "sustainability behaviours" in the key audiences of VANOC and the federal government. These, we understand, include business, governments, schools, and the households of the public.

    The motivation and how they work are specifically to include the role played by using "art and culture as a medium for engagement, and consideration of cultural/ethnic differences." These aspects are major focuses of the 2010 Olympiad.

    The next step is for the contractor to form people suggested by VANOC and the Conservative government's Environment Ministry into a consultant group to help first develop the VANOC portion of the national strategy. VANOC wants "to identify a unique, succinct and inspiring strategic platform that vividly expresses the foundation, ambition and sustainability mission for a Sustainability Awareness and Action social marketing campaign for the Games." That's to be done by the end of June.

    By the end of August, VANOC and Environment Canada officials want to see the first draft of the national strategy. And they want it to include -- and we quote:

  • Sustainability awareness and action goals -- including specific behavioural goals -- plus the name, theme, identity, target audiences and design of program ideas that complement VANOC's overall public awareness and action goals;

  • A delivery strategy that outlines a timeframe and key delivery vehicles of the campaign, including, for example, TV, print, web, kiosk, incentives and other engagement vehicles or methods, consistent with an achievable budgetary target and complementary to VANOC's overall public communications plan;

  • All the other components required for the design and implementation of the public campaign; and

  • A proposed budget to implement and evaluate the campaign.

    Oh, yes. One other thing to note. The final report in September has to be in electronic and written form. The hard copy version must be printed, says VANOC, "on recycled paper certified by the Environmental Choice Program."

    RESOURCES

    Contact information for the federal Environment ministry and minister John Baird

    www.ec.gc.ca/minister/mineng.htm

    --

    The UN Millennium Development program:

    www.un.org/millenniumgoals/

    --

    The Decade of Education for Sustainable Development program of the UN:

    tinyurl.com/4ceyf

    --

    The Environmental Choice Program:

    www.environmentalchoice.com/English/ECP%20Home/


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 19, 2007

  • Thursday, January 18, 2007

    Morgan:News:Bronze:Service is published regularly, but the articles are delayed by at least three months to protect our subscribers. For timely news that comes to you, please subscribe to our Gold or Silver service at Morgan:News:2010. Bronze is free for the use of news services and for non-commercial public use under conditions described at: Morgan:News:2010:Bronze (There is a nominal charge for certain commercial uses, as described there.) You can use Google to search the site, simply add “site:morgan-news.com” after your search terms.


    Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #2100

    2010 ORGANIZERS NAME RICOH CANADA AS OFFICIAL SUPPORTER IN DOCUMENT-HANDLING EQUIPMENT CATEGORY

    Ricoh Canada has become an exclusive supporter of what it calls "document solutions" for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC).

    Ricoh's six-year arrangement as an Official Supporter -- as opposed to Official Supplier -- with VANOC gives it sponsorship rights for the 2010 Winter Games and for the Canadian teams participating at the Beijing 2008, Vancouver 2010 and London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. As usual, the value of the deal was not revealed, but VANOC has said at other times that it values the category at between C$5 million and C$50 million during the category lifetime. There was no word on whether this arrangement is cash and value-in-kind, or what the split might be, but other situations have usually involved both cash and VIK.

    As part of the agreement, the copier company will provide VANOC with equipment for copying, faxing and document management. With more than 30 million pages of information reportedly generated for the Torino 2006 Winter Games, Ricoh and VANOC say they "recognize the scope of work", and are "focussed on responsible environmental practices."

    Martin Brodigan, President and CEO of Ricoh Canada, said in Toronto today, "We're excited to be part of this program, but we also understand the complexity of the task at hand. Effectively managing the volume in an environmentally responsible way is not simply a fortunate side benefit; it is a core requirement." Ricoh says its target is a 100% recovery-and-recycle rate. All of Ricoh's manufacturing facilities have earned ISO 14001 certification, an international standard for environmental management. The Canadian branch of the company has about 800 employees.

    Ricoh will also provide support during the lead-up to the Games "for the rapid growth of... VANOC while also providing for the considerable document-management needed at Games time, particularly in the media centres."

    About 10,000 media are expected to cover the Games, so Ricoh says it will develop a media-advisory committee -- involving "key members of the Canadian media with direct Olympic and Paralympic experience." The committee is to advise Ricoh on what kinds of document-management and information requirements will be necessary as far as the media is concerned.

    Brodigan notes, "The media are, of course, key consumers of information, and delivering a solution that enables them to do their jobs effectively is a major part of what we will consider a successful deployment."

    Ricoh Canada Inc, headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, is a subsidiary of Ricoh Company Ltd., a 70-year-old internatinonal supplier of office automation equipment and electronics, with sales in 2005's fiscal year in excess of $17 billion, a 5.6% increase over the previous year.

    Ricoh hardware and software products help businesses share information by giving their customers the ability to control the input, management and output of documents. Ricoh's line of document-management equipment includes, color and black & white digital-imaging systems, fax machines, printers, scanners, digital duplicators and wide-format engineering systems.

    BACKGROUND

    Other VANOC "Official Supporters":

    BC Lottery Corporation, Aliant Canada, Royal Canadian Mint, Teck Cominco

    RESOURCES

    Richoh Canada:

    www.ricoh.ca


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 18, 2007

    Wednesday, January 17, 2007

    Morgan:News:Bronze:Service is published regularly, but the articles are delayed by at least three months to protect our subscribers. For timely news that comes to you, please subscribe to our Gold or Silver service at Morgan:News:2010. Bronze is free for the use of news services and for non-commercial public use under conditions described at: Morgan:News:2010:Bronze (There is a nominal charge for certain commercial uses, as described there.) You can use Google to search the site, simply add “site:morgan-news.com” after your search terms.


    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2099

    Here are three moguls we ran into today:

    VANOC BOARD MEMBER CROOKS JOINS UNBC BOARD

  • One of the members of VANOC's 20-person Board of Directors, Charmaine Crooks, has been appointed to the Board of Directors for the University of Northern British Columbia, based in Prince George, in BC's central interior. Crooks, who is one of the Canadian Olympic Committee's nominations to the VANOC Board, took part in five Olympics. She won a silver medal in 1984 as part of the Canadian women’s four-by-400m relay team, and she carried the flag for Canada during the opening ceremonies at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia. Her three-year term begins this month on the UNBC. She is replacing Canfor president Jim Shepherd, who served four years on the board. UNBC, which is constructing a Northern Sport Centre, also has the opportunity to help international Olympic athletes training for the 2010 Winter Olympics, but there have not yet been any announcements about such training as yet.

    CNL, VANOC CYPRESS VENUE OWNER, BUYS MORE SKI RESORTS

  • CNL Income Properties Inc, the company that owns the ski resort at VANOC's Cypress Mountain venue in West Vancouver, has bought yet another ski resort, Brighton Resort, near Salt Lake City, Utah, for US$35 million. CNL bought Brighton from Boyne USA and then leased it back to Boyne under a management contract, same as it did to Cypress. The resort has two restaurants, a 20-room lodge, a ski-rental facility and a small retail outlet. "We really are excited about the ski sector," said Flanker Legler, director of investor relations and research for CNL Income Properties, based in Orlando, Fla. "We see this [wave] of baby boomers coming into retirement. They're skiing longer and . . . we see baby boomers going to a day ski place where they can spend 4-to-6 hours with their grandchildren. We really like that." The company has bought three ski resorts since its purchase of Cypress for US$27.5 million last year.

    BELL AND SINGING GROUP GARNER LOTS OF PUBLICITY FOR PODIUM 2010

  • The marketing arrangement between Bell Canada and the popular Canadian music group Barenaked Ladies in which the band will donated C$0.50 from each ticket sold to during its tour to Own the Podium 2010 received a fair amount of media play throughout parts of North America since it was announced January 8. More than 30 stories talking about the deal were carried as far away as Huston, Texas and in every province of Canada, was carried on the major Canadian TV networks, and appeared in Canada's national news magazine, McLean's, and each one explained the concept behind Own The Podium 2010.


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 17, 2007


    Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #2098

    CANADIAN, CHINESE GOVERNMENT OLYMPIC MINISTERS MEET IN BEIJING ABOUT 2008, 2010 GAMES

    Two senior members of the Canadian government working on the 2010 Winter Olympics file met today met with China's Minister of the General Administration of Sport, in Beijing.

    Liu Peg, who is also president of the Chinese Olympic Committee and executive president of the Beijing Olympic Games Organizing Committee, spoke with David Emerson, the minister in charge of the Canadian government's responsibilities on the 2010 Winter Olympics, and Emerson's parliamentary secretary on the 2010 Games portfolio, James Moore, who is the Conservative Member of Parliament for the Greater Vancouver riding of Port Moody-Westwood-Port Coquitlam.

    "Hosting the Games is a once-in-a-generation opportunity. As back-to-back hosts, Canada and China will have many opportunities to share experiences and to increase business, investment, and tourism between our two countries," Emerson said in a briefly worded statement after the meeting.

    He gave no details of the discussions but said the two ministers discussed "opportunities for Canada and China to work together, and for promoting the 2010 Games in China."

    Emerson and Moore also toured some of the venues that will be used for the 2008 Olympic and the Paralympic Summer Games, including the National Stadium, to be used for the 2008 opening and closing ceremonies. Moore also visited the Beijing Exhibition Planning Hall, a stone's throw from Tiananmen Square, where the B.C.-Canada Pavilion is located.

    "We have chosen a great location in the heart of Beijing for the B.C.-Canada Pavillion, which will be a great showcase for Canadian business, culture, and sportsmanship," said Moore, in an equally informative and brief statement afterward.

    Emerson and Moore are in Beijing as part of a week-long trip to China, which includes stops in Hong Kong and Shanghai.


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 17, 2007

  • Tuesday, January 16, 2007

    Morgan:News:Bronze:Service is published regularly, but the articles are delayed by at least three months to protect our subscribers. For timely news that comes to you, please subscribe to our Gold or Silver service at Morgan:News:2010. Bronze is free for the use of news services and for non-commercial public use under conditions described at: Morgan:News:2010:Bronze (There is a nominal charge for certain commercial uses, as described there.) You can use Google to search the site, simply add “site:morgan-news.com” after your search terms.


    Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #2097

    VANCOUVER OLYMPICS CHIEF GRILLED OVER HOW C$20 MILLION LEGACY RESERVE FUND TO BE USED

    Vancouver city councillors grilled Dave Rudberg, the General Manager of Olympic and Paralympic Operations, for nearly an hour this afternoon, trying to get more detail from him about how the C$20 million Legacies Reserve Fund he's proposing will spend money, but didn't get much satisfaction.

    The main opposition focused on the lack of the detail in Ruberg's report on the matter -- opposition councillor Tim Stephenson repeatedly called it mayor Sam Sullivan's "slush fund" -- and on whether the money would mean about a 1% additional tax on property owners, or whether other city priorities would be changed to accommodate the reserve. However, said Rudberg, "It's difficult to be specific because we're in negotiations in some areas, and we've identified some opportunities that we are now pursuing. If we became too specific, and started announcing projects at this time, I think it would not only prejudice the negotiations, but potentially the projects themselves."

    In the end, they unanimously referred the concept onward for integration into the City's budget-winnowing discussions that culminate in a vote one the 2007 budget March 13, but not before Councillor Peter Ladner asked the City's Director of Finance, Estelle Lo, to investigate whether the City's Charter allows it to raise the necessary funds by adding a tax to the city's tourism sector. Council had been told that Whistler intended to use C$10 million of new tax money that the provincial government said could be diverted from hotel tax rates in towns that are resorts for similar investments and Rudberg envisioned. Lo was non-committal about whether the city had the power to impose a selective tax, but said she would prepare a report for council about the matter.

    Rudberg said that the staff of the City of Richmond, which is the venue for the high-profile sports complex that is to house the speedskating oval during 2010 was also preparing a similar request of its council, but had not yet done so and he did not know the amount it would suggest.

    Under the proposals, favoured by mayor Sullivan and his slight majority on city council, the Fund would set aside C$5 million per year to be spent, primarily in 2009 and 2010, according to Rudberg, on a wide range of initiatives, many of which Rudberg said could not yet be envisioned. He says the concept behind the fund is to attract money from other 2010 stakeholders, including VANOC and senior governments, to help "leverage" the city's money.

    Rudberg either volunteered or had possible projects dragged out of him by close questioning by councillors. He said, "We believe there are other opportunities out there to secure further community facilties, and we're looking at those at this time." They include changes to the locations where VANOC intends to hold the Paralympic curling and sledge hockey. "We believe we can leverage that into improved contributions, and improvements in the area of accessibility itself." He gave an example of adding curb ramps. He also said that public art is another area in which the funds could be spent upon council's approval. "Certainly one of the first pieces of public art is the countdown clock, and that's potential -- the first of many we might be able to secure," he says. The clock is due to be unveiled in a ceremony involving VANOC on February 12, to note the three-year-out mark before the Games begin. "We're also exploring some opportunities to create some additional non-market social housing as a legacy from the Games."

    Rudberg said the Reserve Fund would also be used to help pay for Vancouver's presence at the Beijing Olympics at BC Canada House. He also expected "initiatives" coming from advisory committees set up to deal with housing, sports and economics (and eventually arts, once that committee is established), which would probably also be eligible for Legacy Reserve Funding.

    Rudberg also noted that the two downtown 2010 Live Sites, mentioned by mayor Sullivan earlier today in his "State of the City" address, would be part of a larger Community Celebration expenditure, that would be funded by the Reserve "by participation through others." The BC government has already contributed C$5 million towards the Cultural Precinct concept that covers the same area of the city. He also noted there was a 'real desire' by community centre presidents from around the city to take the Olympic celebrations out into the communities. "There is some funding that would be required to do that; the Legacy Reserve Fund would provide an opportunity to do that." He also expected funding to support volunteerism for the 2010 Games, as a legacy that would continue to provide volunteers for other functions "into the future."


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 16, 2007


    Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #2096

    VANCOUVER MAYOR'S "STATE OF THE CITY" ADDRESS FOCUSES ON STARTING CITY CLEAN-UP, CULTURE FOR 2010

    Vancouver mayor Sam Sullivan still retains a focus on the development of the 2010 Winter Olympics, but in his "State of the City" speech to an unreceptive city council today, he is shifting his efforts this year to a range of initiatives that support the start of the city's clean-up for the Games.

    "As we move closer to 2010, Vancouver is emerging on the world stage as a city of the future," he said the the 24-minute speech, noting, "The future Athletes’ Village in Southeast False Creek, which recently won a national award for its sustainable transportation strategies, is starting to take shape as crews complete work along the False Creek shoreline... 2007 promises to be a year of discovery for Vancouver, as we continue our journey as an Olympic and Paralympic host city."

    Sullvian says that how Vancouver handles itself up to and during the Olympic and Paralympic Games "will brand us for a generation." He adds, "We have many challenges ahead of us, and I am confident that the actions we undertake as a City Council over the coming year will be instrumental in moving Vancouver toward our key objectives for 2010." Those objectives he says, are:

  • "Solving some of our most challenging social problems such as homelessness, through joint action with the Provincial and Federal Governments, leveraging partnerships such as the Vancouver Agreement;

  • "Ensuring that infrastructure investments in the Canada Line, buses, new taxis, the Convention Centre, the Athletes’ Village, the new Hillcrest Community Centre, Trout Lake Ice Rink, Killarney Community Centre, upgrades to B.C. Place and the Pacific Coliseum are completed on time and on budget; and,

  • "Welcoming the world to a celebration of sport and friendly competition, while taking full advantage of the opportunity to highlight our community spirit and our achievements as a city that is innovative, progressive and inclusive."

    The mayor says he has five goals this year:

  • Ensuring civility on our streets and developing compassionate and long-term solutions to our city’s most challenging social issues.

  • Becoming a world leader in environmental practices and sustainable transportation.

  • Developing the strongest local and regional economy in Canada.

  • Making Vancouver a premiere destination for the support and celebration of arts and culture.

  • Ensuring that Vancouver is the most accessible and accountable city in the country.

    The first two are related to the city's clean-up as a long-term legacy of the Games -- reducing street disorder "by more than 50%" by 2010, and the fourth, ties in with the development in the last few months of the concept that a section of the downtown will become a cultural precinct, in part to help with the 2010 Cultural Olympiad, which is due to start in 2009. "I commit to ensuring the needs of Vancouver’s Arts and Culture sector are heard in Ottawa. As well, I will be supporting a significant funding increase for the arts in the 2007 civic budget," he pledges.

    "I will also continue to encourage the development of at least two new 'live sites' for use by all citizens during the 2010 Games," said the Mayor, "including the plaza area in front of the Vancouver Art Gallery. It is my hope that another live site can be located on the previous bus depot site across from the Queen Elizabeth Theatre." The mayor also said that he hopes to keep to "the tight timelines required for the development of key 2010 Olympic and Paralympic venues, while leveraging Olympic dollars to improve on city facilities. This will ensure that our citizens have new community amenities to enjoy beyond 2010."

    He also spoke of various transportation aspects which will help the 2010 Games -- figuring out ways to make the False Creek ferry system accessible for people with disabilities in time for the Paralympics, constructing the first phase of the Downtown Street Car network, connecting Granville Island, Science World, Chinatown and the new convention centre. It runs right past the 2010 Olympic Village, and the convention centre is the site of the 2010 International Media centre; and increasing the number of taxis, particularly those that cater to those with disabilities.

    Sullivan is part of the Non-Partisan Association, a group of councillors that currently hold a one-vote majority on council. Council Heather Deal, a member of one of the opposition groups on council, Vision Vancouver, claimed the speech was nothing more than the "start of the mayor's personal re-election campaign."

    RESOURCES

    The mayor's full "State of the City" address:

    vancouver.ca/ctyclerk/councillors/mayor/announcements/2007/011607.htm


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 16, 2007


    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2095

    Here are three moguls we ran into today:

    VANOC TO BUY FIVE HIGH-VOLTAGE TRANSFORMERS, SWITCHING FOR CYPRESS VENUE

  • VANOC has issued a call for companies to supply five pad-mounted electrical transformers for its Cypress Mountain venue in West Vancouver. The call for proposals closes January 26, and the transformers are to be delivered by the beginning of June. The transformers range in voltage from 1,000 to 2,000 KVA. Two are to be used to power the snow-making pump house and the snowmakers in the Eagle area. One is for the freestyle skiing area, and the other two are to power the Black Mountain chair lift and the Sunrise chair lift. In a separate call that closes at the same time, VANOC is also looking for proposals for companies to supply the outdoor switching equipment for the transformers.

    PLANNING UNDERWAY FOR BC EVENTS TO MARK THREE-YEARS-TO-GO FOR OLYMPICS

  • Spirit of BC Week 2007 is set for February 9 through 17, and there are expected to be events throughout the province to mark the third-year-out anniversary of the official opening of the 2010 Winter Games. About 90 Spirit of BC Community Committees are united under various BC government policies through the 2010 Legacies Now Society to co-ordinate a number of issues related indirectly to Olympic, Paralympic, and other community opportunities in the specific areas of sport and recreation, arts and culture, literacy and volunteerism.

    TOURISM INDUSTRY PROTESTS IMPENDING END OF GST REBATE PROGRAM AHEAD OF 2010

  • "In the lead up to the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games," asks the president and CEO of Tourism Industry Association of Canada (TIAC), Randy Williams, "is it really the [Canadian] government's intention to put Canadian tourism businesses at a disadvantage and further alienate international visitors?" Williams asked the question as he released a study that shows the government's decision to cancel the GST/HST Visitor Rebate Program (VRP) will end up costing the government millions more in tax revenues and thousands of lost tourism jobs -- much more than it will save by shutting down the program effective April 1. The government estimates it will save C$86 million in program and administrative costs. However, the "GST Visitor Rebate Program for Individual Travellers, an Economic Impact Analysis", commissioned by Global Refund Canada and endorsed by TIAC and the Frontier Duty Free Association, "demonstrates," according to Williams, "that the savings will be overshadowed by the loss in GDP of C$238 million. This short-sighted fiscal policy will result in a net loss of $46 million in Government tax revenue and the loss of over 5,700 jobs in the tourism sector." By cancelling the individual VRP, while potentially maintaining the program for in-bound foreign tour and convention business, the government will create distortions and inequities in the foreign-visitor market. Williams maintains that leisure visitors may choose to book with foreign tour operators that would still be GST exempt rather than directly through Canadian businesses and internet sites, resulting in less revenue for tax-paying Canadian tourism organizations, while putting more dollars in the hands of foreign operators who pay no taxes to Canada. And, he adds, many conventions and trade shows are not designated "foreign conventions" -- 75% foreign participation -- and are therefore not eligible for the automatic GST exemption. If the government eliminates the individual VRP these non-resident attendees and exhibitors at Canadian conventions will no longer be able to obtain a tax refund for their accommodation and eligible retail expenses, he says.

    RESOURCES

    2010 Legacies Now Society

    www.2010legaciesnow.com

    Spirit of BC:

    www.spiritofbc.com

    --

    The full economic study for Tourism Industry Association of Canada, in a 26-page PDF document:

    www.tiac.travel/images/2007/VRP_EconomicReport_web.pdf


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 16, 2007

  • Monday, January 15, 2007

    Morgan:News:Bronze:Service is published regularly, but the articles are delayed by at least three months to protect our subscribers. For timely news that comes to you, please subscribe to our Gold or Silver service at Morgan:News:2010. Bronze is free for the use of news services and for non-commercial public use under conditions described at: Morgan:News:2010:Bronze (There is a nominal charge for certain commercial uses, as described there.) You can use Google to search the site, simply add “site:morgan-news.com” after your search terms.


    Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #2094

    WHISTLER REJECTS TRIBAL CONCEPT OF GOLF COURSE AND HOUSING NEAR ENTRANCE TO CALLAGHAN VALLEY

    The council for the Resort Municipality of Whistler has decided to not support a proposal by two of the 2010 Olympics aboriginal tribes to build a residential community and golf course near the entrance to the Callaghan Valley. However, council has left the door open for further talks about the concept.

    The Lil'Wat and Squamish tribes had earlier asked the BC Government's Integrated Land Management Bureau (ILMB) to approve the lease application, and the ILMB gave the public until January 26 to comment on the application as part of its process for considering it. The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) is currently building its Whistler Nordic Centre stadium and resort a few kilometres further into the valley, but is not involved with the tribal proposal.

    According to the proposal, the golf course is to be built on 60.7 hectares (150 acres) of lands that are to be leased for 30 years, while the parking lot and clubhouse facilities would be located on the fee simple legacy lands. There are plans to have a residential community located on the legacy lands surrounding the golf course. However, Whistler says even the golf course would have to deal with a number of environmental concerns before it could be approved under current land-use rules.

    Whistler says it's primarily against the housing component because of its location. During the last couple of years as the community has debated the location of the 2010 Whistler Olympic Village, it has settled on keeping residential areas in the area confined to a section of land between Function Junction and the Emerald Estates to the southwest, along the main highway south of Whistler.

    During that debate, Whistler had modified its Official Community Plan, which includes the area of the proposed residential area, to allow for residential so that proposals to locate the Olympic Village in the Callaghan Valley could be considered. However, that option was rejected and staff say they'll remove the possibility in a new bylaw they'll draft as soon as possible.

    The proposal filed with the BC government suggests the development would be completed by 2010 if approved, but apparently the tribes have decided they wouldn't go forward until after the 2010 Games and they note that the golf-course complex is just one option they have for economic development in the valley.


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 15, 2007


    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2092

    Here are three more moguls we ran into today:

    SEATTLE GETS OLYMPIC BENEFITS WITHOUT THE HASSLE

  • Nick Licata, the president of the Seattle City Council, says his city will benefit from the 2010 Winter Olympics, without the trouble of hosting the Games. Licata, interviewed by freelance reporter Blaine Newnham for the Seattle Times newspaper, says, according to Newnham, that hosting an Olympic Games is a lot of hassle and cost. "People traveling to the Olympics will come to Seattle," said Licata. "We'll benefit more than if they had been held here."

    NEW 'WILDFIRE' SKI-WAX SYSTEM COULD BE USED ON 2010 SKIS

  • Scientists at Sheffield University in England have developed a method, which they call "Wildfire", that constantly replenishes wax removed from skis as they move. Negotiations with ski manufacturers are underway in hopes their technology will put athletes on the podium at the winter Olympics in Vancouver in 2010. Tests show the method increases speed by up to 32% on artificial snow during downhill, 23% faster in slalom races on artificial snow, and, because skiing on real snow produces much less friction, the speed increase was up to 2% on that type of snow. Peter Styring, professor of chemical engineering at Sheffield, came up with the idea after seeing tracks made in the snow while skiing with his daughter. "A one to two per cent increase in speed in an Olympic or World Cup downhill event represents the difference between finishing in 15th place and winning a gold medal," Styring told the British newspaper The Telegraph. He worked with colleague Dr Alex Routh to develop the method, which turns the rise plate — the hollow structure next to the boot binding — into a sealed fluid reservoir. A specially formulated liquid wax that is biodegradable leaks through tiny holes from there to the base of the ski.

    TALKS BEGIN ON VANCOUVER CIVIC UNION CONTRACT TO EXTEND PAST 2010 GAMES

  • Negotiations have begun between the City of Vancouver's unionized civic staff and Richard Scott, a negotiator for the Greater Vancouver Regional District, which is representing most of the Lower Mainland's municipal workers, over a contract to replace the one that expires December 31. The Vancouver Sun newspaper reports Paul Faoro, president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, as saying the union is being asked to sign what he calls a "partnership agreement" to allow VANOC volunteers to work at Olympic venues in Vancouver alongside regular union employees. Faoro also says the city is asking for a 39-month contract that will extended beyond the 2010 Games to ensure they won't be disrupted by work stoppages, but the newspaper quotes him as saying that's "not on."


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 15, 2007


    Morgan:News:2010 |Business| #2091

    2010 HOST BROADCASTER NEXT MONTH TO LAUNCH DOCUMENTARY SERIES ON ASPECTS OF OLYMPIC ATHLETE DEVELOPMENT

    TSN, the Canadian sports cable TV network and a subsidiary of 2010 Olympics sponsor Bell Canada, is expected to launch a documentary series next month to look at the development of athletes and their enviroment as they prepare for the Vancouver 2010 Olympics.

    The new six-part series of 30-minute programs, called "Bell Spirit of the Game" is to "explore the world of Canadian amateur sports beyond the field of competition," according to a TSN spokesman. The first program is set to be broadcast on the morning of Sunday, February 25. The series is just finishing production now and is due to be transmitted on TSN, TSN HD and TSN Broadband. It's also expected to include a mobile component. The launch comes almost exactly three years before the 2010 Games begin.

    The series -- supported by TSN, Bell Canada and Toronto-based Bradford Productions -- includes sections that cover "from funding to training to planning for the Olympics... [and] will take you behind the scenes to meet athletes, psychologists and planners, exploring the fascinating, but often underreported world of amateur sports in Canada."

    The executive producer of the series is Brad Diamond who is working with documentary producer Paul Harrington. Brian Williams, a well-known Olympic anchor who recently moved from the competition, the Canadian Broadcast Corporation after it lost the rights to broadcast Olympic Games in Canada after the Beijing Summer Games in 2008 to Bell's Canadian Television Network and TSN, will host the series.

    The programs are said to "balance investigative reporting with behind-the-scenes features and studio panel discussions. It will go inside the battle lines in the war against doping, look at the complexity of hosting an Olympic Games, and examine the dedication by athletes to get to the podium... how the overhaul of Canada's national sports system is determined to put more athletes on the podium, the sensitive relationships between coaches and athletes, why Quebec has such a high success rate developing first-class competitors, and the surprising way in which Canada's Paralympians are recruited," according to the spokesman.

    Phil King, President, TSN, adds that, "Outside of Olympic years, amateur athletes receive little attention as compared to the professionals. This series marks the beginning of our journey to Vancouver in 2010 by raising the profile of amateur sports in our country."

    Loring Phinney, Vice-President Corporate & Olympic Marketing, Bell Canada, says, "Bell is committed to supporting athletes and connecting every Canadian to the Olympic and Paralympic experience."


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 15, 2007


    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2090

    Here are three moguls we ran into today:

    SIEMENS TO HIRE TECHNICAL MARKETER TO GO AFTER 2010 "OPPORTUNITIES"

  • The Vancouver branch of the international technological engineering firm, Siemens, intends to go after work related to the 2010 Winter Games aggressively. It expects to hire in the next month or so, according to Siemens Canada, a technical marketer "to manage of a portfolio of opportunities relating to the 2010 Games." The person's job will be to "co-ordinate business-development activities within the local branch as well as towards head office and customers. They will identify, evaluate and address efficiently the individual business opportunities related to the 2010 Games, and further develop all event-related business opportunities." Siemens says the person for which they're looking will be expected to have expertise in this kind of work, particularly "experience working with organizers and other stakeholders of Olympic events or major sporting and cultural events, as well as infrastructure projects associated with the delivery of these events."

    VANOC EXECUTIVE VISIT TO NORTHERN CANADA FOCUSING ON GOODWILL

  • The visit by the VANOC executives this month to northern Canada appears to be primarily a good-will visit so far, according to reports from VANOC. VANOC CEO John Furlong, VANOC's executive vice-president of Human Resources, Donna Wilson, and Lara Mussell-Savage of VANOC's Department of Aboriginal Participation have so far visited Whitehorse in the Yukon, Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories and are now flying to Kulgluktuk, a village in Nunavut. In the first two communities, both of which are hosting large sporting events either this year or next, Furlong has spoken to the local chambers of commerce and talked about what they have in common with the 2010 Olympics and Paralympics as celebrations of sport and youth, and he met with Yellowknife Mayor Gordon Van Tighem. Mussell-Savage, who was named Aboriginal Athlete of the Year before she joined VANOC, has spoken in motivational sessions to school students, most of them aboriginal, about her own athletic experiences and urging them to participate in organized winter sports.

    2010 OLYMPIC COINS TO DROP LATIN "QUEEN" MOTTO

  • You'll recall we reported last fall that the Canadian Mint will be issuing a dozen coins -- two C$1 coins and 10 quarters -- to commemorate the 2010 Winter Games between 2007 and 2009. We've also learned that the coins will not show the usual Latin inscription that says "Queen by the grace of God." The last time the equivalent was removed from circulating Canadian coins was in 1911. A note with an unusual $25 face value, and non-circulating legal tender coins, as well as collector versions of the 2010 quarter and dollar issues, are expected to appear starting in late 2007.

    RESOURCES

    Our previous stories about the 2010 coins:

    'Launch of program to market circulating Olympic commemorative coins to take place January 26'

    [Morgan:News:2010:Number:2061; Published on Thursday, December 21, 2006]

    --

    '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 January 15, 2007


    Morgan:News:2010 |IOC| #2089

    UNITED NATIONS ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAM, IOC OPEN STAFF-LEVEL TALKS ON ENVIROMENTAL PROMOTION

    The heads of the International Olympic Committee and the United Nations Environmental Programme have agreed that "it would be beneficial" if the UNEP set up a formal link with the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC), and negotiations on the staff level about that have opened.

    The discussions between IOC President Jacques Rogge and UNEP chief Achiem Steiner took place at UNEP's headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya on Thursday, according to UNEP spokesman Eric Falt.

    Falt, the manager of the Sport and Environment program of the UNEP, said that most of the discussion centred on relations between the IOC and officials of the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics, but a part of talks turned to the topic of Vancouver.

    Falt says that Rogge welcomed an offer during the meeting by the UNEP to do an environmental audit of the Beijing Olympics, and they agreed that the IOC will liaise with BOCOG and UNEP on a "coordinated campaign to promote the environmental aspects" of the Beijing 2008 Games.

    "Both the UNEP and the IOC agreed that it would be beneficial if the association we have had with previous Olympic Games organizers would hopefully extend to Vancouver," he says. "In fact, we have already had a number of informal contacts with Vancouver officials during conferences and various events around the world, dating back probably to the Athens Games, if not before. We are now discussing with [VANOC Director of Environmental Sustainability ] Ken Baker and the sustainability team, with a view to formalizing a possible cooperation with VANOC." Falt says that he will probably make a short visit to Vancouver in the spring" to discuss the concept further with VANOC.

    The UNEP has worked with the IOC since 1994 and both believe, Falt says, that sport and mass spectator events can act as "an important vehicle for galvanizing global interest and action for sustainable development." The two executives reaffirmed their interest in working together in ensuring that the environment remains a main component of Olympic Games. The environment is the third dimension of the Olympic Movement. It has become one of the main criteria for the evaluation and selection of cities to host the Olympic Games and is also a major priority for the preparation and staging of the Games.

    For the Torino Winter Games, the UNEP signed a protocol with the Torino organizers, and sent a delegation to the Games, which involved a dinner with executives, to help promote the environmental apsects of the Games.


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 15, 2007

  • Friday, January 12, 2007

    Morgan:News:Bronze:Service is published regularly, but the articles are delayed by at least three months to protect our subscribers. For timely news that comes to you, please subscribe to our Gold or Silver service at Morgan:News:2010. Bronze is free for the use of news services and for non-commercial public use under conditions described at: Morgan:News:2010:Bronze (There is a nominal charge for certain commercial uses, as described there.) You can use Google to search the site, simply add “site:morgan-news.com” after your search terms.


    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2088

    Here are three moguls we ran into today:

    BC PLACE ROOF DEFLATION CAUSE IDENTIFIED, VANOC'S STILL OK WITH THE VENUE

  • Spokesmen for BC Place Stadium, the venue for the Opening, Closing and Medal Ceremonies for VANOC, said today there were three reasons that combined to cause a panel of the huge domed fabric roof to rip during a severe windstorm a week ago and forced the roof to deflate. Spokesmen said it was weakened fabric, pressurization that was too rapid and the wind itself. It intends to implement recommendations by engineers to reduce the chances of it happening again. VANOC's response, meanwhile, has escalated to the executive vice-presidential level. Terry Wright, VANOC's Executive vice president of Service Operations and Ceremonies issued a prepared statement saying that, "Over the past week BC Place Stadium's management team and engineers have undertaken a quick and professional response to the roof tear and subsequent deflation and provided the VANOC team with daily updates. Our overall venue-management program includes broadly assessing each of our venues to ensure they are ready and safe, and that measures are in place to address any possibilities. We will continue to work with the Stadium's management team as it develops enhanced measures to host great events including the ceremonies for the 2010 Winter Games."

    2010 TO USE OWNER'S REPS FOR SEVERAL VENUES THIS YEAR

  • VANOC's Construction department has decided to use a system of experienced owner's representatives to represent it in the work that remains to be done in developing the Whistler Olympic Village, the electrical and track systems at its Whistler Sliding Centre venue, and its Hastings Park venue in Vancouver. Owners representatives will be hired, to start work in the next few months, depending on the project, and working just to the end of this year. For instance, the Hastings Park and Whistler Athletes Village owner's reps are expected to start work in April and book out in December, while the Sliding Centre colleague is to start in February and end work in December. They'll be doing project management, line supervision, scheduling, procurement, accounting and site management.

    BC CENTRAL REPORTS BC'S NON-RESIDENTIAL CONSTRUCTION PERMITS UP 25% IN 2006

  • It's great news for British Columbia's roaring economy, but it's likely to be somber economic news for VANOC as it tries to contain costs this year and next while it completes construction and renovation of its major venues. An economic report released by the Credit Union Central of BC today says the amount and value of non-residential building permits in B.C. rose sharply last December to C$520 million, the highest BC has recorded in a single month. The second highest was C$435 million, recorded in November. The annual figures for 2006 of more than C$3.7 billion are up about 25% from 2005. "Various sub-sectors are on a record-setting pace too, including buildings in the commercial, institutional, government and industrial categories," says the report. "Annual records will also be set regionally, both in metropolitan Vancouver and the rest of B.C... The provincial economy is forecast to keep growing at a strong pace and most Olympic venues will be built during the next two years. Credit Union Central of British Columbia forecasts non-residential building permits in B.C. will continue to rise through 2008."


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 12, 2007


    Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #2087

    SEVEN CANADIAN COMPANIES ADDED TO 2010 BRAND LICENSING PROGRAM -- PRODUCTS EXPECTED IN STORES WITHIN A FEW MONTHS

    The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) has confirmed a total of seven Canadian companies have won spots in its Official Licensing Program roster.

    The firms are all part of VANOC's Novelty Gift or Hard Goods 'Collectibles' categories. The licensees, including four BC-based companies and one each located in Calgary, Montreal and London, Ontario, are in the process of developing products to sell that will carry VANOC's brands and slogans. They all paid an upfront fee, and are to make royalty payments to VANOC annually.

    Two of the firms, Panabo Sales and Executive Promotions, are already doing business with VANOC. Panabo Sales of North Vancouver earlier contracted to design, make and distribute 2010-branded apparel, mostly with aboriginal designs 'First nine licensees approved by VANOC; product in stores by January [Morgan:News:2010:Number:1939; Published on Wednesday, October 25, 2006]. The other, Executive Promotions of Montreal, has won at least two major contracts with VANOC before this. The new licenses are good until December 31, 2010.

    VANOC says the new merchandise, which includes apparel in one company's situation, "becomes widely available at HBC [Hudson Bay Company] and retail outlets across Canada this month. A wide array of novelty gifts and collectibles are expected to be in stores by March." These items include luggage tags, lanyards, glassware, and skiing and snowboard accessories, keychains, flashlights and sunglasses.

    In each case, the companies are free to sell and distribute as much product as they wish, although they have VANOC quality constraints and designs have to be approved before they're made. The key limiting factor, other than demand, is the companies' financial abilities to be able to pay the upfront costs of manufacturing sufficient quantity for the distribution. Although some retailers will pay for advance orders, HBC, one of the channels VANOC uses, usually does not. The licensees are free to use their own distribution networks, so long as they protect HBC's retailing category exclusivity sponsorship arrangements with VANOC.

    The licensee cover only seven of the 42 categories listed in last summer's RFPs (www.morgan-news.com/2010/archives/2006_06_01_Bronze.htm; search for the number 1739 with your web browser)

    BACKGROUND

    The seven licensees, who were approved following a detailed Request for Proposals issued by VANOC seven months ago, are:

  • Cajo Designs (Fashion Accessories), Vancouver, BC

    This company, located in Vancouver's tony Kitsilano Point area, designs purses and similar fashionable accouterments. It's also associated with a sister company, Cosmetic Genuis Inc, operated out of the same location, which has a line of make-up and hair-care products. Cajo has been operating since about 1998. Joe Freeburn and Carl Oster design, produce and market their variety of small fashion accessories in stores in North America, Europe and Japan. Their products include cosmetic bags, handbags, beach bags, eye masks, passport holders and luggage tags.

  • Executive Promotion (Novelty Products and Collectibles), Montreal, Quebec

    This is not the first agreement this 20-year-old Quebec company run by Toby Glickman, with sales of C$1 million to about C$2.5 million, has reached with VANOC. Two years ago, it produced thousands of branded lapel pins for VANOC's logo-launch ceremony, and last year, it supplied medallions featured in the VANOC portion of the 2006 Torino Winter Olympics. The bronze-coloured medallions with the VANOC brand on one side, and an aboriginal symbol on the other to represent VANOC's four host tribes, were held aloft by the four aboriginal chiefs that opened the eight-minute segment, and each of the 33,000 spectators that night received a medallion with an invitation to 2010. The company has two major components: it's original line of branded promotional items and "Licensed to Play", which focuses on sports brands.

  • Mustang Drinkware (Glassware and Drinkables), London, Ontario

    The seven-person company owned by Peter Luchak is a business-to-business wholesale operation with sales between C$5 million and C$10 million that doesn't sell directly to the public; it markets its products through dealers. designs and arranges the manufacture of beverage-related products, such as ceramic and travel mugs, glassware, reusable water bottles and beverage insulators. They also make plastic beer pitchers and metal bottle openers. And, like Executive Promotions, the firm also does branding business with Team Canada, the Canadian Football League, the National Hockey League and Hockey Night in Canada. The company is also associated with My Beer Gear Inc.

  • Panabo Sales (Gifts and Collectibles), North Vancouver, BC

    This company, which also has sales from its North Vancouver location of between C$5 million and C$10 million annually generated by about 30 employees, also has a small sales office run by manager Elenear Manilli in Mississauga, Ontario, near Toronto, which has sales of about C$500,000. The firm is run by Ursuala Mange. A family-owned company based in Vancouver's North Vancouver suburb, Panabo has provided made-in-Canada products to the local and international gift and souvenir industries since 1961. Some of the major brands include products of Magenta Designs and Boma Manufacturing (associated companies run by Boris Mange), as well as leather goods and glassware. VANOC says the company specializes in "3-dimensional collectibles" and that's what it is licensed to brand, but it's a meaningless term. However you can see their actual products -- totem poles, aboriginal figures and design jewellery, pewter spoons and the like -- at Boma's website, www.bomamfg.com. Panabo manages distribution outlets in southern Ontario and in Washington State and, it says, "has a dedicated sales force throughout North America and Japan to provide sales support to our customers." Panabo also works with with northwest Pacific aboriginal artists to promote their art and heritage.

  • RC Products (Ski and Snowboard Accessories and Pet Accessories), Vancouver, BC

    This Vancouver company, which was the official bag supplier for the Canadian national ski team, has sales of between $100,000 and C$200,000 per year. It supplies and distributes backpacks, ski and snowboard bags and, lately, a range of pet products. The company began making power straps for ski boots in 1987 in Whistler, and its products are now sold in Canada, the US, Australia, Japan and Germany.

  • Sundog Distributing Inc. (Non-Prescription Sunglasses), Calgary, Alberta

    The company has five owners and two companies that now sell middle-priced sunglasses and other eyewear, but it began operations years ago by distributing low-cost sunglasses at gas stations under the Peeks brand name, and it is still about a third of the company's market. The higher level brands are Golf, Sport Ride and XI, which use athletes as advertising models.

  • Vancouver Umbrella (Umbrellas), Richmond, BC

    This company, with sales between C$5 million and C$10 million, was featured in an article about the operation and the category earlier this week. See: 'First of 2010's hardgoods licensees forecasts "hundreds of thousands" of branded umbrellas will be sold'; [Morgan:News:2010:Number:2079; Published on Tuesday, January 9, 2007].

    RESOURCES

    Carl Oster or Joe Freeburn

    Cajo Designs

    1358 Cypress Street

    Vancouver, BC V6J 3L2, Canada

    Telephone: 604.739.1351

    Website: www.cajodesigns.com (The site is poorly constructed and uninformative)

    General e-mail: info@cajodesigns.com

    --

    Toby Glickman

    President

    Ext.: 206

    <toby@execprom.com >

    Anita Chandan

    VP Sales and Marketing

    Ext.: 213

    <anita@execprom.com >

    Executive Promotions Inc.

    #7 Ronald Drive,

    Montréal West, QC,

    Canada H4X 1M9

    Tel: (514) 939.6475

    Fax: (514) 939.3594

    Toll Free Phone: 1.800.263.3932

    Toll Free Fax: 1.800.939.3594

    Web: http://www.execprom.com/eng/corporate/

    Here's a look at the catalogue of materials Executive Promotions provides for the Canadian Olympic Committee:

    www.execprom.com/eng/licensed_to_play/COC/COC-main.html

    --

    Brad Sparling

    President

    Mustang Drinkware

    123-4474 Blakie Rd.

    London, Ontario, N6L 1G6

    Telephone: (519) 652-2006

    Fax: (519) 652-9546

    Toll Free Phone: 1.800.233.7287

    E-mail: bsparling@mustangdrinkware.com

    Website: www.mustangdrinkware.com

    or http://"www.mybeergear.com

    --

    Ursula Mange

    President

    Panabo Sales

    233 East 1st Street

    North Vancouver, BC, V7L 1B4

    Telephone: 604.988.5051

    Fax: 604.988.3186

    --

    Panabo Sales:

    Tel: 604.988.5051 or 1.800.665.1551

    Fax: 604.988.3186

    Email: info@panabosales.com

    --

    RC Products

    104-310 Kent Ave South E

    Vancouver, British Columbia, V5X 4N6

    Telephone: (604) 325-6695

    Toll Free Phone: (800) 681-7940

    Fax: (604) 325-3475

    E-mail: rcproducts@rcpower.com

    --

    Ursula Mange

    President

    Panabo Sales

    233 East 1st Street

    North Vancouver, BC, V7L 1B4

    Telephone: 604.988.5051

    Fax: 604.988.3186

    --

    Panabo Sales:

    Tel: 604.988.5051 or 1.800.665.1551

    Fax: 604.988.3186

    Email: info@panabosales.com

    --

    RC Products

    104-310 Kent Ave South E

    Vancouver, British Columbia, V5X 4N6

    Telephone: (604) 325-6695

    Toll Free Phone: (800) 681-7940

    Fax: (604) 325-3475

    E-mail: rcproducts@rcpower.com

    --

    Linda Hipp, President or

    Mike Boyles, VP Marketing

    Sundog Distributing

    Sundog Eyewear

    75 Skyline Crescent NE

    Calgary, AB T2K 5X2, Canada

    Telephone: 403.516.6600

    Website: www.sundogeyewear.com


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 12, 2007

  • Thursday, January 11, 2007

    Morgan:News:Bronze:Service is published regularly, but the articles are delayed by at least three months to protect our subscribers. For timely news that comes to you, please subscribe to our Gold or Silver service at Morgan:News:2010. Bronze is free for the use of news services and for non-commercial public use under conditions described at: Morgan:News:2010:Bronze (There is a nominal charge for certain commercial uses, as described there.) You can use Google to search the site, simply add “site:morgan-news.com” after your search terms.


    Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #2085

    VANCOUVER'S OLYMPICS MANAGER SAYS "IT'S NOT POSSIBLE TO PROVIDE BUDGET DETAILS" FOR PROPOSED C$20 MILLION LEGACY FUND

    The City of Vancouver's official in charge of Olympic and Paralympic operations has provided a report to council urging it to allocate C$5 million in each city budget to 2010 for a proposed Legacy Reserve Fund, but the 12-page report is surprisingly nebulous for justifying the total of C$20 million requested.

    The City is in the process of refining its proposed 2007 budget, and it requested some specialty reports to support aspects of it, including Mayor Sam Sullivan's call for the Reserve Fund. In a report for next Tuesday's council meeting, Dave Rudberg, the General Manager of Olympic and Paralympic Operations, tells council that so far, the City has received C$98 million towards the cost of providing some of the venues for the Games from the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC). "Because all four of these projects fall within the City's core businesses, it is appropriate to consider this funding as a true incremental economic benefit to the City," he says.

    The report calls for council to set aside C$5 million from the city's operations budget this coming fiscal year but it doesn't specify how that money would be used, if at all. And, considering the Games themselves will open in three years from next month, there is no indication, no plans, no specific projects listed in the report of actual programs for extracting or spending the remaining total of C$15 million proposed for the Fund in subsequent years.

    "A Legacy Reserve Fund would create an opportunity to make strategic investments for the benefit of our residents and businesses," Rudberg says, but then he adds, "At this point in the Olympic and Paralympic Games preparations, the precise nature of these strategic investments cannot be determined. We are now moving from the venue-implementation and strategic-planning phases into the operations-planning phase. The City has made strategic investments in the development of the Games venue program primarily to achieve new or improved community facilities for use after the Games, non-market housing and higher environmental-sustainability standards... the City has the opportunity to leverage long-term benefits and legacies through an investment in the Games' operations... [but] it is not possible to provide budget details...."

    He suggests the money in the Fund could be used to "leverage" additional funding for projects from senior governments and VANOC if the city could come to the table with money to contribute, but no projects were identified under that category either.

    The report also indicates that it's even difficult for him to put hard numbers to the benefits of Vancouver hosting the Games that would, in turn, justify setting aside taxpayer funds from city operations: "While a great number of Vancouver residents and businesses will benefit from the Games, the net economic benefits to the City of Vancouver cannot be measured in the same way as they are for senior governments. This is because the City's primary revenue source is property taxes, which do not increase or decrease with higher or lower economic activity in the same way that sales or income taxes do. The City must therefore look at the economic return of the Games using measures other than direct incremental operating revenues." There are two types of economic benefits that Council can consider when assessing the economic impact of the Games, he suggests: benefits to the City of Vancouver, and benefits to Vancouver businesses and residents.

    Rudberg suggests the City's benefits are indirect, because an expansion of business driven by the Games helps to improve property values, which could result in increased tax revenue.

    For instance, he lists Tourism Vancouver research, which says could be counted as showing examples of the potential, indirect benefits to the City's coffers of hosting the Games:

  • 24% of consumers are more likely to visit Vancouver because of 2010;

  • 25% of meeting planners were more likely to book meetings in Vancouver

    because of 2010;

  • 43% of travel trade were more likely to book business for Vancouver because of

    the City being an Olympic host destination.

    But none of this goes to the concept of how the proposed Legacy Fund would be used this year, or in the future. Mayor Sullivan, last month, suggested some of the funds could be used in 2007 to reduce "street disorder" through reductions in homelessness prior to the 2010 Games, yet that aspect is not specifically mentioned in the Rudberg report. The closest he gets to it is one sentence in the report, amidst some potential uses for the money: "Ensure that when visitors arrive, they feel welcomed by a City that is safe, clean and organized."

    BACKGROUND

    Some of the other suggestions from Rudberg for spending the Fund's money:

  • Help to inform all Vancouver groups about the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and how they will be impacted, how they can participate, and how they can carry on their normal business in the face of Games operations and to find ways to showcase our many diverse communities and neighbourhoods for our visitors, athletes and media.

  • Create opportunities for businesses and business districts to benefit from the Winter Games even if they are not close to a sporting venue.

  • Showcase a wide range of local talent in the arts and culture community including the use of venues throughout the City.

  • Produce the "Look of the City" through street banners, public art, signage, lighting, wayfinding, etc. The visual appearance of the City will be an important tool in creating a positive environment and a festive atmosphere for visitors and TV viewers to return as future visitors.

  • Create "Live Sites" around the City where people can gather to watch live broadcasts of competitions, learn more about the Olympics and Paralympics, our city, province and country and the sponsors. It is an opportunity to enjoy free access to the Olympic and Paralympic experience, and meet visitors from other countries in a celebratory area.


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 11, 2007

  • Wednesday, January 10, 2007

    Morgan:News:Bronze:Service is published regularly, but the articles are delayed by at least three months to protect our subscribers. For timely news that comes to you, please subscribe to our Gold or Silver service at Morgan:News:2010. Bronze is free for the use of news services and for non-commercial public use under conditions described at: Morgan:News:2010:Bronze (There is a nominal charge for certain commercial uses, as described there.) You can use Google to search the site, simply add “site:morgan-news.com” after your search terms.


    Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #2084

    ADVERTISING AGENCIES OFFERED OPPORTUNITY TO DO CREATIVE, STRATEGY -- AND, SEPARATELY, BUYING SERVICES -- FOR VANOC

    The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) is offering a plum three-year contract for an advertising agency that knows the Canadian market -- but it's not limiting the offer to Canadian firms.

    In a formal Request for Proposals issued today, VANOC is asking agencies interested in working with it to fill out a bid application by February 9 if they want to be considered for the offer. The contract offered is three years, until just after the end of the Games in March 31, 2010.

    The offer is not exclusive -- VANOC is reserving the right to do business with more than one proponent if it feels that would be in its best interest -- but the organization normally prefers to work with just one firm if the agency can handleall the work that's thrown at it.

    The organization hopes to be able to award the contract in March.

    VANOC has a mission and a vision, and implement them, "VANOC must open the hearts and minds of Canadians, and do so in a way that also achieves specific organizational objectives. These objectives will vary from selling tickets to recruiting volunteers to recognizing our corporate partners. Advertising will play a critical role in helping VANOC achieve these objectives and revenue targets with a consistent voice that engages Canadians in Vancouver 2010."

    VANOC wants the ad agency to do most of what ad agencies normally do: Come up with a strategy, do the creative work, set budgets to implement it that VANOC will approve, produce the creative work -- "to translate VANOC communication objectives, brand essence, target audience and consumer insights into a creative strategy for an integrated advertising campaign," as VANOC puts it. But the RFP refers to the agency then working with VANOC's "Media Planning and Buying Agency" to do the rest, which is where, for a lot of agencies, the revenue is strongest. (It will, however, allow the agency to "Co-ordinate distribution of final advertising material to media companies.")

    On the other hand, VANOC has also issued a companion, but separate, RFP for an agency to do the media buying, with the same deadlines, terms and conditions, all of which are essentially the same as those for the ad agency. The media buying contractor would be responsible for working with the ad agency VANOC eventually hires and with VANOC departments, and do all of the usual media buying and contracting work, including distribution of the ads to the media channels involved.

    The winning ad agency, VANOC says, will be working primarily with VANOC's Brand & Creative Services section and likely its Communications section as well, but there could be other VANOC functions that will have some specialized work.

    VANOC will also keep the agency on a short leash when it comes to sub-contracting: VANOC will want to approve any sub-contract work over C$2,000, and you'll have to get three quotes on the work, whether it includes production, editing, visual effects or distribution.

    VANOC says it will help the proposal if the proponent is familiar with the Canadian marketplace, particularly in Quebec, Greater Vancouver and Whistler, plus "familiarity with other regions within Canada requiring customized communication." It will also help if you have a "demonstrated ability to evoke emotional responses from advertising," are familiar with production companies in North America, particularly Vancouver, can demonstrate a "commitment to the community and Canada through arts and culture, sport, the environment or volunteer work," and provide some compelling reasons for wanting to work with VANOC.

    VANOC has raised some cautions for proponents to consider. A couple involve security, one involves conflict of interest and there are a couple of standard clauses that go against what ad agencies like to do.

    VANOC says it wants assurances that any strategic information it gives the ad agency "will be properly safeguarded... to ensure that such information will not be used by other third parties for the purposes of ‘ambush marketing’ or other campaigns that would detract from those of VANOC or its sponsors and licensees or the Olympic and Paralympic Movement." And, it says, the ad agency that wins the award has to go through a standard police security check.

    As for conflict of interest. VANOC says that "Given that a proponent may, from time to time, have other clients... that may be competitors of official sponsors and licensees of VANOC", the organization wants prospective agencies "to outline the internal and external policies and procedures that will be implemented and followed by the Proponent (such as internal ethics walls) to ensure that any information provided to the Proponent by VANOC will be maintained in confidence... and not used directly or indirectly for... other clients."

    If you want to apply for the ad-agency offer, you'll have to list clients as part of the proposal that could be competitors to the organizations with which VANOC does business.

    VANOC's standard gag clauses include one that prevents any of the prospective agencies from talking about the RFP to the media, and another that prevents the winning agency from using its relationship with VANOC for self-promotion.

    RESOURCES

    The RFP is posted on BC Bid:

    www.bcbid.gov.bc.ca


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 10, 2007


    Morgan:News:2010 |Business

    VANOC| #2083

    BELL CANADA, BARENAKED LADIES BAND COLLABORATE ON MARKETING PUSH FOR OWN THE PODIUM-2010

    The telecommunications firm Bell Canada has worked out a marketing deal with the popular Canadian band Barenaked Ladies to help support Canadian athletes participating in the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

    Fifty cents from every concert ticket sold for the band's upcoming tour across Canada will be donated to Own the Podium 2010, an initiative of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) and the federal government to help Canada become the top medal winner at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games and place among the top three at the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games.

    Bell Canada spokesman Linda Low says from Toronto, where the announcement was made, that the band expects to raise about $50,000 for the project, which she expects will be paid when the 18-stop tour, which starts January 31 in Victoria, BC, wraps up February 26 in St. John's, Newfoundland. Tickets prices for the tour range from about C$50 to C$60 a person. The idea, she says, is to raise both money and awareness for Own the Podium. The project is part of Bell's activation of its sponsorship, which ends in 2012, of the 2010 Games.

    "I don't think I'm the only Canadian that feels a sense of pride when I see one of Canada's athletes excel on the world stage. Maybe it's the fact that they were able to achieve their dream in a country that I call home," said Barenaked Ladies bass player Jim Creeggan. "I know our athletes' efforts send a strong message of hope to Canada's youth and I'm glad to have this opportunity to support them."

    Renato Discenza, senior vice-president of marketing for Bell Canada Ontario says, "Bell is proud to partner with the Barenaked Ladies in support of our Canadian winter athletes and Own the Podium 2010, which also supports initiatives focused on the research and development of new technologies to help improve Canadian athlete performances." Bell is the telecommunications sponsor of VANOC, offsetting C$200 million of services and equipment VANOC says it required to mount the Games.

    As an example of some of the work done by Own the Podium-2010, Discenza notes that Bell funds Dartfish, a video-analysis tool that allows Canadian Olympic coaches and athletes to overlay one athlete's performance over another's for precise, competitive analysis during training and competition.

    Part of the on-going promotion will include a contest for people to win a fan prize package, such as access to a sound check performance, private show meet-and-greet events and premium concert seating. Promotional material will be issued to drive fans to Bell's retail stories or its website for information.

    The company will also offer Bell Mobility clients with compatible mobile phones, exclusive access to ringtones and wireless content from the BLAM tour. The content includes concert footage, tour highlights and interviews with band members, all during the tour.

    VANOC has also been peripherally involved in the promotion of the project. It's Communications department has been redistributing Bell's news releases about the program through e-mails to media as well as posting the news release on its website, with a link from its site's home page to the full release.

    RESOURCES

    Dartfish:

    www.dartfish.com/en/video_training_software_for_sports.htm

    Bell Canada's business page:

    www.bell.ca/home/Home_Business.page

    Background page on Renato J. Discenza:

    enterprise.bell.ca/en/default.asp?sid=162&did=930

    Own the Podium:

    www.ownthepodium2010.com

    Background on "Barenaked Ladies"

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barenaked_Ladies

    BACKGROUND

    Concert dates:

    January 31 Victoria - Save on Foods Memorial Centre

    February 1 Victoria - Save on Foods Memorial Centre

    February 3 Vancouver - General Motors Place

    February 4 Prince George - CN Centre

    February 5 Kelowna - Prospera Place

    February 7 Edmonton - Rexall Place

    February 8 Calgary - Pengrowth Saddledome

    February 9 Lethbridge - Enmax Centre

    February 10 Saskatoon - Credit Union Centre

    February 12 Regina - Brandt Centre

    February 13 Winnipeg - MTS Centre

    February 15 London - John Labatt Centre

    February 16 Toronto - Air Canada Centre

    February 17 Sault Saint Marie - Steelback Centre

    February 19 Montreal - Bell Centre

    February 21 Ottawa - Scotia Bank Place

    February 23 Saint John - Harbour Centre

    February 24 Halifax - Metro Centre

    February 26 St. John's - Mile One


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 10, 2007

    Tuesday, January 09, 2007

    Morgan:News:Bronze:Service is published regularly, but the articles are delayed by at least three months to protect our subscribers. For timely news that comes to you, please subscribe to our Gold or Silver service at Morgan:News:2010. Bronze is free for the use of news services and for non-commercial public use under conditions described at: Morgan:News:2010:Bronze (There is a nominal charge for certain commercial uses, as described there.) You can use Google to search the site, simply add “site:morgan-news.com” after your search terms.


    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2082

    Here are three more moguls we ran into today:

    VANOC MOVES TO PROTECT 16 MORE WORDMARKS

  • VANOC has applied to the Canadian Intellectual Property Office for a batch of new trademarks in Canada to cover the names of some of the sports that will make an appearance at the 2010 Games, coupled with the number "2010". These new marks, which are prohibited by law from being used by anybody except VANOC and is licensees, include: Short Track Speed Skating 2010, Cross Country Skiing 2010, Ice Slege Hockey 2010, Freestyle Skiing 2010, Speed Skating 2010, Alpine Skiing 2010, Snowboard 2010, Ski Jumping 2010, Ice Hockey 2010, Bobsleigh 2010, Skeleton 2010, Biathlon 2010, Curling 2010 and Luge 2010. It's also applied for two other official marks: Celebrate The Possible and Let The Games Begin. These bring to about 130 the number of logos and word marks VANOC has moved to protect.

    FEDS CUT CHEQUE FOR C$124.7 MILLION TO VANOC LAST AUGUST

  • The Heritage Ministry, which is responsible for funding VANOC on the federal government side, wrote a cheque last year to it for C$124,720,000, easily the largest contribution or grant issued by the ministry in the second quarter of the year. The funds were part of Ottawa's contribution to VANOC's capital budget. The cheque was cut on August 8th but only recently published in the ministry's quarterly reports of its spending. Other grants or contributions provided by the ministry in the second quarter of its fiscal year and which are related to the 2010 Games in some way: a total of $2,665,907 last August in two separate cheques to AthletesCAN. It represents all athletes from all of Canada's national teams including Olympic Games, among others. All athletes who are members of national teams, or athletes who have retired from a national team within the past eight years, are considered members of AthletesCAN; C$845,573 last September to Biathlon Canada; a total of C$4,567,000 in two separate cheques last September to the Canadian Centre For Ethics In Sport in Ottawa -- the Centre is to provide medical services to VANOC; $483,811 to the Canadian Paralympic Committee last September; the Canadian Sport Centres of Ontario, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Atlantic Canada all work with the Canadian Olympic Committee, which is one of its founding partners, to provide services to high-performance athletes in Canada. In total the centres received C$1,713,500; Skate Canada: C$1,684,754; and Speed Skating Canada: C$2,714,581.

    WIND BLAST SHUDDERS ACROSS DEFLATED ROOF FABRIC AT BC PLACE AGAIN TODAY

  • Unusual winds reaching 100 kilometres per hour at mid-afternoon today turned the normally placid deflated fabric roof of BC Place Stadium, the home of VANOC's Opening and Closing Ceremonies three years from now, into a thundering, roaring, flapping maelstrom that forced an end to a coincidental media tour of the 60,000-seat facility. The winds, accompanying the tail end of a cold front moving across southern British Columbia, lasted only a few minutes at that peak but were sustained at about half that speed for about two hours. A number of workers were on the roof preparing for the patching that needed to be done on it following a similar windstorm last Friday that tore away one of its corner sections and forced its deflation. However, the workers were ordered down from the structure as a precaution as the winds began picking up. About 90 people are said to be working on repairing the structure and getting it ready for the patch to be applied tomorrow.


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 9, 2007


    Morgan:News:2010 |Paralympic| #2081

    VANCOUVER MAYOR SULLIVAN OUTLINES PLANS TO MAKE VANCOUVER DISABLED-FRIENDLY FOR 2010 GAMES

    "Vancouver will be the centre of the world for Paralympic sports in 2010," according to Vancouver mayor Sam Sullivan in a prepared commentary that's available on a new website hosted by Visa, an international sponsor of the 2010 Winter Games.

    The recorded comments are a discussion between Sullivan and Canadian Paralympic skier, Colette Bourgonje, and one of the features on a page of the new website that focuses on the 2010 Winter Olympics and prepared by the credit-card organization.

    "We are working to make sure our citizens are very aware of Paralympic athletes and the Paralympic Games," Sullivan tells Bourgonje. Sullivan, quadriplegic injured in a skiing accident, says, "We are even more committed to making sure that we esteem and respect our Paralympic athletes just as much as the Olympic athletes. We're going to set a new standard, I believe, in Paralympic Games."

    Sullivan, noting that Vancouver was the first city in Canada to develop a building code for publicly accessible buildings and only the second city in the world to have taxis capable of handling wheelchairs, says that by next year, "there will be complete accessibility in all of the buses, subways, Skytrains and their stations" in Vancouver, "so that anybody can go anywhere... we will be ready and able to put on a really good event for the people with disabilities and others who come to Vancouver" for the Games.

    Between now and 2010, says Sullivan, "We will be doing a lot to dress up the city, making sure that we will have a very festive environment. We're also making sure that we'll have a really great cultural program that will showcase our wonderful talent. We're also making sure that we are concentrating, really focusing on access, not just in Vancouver, but throughout all of the cities of British Columbia. We've started something called the 'Measuring Up' program as a result of us winning the [2010] bid. It gives cities all across British Columbia, and even Canada, ways to improve the inclusiveness and accessibility of the city."

    “Measuring Up: Communities of Inclusion and Accessibility", as it's called, is a municipal rating tool. It was developed during two days of discussion among representatives of a wide range of disability organizations, municipal and business leaders, political representatives and other community members in January 2005.

    Bourgonje, a cross-country skier, told Sullivan that her sport has been working "a lot with science people on doing a lot of research on body composition, on lactate acid, on blood glucose..." She adds that the section will also soon be working on sit-sled designs "so they'll be optimal for our performance in Vancouver, so we can get that 30 seconds to a minute [improvement] that we need to get that gold medal."

    RESOURCES

    The link for the five-minute discussion between Vancouver mayor Sam Sullivan and Canadian Paralympic skier, Colette Bourgonje...

    fanwithaplan.com/events/2010_winter_olympics/

    ...(Click the link at the bottom of the column headlined "Learn more about the 2010 Paralympic Games", then click the 'Play' button of the image that appears above the headline.)

    --

    A link to a 61-page PDF document that details the Measuring Up program:

    www.2010legaciesnow.com/Images/About/MeasuringUp.pdf


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 9, 2007


    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2080

    Here are three moguls we ran into today:

    CALGARY TO OFFER PRELUDE TO 2010 SNOWBOARDING IN MARCH

  • You'll be able to get a sense of what the snowboarding competition will be like at the 2010 Winter Games when the Nokia Snowboard FIS World Cup snowboard competition takes place in Calgary's Canada Olympic Park on March 2nd and 3rd. That's because they'll be using, for the first time in a major competition, the big new snowboard halfpipe the Canadian Olympic Development Association built to copy the Olympic facility still under construction for the 2010 Games at Cypress Bowl in West Vancouver. The 6.7-metre (22-foot) superpipe was built with the latest snowmaking equipment and lighting for night training and competition, in part, Tom McIllfaterick, CEO of the Canadian Snowboard Federation told the Calgary Sun newspaper yesterday, so it can "be the national training centre for the Canadian team leading up to the 2010 Olympic Winter Games..." Bob Nicolay, president and chief executive officer of CODA, added that, "Access to cost-effective, leading training facilities at home is what Canadian athletes must have if Canada is to attain its goal of becoming a world-leading winter sports nation by 2010."

    VISA USES OLYMPIC CONNECTIONS TO SUPPORT NEW TRAVELLER'S WEBSITE

  • Visa, an international sponsor of VANOC, is creating a sports and travel website that incorporates 2010 information to provide background in English on major sporting events destinations, as well as tools to help people with their travel plans. Currently in the first phase of development, the website, [see RESOURCES, below] is partly based on Visa's sponsorship of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games and Paralympic Games, according to a company spokesman. However Visa's sponsorship of global sporting events such as the Rugby World Cup and the Beijing Summer Olympic Games, as well as its relationship with various tourism boards in countries like France and China, are also expected to be featured later this year. The site also provides visitors discounts on hotels, resorts and spas, car rentals, restaurants, entertainment and shopping by going through Visa travel agreements. The website includes advice and tools to assist with the financial aspects of travel including tips on how to use payment cards abroad, as well as travel money tools such as a currency converter and an ATM locator. The spokesman says the site will provide tips on restaurants and nightlife from Olympic athletes who live in the area, along with itineraries of suggested activities and things to do before and after the Olympics, as well as tips about local etiquette, culture "and even slang terms to help fit in with the locals." In Vancouver's case, authenticity isn't a strong suit. One of the "slang" words it offers for the area is "skookum", which the site defines as meaning "cool or very good." It's actually an adjective from Chinook, the 1800s west coast trade jargon used between aboriginals and with Caucasians settling here, and it means "strong", or "powerful."

    LA OR CHICAGO TOUTED AS POSSIBLES FOR 2016 US OLYMPIC BID

  • There's word today that the US Olympic Committee will nominate either Chicago or Los Angeles to host the 2016 Summer Olympics. The decision is to be made by the USOC on April 14th. Other countries will also be in the running: Argentina, Chile, Spain, Portugal and Italy have all indicated they'll be bidding. The International Olympic Committee's deadline for city nominations is September 15. The international campaign will last two years, concluding in October 2009 at an IOC Session in Copenhagen, Denmark, when the 2016 host city is chosen.

    RESOURCES

    Visa's new website and its 2010 page:

    fanwithaplan.com/events/2010_winter_olympics/index.html?src=home

    Background on the Chinook language, with some of its vocabulary defined:

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinook_Jargon


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 9, 2007


    Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #2079

    FIRST OF 2010'S HARDGOODS LICENSEES FORECASTS "HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS" OF BRANDED UMBRELLAS WILL BE SOLD

    A company based in the Greater Vancouver suburb of Richmond has been awarded a license through to the end of 2010 to produce "hundreds of hundreds of thousands" of umbrellas carrying the brands and slogans owned or controlled by the 2010 Winter Olympics.

    The agreement between the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) and Vancouver Umbrella, a family-owned company celebrating its 75th year in business this year, was confirmed for the company in early November, and is expected to be formally announced by VANOC later this week. "There were quite a few things that we had to wait for," says company president Shana Hochfelder about the process as the award was approved. "We were brought in for a meeting [of confirmation], then we were brought in for another meeting regarding logo usage." The company has about 10 staff at its combination office-warehouse, plus commissioned sales staff across Canada.

    The Vancouver Umbrella license was awarded as part of VANOC's first major Request for Proposals on a range of branded goods that was published last summer. VANOC offered licenses for 42 categories of hardgoods, novelties and souvenirs that will carry the 2010 Olympic brands under a royalty-based licensing system, and the RFP indicated there would be more such RFPs on additional categories to come. Word on additional winners of the categories is expected to come shortly. Hochfelder believes she was up against some stiff competition for the umbrella license. "They [VANOC] wouldn't tell us, but I'm sure there was quite a bit of competition."

    Hochfelder says her company is finalizing its first batch of umbrella designs this week. It will provide them to VANOC by the end of the week for approval and, once that stage is completed, she estimates it will take between 70 and 90 days for the first of several line of umbrellas to begin appearing for sale. They will show up in a range of British Columbian and Albertan stores at first, but "we plan to go right across the country." The brollys will start appearing in stores in the Greater Vancouver area, Vancouver Island and throughout the interior, then move into Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg as supplies become more plentiful, and finally into the eastern half of the nation. "We're looking at distribution houses right now that might be able to help us out," she says.

    Assuming a relatively quick turnaround at VANOC of the design approvals, that would mean umbrellas with VANOC brands would be in western Canadian stores by early summer, just as the tourist season is growing. But she notes, it will take a bit longer than usual -- turnaround from design to supply can be as short as 60 days -- because of Chinese New Year is coming up, and she expects the resulting holidays will slow production down a bit temporarily.

    "In year one [2007], because we're getting a late start and it will be over the summer months, our volume obviously won't be nearly as high as later. We're breaking it down into wholesale-to-retail, and also into corporate promotional accounts. We're foreseeing hundreds and hundreds of thousands of umbrellas being sold over the course of the next few years. We expect that every year it would be increasing."

    It's a market-driven license; it's up to Vancouver Umbrella, within the bounds of the proposal it provided to VANOC, to decide how many to sell and which markets to tackle. Vancouver Umbrella paid an upfront fee to VANOC for the license, estimated from other sources to be about C$40,000, and pays a royalty annually based on a sliding scale determined by the sales volume.

    Vancouver Umbrella has almost full control over the stores in which the umbrellas will be sold, although VANOC has given instruction that the company retail its products in middle to upper-end stores, with the major retailer being the Hudson Bay Company's 500 outlets across Canada. There, they will be featured in the firm's Olympic boutique section, even though Vancouver Umbrella already sells its regular line of umbrealls to the company. HBC is VANOC's retail sponsor. "We're going to try and keep it with stores like London Drugs, Shoppers Drug Mart, boutiques and about 400 other retailers we sell to. Big box stores, like Wal-Mart, probably wouldn't be something we would touch."

    Hochfelder outlines her plans this way: "This year we're going in with a few different styles and by next fall [2008] really doing the big ramp-up, and then going into 2009 and 2010 will really be our biggest years. We will have a good line out late this spring, early summer, for the tourist season; men's, women's, golf, children's designs..."

    Hochfelder says the company's retailing methods will include a "pre-pack" -- a point-of-purchase display that will go into the stores in the distribution network, showcasing the 2010 designs. "We want to keep them separate from the other umbrellas that we sell."

    The umbrellas will be made in China at Vancouver Umbrella's supplier in Quandong province. "We have a financial interest in the company, and we go over to it all the time. It's socially compliant -- we know everything that's going on over there. I travel there very often myself." Hochfelder notes that some of VANOC's major concerns, which were listed in the RFP, were that suppliers take seriously social compliance like labour conditions and environmental issues, such as recycling of materials used during manufacturing, and that proposals needed to show VANOC how that would be assured. "That's also a major concern for _our_ business," she says. "We're a family business, and social compliance, envronment and recycling are number one in our company."

    Hochfelder declines to name the Chinese supplier, however, because, "I have exclusive rights to him. I really don't want anybody else able to contact him."

    The companies that end up with VANOC licensing arrangements also have the option of supplying their items to VANOC's corporate sponsors, government connections, third-party direct-marketing firms that VANOC will eventually sign up, and suppliers, so they can use them internally as gifts or for large-scale marketing purposes. For instance, Hochfelder says, "If Visa wants to order 500,000 pieces in a specific design, their own design, we will absolutely do that for them." She concedes that would be a large order for Vancouver Umbrella, however, she notes that from her research, a Visa order of 300,000 to 500,000 "seems rather average, and we have the capacity."

    BACKGROUND

  • Vancouver Umbrella was started by Hochfelder's great-grandfather in Vancouver in 1932, and inherited by her grandfather and then her parents, who still work with the firm. Shana Hochfelder became president in 2004.

    --

    Two of VANOC's several objectives, part of its procurement process, that are spelled out in detail in proposals it offers manufacturers and licensees. We quote:

    -- The VANOC procurement processes are complemented by sustainability objectives that include ethical sourcing, environmental protection, inclusivity, and striving to leverage opportunities that contribute to athlete and sport development and lasting sport legacies for Canadians.

    -- VANOC will ensure that products and services delivered through the supply chain are manufactured and distributed ethically and with regard for international standards on human and labour rights.

    RESOURCES

    Shana Hochfelder

    President

    Vancouver Umbrella

    #7 - 12240 Horseshoe Way

    Richmond, BC, V7A 4X9

    Telephone: 604.277.3805

    Toll Free: 1.888.729.7246

    Fax: 604.277.3874

    General e-mail: Info@VancouverUmbrella.com

    Website: www.vancouverumbrella.com

    --

    Our initial story about the first categories of hardgoods offered for license by VANOC:

    'The call is out for companies interested in producing 2010-branded hardgoods, novelties and souvenirs'

    [Morgan:News:2010:Number:1739; Published on Friday, June 16, 2006]

    www.morgan-news.com/2010/archives/2006_06_01_Bronze.htm


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 9, 2007

  • Monday, January 08, 2007

    Morgan:News:Bronze:Service is published regularly, but the articles are delayed by at least three months to protect our subscribers. For timely news that comes to you, please subscribe to our Gold or Silver service at Morgan:News:2010. Bronze is free for the use of news services and for non-commercial public use under conditions described at: Morgan:News:2010:Bronze (There is a nominal charge for certain commercial uses, as described there.) You can use Google to search the site, simply add “site:morgan-news.com” after your search terms.


    Morgan:News:2010 |General| #2078

    BC PLACE 2010 VENUE ROOF DEFLATION MAKES THE NEWS AROUND THE WORLD

    The news about the deflation of the BC Place Stadium roof during a wind storm, and the information that it is one of VANOC's venues, ricocheted quickly around the world as news agencies picked up the story from their own sources, wire services, Internet commentary and local media.

    Within two hours of the collapse, for instance, the story was making news in Jakarta, Indonesia, and rippling through all of the major news operations in North America and Europe by the end of the day it happened, complete with links to cell-phone video and TV footage of the flapping, shredded panel. It was even broadcast today on the website of the venerable insurance company, Lloyds of London, which picked up the abbreviated Dow Jones Newswires distribution of an Associated Press story, although that didn't mention the 2010 connection.

    The blogosphere has been rife with informal commentary about it as well over the weekend.

    Reports were transmitted by various media in key 2010 markets such as Seattle and the major cities of Oregon and California, was well as in Toronto, Edmonton, Calgary and Montreal in Canada, the US capital, Washington and the American financial capital, New York. In other countries, it made the news in Pakistan, Australia, Romania, South Africa, China and India, all in the last few days. The major news agencies that carried stories included Canadian Press, Associated Press, Bloomberg and Reuters, while the senior Internet news agencies Yahoo and MSNBC also carried reports that were regularly updated.

    BC Place officials hope to have the repairs done and the roof re-inflated in about 10 days or so -- the next trade-show event is 15 days away -- and have made temporary arrangements, including sandbagging and vacuum trucks -- to deal with rain draining from the bowl-shaped fabric into the centre of the building's floor. More storms packing rain, wind and sleet are forecast for Vancouver over the next week.

    The building, owned by BC Pavilion, a BC government corporation, was built 23 years ago. The Teflon-coated fabric roof's life expectancy was, technically, about 25 years. VANOC is expected to take possession of the building late in 2009 and return it about the end of April, 2010.


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 8, 2007


    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2077

    Here are three more moguls we ran into today:

    COSPORTS REACHES OLYMPIC TICKETING SPONSORSHIP WITH AUSTRALIA

  • Global Sports Consultants, which does business under the name CoSports, has reached a sponsorship deal with the Australian Olympic Committee to sell tickets and related package services in the country through to 2012, including those offered by the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. The sponsorship agreement with the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) and the Australian Olympic Teams that travel to the 2008, 2012 and 2012 Games gives the U.S. headquartered firm the official sponsor role for hospitality programs and management services, corporate and consumer ticket and travel packages, and individual tickets. It means that CoSport will provide hospitality services for the AOC and its athletes and their families, the Australian Olympic Team sponsors, the Aussie national sports federations and their members as well as for the public. Sead Dizdarevic, the founder, chairman and CEO of CoSport, says, "The Australian Olympic Committee and the Australian Olympic teams have always been the very best at what they do, and so we are honoured to be chosen as their exclusive partner. There are no better Olympic fans in the world than the people in Australia, and we guarantee that Australian fans will have the best access to the Games for the next six years." Olympic hospitality packages to be offered by CoSport, which had an exclusive right to sell Torino Games tickets in Canada last year, include: luxury accommodations, premium event tickets, accredited transportation, catering and management of these services. During the 2006 Torino Olympic Winter Games CoSport hosted several thousand individual guests and managed the hospitality programs for dozens of corporate clients in Australia, Canada and the U.S.

    VANOC TO EXPAND ITS ARTS FESTIVAL MANAGEMENT BY MAY

  • VANOC is expected to hire in the next month or two an artistic director with at least 10 years experience to oversee the development of the arts festivals that are to be part of the Cultural Olympiad that is part of the 2010 Winter Games program for both the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Each set of Games will have its own festival programming. The festivals are expected to encompass regional, national and international entertainment that reflect the "unique culture" of Greater Vancouver and Whistler, BC and Canada "in all artistic disciplines across the performing arts, visual arts, aboriginal arts and culture, literary arts, media arts, street and site entertainment," according to VANOC planning. VANOC has already hired a vice-president of Culture and Ceremonies, and a director of the Cultural Olympiad, and, so far, strategic direction, themes, priorities and program delivery models have been developed and set. The two festival programs are to use these for specific development. The artistic director of the festivals is expected to evaluate and select programming proposals from potential community groups according to "artistic merit, financial feasibility, logistical feasibility, program compatibility, partnership leveraging," and the like. The person will also negotiate agreements as well as oversee the contracting process with artists, companies and communities selected by VANOC for sponsored and co-produced events. They'll also be working with "foreign cultural agencies to develop funded programming... featuring artists from other IOC nations." The role will also involve developing and maintaining corporate relationships with artists, arts presenters and producers.

    Fiji to help pave way for temporary workers to get to BC

  • The new military government in Fiji says it intends to hire a recruitment company to help Fijians find temporary work in British Columbia, in response to labour shortages faced by contractors ahead of the 2010 Olympics Games. The decision comes about two months after the Canadian government's Immigration ministry relaxed some of its rules in an effort to ease the worker shortage in western Canada. Fiji's High Commissioner to Canada, Jesoni Vitusagavulu, told the Fiji Times newspaper the company was expected to visit Fiji in mid-January "to assess skills availability and will be visiting Vatukoula as the skills and experience of a lot of people that have been made redundant were needed in Canada." The Fiji consulate in Vancouver, he said, is reviewing the program so that "appropriate action can be taken to accelerate recruitment" from Fiji. "Consul Ashwant Dwivedi has obtained the list of occupations under the pressure of British Columbia and Alberta and it has many skills that are in surplus supply in Fiji. We'll be focusing on skills that are surplus in Fiji so that our efforts do not adversely affect local industries which also need a lot of the skills required by Canada. Consul Dwivedi is also expected to discuss this with British Columbia's Labour Minister, Claude Richmond, this week. The labour shortage is due to a major construction boom in western Canada, with the 2010 Winter Games contributing less than 1% to it.


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 8, 2007


    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2076

    Here are three moguls we ran into today:

    BELL CANADA AND MUSIC GROUP TO DEMONSTRATE NEW OWN THE PODIUM CONTRIBUTION

  • A joint comment from VANOC and Bell Canada spokesmen says the telecommunications sponsor of the 2010 Games and the Canadian pop musical group Barenaked Ladies "will announce a unique partnership" on Wednesday morning in Toronto that is designed to help support Own the Podium 2010 (OTP-2010). That's private-public plan budgeted at C$110 million over five years that's designed to help Canada's winter Olympic athletes win medals at the 2010 Winter Games. Representatives from Bell Enterprises, particularly Renato Discenza, senior vice-president of Sales for Ontario, and Barenaked Ladies front man Ed Robertson will join former Canadian speedskating athlete Andrew Godbout, an OTP 2010 recruitment athlete in what the VANOC and Bell spokesmen call "an interactive demonstration showcasing Bell's contribution to Own the Podium 2010 technology." Discenza is responsible for sales of interconnection products to large companies, but he's also in charge of the company's community-relations portfolio in Ontario. Bell, shortly after becoming VANOC's first corporate sponsor in a deal worth C$200 million to VANOC, was the initial contributor to the Own the Podium 2010 with a contribution of C$15 million in 2005. Since then, six other major corporate sponsors of VANOC -- General Motors, HBC, McDonald's Restaurants, PetroCanada, Royal Bank and the renovations company Rona -- have becoming contributors to the program, along with the Canadian government.

    2014'S WINTER OLYMPICS CITIES ALL TO MAKE WEDNESDAY DEADLINE

  • The three cities vying to host the 2014 Winter Olympics and be part of the 2010 Winter Games closing ceremonies -- Pyeongchang, South Korea; Salzburg, Austria; and Sochi, Russia -- all say their candidature files, the final bid documents on which the IOC's vote will be based -- will be in the hands of IOC officials in Lausanne, Switzerland by the Wednesday deadline. Sochi submitted its bid today, with Pyeongchang expected to follow tomorrow. Salzburg's bid is due to arrive on Wednesday. The IOC will select the host city on July 4 in Guatemala City.

    AD HOC POLL RESULTS JUST MAKES YOU SHAKE YOUR HEAD

  • It's about as unscientific as they come but the BC survey company Angus Reid has one of its informal web polls on its forum site asking those visiting the page if the roof on BC Place Stadium, which ripped and deflated during a wind storm last week, should be repaired, or whether a new venue for the Stadium's 2010 uses should be built, presumably by VANOC. The 2010 organizing committee has booked the Stadium to host the 2010 opening and closing ceremonies, as well as the nightly medal and some other entertainment events during the run of the Games. As of a few moments ago, Repair the Roof had received 62% of the established votes, but a startling 38% felt a new venue ought to be built. No, it doesn't give the numbers of people who voted for a new venue, nor their IQs.

    RESOURCES

    The Angus Reid poll:

    rm.angusreidforum.com/?cid=214


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 8, 2007


    Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #2075

    THE PROCESS OF ASSEMBLING 2010'S TICKETING SYSTEM HAS BEEN LAUNCHED

    The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) has begun the construction of one of its key methods of dealing with the public -- its ticketing system -- with an international call for contractors interested in the project.

    "The sale and distribution of tickets will be a key element in ensuring the success of the Games," says VANOC. "This will particularly be true for the marketing, sale and distribution of tickets to the Canadian general public. The ticket sales will, for many, be the first and most important encounter with VANOC. Because of this, it is important that the sale and distribution of tickets is fair and equitable, and the process to purchase tickets is clear and easy to follow." VANOC has said as late as last October that it hopes to start selling tickets in 2008.

    It's starting the process of setting up such a ticketing system with a request that veteran companies interested in providing the sales strategies, computer systems, software, call centre and employee training respond to a formal Expressions of Interest document by February 5, so VANOC can shortlist the firms that will receive a Request for Proposals file in March that will provide VANOC's requirements in much greater detail.

    VANOC says about 1.8 million tickets will be available for an about 200 sports events at the Games, which will range from gold medal events to preliminaries. In addition, VANOC says it "may be charged with the responsibility to manage and sell tickets to select Olympic Arts Festival events that will be hosted prior to and during the Games."

    Although the EOI doesn't limit the call to Canadian companies, it asks international firms to "indicate the nature and extent of your current operations in Canada, or your strategy for conducting business and operations in Canada." And, it notes, the successful contractor will need to go through a full security check by Canada's RCMP, including a look at whether any of its staff have criminal records; it's a standard condition of all of VANOC's contractors.

    Here's what VANOC wants the ticketing contractor to do, overall:

  • Develop a ticket sales, service and distribution plan, as well as all of the policies and procedures that go along with it, in collaboration with VANOC. That plan is to be designed to manage ticket inventory and sell tickets for both the 2010 Olympic Games and the Paralympic Winter games.

  • Provide the ticketing computer platform -- including software, hardware and the associated staff -- that would help make ticket sales an "efficient customer-friendly process." The platform has to accommodate computerized on-line and "manual" sale of tickets before and during the Games at venues as well as through a range of other locations that VANOC will determine.

  • Provide a national network of outlets for selling and distributing tickets and selling tickets to the Canadian public using the Internet, phone, and physical ticket counters.

    VANOC says it's possible this network may be provided "by one or more partners of VANOC", in which case, it says, the ticketing contractor will be responsible for providing the necessary equipment and staff training for ticket sales at these outlets. Torino used its banking sponsor to provide areas of its retail operations for ticket sales to the public, but VANOC has said in the past that Torino's system was defined by the fact that only its banking sponsor had sufficient distribution outlets in European countries to deal with that type of situation. VANOC has a number of national sponsors with retail outlets throughout the country -- HBC, the Royal Bank and Rona, to name the obvious ones -- that each could potentially provide retail access at hundreds of locations across Canada. Also, VANOC is also expected to have a ticketing outlet at the Vancouver International Airport.

    Ticket sales in other countries is not mentioned in the EOI, but typically, that's done by contractors with defined sales territories hired by the International Olympic Committee and connected to the national Olympic Committee.

    VANOC is leaving open the possibility the ticketing contractor may need to provide "an operating system capable of providing efficient and accurate venue-access control for its temporary and permanent venues." Bell Canada, VANOC's telecommunications sponsor and which runs VANOC's internet presence on Bell servers, has indicated that Bell may manage the front end, but the modules that run the ticketing system may be connected to other computer systems, but exactly how that will happen will depend on what firm wins the ticketing contract.

    There are some specifics made available for the kinds of operational goals VANOC has in mind for the ticket. The contractor, for instance, will be responsible for planning, developing, implementing, testing and running the ticketing operations, which include

  • Sales to other large ticket users, such as VANOC's corporate sponsors, people from the International Olympic Committee and the 80 or so national Olympic Committees that are expected to field teams for the 2010 Games, as well as sales to national and international tour operators;

  • Although VANOC won't be running the day-to-day operations of the ticketing business, it does want equipment installed so that VANOC staff can monitor all aspects of ticket sales and inventory;

  • It will, of course, need full financial reporting of sales.

    VANOC sees the selected supplier as handling all ticketing operations and being the main point of contact for sales of tickets to the public. This would include providing an internet site, phone center, staff and equipment that is typically used at venue sales and outlets. It's possible, says VANOC that the project may need to include support for "a random-allocation process" if demand exceeds the number of tickets available for events, and a "ticket-exchange system."

    One of the issues faced by organizers of the Torino Winter Olympics and the Athens Summer Games was large swaths of empty seats at events during the first week or so of their Games. Although the tickets for those seats had been sold to corporate or other sponsors, those organizations had been unable, or unwilling, to distribute them. That meant international television impressions the Games were not well attended, or that people were uninterested in the events. VANOC revenue chief Dave Cobb, who has a National Hockey League background, has said that there are Canadian ticketing systems available for the NHL that allowed quick reallocation of unused tickets, and he felt it was possible to prevent such an issue plaguing broadcasts of the 2010 Games.

    "We sold every ticket, and they were all used," Cobb said after returning from Torino. "We [in the NHL] used technology, and we put in systems for them to make them available for sale or to pass on to others. Season-ticket holders, for instance, could forward tickets by e-mail for someone else to use them on the day of a game, or even the hour before the game started, because the bar code [that tracked the tickets' use] could be printed out on a standard sheet of printer paper. There are already ways that technology allows us to redistribute tickets on short notice. I think by the time we start selling tickets for 2010, those systems will be available to make it even easier for tickets to get used."

    Another of the issues VANOC realized from observing Torino was that had a significant effect on ticketing: the evolution of which country will be in a gold-medal contest. "The fact is, people like to see their country's athletes," Cobb has noted. "For example, when the US wasn't in the women's hockey final, there were a lot of tickets available from Americans who were no longer interested in going to see the final. We'll have to make it easy in those situations to somehow get the tickets from people who are no longer interested to those who are, whether it's through a swapping system, or perhaps by making them available to charity groups -- that's the challenge, for us, and we'll have to see what we can do."

    VANOC is telling potential contractors, as well, that all sales of tickets to all Olympic and VANOC sponsors -- corporate, government and Olympic family -- has to go through VANOC, and "the supplier must work collaboratively with VANOC to create the best tools and systems to manage these clients."

    RESOURCES

    VANOC's Expression on Interest document: EOI 2010-038 Ticket Services.pdf

    You can find it on BC Bid at:

    www.bcbid.gov.bc.ca


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 8, 2007

  • Morgan:News:Bronze:Service is published regularly, but the articles are delayed by at least three months to protect our subscribers. For timely news that comes to you, please subscribe to our Gold or Silver service at Morgan:News:2010. Bronze is free for the use of news services and for non-commercial public use under conditions described at: Morgan:News:2010:Bronze (There is a nominal charge for certain commercial uses, as described there.) You can use Google to search the site, simply add “site:morgan-news.com” after your search terms.


    Morgan:News:2010 |General| #2078

    BC PLACE 2010 VENUE ROOF DEFLATION MAKES THE NEWS AROUND THE WORLD

    The news about the deflation of the BC Place Stadium roof during a wind storm, and the information that it is one of VANOC's venues, ricocheted quickly around the world as news agencies picked up the story from their own sources, wire services, Internet commentary and local media.

    Within two hours of the collapse, for instance, the story was making news in Jakarta, Indonesia, and rippling through all of the major news operations in North America and Europe by the end of the day it happened, complete with links to cell-phone video and TV footage of the flapping, shredded panel. It was even broadcast today on the website of the venerable insurance company, Lloyds of London, which picked up the abbreviated Dow Jones Newswires distribution of an Associated Press story, although that didn't mention the 2010 connection.

    The blogosphere has been rife with informal commentary about it as well over the weekend.

    Reports were transmitted by various media in key 2010 markets such as Seattle and the major cities of Oregon and California, was well as in Toronto, Edmonton, Calgary and Montreal in Canada, the US capital, Washington and the American financial capital, New York. In other countries, it made the news in Pakistan, Australia, Romania, South Africa, China and India, all in the last few days. The major news agencies that carried stories included Canadian Press, Associated Press, Bloomberg and Reuters, while the senior Internet news agencies Yahoo and MSNBC also carried reports that were regularly updated.

    BC Place officials hope to have the repairs done and the roof re-inflated in about 10 days or so -- the next trade-show event is 15 days away -- and have made temporary arrangements, including sandbagging and vacuum trucks -- to deal with rain draining from the bowl-shaped fabric into the centre of the building's floor. More storms packing rain, wind and sleet are forecast for Vancouver over the next week.

    The building, owned by BC Pavilion, a BC government corporation, was built 23 years ago. The Teflon-coated fabric roof's life expectancy was, technically, about 25 years. VANOC is expected to take possession of the building late in 2009 and return it about the end of April, 2010.


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 8, 2007


    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2077

    Here are three more moguls we ran into today:

    COSPORTS REACHES OLYMPIC TICKETING SPONSORSHIP WITH AUSTRALIA

  • Global Sports Consultants, which does business under the name CoSports, has reached a sponsorship deal with the Australian Olympic Committee to sell tickets and related package services in the country through to 2012, including those offered by the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. The sponsorship agreement with the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) and the Australian Olympic Teams that travel to the 2008, 2012 and 2012 Games gives the U.S. headquartered firm the official sponsor role for hospitality programs and management services, corporate and consumer ticket and travel packages, and individual tickets. It means that CoSport will provide hospitality services for the AOC and its athletes and their families, the Australian Olympic Team sponsors, the Aussie national sports federations and their members as well as for the public. Sead Dizdarevic, the founder, chairman and CEO of CoSport, says, "The Australian Olympic Committee and the Australian Olympic teams have always been the very best at what they do, and so we are honoured to be chosen as their exclusive partner. There are no better Olympic fans in the world than the people in Australia, and we guarantee that Australian fans will have the best access to the Games for the next six years." Olympic hospitality packages to be offered by CoSport, which had an exclusive right to sell Torino Games tickets in Canada last year, include: luxury accommodations, premium event tickets, accredited transportation, catering and management of these services. During the 2006 Torino Olympic Winter Games CoSport hosted several thousand individual guests and managed the hospitality programs for dozens of corporate clients in Australia, Canada and the U.S.

    VANOC TO EXPAND ITS ARTS FESTIVAL MANAGEMENT BY MAY

  • VANOC is expected to hire in the next month or two an artistic director with at least 10 years experience to oversee the development of the arts festivals that are to be part of the Cultural Olympiad that is part of the 2010 Winter Games program for both the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Each set of Games will have its own festival programming. The festivals are expected to encompass regional, national and international entertainment that reflect the "unique culture" of Greater Vancouver and Whistler, BC and Canada "in all artistic disciplines across the performing arts, visual arts, aboriginal arts and culture, literary arts, media arts, street and site entertainment," according to VANOC planning. VANOC has already hired a vice-president of Culture and Ceremonies, and a director of the Cultural Olympiad, and, so far, strategic direction, themes, priorities and program delivery models have been developed and set. The two festival programs are to use these for specific development. The artistic director of the festivals is expected to evaluate and select programming proposals from potential community groups according to "artistic merit, financial feasibility, logistical feasibility, program compatibility, partnership leveraging," and the like. The person will also negotiate agreements as well as oversee the contracting process with artists, companies and communities selected by VANOC for sponsored and co-produced events. They'll also be working with "foreign cultural agencies to develop funded programming... featuring artists from other IOC nations." The role will also involve developing and maintaining corporate relationships with artists, arts presenters and producers.

    FIJI TO HELP PAVE WAY FOR TEMPORARY WORKERS TO GET TO BC

  • The new military government in Fiji says it intends to hire a recruitment company to help Fijians find temporary work in British Columbia, in response to labour shortages faced by contractors ahead of the 2010 Olympics Games. The decision comes about two months after the Canadian government's Immigration ministry relaxed some of its rules in an effort to ease the worker shortage in western Canada. Fiji's High Commissioner to Canada, Jesoni Vitusagavulu, told the Fiji Times newspaper the company was expected to visit Fiji in mid-January "to assess skills availability and will be visiting Vatukoula as the skills and experience of a lot of people that have been made redundant were needed in Canada." The Fiji consulate in Vancouver, he said, is reviewing the program so that "appropriate action can be taken to accelerate recruitment" from Fiji. "Consul Ashwant Dwivedi has obtained the list of occupations under the pressure of British Columbia and Alberta and it has many skills that are in surplus supply in Fiji. We'll be focusing on skills that are surplus in Fiji so that our efforts do not adversely affect local industries which also need a lot of the skills required by Canada. Consul Dwivedi is also expected to discuss this with British Columbia's Labour Minister, Claude Richmond, this week. The labour shortage is due to a major construction boom in western Canada, with the 2010 Winter Games contributing less than 1% to it.


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 8, 2007


    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2076

    Here are three moguls we ran into today:

    BELL CANADA AND MUSIC GROUP TO DEMONSTRATE NEW OWN THE PODIUM CONTRIBUTION

  • A joint comment from VANOC and Bell Canada spokesmen says the telecommunications sponsor of the 2010 Games and the Canadian pop musical group Barenaked Ladies "will announce a unique partnership" on Wednesday morning in Toronto that is designed to help support Own the Podium 2010 (OTP-2010). That's private-public plan budgeted at C$110 million over five years that's designed to help Canada's winter Olympic athletes win medals at the 2010 Winter Games. Representatives from Bell Enterprises, particularly Renato Discenza, senior vice-president of Sales for Ontario, and Barenaked Ladies front man Ed Robertson will join former Canadian speedskating athlete Andrew Godbout, an OTP 2010 recruitment athlete in what the VANOC and Bell spokesmen call "an interactive demonstration showcasing Bell's contribution to Own the Podium 2010 technology." Discenza is responsible for sales of interconnection products to large companies, but he's also in charge of the company's community-relations portfolio in Ontario. Bell, shortly after becoming VANOC's first corporate sponsor in a deal worth C$200 million to VANOC, was the initial contributor to the Own the Podium 2010 with a contribution of C$15 million in 2005. Since then, six other major corporate sponsors of VANOC -- General Motors, HBC, McDonald's Restaurants, PetroCanada, Royal Bank and the renovations company Rona -- have becoming contributors to the program, along with the Canadian government.

    2014'S WINTER OLYMPICS CITIES ALL TO MAKE WEDNESDAY DEADLINE

  • The three cities vying to host the 2014 Winter Olympics and be part of the 2010 Winter Games closing ceremonies -- Pyeongchang, South Korea; Salzburg, Austria; and Sochi, Russia -- all say their candidature files, the final bid documents on which the IOC's vote will be based -- will be in the hands of IOC officials in Lausanne, Switzerland by the Wednesday deadline. Sochi submitted its bid today, with Pyeongchang expected to follow tomorrow. Salzburg's bid is due to arrive on Wednesday. The IOC will select the host city on July 4 in Guatemala City.

    AD HOC POLL RESULTS JUST MAKES YOU SHAKE YOUR HEAD

  • It's about as unscientific as they come but the BC survey company Angus Reid has one of its informal web polls on its forum site asking those visiting the page if the roof on BC Place Stadium, which ripped and deflated during a wind storm last week, should be repaired, or whether a new venue for the Stadium's 2010 uses should be built, presumably by VANOC. The 2010 organizing committee has booked the Stadium to host the 2010 opening and closing ceremonies, as well as the nightly medal and some other entertainment events during the run of the Games. As of a few moments ago, Repair the Roof had received 62% of the established votes, but a startling 38% felt a new venue ought to be built. No, it doesn't give the numbers of people who voted for a new venue, nor their IQs.

    RESOURCES

    The Angus Reid poll:

    rm.angusreidforum.com/?cid=214


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 8, 2007


    Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #2075

    THE PROCESS OF ASSEMBLING 2010'S TICKETING SYSTEM HAS BEEN LAUNCHED

    The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) has begun the construction of one of its key methods of dealing with the public -- its ticketing system -- with an international call for contractors interested in the project.

    "The sale and distribution of tickets will be a key element in ensuring the success of the Games," says VANOC. "This will particularly be true for the marketing, sale and distribution of tickets to the Canadian general public. The ticket sales will, for many, be the first and most important encounter with VANOC. Because of this, it is important that the sale and distribution of tickets is fair and equitable, and the process to purchase tickets is clear and easy to follow." VANOC has said as late as last October that it hopes to start selling tickets in 2008.

    It's starting the process of setting up such a ticketing system with a request that veteran companies interested in providing the sales strategies, computer systems, software, call centre and employee training respond to a formal Expressions of Interest document by February 5, so VANOC can shortlist the firms that will receive a Request for Proposals file in March that will provide VANOC's requirements in much greater detail.

    VANOC says about 1.8 million tickets will be available for an about 200 sports events at the Games, which will range from gold medal events to preliminaries. In addition, VANOC says it "may be charged with the responsibility to manage and sell tickets to select Olympic Arts Festival events that will be hosted prior to and during the Games."

    Although the EOI doesn't limit the call to Canadian companies, it asks international firms to "indicate the nature and extent of your current operations in Canada, or your strategy for conducting business and operations in Canada." And, it notes, the successful contractor will need to go through a full security check by Canada's RCMP, including a look at whether any of its staff have criminal records; it's a standard condition of all of VANOC's contractors.

    Here's what VANOC wants the ticketing contractor to do, overall:

  • Develop a ticket sales, service and distribution plan, as well as all of the policies and procedures that go along with it, in collaboration with VANOC. That plan is to be designed to manage ticket inventory and sell tickets for both the 2010 Olympic Games and the Paralympic Winter games.

  • Provide the ticketing computer platform -- including software, hardware and the associated staff -- that would help make ticket sales an "efficient customer-friendly process." The platform has to accommodate computerized on-line and "manual" sale of tickets before and during the Games at venues as well as through a range of other locations that VANOC will determine.

  • Provide a national network of outlets for selling and distributing tickets and selling tickets to the Canadian public using the Internet, phone, and physical ticket counters.

    VANOC says it's possible this network may be provided "by one or more partners of VANOC", in which case, it says, the ticketing contractor will be responsible for providing the necessary equipment and staff training for ticket sales at these outlets. Torino used its banking sponsor to provide areas of its retail operations for ticket sales to the public, but VANOC has said in the past that Torino's system was defined by the fact that only its banking sponsor had sufficient distribution outlets in European countries to deal with that type of situation. VANOC has a number of national sponsors with retail outlets throughout the country -- HBC, the Royal Bank and Rona, to name the obvious ones -- that each could potentially provide retail access at hundreds of locations across Canada. Also, VANOC is also expected to have a ticketing outlet at the Vancouver International Airport.

    Ticket sales in other countries is not mentioned in the EOI, but typically, that's done by contractors with defined sales territories hired by the International Olympic Committee and connected to the national Olympic Committee.

    VANOC is leaving open the possibility the ticketing contractor may need to provide "an operating system capable of providing efficient and accurate venue-access control for its temporary and permanent venues." Bell Canada, VANOC's telecommunications sponsor and which runs VANOC's internet presence on Bell servers, has indicated that Bell may manage the front end, but the modules that run the ticketing system may be connected to other computer systems, but exactly how that will happen will depend on what firm wins the ticketing contract.

    There are some specifics made available for the kinds of operational goals VANOC has in mind for the ticket. The contractor, for instance, will be responsible for planning, developing, implementing, testing and running the ticketing operations, which include:

  • Sales to other large ticket users, such as VANOC's corporate sponsors, people from the International Olympic Committee and the 80 or so national Olympic Committees that are expected to field teams for the 2010 Games, as well as sales to national and international tour operators;

  • Although VANOC won't be running the day-to-day operations of the ticketing business, it does want equipment installed so that VANOC staff can monitor all aspects of ticket sales and inventory;

  • It will, of course, need full financial reporting of sales.

    VANOC sees the selected supplier as handling all ticketing operations and being the main point of contact for sales of tickets to the public. This would include providing an internet site, phone center, staff and equipment that is typically used at venue sales and outlets. It's possible, says VANOC that the project may need to include support for "a random-allocation process" if demand exceeds the number of tickets available for events, and a "ticket-exchange system."

    One of the issues faced by organizers of the Torino Winter Olympics and the Athens Summer Games was large swaths of empty seats at events during the first week or so of their Games. Although the tickets for those seats had been sold to corporate or other sponsors, those organizations had been unable, or unwilling, to distribute them. That meant international television impressions the Games were not well attended, or that people were uninterested in the events. VANOC revenue chief Dave Cobb, who has a National Hockey League background, has said that there are Canadian ticketing systems available for the NHL that allowed quick reallocation of unused tickets, and he felt it was possible to prevent such an issue plaguing broadcasts of the 2010 Games.

    "We sold every ticket, and they were all used," Cobb said after returning from Torino. "We [in the NHL] used technology, and we put in systems for them to make them available for sale or to pass on to others. Season-ticket holders, for instance, could forward tickets by e-mail for someone else to use them on the day of a game, or even the hour before the game started, because the bar code [that tracked the tickets' use] could be printed out on a standard sheet of printer paper. There are already ways that technology allows us to redistribute tickets on short notice. I think by the time we start selling tickets for 2010, those systems will be available to make it even easier for tickets to get used."

    Another of the issues VANOC realized from observing Torino was that had a significant effect on ticketing: the evolution of which country will be in a gold-medal contest. "The fact is, people like to see their country's athletes," Cobb has noted. "For example, when the US wasn't in the women's hockey final, there were a lot of tickets available from Americans who were no longer interested in going to see the final. We'll have to make it easy in those situations to somehow get the tickets from people who are no longer interested to those who are, whether it's through a swapping system, or perhaps by making them available to charity groups -- that's the challenge, for us, and we'll have to see what we can do."

    VANOC is telling potential contractors, as well, that all sales of tickets to all Olympic and VANOC sponsors -- corporate, government and Olympic family -- has to go through VANOC, and "the supplier must work collaboratively with VANOC to create the best tools and systems to manage these clients."

    RESOURCES

    VANOC's Expression on Interest document: EOI 2010-038 Ticket Services.pdf

    You can find it on BC Bid at:

    www.bcbid.gov.bc.ca


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 8, 2007

  • Sunday, January 07, 2007

    Morgan:News:Bronze:Service is published regularly, but the articles are delayed by at least three months to protect our subscribers. For timely news that comes to you, please subscribe to our Gold or Silver service at Morgan:News:2010. Bronze is free for the use of news services and for non-commercial public use under conditions described at: Morgan:News:2010:Bronze (There is a nominal charge for certain commercial uses, as described there.) You can use Google to search the site, simply add “site:morgan-news.com” after your search terms.


    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2136

    Here are three moguls we ran into today:

    CANADIAN OLYMPIC COMMITTEE TO GET VANOC TECHNICAL TOUR

  • The Canadian Olympic Committee's technical staff will be arriving in Vancouver next Monday on a four-day official site visit for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. It's the third time it's done this type of visit, and it's the kind of visit that the COC makes of any Olympic Games host and, in fact, the same type of visit most national Olympic committees make for their teams before a set of Games. While the COC staff are in Vancouver and Whistler, they're expected to tour all of VANOC's competition venues and some of the non-competition ones, and meet with senior VANOC staff to get an update on aspects that particularly interests the Canadian Olympic teams, including construction and design details of the venues and Olympic village as well as national Olympic Committee support services, such as accommodation, transportation, accreditation, medical services and technology.

    2010 LEGACIES NOW LOOKING FOR HELP WITH THE TO-BE-HIRED HELP

  • 2010 Legacies Now is looking for a personnel-recruiting consultant with at least five years' experience for a contract to run from March to June. The organization says it needs the assistance in developing job descriptions, write the recruitment ads, figure out where to post the ads, review resumes and develop questions for the interviews. Consultants need to respond to the organization by February 14. The organization is a society that gets the bulk of its funding from the BC government to develop 2010-related social and legacy programs in the areas of sport & recreation, arts, literacy, and volunteerism.

    BC OLYMPICS SECRETARIAT DEVELOPING NEWS CREWS ROSTER

  • The BC provincial government's Olympic and Paralympic Games Secretariat, based in Vancouver, is looking for crews with at least 10 years of experience to do news-style video about Olympic and VANOC activities. The crews need to be experienced in creating, managing and producing current-affairs style stories, interstitial programming (videos that appear on web pages) and marketing videos for broadcast by domestic and international media; as well as viewing in tradeshow and display environments. Secretariat documents say the videos will be designed to "reflect the benefits of British Columbia’s communities in the context of cultural diversity, economic development, live-ability, sport, recreation and tourism." The Secretariat is in the process of building a pre-qualified list of crews it can call upon for work as needed. The closing date for the call is February 16.


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on February 7, 2007


    Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #2135

    HOW THE 2010 OLYMPIC AND PARALYMPIC TORCH RELAYS ARE EXPECTED TO WORK

    Here's our first look at how the 2010 Torch Relays will work.

    Keep in mind throughout this report that the Torch Relays are specifically designed to be a marketing event for the 2010 Games. The general idea is to get as much publicity for the Relays as possible, since that benefits the Games and the Relay's sponsors. The messages of the Relays are expected to primarily be the ones already established for the 2010 Games.

    The next main thing to note: there will be two Relays, one for the Olympics and one for the Paralympics. The Olympics Torch Relay starts in Olympia, Greece, about 100 days before the Opening Olympic Ceremonies in Vancouver (the current VANOC thinking is that it will start on November 5, 2009). From there it goes to Athens, where it will be picked by the Vancouver 2010 organizers and brought to Canada but the path hasn't yet been determined, although it will go through every province and territory in the country.

    The Paralympics Torch Relay starts in Canada only 12 days before the Paralympic Opening Ceremonies in Vancouver. during the two weeks between the Closing Ceremonies of the Olympics and the Opening Ceremonies of the Paralympics. Jim Richards, the new director of the Torch Relays function for the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC), says, "It will not be a traditional relay, because we don't want to stage a B-class event. The Olympic relay will have been across the country, touching thousands and thousands of people. We don't want the Paralympic relay to touch hundreds; we want to make it national, and we want to avoid comparisons with the Olympic Relay."

    Thirdly, each Torch Relay is an independently sponsored event; we expect the core sponsors will be The Olympic Program sponsors of the International Olympic Committee, Coca-Cola and Samsung (cell phone sponsorship), which have 2010 marketing rights. "They'll be given rights and entitlements," Richards says of the relay sponsors, "and it's important that we respect those rights and entitlements."

    The marketing rights of VANOC's existing national and regional sponsors, so far as we've been able to determine, specifically exclude their ability to market in direct association with the Torch Relays, although there are some benefits to them connected with the Relays. There will be coins, trinkets, clothing, jewlery, pins and souvenirs galore marking the event that will be sold through VANOC's regular channels, including through the 528 stores of VANOC's retail sponsor, HBC. The core sponsor of the Paralympic Torch Relay is expected to be Visa. However, Richards says the sponsors will be covering the entire cost of the VANOC portion of the relay, and not the commitments of any communities it travels through. (We'll have more about the commitments in a moment.)

    Since the Paralympic relay is expected to be different, but the details not yet available, we'll look at the Olympics Torch Relay:

  • Richards says about 15,000 relay runners -- the people actually carrying the torch -- will be needed. That means that about 15,000 torches, uniforms, pairs of socks and shoes will also be needed. Each runner will be carrying the torch for a predetermined length of time, and the more well-known the person, particularly if they're are connected to the area, the better. But some of the runners need only have a great story attached to them.

    There will a caravan with three components for the entire length of the run when it's on a roadway; the caravan will be adjusted to compensate for travel by air or rail. The main component will include a broadcast truck and its accompanying camera and switching crews, and several support trucks and vans -- stage trucks for on-the-spot ceremonies, for instance, and sponsor vehicles with the materials and people they need to do on-the-spot activation.

    The broadcasters of the 2010 Games, particularly the host broadcaster, CTV and its affiliated channels, will be carrying portions of the run on a daily basis, including CTV's Canada AM morning show. The caravan will also include security vehicles. Every torch relay in recent years has been disrupted by protesters complaining about either national, regional or local concerns.

    Richards says there will be more than 150 people working on the day-to-day aspects of the Torch Relays, and that includes security. "Right now," he says, "we have an understanding with the RCMP that they'll be supporting us with about 20 officers, but that's not to say that's the only security that will be required on the Relay. As we go through the planning process, we'll be developing the staffing and contracting requirements further, and through our Human Resources department."

    The two smaller components of the caravan are essentially identical, but will leapfrog each other. Each involves a police escort, the runner and a follow-car. One component will be picking up the next runner and moving them into place, and, when the person's individual run is finished, the component will return the runner to where they were picked up.

    VANOC has, so far, held 10 focus-group style discussions with its primary stakeholders -- federal, provincial, and civic governments; federal aboriginal groups such as the Inuit and Metis, as well as other aboriginal groups; the Canadian Olympic Committee; tourism commissions, sponsors and the like -- across Canada. "It was a strong consistent message," says Richards, of what they thought the Games should be, "connecting communities, and motivating Canadians, and that we should be showcasing the heritage and traditions of aboriginals in the regions of Canada." VANOC has only just started work on how to best accomplish the tasks. "There are a lot of exceptional stories to be told, and a lot of exceptional communities."

    Richards says that in the next two months, VANOC will be working on how the concept of extending its brand into the communities on the route of the relay will be accomplished. "We'll be taking information from the focus groups, consumer research and the VANOC brand [identity] itself."

    The first draft of the relay route is only just being written now. Richards says there's no specific way for a community to get itself onto the Torch Relay route, since the route will be chosen by VANOC, which will develop its own criteria, which it will only use internally, to decide which cities and towns that will be on the route. That criteria includes making the route efficient and upholding VANOC's sustainability goals. "We are in the process right now of developing the criteria for the relay routes. We'll take a look at such things as provincial or territorial capitals, past Olympic host cities -- that guarantees you'll be on the Relay route. Certain populations, certain stories to tell, sporting heritage, volunteer basis -- those elements will all start to play into developing the Relay criteria, which, at the end of the day, is established and credible."

    Richards says, however, that communities can, if they feel they have a strong case to make, write him a letter outlining the case. He adds that because the Relay has a strong marketing component, and interesting stories that connect with the Olympics make for good media coverage, "We're also soliciting stories from communities to understand the places that we cannot miss, and the stories that need to be told."

    Richards says the route is also expected to take the torch to key American markets, although the primary focus of the route will be in Canada. "We are definitely considering going into Washington State." He also notes that the Canadian Tourism Commission each year donates the tree that is lit up in New York's Time Square just before Christmas as part of a week-long event. "The timing of that is absolutely perfect for the Torch Relay to cross the border into America." He says there would have to be various international agreements arranged to implement something like that, but, he adds, "That's an example of why it would be interesting and related to go with the Torch Relay into America and Washington State."

    There's also a statescraft aspect to the relay -- any time the relay involves activities in another country, that has to be approved both by the country's government but also by the IOC and the national Olympic Committee of that country, which increases the complexity and time involved in preparing the route.

    Once the draft route is ready, likely towards the end of 2007, invitations will be sent to them. "They'll outline our expectations for the community," says Richards, "and the commitments those communities have to make in order to host the Relay. "Those expectations will be based on the activities proposed and the size of the community... It could be a sunrise prayer, it might be a celebrity runner... just to get us on an Canada AM spot. We might simply be running through a town, or a lunch-time celebration with the mayor on a little stage. Or at the end of the day, it could be a great gala that's being televised nationally." The commitments could range from volunteers to such things as temporary facilties or snow removal, crowd control, paramedics, fire department services...".

    About a year from now, he expects that the communities will have responded, and VANOC will then begin preparing the second draft of the route, with much more detail about what will happen along it. "We'll develop our community task forces that summer [of '08], and by September/October/November, the one-year countdown to the Relay, that's when we'll begin our announcements and press conferences." That will involve a website with the route details and a contest to make it popular. VANOC's torch relay operations will be refitted during the Olympic Games to be ready for the start of the Paralympic relay.

    Richards says the contracts for the torch design, the manufacture of torches and the uniforms are all expected to be offered by way of the formal Request for Proposal or Expressions of Interest documents that will be published by VANOC and which will detail the requirements. "Right now, there's been no decision as to whose going to manufacture the torches. There's not a company in the world that manufactures torches by trade. Every single torch that's been made so far has been done by a company adapting their skill set to developing the torch's engineering and manufacture. For instance, in Salt Lake City [for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games], it was the Coleman camping company that did the torches."

    Other business opportunities, according to Richards, involves lodgings and meals of the Relay crews, volunteers and staff, as well as merchandise sales along the way. There's also tourism, which, if handled right, could evolve into a legacy of tourism for the area. "It's arts-and-crafts, it's restaurants, it's hotels, and the long-term effects of media coverage that occurs throughout the relay," he says. Now, he adds, is the time for business to be brainstorming.

    BACKGROUND

    Here's the overview VANOC timeline for the development of the 2010 Torch Relays:

    2007

    -- To April - Program development, strategic planning

    -- May to October -- Resource assessment

    -- November to December -- Visual elements development, research and preparation activities (begun)

    2008

    -- January to April -- Visual elements development, research and preparation activities (completed)

    -- May to November -- Testing, confirmations and announcements

    -- December -- Planning is finalized (begun)

    2009

    -- January to July -- Planning is finalized (completed)

    -- August to October -- Final preparations

    -- November 5 to December 31 -- Olympic Torch Run (begun)

    2010

    -- to February 12 -- Olympic Torch Run (concludes)

    -- February 13 to February 25 -- VANOC Torch Relay department refits for Paralympic Relay

    -- February 28 to March 12 -- Paralympic Torch Relay runs

    ==

    Things we've learned previously about the 2010 Torch Relay:

  • There were be relatively significant business receptions along the route -- probably about a dozen of them -- during the relays. Those involved special-events catering, signage, event management, public relations and advertising work, over and above what is normally accompanying the torch.

  • Quite a bit of the costs of the Torch Relays are recovered or not incurred by the Organizing Committee (VANOC has specifically not released a budget for the run as yet). Most of the torches, for instance, are sold to those that carried them (they tend to cost about C$350 to C$400 each) or are auctioned off. The vehicles are provided by their respective owners; their fuel is part of the sponsorship. Most of the one-the-scene labour is provided by volunteers or staff provided by the communities on the route.

  • In the Bid Book and as late as November, 2005, the 2010 Olympic Torch Relay was to start 114 days out from the Opening Ceremonies, to mark the 114 years of the modern Olympics. That would be Wednesday, November 18, 2009. A report prepared last year for the IOC on revising Games so they would be kept from becoming bloated recommended that the torch relays be no more than 100 days long. A VANOC document we've seen this month indicates a starting date of November 5, 2009.

  • VANOC sustainability chief, Linda Coady, has told us, VANOC has "an aspiration" to focus on aboriginal tourism and sport, with a focus on aboriginal youth, for BC and Canada through the torch relay and through legacies. "We want that torch to land in aboriginal communities, and that aboriginal youth in those communities have a chance to participate in the torch run," she told us.

  • Expect production of an official Torch Relay album after the Games, and similar things, and a Torch coin from the Mint before the Games.

  • Those at VANOC who have taken part in an Olympic torch relay as runners include CEO John Furlong, executive vice-president of Ceremonies, Terry Wright, senior vice-president of Revenue, Marketing and Communications, Dave Cobb and his Sponsorship Department vice-president, Andrea Shaw, Charmaine Crooks and president of the Canadian Olympic Committee, Michael Chambers, who are both VANOC directors.

  • Runners can be as young as 12, but need parental consent if they're still children in the jurisdiction where they're are running. Last we heard, they can't be elected politicians, nor running for office, at the time they carry the torch. Since the route is fixed, runners, who are usually chosen in community or regional contests, are also responsible for getting themselves to their assigned pick-up area if they don't live nearby, and back home again. Those type of transportation costs, and any associated motel and meal costs are the runner's responsibility. The torches are carried by each runner for length that's roughly about a lap around a football field, but that's quite variable.

  • Back in May, 2005, VANOC CEO John Furlong spoke about initial planning for the Torch Relays. VANOC was thinking about using CP Rail's system to market the Games -- and the idea of peace at the same time. As Furlong put it, "We envision a unique and compelling concept -- a peace train travelling across the country - on railway lines that track just above the world's longest undefended border -- showcasing and celebrating - the values of peace, solidarity, fair play and profiling the cultural diversity of Canada. A peace train could be a symbolic but powerful way to showcase the values of peaceful sport and unity among people. And as the peace train travels across our vast nation, we will take the opportunity to inspire Canadians, to touch the soul of the nation and celebrate our remarkable differences." And, he said, the 2010 Olympic Torch Relay, which will be travelling more than 20,000 kilometres "from the northernmost part of the Arctic to all parts of the country from coast to coast," will "carry a timeless message of peace and harmony through the power of sport."

  • VANOC is planning to award apparel licenses to cover the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Torch Relays.

  • Communities in BC that have been told, at one point or another by VANOC, they'll be on the Torch Relay run: Prince George, Quesnel, the Queen Charlotte Islands (also known by its aboriginal name, Haida Gwaii) west of Prince Rupert, Vancouver and Whistler. Calgary and Montreal (as former host cities) are also expected to be on the route.

  • Among events that have been held in connection with other torch relays: public community wide "searches" for torch runners.

  • Alem International of Louisville, which is northwest of Denver, Colorado, and The Pace Group of Vancouver, run by Norman Stowe, won contracts late last year with VANOC to provide consulting services for the Olympic and Paralympic Torch Relays.

  • The cauldrons that will burn while the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games: the design will be led by VANOC, but actually designed and engineered by contractors. The cauldron design process has not yet started.

  • In 1956 in Cortina, the Olympic Winter Games were broadcast live for the first time. During the Opening Ceremony, the final Olympic torchbearer ran into the stadium where the opening ceremonies were being held. There was a television cable that was lying on the ice surface of the stadium. The torchbearer tripped over it and fell.


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on February 7, 2007


    Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #2134

    WANT TO BE THE EXECUTIVE PRODUCER OF THE 2010 OPENING AND CLOSING CEREMONIES? NOW'S THE TIME TO SAY SO

    The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) is looking for you, if you feel you've got the ability to be the executive producer of its four Opening and Closing Ceremonies, a set each for the Olympics and the Paralympic portions of its program.

    And, unlike the three-hour extravaganzas of last year's Torino Closing Ceremonies, VANOC's might still be "state-of-the-art" extravaganzas, but they will be no more than two hours each.

    VANOC is asking anybody, or any company, in the world who thinks they have the ability to assemble a primarily Canadian production team to make themselves known to Sandra Smith, a VANOC contract administrator, by the afternoon of March 1st. The deal is mainly about the Olympic Ceremonies, but if VANOC likes what they see, you could also end up producing the Paralympic Ceremonies, too.

    They don't want to know what you think the Ceremonies ought to be. They don't want to hear your ideas or proposals for how the Ceremonies ought to be mounted, or flow, or even what ought to be in them. In fact, if you tell them anything like that, they'll keep it and might use it, even if you're not hired, because that's the arrangement you'll sign if you want to be considered for the job.

    All they want to know is: have you done something like this before? Can you describe some of it, maybe show them a short, representative video of your work? Can you do it for a broadcast audience of roughly three billion?

    What will happen after March 1st depends entirely on who shows up at VANOC's door. The office of VANOC's executive vice-president of Ceremonies, Terry Wright, is to decide later on whether it needs to shortlist candidates, explore further what they can do or have done, or even interview a few of them.

    Whatever happens, the public is not going to know anything beyond what VANOC feels like telling them, because part of the deal you'll sign with VANOC just to be considered is full secrecy. You can't tell anybody you've expressed an interest. You can't issue any news releases about it. If the media come calling, you're to refer them to VANOC's communications staff. And you're being asked to provide information to VANOC that is likely to get you screened by the RCMP for security reasons. If you are chosen, all of your work will be owned by the International Olympic Committee at the end.

    VANOC is keeping -- and is expected to do its best to keep -- the event details of the Ceremonies secret until they are held, but we've learned a bit of information about the basic concept. According to documents, "The Ceremonies will be a celebration of the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, and will reflect the region, the people and the culture of the host city Vancouver, [the] host mountain resort [of] Whistler, the province of British Columbia, and Canada. In particular, they will highlight Canada's creativity, linguistic duality, cultural diversity and aboriginal heritage... VANOC will create ceremonies that honour the importance of gathering the world's peoples together in peace, that respect IOC Ceremonial protocols, and that celebrate the Olympic Movement and the presence of the world's finest athletes. The Ceremonies will be designed to highlight the creativity and artistic flair of Canadians. The Opening Ceremony will welcome the Olympic Family and our guests, provide the opportunity to present who we are as British Columbians and Canadians, and highlight the spirit that inspires the athletes and commits them to the competition ahead. The Closing Ceremony will celebrate the achievements of the athletes, volunteers and host community."

    We also know there will be about 2,500 athletes from about 80 countries who will be involved in the Ceremonies. We've also learned a bit about how the success of the Ceremonies will be judged -- besides public reaction: "The success of the Ceremonies will be measured in part by the degree to which the host city, region and nation are evoked in the production."

    Even though the executive producer job is open to anybody in the world and they'll be given fairly wide parameters, VANOC says, "A strong British Columbian and Canadian presence on the executive producer's creative and production teams is anticipated. The executive producer is encouraged to use British Columbian and Canadian entities whenever services or talents meet the standards deemed necessary."

    The Opening Olympic Ceremony will take place on February 12, 2010, and the Closing one will occur two weeks later on February 28. The Opening Paralympic Ceremony occurs on March 12, and the Closing on March 21, times for them all still to be determined. They'll all be held in BC Place Stadium, the first indoors venue for an Olympic Opening or Closing ceremony and, at a total capacity of 59,000 people, it's twice the size of the stadium where the Closing ceremonies were held at Torino.

    The fact that it's indoors and the climate can be controlled, says VANOC, should allow for some additional innovation from the executive producer and the creativity team. "It presents an opportunity to stretch the

    boundaries of ceremonies' spectacle using state-of-the-art lighting, projection, sound and special-effects technology," VANOC officials note.

    Anything that's done has be approved by both VANOC and the International Olympic Committee. But perhaps the best thing about the ceremonies is that, according to the Olympic Charter, only the president of the IOC and VANOC will be allowed to say a few words, and only during the actual opening and closing ceremonies. The IOC Charter adds, "During the entire period of the Olympic Games, including all ceremonies, no speeches of any kind may be held by any representative of any government or other public authority, nor by any other politician, in any [VANOC] venue."

    RESOURCES

    This link provides you with the PDF file of VANOC's documents on all of this:

    tinyurl.com/2xt54x


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on February 7, 2007

  • Friday, January 05, 2007

    Morgan:News:Bronze:Service is published regularly, but the articles are delayed by at least three months to protect our subscribers. For timely news that comes to you, please subscribe to our Gold or Silver service at Morgan:News:2010. Bronze is free for the use of news services and for non-commercial public use under conditions described at: Morgan:News:2010:Bronze (There is a nominal charge for certain commercial uses, as described there.) You can use Google to search the site, simply add “site:morgan-news.com” after your search terms.


    Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #2074

    WHISTLER DESIGN PANEL REPORTEDLY WORRIED ABOUT ASPECTS OF OLYMPIC VILLAGE

    Documents made public by Whistler show that the municipality's design panel committee still isn't happy with some aspects of the planning for the 2010 Olympic Village just south of the town.

    The Village's first design-panel review hearing took place on November 29, and panel members received a full briefing on the project from the applicant team of architect Ray Letkeman and two landscape architects, Tom Barratt and Laurelin Fondacaro. Mike Kirkegaard, Whistler's manager of its Resort Development Planning department and a planning analyst for the department, Chris Midgley; Bob MacPherson, Whistler's general manager of Community Life and Mike Vance, the General Manager of Policy & Program Development, were there to provide their portions of an extensive overview of the project. The general developer of the project is Whistler 2020 Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Whistler's resort government.

    They told the committee, chaired by Philip Davis, that even though there is now less than three years to provide the village for VANOC, the purposes of some of the buildings are better understood than others at this stage of planning. One building, for example, known as C2 has the potential for a hostel with commercial area on the main floor, while building D will be the Athletes Lodge, while building F will include VANOC's high-performance athletic centre. A restaurant is to act as an anchor for the area. Also discussed was how the transportation and accreditation systems would work during the 2010 Games, and that they included guest passes, and athlete accreditation from the transportation parking zone into the Athletes’ Village, and that there would be more than 200 homes in the core area following the Olympics Games.

    The design panel said they were concerned about the central street in the Village being, as one put it, "a street to nowhere", even though the main street is supposed to be the business core of the village. They also didn't like the idea of planting trees in the village -- which is surrounded by a forest -- because it would not be "consistent with the Whistler esthetic" connected with such planting. The panel was split, though on whether it was officially concerned that the plan failed to represent a sustainable development, even though the developer wold be applying for LEED accreditation on the project. Some members were also concerned about the village's road layout and grade on site.


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 5, 2007


    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2073

    Here are three moguls we ran into today:

    BELL'S WHISTLER INTERNET LINK BREAKS, BUT IT'S NOT THEIR NEW 2010 SYSTEM

  • Bell Canada, which is in the process of constructing a major optical cable link between the Greater Vancouver area and Whistler as part of the communications project to host the 2010 Games, had its Internet services cut by a truck accident during a storm earlier today, severing high-speed digital service to and from Whistler. But Bell spokesman Linda Low said the new optical link wasn't affected by the accident; it's still in the tuning stage, she said, and not yet in service, and, had it been in service, the accident would not have affected customers. Bell is using a another carrier to host its Internet linkage until the full Internet-Protocol service for the 2010 Games comes on line through the optical link. The outage is expected to be repaired by this evening, and all other Bell telecommunications, including land lines, cell phones and dial-up Internet connections, were also unaffected. Bell doesn't have residential Internet service in most of Western Canada yet, she said, so the customers affected by the Internet outage were commercial.

    VANOC SIDESTEPS CONCERN ABOUT BC PLACE ROOF DEFLATION

  • "BC Place has a highly experienced team of professionals and we have every confidence in the ability of their engineers to rectify the situation. It's a terrific facility that has a rich history of hosting some of BC and Canada's most memorable moments, and we look forward to hosting our ceremonies in BC Place for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games." That was the only public comment from Guy Lodge, VANOC's vice-president of Services and Overlay to the news that the air-supported dome of BC Place, the building VANOC has contracted to use for 2010's ceremonies, suddenly deflated this afternoon. One of the Teflon-coated fibreglass panels that comprise the roof ripped where it was held at the rim of the huge stadium during a rain-and-sleet storm, releasing the air pressure that holds the roof up. The 20-year-old building, not being used at the time although about 30 workers were on the field when the rip occurred, has seating for 60,000 and contains an area large enough for a football field. The structure is designed so that cables hold the roof off the ground and the seating if it deflates.

    THREE VANOC EXECS HEAD FOR NORTHERN CANADA NEXT WEEK

  • VANOC’s executive team will be starting its four-day northern Canadian tour on Monday. Travelling from the Yukon to the Northwest Territories and then to Nunavut will be VANOC CEO John Furlong, David Guscott, the executive vice-president of Corporate Strategy and Government Relations and Donna Wilson, executive vice-president of Human Resources, Sustainability and International Client Services. In Whitehorse, in the Yukon, they'll meet with the staff and volunteers of the 2007 Canada Winter Games. In Yellowknife, in the Northwest Territories, they'll meet officials of the community and members of the chamber of commerce. In Kugluktuk, an 1,100-person village, they will meet with a group of school children who raised money in 2005 to travel to Whistler. Among other things, they took rocks from their area to Whistler and built an inukshuk, which is a symbol of their community and looks like the 2010 Olympic Winter Games logo.


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 5, 2007


    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2072

    Here are three moguls we ran into today:

    ROOF OF ONE OF VANOC'S CONTRACTED VENUES DEFLATES

  • The inflated roof at B.C. Place stadium in Vancouver, which is to be the contracted location for VANOC's official Opening and Closing ceremonies in 2010, has collapsed. A number of media at the scene report nobody was hurt; the air pressure required to support the roof is only five pounds per square foot. It was designed so that if the roof deflated, cables would hold it about six metres (20 feet) above the seating and ground levels. The tough fabric dome came down into the bowl of the stadium during yet another storm in the Greater Vancouver area that brought wind and heavy, wet snow to the area. That, in itself, should not have bothered the roof, which has seen much worse weather in its history, but the main reports indicate witnesses saw a panel of the air-supported roof come loose at a concrete rim on the building, and that may have released the pressure sufficiently for the collapse. The area has been pummeled by a series of severe storms in the last two months. The air-supported roof consists of two translucent Teflon-coated fiberglass membranes, plus and a two-way steel cable system that is anchored to the 700-metre (2,296 foot), U-shaped, concrete compression beam at the top of the structure. The roof has a rise of 27 metres (90 feet) when inflated. The building was constructed in 1986. at the time of construction, it was the world's largest air-supported dome stadium.

    ARKLAY NAMED TO DESIGN CTV'S OLYMPIC BRANDING

  • CTV has appointed the person who will be responsible for brand management, protection and design elements for all of the Canadian broadcaster's Olympic marks leading into and during the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games and 2012 Summer Games in London. Jon Arklay has been named the new vice-president of Creative Services and Brand at CTV,Inc. He will oversee the creative brand development of CTV's 21 television stations and 15 specialty channels. Arklay was part of the corporate group that developed the company's video presentation to the International Olympic Committee, which was part of the bid that CTVglobemedia and Rogers Media made to secure Canadian broadcast rights to the 2010 Olympic Winter Games and 2012 Olympic Summer Games. Arklay, to this point, was the Director of Creative Services for CTV Inc.'s family of networks for the past six years, handling the visual brand identity of the CTV national and local news, eTalk, TSN's SportsCentre, NHL on TSN, CFL on TSN and Discovery Channel's Daily Planet.

    TELSAT TO LAUNCH NEW HIGH-DEF TV SATELLITE IN TIME FOR 2010 GAMES

  • Telsat -- the satellite operator that VANOC's communications sponsor, Bell Canada, is in the process of selling -- says it and its new parent company, Loral Space, will build a new satellite to be launched a few months before the 2010 Olympics. Nimiq 5 is to be designed to handle high-definition television broadcasts. it is expected to be the latest in the Ottawa-based company's line of satellites carrying digital television to Canadian viewers. Bell ExpressVu, one of the consortium companies that bid on the broadcasting rights to the 2010 Games, will have exclusive use of the satellite "to provide a wide range of high-definition and specialty television services to its subscribers." Dan Goldberg, Telesat's president and CEO says. "Nimiq 5 will augment Bell ExpressVu's portfolio of advanced direct-to-home satellite services." The satellite, with 32 transponders, will have an expected life of 15 years. On December 18th, Telesat's parent company, BCE Inc., agreed to sell the satellite operator for C$3.42 billion to a new acquisition company formed by Canada's Public Sector Pension Investment Board, known as PSP Investments, and Loral Space & Communications Inc.


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 5, 2007


    Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #2071

    2010 "ABORIGINAL SUMMIT" TO FOCUS ON OLYMPIC AND VANOC BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES

    We now have more information on the 2010 Aboriginal Summit Conference scheduled to take place primarily on February 1 and 2 in downtown Vancouver (Vancouver mayor Sam Sullivan is the guest speaker at a reception in the evening on January 31, the night before the conference begins).

    The original rationale for the conference, supported by the BC Government and the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC), was to figure out how the 2010 Aboriginal Secretariat could fund an aboriginal pavillion during the 2010 Games that would be built in downtown Vancouver, but the conference, which is now charging C$350 per person for participation, has changed its focus entirely, due to BC government involvement.

    Now, it's all about business, with a number of VANOC executives and a few politicians involved.

    True, there is still aboriginal involvement. After the opening speech -- by Gibby Jacob, VANOC's aboriginal board director -- concludes, there's a plenary session called "2010 Aboriginal Opportunities" that features a panel scheduled to involve: Gary Youngman, the consulting director of Aboriginal Participation for VANOC, David Henley, the federal government's acting director-general of Indian and Northern Affairs; the 2010 Aboriginal Secretariat's executive director and organizer of the conference, Tewanee Joseph; Brian Krieger, the director of the 2010 Commerce Centre, part of the BC government's Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games Secretariat; John McLaughlin, the vice president of Finance for VANOC and Donna Wilson, the executive vice president of Human Resources, Sustainability and International Client Services for VANOC.

    And once that's finished, BC premier Gordon Cambell and VANOC's chairman of the Board, Jack Poole, will take part in an hour-long ceremony to launch the 2010 aboriginal logo. That event will include the representatives of the four aboriginal tribes whose traditional territory covers the land on which VANOC's venues are being constructed or reconstructed. They include chief Leonard Andrew of the Lil'Wat near Pemberton and Whistler, chief Ernie Campbell of the Musqueam (prounounced MUHS-quee-uhm) in Vancouver, chief Bill Williams of Squamish tribe near Squamish and Whistler and chief Leah George-Wilson, of the Tsleil-Waututh ( ) tribe on the North Shore of Vancouver.

    From that point on, it's the government and economic development. Campbell, for instance, is to provide the keynote speech during the first day's luncheon.

    In the afternoon there will be several concurrent workshops. During the first half of the afternoon, they include one about ways that companies can get involved in building, supplying and servicing the 2010 Games, with a panel that includes Dan Doyle, the executive vice president of Construction, and Terry Wright, the executive vice president of Service Operations and Ceremonies, both senior officials of VANOC. Also on the panel are Kyle Leo of an aboriginal company called Resource Business Ventures Limited Partnership, and Terry Ward of Newhaven Construction.

    Resource Business Ventures, a subsidiary of Creekside Resources, is a Lil'wat business that received a VANOC C$6.5 million contract for site preparation of VANOC's Nordic Centre in the Callaghan Valley near Whistler. Newhaven is a Squamish tribe company that received a VANOC contract to build a day lodge and some service buildings at the venue. VANOC said early in the construction process that it would be deliberately directing a percentage of its capital funding to aboriginal businesses.

    Another involves talking about how retail and licensing work under VANOC. The panel includes Tewanee Joseph; along with Dennis Kim, the Director of Licensing and Merchandising for VANOC; representatives of VANOC's primary retail sponsor, the Hudson's Bay Company; and possibly representatives of some of the nine other companies that have been approved by VANOC for retail supply and distribution.

    On the second day, the conference is to be opened by the minister in charge of the federal government's 2010 responsibilities, David Emerson, with a keynote speech. That's to be followed by concurrent break-out sessions. One is to be about aboriginal tourism, which will include VANOC's new director of the Torch Relay, Jim Richards, along with a panel comprised of Brenda Baptiste, the chair of the Board of Directors for Aboriginal Tourism British Columbia and Jean Larose, the CEO of the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network.

    Another session involves business opportunities in the Olympic's arts and culture. That is to involve chief Leonard George, who is also the executive director of Economic Development and the Chief Negotiator for the Tsleil-Waututh tribe; Robert Kerr, VANOC's Program Director for the Cultural Olympiad; VANOC's Marti Kulich, who is the program director of Ceremonies and Linda Oglov, the vice president of Olympic Partnerships for VANOC's major sponsor, Bell Canada.

    The conference winds up with the second day's lunch, with VANOC CEO John Furlong as the keynote speaker.

    RESOURCES

    The main article we wrote talking about the rationale for the conference:

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

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

    The registration website, whose domain is owned by the BC government:

    www.2010businesssummit.com


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 5, 2007

  • Thursday, January 04, 2007

    Morgan:News:Bronze:Service is published regularly, but the articles are delayed by at least three months to protect our subscribers. For timely news that comes to you, please subscribe to our Gold or Silver service at Morgan:News:2010. Bronze is free for the use of news services and for non-commercial public use under conditions described at: Morgan:News:2010:Bronze (There is a nominal charge for certain commercial uses, as described there.) You can use Google to search the site, simply add “site:morgan-news.com” after your search terms.


    Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #2070

    VANOC TO SOON FOCUS ON ITS DETAILED STRATEGY FOR OLYMPIC AND PARALYMPIC TORCH RELAYS

    The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) is expected to staff its Torch Relay section of its marketing function with operational management in the next few weeks.

    The torch relays are major VANOC projects. For Torino's Games, 10,000 runners took part in the run, each one going about 300 metres (about 1,000 feet) many of them buying their torch, which cost C$460 each. There is significant marketing, security and planning involved with the Torch Relays, particularly corporate marketing. Each runner is expected to have at least one escort for security reasons. VANOC officials have said, for instance, that they want the 2010 torch to pass through every major city in Canada and well as communities in each province and territory, plus numbers of towns and cities in British Columbia.

    Their jobs will be to begin major planning for the Relays for the Olympic and Paralympic Games -- there's a Torch Relay for each -- and all the marketing -- and anti-ambush marketing -- that goes along with it. That includes public relations and sponsorship activities that are separate from VANOC's general sponsorship program.

    A couple of the key positions of the team that will be involved in the Relay's operations and who will be coming into VANOC's offices first a few weeks from now are the manager of Torch Relay Advance Operations, and the manager of Torch Relay Promotions.

    Besides doing the planning, they'll both be travelling with the torches, a process that is expected to take three months, according to initial plans. (There's no word yet on the route.) But they'll be responsible for supervising a large staff that will be involved in the relays, including the recruitment, setting "performance objectives," as well as doing the usual management of people: feedback, motivating and coaching.

    The Advance Ops manager, according to VANOC's specific plans, will help develop the celebrations strategies for the route and work with the communities through which the torches travel to coordinate the events that surround the passage of the torch through them, as well work with the security operations for that side of things. The person -- still to be hired but VANOC is sifting through resumes right now -- is also to be responsible for developing the plans for the support caravan that goes with each torch relay, and "alternative transport modes" for it, as well as identifying the technical requirements of relay operations.

    The Advance Ops will also deal with local, provincial and federal governments for support services for the relays -- and all the contracts that will involve, not to mention all the supplier services for it. There will also be community celebration planning guides to write, edit, print and distribute, and set up test events.

    The Torch Relay Promotions manager is to prepare the image strategies, work out how all the official presentations will take place, deal with all of the sponsorship services, and work on the development of the torch and the uniforms of the runners. The manager, expected to be hired in February or March, will be responsible for media operations, promotions, releases and on-site relay activities. They'll be setting up the ambush-marketing protection programs that will deal with the torch relays. They'll also be dealing with the activities around the sale of branded consumer products from VANOC and sponsors, and that'll include Torch Relay albums, clothing, photos and the like.

    This person will work with VANOC's Marketing, Sponsorship and Communications people to develop and implement the sponsorship marketing plan and programs for the relays, supervise the promotional, activation and operational plans of Torch Relay sponsors, work with host, domestic and international broadcasters for the arrangements they need to ensure the relays get lots of publicity -- and also work on media relations, as well as various public-relations firms for the Relays. VANOC expects to select at least one and possibly more PR agencies to help build national publicity and awareness of the Relays. We're told there will be special events connected with launch, route and torchbearer announcements.

    BACKGROUND

    Here's what VANOC's Bid Book says about the torch relay: "From Olympia, over the North Pole to Canada's high Arctic and on to Vancouver, the Torch Relay will be a people's event covering 15,000 km on foot, dog sled, snowmobile, horse, plane, and most other means of transport known to Canadians. Over a period of 114 days -- one for each year of the modern Olympic era -- more than 7,000 Canadians of all ages and diverse cultures will carry the Torch. Millions more along the route will be touched by the flame as the Olympic spirit is kindled from coast to coast to coast." Note, however that an IOC-commissioned report on how to compact the Games, and issues about nine months ago, recommended the torch relay be kept to within the host country.

    --

    Here's what the the "A guide for business opportunities in the 2010 Winter Games", a publication by VANOC sponsor Royal Bank, says about the Torch Relay, "Kindled by the sun's rays in Olympia, the Olympic flame travels 10 days around Greece before embarking on a voyage to numerous host countries before arriving in Canada and, ultimately, Vancouver. Passed from hand to hand, the Olympic flame travels by bicycle, horse, train, streetcar, canoe, harbour ferry and even dragon boat. Symbolic of the Olympic Games ideal of peaceful competition, the relay attracts eyes. In 2000, it passed within reach of 85% of the Australian population. In Athens, an estimated 260 million people saw it either on television or at a live event. In 2002 in Utah [at the Winter Games], 1.5 million people attended the Torch Relay events, and organizers say they helped make 3,600 business introductions at 10 receptions during the Relay. Business opportunities included hosting visiting officials and guests, catering, special events supplies, signage, event management and city beautification projects."

    --

    What about security for sponsors and torch bearers? The last time there was a torch relay in Canada, for the Calgary Olympics in 1988, there was an aboriginal political protest aimed at the sponsors of the relay. There was mixed publicity of the protest and reaction to it from various government and media, but the public backlash to the protest was "swift and severe," according to a report done for Whistler in 2004. Several aboriginal groups marked stages of the route to Sydney, Australia, in 2000. In 2006, the torch acted as a focus for diverse protest groups ranging from Campaigners for a Free Tibet to anti-globalization demonstrators. Anti-globalization activists focused on the sponsors of the torch relays during both the 2000 Sydney Summer Games and the 2006 Torino Winter Olympics. At the Torino Olympics, these demonstrations became violent. Demonstrators examined the routes to select crowded locations where these was little opportunity for successful intervention by security teams, according to a University of Glascow study. That same study noted the torch procession" creates huge challenges" for security officials. "On the 5th February 2006, TAV protestors in the town of Susa briefly covered the torch with a flag in an attempt to either burn it or to extinguish the flame. More than 1,000 people formed a crowd in which demonstrators were mixed with family groups on a narrow bridge. The runner managed to force through and police arrested the protestors. The procession was then diverted from its intended route through the Val di Susa towns of Bussoleno and Borgone Susa. The police cited 'public order concerns' but the organizers had to insert an additional stage between Oulx and Bardonecchia to accommodate all of the runners who might otherwise have lost their turn carrying the torch. Several hundred protestors carried out their demonstration in Bussoleno despite the absence of the torch. They were able to use a genuine torch that had been stolen during a previous demonstration."

    --

    VISA is expected to be a "presenting sponsor" of at least the Paralympic relay, other sponsors are expected to be Coca Cola and possibly Samsung.

    --

    A report prepared for the City of Richmond's art panel last year recommended suggesting to VANOC that the torch look like a Musqueam aboriginal paddle.

    --

    VANOC's vice-president of sustainability, Linda Coady says VANOC has "an aspiration" to focus on aboriginal tourism and sport, with a focus on youth, for BC and Canada, through the torch relay and through legacies. "We want that torch to land in aboriginal communties, and that aboriginal youth in those communities have a chance to participate in the torch run."


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 4, 2007


    Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #2069

    CONTRACT AVAILABLE FOR DISPATCHED-CAR PASSENGER SERVICES, BUT THINGS WILL GO BETTER WITH GM, COKE -- AND DRUG TESTING

    The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) has decided to contract out its overflow requirements for dispatched passenger vehicles in the Greater Vancouver, Whistler, Squamish and Pemberton areas.

    VANOC is offering a formal Request for Proposals from companies for a contract that will run from March to at least until the end of 2008, with the option for annual extensions. But there are a couple of catches: companies interested in submitting a proposal have to use General Motors cars, and the drivers can only offer their passengers beverages with brands owned by Coca-Cola. That's because GM Canada and Coca-Cola are corporate sponsors of VANOC.

    The RFP, which closes January 19 and the contract to be awarded in mid-February, is for ad-hoc services before the Games. "Airport transfers are expected to be the bulk of the requirement," says VANOC, "however general-transportation services will include the provision of transportation between venues, and transfers between locations [in the service] areas. The services must be provided using passenger vehicles only, including sedans, cars, standard seven-passenger vans and 15-passenger vans, but excluding busses and mini-busses. Services will be provided on an if, as and when required basis." VANOC says it may occasionally request a luxury car or SUV, even though it's oriented toward environmental sustainability and its policy on that is included in the RFP, but, it adds, "This is not solely a 'luxury car service' requirement nor a requirement for bus services."

    VANOC notes that it has access to a number of vans, driven by volunteers for the most part, that are provided by GM Canada as part of its sponsorship, and these will be used first. The ad-hoc contract will only come into play when there's a fairly large demand for scheduled services, such as during conferences that VANOC expects to host.

    VANOC says its needs generally fall into two groups: One-off situations and large-event requirements. For the individual situation, "There are a number of guest visits where small numbers of attendees will require services to be scheduled intermittently, including scheduled pick-up and drop-off of VANOC employees and representatives doing business with VANOC." The large event situation involves "events where there are 10 or more incoming guests, and may include conference attendees" or "services may also be required during test events, which are national or international sport competitions held to test VANOC's venues and operational readiness to conduct the Games. These events may require heavy reliance on car services."

    VANOC wants the cars to be clean inside and out, and modern, with no advertising on them, with a vehicle maintenance program. The drivers have to be professionally dressed, preferably with a uniform though it's not a necessity, carry "communication devices", and it expects the supplying company to ensure it maintains drug- and alcohol-testing programs for its personnel.

    The RFP documentation is available on BC Bid.

    BACKGROUND

    Here are the GM brands that must be used: GMC, Saab, Pontiac, Saturn, Cadillac, Buick or Chevrolet.

    RESOURCES

    Here is a link to the lengthy list of brands owned by Coca Cola:

    www.thecoca-colacompany.com/brands/brandlist.html


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 4, 2007


    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2068

    Here are three moguls we ran into today:

    FEDERAL CABINET SHUFFLE BYPASSES 2010 MINISTERS

  • The Canadian prime minister, Stephen Harper, today made some changes to his cabinet, but the minister in charge of the Canadian government's responsibilities for the 2010 Winter Olympics, David Emerson, remained in place. Bev Oda, the minister of the Heritage Department, which controls the money flow to and from VANOC for the federal government via the Olympics Secretariat, also retained her position. Howver, Ottawa's minister of Sport, Peter Van Loan, appointed just last November and with which VANOC also worked with, has been moved from that post to become "Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform". A new position, the position of Secretary of State for Sport, which is a sort of specialized cabinet minister a step down from a full fledged minister, is newly appointed Helena Guergis. She will serve as a junior minister, and will "assist and consult" with Foreign Affairs minister Peter MacKay and Emerson, "on a variety of issues involving foreign policy." As secretary of state for Sport, she will oversee Canada’s sports organizations, including Sport Canada, and will make decisions regarding funding for various sport groups. She will also work with Oda. Guergis was first elected to the House of Commons in 2004 and re-elected in 2006. Last February, she was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to Emerson.

    VINCOR'S NEW PARENT BEGINS ACCOUNTING FOR COSTS, REVENUES

  • Constellation Brands, which owns VANOC's latest sponsor, wine merchant Vincor Canada, today reported the effects of its purchase of the Canadian company last June, it's ninth purchase since 2000. Chief executive officer Richard Sands, 55, is combining wineries and distribution systems to integrate Vincor's operations, according to information from the company that was part of its report on. Acquisition-related costs for integration rose six-fold to $9.5 million during the quarter. Sales increased 18% to US$1.5 billion in the period ended Nov. 30, helped by the acquisition of Vincor International Inc., the Fairport, New York-based company said in a statement. Interest expense surged 52% to US$73.1 million primarily on costs to finance last year's US$1.1 billion acquisition of Vincor. Overall, though, Constellation's revenues were down, falling the most in four years to US$107.8 million, or US$0.45 cents a share, from US$109 million, or US$0.46 cents, a year earlier. Constellation lowered its projection for the year ending Feb. 28 for a second time, primarily because of a glut of Australian wine in Europe that hurt the company's sales, although currency fluctuations helped offset that issue somewhat.

    SKI CROSS IN 2010: THE REVOLUTION IS 'ALMOST COMPLETE'

  • Quote without comment, from today's issue of the Boston Globe newspaper, in which columnist Tony Chamberlain writes: "...In the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver, the revolution [of skiing] will be complete when the sport of ski cross makes its debut. Follow the evolution: First there was Alpine ski racing through gates (ignoring the real start of skiing in Nordic and jumping). This ski racing became rather static, split between an emphasis on all-out speed and linking a series of technical turns. Rarely were skiers airborne, and, in fact, recreational skiers were routinely busted by ski patrollers for jumping in public terrain. When snowboarding was making its growth move through the '80s, one strain of development came from skateboarding, a sport dedicated to performing tricks while leaping in the air. So the focus of the first boarding competition came down to the halfpipe, with one of the top point criteria being "amplitude" -- the height of the jump. In boarding, jumping (and of course doing airborne tricks and landing artfully) is the heart of the sport. A hybrid sport really developed when snowboarding devised a terrain race in which several riders race together down a course over jumps and through turns, employing and avoiding physical contact with other racers as a means to the finish. Though it was racing down a snowy course, this spectacle was as different from traditional ski racing as could be. And in the Vancouver Games, when ski cross makes its debut, the sport will have come almost full circle. The further development of free riding on skis will come as skiers compete in a pipe, performing the same tricks and placing the same value on amplitude that boarders do. That, too, will come to the Olympics at some point."


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 4, 2007

  • Wednesday, January 03, 2007

    Morgan:News:Bronze:Service is published regularly, but the articles are delayed by at least three months to protect our subscribers. For timely news that comes to you, please subscribe to our Gold or Silver service at Morgan:News:2010. Bronze is free for the use of news services and for non-commercial public use under conditions described at: Morgan:News:2010:Bronze (There is a nominal charge for certain commercial uses, as described there.) You can use Google to search the site, simply add “site:morgan-news.com” after your search terms.


    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2067

    Here are three more moguls we ran into today:

    VANOC CONSIDERS POSSIBILITY OF USING STANLEY PARK WINDFALL WOOD

  • VANOC is looking at the idea of using wood from some of the windfall trees downed by a recent storm in Stanley Park to incorporate into its venue construction program, but it's quite a ways yet from making a decision on the matter, and there are quite a few other agencies involved in making the decision about what might happen with the lumber. About 3,000 of the park's estimated one million trees were either blown over or broken by winds reaching 160 kilometres per hour during a storm in late December. Because the 400-hectare (1,000-acre) park at the edge of downtown Vancouver is the flagship of the Vancouver Parks Board and used by about eight million visitors per year, the issue of what to do with the windfall is politically charged. Dan Doyle, executive vice president of VANOC's Capital Construction says, "We were all saddened by the recent devastation in Stanley Park, and if the 2010 Games can turn the loss of trees into a legacy, we will welcome the opportunity. We may be able to use the timber, and are in the early stages of determining the compatibility with our venue construction program." Meanwhile, meetings were underway today between Vancouver Parks Board staff and their advisors, including senior forest company staff, about what might be done with the trees, which are primarily evergreens with some oaks and other deciduous types. The suggestion has also been made that some of the wood might also be used in the expansion of the new trade and convention centre, in which VANOC is investing some capital funds for its use as the 2010 International Media Centre. There have also been calls from a number of citizens and groups about the use to which the wood might be put, including an aboriginal longhouse, construction of housing for the homeless, and even guitars.

    THREE MORE SLOGANS ADDED TO VANOC TRADEMARK LIST

  • VANOC has added three more slogans to the list of phrases it intends to protect nationally. The phrases "Let The Games Begin", "Host Venue" and "Road To Vancouver" have all been recently filed with the Canadian Intellectual Property Office for registration as national trademarks of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games. VANOC now owns, or will shortly own, more than 100 slogans, phrases and logos. "Road to Vancouver" is currently used by a VANOC sponsor, the BC Lottery Corporation, as the name of one of its games under the SportsFunder umbrella, a group of lotto games that the corporation created to raise funds for, among other things, VANOC. BC Lottery hadn't registered it on its own, although the registration for "SportsFunder" was finalized by BC Lottery lawyers about six months ago. The "Road to Vancouver" was also registered by the Canadian Olympic Committee in 2004; VANOC has reregistered COC slogans in the past as part of its marketing-rights agreement with the COC.

    PRE-SCHOOLER ACTIVITY PROGRAM TO BE LAUNCHED BY 2010 LEGACIES NOW

  • One of the BC government programs loosely related to the 2010 Winter Games involves various healthy activities around the province, partly in keeping with Premier Campbell's pledge to make BC the healthiest jurisdiction to host an Olympic Games. The society that implements this programs, 2010 Legacies Now, expects to begin marketing in April a new initiative it's calling LEAP BC, which stands for Literacy, Education, Activity and Play BC). LEAP BC, according to the society, is designed to provide "opportunities for families and caregivers, to focus on the importance of literacy, healthy eating and physical development of children" from newborn to age 5. The program's goals: "To support and enhance the relationship young children have with their parents and caregivers; create and enhance physical activity initiatives in primary care settings where children spend their time; to provide developmentally appropriate resources for children" -- which includes resource books -- "and to integrate literacy, physical activity and healthy eating within each resource book." The program is to be further subdivided into three components, called "Hop", "Move It" and "Words". 2010 Legacies Now is in the process of hiring a company, through a Request for Proposal process, to produce the corporate logo for the initiative, design brochures and other collateral, and to design the resource books, which range from a handful of pages to about 100 pages. The RFP, available from 2010 Legacies Now's website [See RESOURCES, below], closes January 15, and the contract is expected to be awarded on the 22nd, with the work to be completed by the end of the government's fiscal year, March 31.

    RESOURCES

    Satellite View of Stanley Park:

    tinyurl.com/yj7uxr

    2010 Legacies Now's website:

    www.2010legaciesnow.com


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 3, 2007


    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2066

    Here are three moguls we ran into today:

    WASHINGTON STATE TRIBE PLANNING MARKETING PUSH FOR 2010-BOUND TOURISTS

  • Marketing plans of the largest casino in Washington State suggest that it will begin this year to ramp up its marketing, culminating with heavy promotion of a new adjacent US$125 million luxury hotel in 2008. The idea is to start American tourists bound for the 2010 Winter Games thinking about including it as one of their destinations, about the time when VANOC is expected to begin ticket sales. The Tualips Casino (pronounced Too-AH-lips) is operated by the Tualips aboriginal tribes and located on reserve land beside the main highway between Seattle and Vancouver, about 30 minutes drive north of Seattle. The tribes also own a second casino and a bingo hall not far away. Although management says growth in the casino operations has been steady since it opened in 2002 -- profit from tribe-owned gambling operations were more than US$100 million in 2005, according to management -- it hasn't done much in the way of innovative advertising in the last four years. However, that is expected to change starting this year with a campaign developed by Victory Creative Group of Seattle, and increase when the 12-storey hotel opens in late 2008.

    RACE CAR DRIVERS TO SIT IN BOBSLED SEATS AGAIN FOR 2010-BOUND COMPETITION

  • The concept of putting US race-car drivers into bobsleds in the hopes of sufficiently training them to compete in the 2010 Winter Games continues to drive Geoff Bodine, who's second annual Chevrolet Geoff Bodine Bobsled Challenge at the U.S. National Team's training site takes place this weekend on Friday and Saturday at the Olympic run in Lake Placid, New York. The event, run in conjunction with U.S. National Bobsled Championships, features NASCAR drivers Morgan Lucas, J.R. Todd, Todd Bodine, Brett Bodine, Boris Said, Kevin Lepage and Dick Trickle are all stock car drivers expected to take part. A dinner and fund-raising auction are also involved.

    GONDOLA THE FEATURE OF PROPOSED WHISTLER NEIGHBOURHOOD, SAYS 2010 VENUE OWNER

  • A company that owns one of the venue locations for the 2010 downhill skiing says it intends to construct Canada's first residential neighbourhood in Whistler that will have its own gondola, and the vehicle is expected to be ready in time for the winter of 2008/09. The new gondola is expected to connect the exclusive Kadenwood neighbourhood with Whistler Creekside Village in about six minutes. With a vertical rise of 217 metres (711 feet), the gondola can carry eight people with skis. Intrawest and the Kadenwood Community Strata are building the project, and Whistler Blackcomb will take care of the gondola's daily operations. Construction is slated to commence in the summer of 2008. The neighbourhood has 60 sites for private homes that are yet to be built. The gondola is expected to run all year, for hikers and strollers.


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 3, 2007

  • Tuesday, January 02, 2007

    Morgan:News:Bronze:Service is published regularly, but the articles are delayed by at least three months to protect our subscribers. For timely news that comes to you, please subscribe to our Gold or Silver service at Morgan:News:2010. Bronze is free for the use of news services and for non-commercial public use under conditions described at: Morgan:News:2010:Bronze (There is a nominal charge for certain commercial uses, as described there.) You can use Google to search the site, simply add “site:morgan-news.com” after your search terms.


    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2065

    Here are three moguls we ran into today:

    VANOC SECURITY FORCE TO MOVE TO RICHMOND BUILDING

  • The security squad that has been working on plans with VANOC out of its headquarters in east Vancouver has leased a building in the Greater Vancouver suburb of Richmond so the group can begin to implement national and international security for the Games between this year and the end of 2010. The 10,000-square-metre (108,000 square foot) building on No. 5 Road once housed Motorola operations but was empty when leased for C$1.4 million per year until August 2010, is about half of the size of the VANOC building and is expected to be used for security operations. It's expected that security forces and representatives from most of the 80 countries expected to field teams for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games will be using the building at various times. The Vancouver Integrated Security Unit (VISU) includes the RCMP, which polices Richmond and Whistler, the city police forces of Vancouver and West Vancouver, the federal government's Department of National Defence and Ottawa's Canadian Security Intelligence Service.

    WHISTLER AREA HELICOPTER BUSINESS BOUGHT BY COMPETITOR

  • A business development that is expected to affect high-end air transportation in the Whistler-Vancouver-international airport corridor between now and the 2010 Winter Games: The financial and management company that owns Omega Aviation has bought its competitor in Whistler, Blackcomb Helicopters and although the two will continue to operate as separate companies for now, they'll co-ordinate the operations of their combined fleet. The companies, between them, have 12 helicopters and and eight airplanes at bases in Squamish, Vancouver, Victoria and the south-central BC interior city of Kelowna. The purchase, through the Canadian Western Bank, of the 17-year-old company occurred last week. MCM Aviation, a joint venture between Squamish-based Omega Aviation and The McLean Group, an investment firm in Vancouver, bought Blackcomb Aviation, whose management will stay in place. Sacha McLean, of the McLean Group, said in a prepared statement, "We intend nothing less than becoming the premier helicopter charter company in B.C."

    CANADIAN AMBASSADOR NOTES 2010 IN NEW YEAR'S MESSAGE TO CHINA

  • Canada's ambassador to China, Robert Wright, says in a New Year's message to the Asian country that "Canada and China enjoy a dynamic and comprehensive relationship, one that is unique and vital, and on which Canada wants to build, further strengthening ties to the mutual benefit of people from both countries. Our two nations have a lot to share and exchange in sectors such as agriculture, energy, transportation, public policy & governance, academic research, culture and sports. As China and Canada will successively and respectively host the Summer Olympic Games in 2008 in Beijing and the Winter Olympics Games in 2010 in Vancouver/Whistler, this provides a great opportunity for both nations to collaborate and exchange best practices."


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 2, 2007


    Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #2064

    REGIONAL DISTRICT PLANNING TO SET UP 'ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT SERVICE' FOR 2010 OPPORTUNITIES IN PEMBERTON AREA

    The Squamish-Lillooet Regional District government has proposed a bylaw that would allow it to set up an "economic development service to realize on 2010 opportunities" created by the Winter Games in Pemberton and its surrounding area.

    Pemberton is a village about half-an-hour's drive northeast of Whistler on the Sea-to-Sky highway.

    However, the bylaw, which would allow the Regional District to draw about C$60,000 per year in taxes for use by the Commission, must be approved by taxpayers using what's known as the Alternate Approval Process. In essence, if the Regional District gets more than 10% of taxpayers opposing the bylaw by a specific petition method, it has the option of holding a referendum, or abandoning the concept. If less than 10% oppose the bylaw, the Regional District can finalize it without going to referendum. The cost of the service is to represent the actual "annual net operating costs, including debt charges and capital," and is to be paid for by taxpayers within the area that benefits.

    The Commission, if approved, would include up to nine volunteers, as yet unchosen, with a small administrative staff. Two of the directors are to be the regional district's representative for the area, known as Area C, Susie Gimse, and at least one representative from the Village of Pemberton. The directors would be chosen for two year terms, all of which expire on December 31, 2010, along with the authority for the development service. Funding would come from a combination of property taxes, parcel taxes and various fees and charges.

    It's expected the administrative staff would likely include a full-time 2010 opportunities development officer, who would manage the daily operations, community relations, work on projects that would bring economic benefits and special events connected to 2010 to the area between now and the end of 2010. Also expected is the concept of using private companies and other organizations to augment the Commission's budget.

    The bylaw was given its three readings, which are usually spread over two regional district director's meetings, in one night in late December, so regional district staff could begin to advertise the bylaw's existence and process in the Whistler newspapers. The process, if it gets less than the 10% objection, could be completed in a few weeks.

    RESOURCES

    A detailed map, in PDF format, that shows the official layout of the Regional District, particularly Pemberton and Area C. Note that the map is about 7 MB, and could take a few minutes to download.

    tinyurl.com/ykmej8


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 2, 2007

  • Monday, January 01, 2007

    Morgan:News:Bronze:Service is published regularly, but the articles are delayed by at least three months to protect our subscribers. For timely news that comes to you, please subscribe to our Gold or Silver service at Morgan:News:2010. Bronze is free for the use of news services and for non-commercial public use under conditions described at: Morgan:News:2010:Bronze (There is a nominal charge for certain commercial uses, as described there.) You can use Google to search the site, simply add “site:morgan-news.com” after your search terms.


    Morgan:News:2010 |Business| #2126

    NORDIC CENTRE TENDERS TO BE PUBLISHED NEXT WEEK AS CONTRACTORS FACE NUMEROUS CHALLENGES

    Tenders are expected to be offered next week for some of the larger components of the 2010 Nordic Centre construction program.

    Known as Bidpack 4, the tenders will be for elevators, siding, insulation, roof work and similar items, according to Terry Ward, the construction manager for a group of three buildings on the site. Ward, who has a limited partnership joint venture with the Squamish aboriginal tribe on the site.

    Ward, who has been working on the site since 2005, says there are a number of challenges facing any contractor that works on the site, which is expected to be largely completed by the end of 2007, the second of two back-to-back construction seasons.

    A major one for construction firms and trades on site, he says, is VANOC's relatively slow payments for invoices. "Construction likes to be paid in a month -- or less -- and VANOC is taking about 60 days." Ward says there's nothing sinister about it; it's just that VANOC is becoming increasingly bureaucratic as it increases in size, the construction budget is funded 50-50 by the Canadian federal and BC provincial governments, and the payment time is now about the same as that of the BC government for contractors.

    Other challenges for contractors in the area is getting and keeping experienced crews. That's in part because its difficult to get housing in the Sea to Sky corridor near the construction site, and in part because of BC's non-residential construction boom, which has continued unabated for about three years and now includes all of western Canada. "Attracting labour is a difficult issue for all trades," he says.

    Another challenge for contractors is safety. He notes that there were eight or nine contractors on the site last year, and this year it's expected there will be 11 or 12. The number of different contractors, he says, means more co-ordination between them to deal with overlapping work sites and delivery of materials.

    Yet another challenge is access to the site itself, because a BC Highways department contractor is in the process of building the eight-kilometre, two-lane, paved, highway-quality road to the site, and both crews and material deliveries have to work around the contraints on logisics imposed by that construction work.


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on February 1, 2007


    Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2124

    Here are three moguls we ran into today:

    VANOC TO OFFER MORE BRAND LICENSING CONTRACTS LATER THIS YEAR

  • VANOC's marketing department is expected to be using a Request for Proposals or Expressions of Interest format for offering its brand licensing agreements in the following categories this year: confectionaries and consumables -- that one should be next out of the pipeline -- household goods, office and school supplies, and sporting equipment. The licenses, which are expected to eventually generate a budgeted C$680 million in revenue for VANOC but don't normally offer category exclusivity, are expected to allow firms that VANOC chooses through the process the ability to use marks associated with VANOC, the 2010 Olympic or Paralympics on the merchandise and sell it in Canada. There's no word yet on specifically when a particular category will be offered. Of the nine branding licences that we know are now completed, each should have product in stores within the next six month. Some are there now. VANOC says branded T-shirts made by one of its licensees, Wilson International Products, are available now at shops on Vancouver's chi-chi fashion area, Robson Street.

    VANOC NOT FUSSED ABOUT FIVE-MONTH DELAY IN TROUT LAKE VENUE

  • VANOC project manager Geoff Freer, whose bailiwick includes the Trout Lake and Killarney arena venues, says VANOC has no difficulties with the Vancouver Parks Board's decision last Monday to delay the start of the Trout Lake facility's demolition and reconstruction by five months to December. He concedes it pushes the timeline for completing the facility to the summer of 2009, but feels there is still enough flex time in the schedule to have it finished several months before it's needed by VANOC. He also feels that the soil issues surrounding the construction at Trout Lake will have an effect on preloading and other remediation work there, there's sufficient expertise available to ensure it's not a significant concern. At Vancouver's Hillcrest Curling Rink venute site, which now also includes having VANOC supervise construction of the huge new aquatic centre that's adjacent, Freer says the pool facilities will be used by VANOC for athlete stand-by services during the Games, and will be incorporated into the overlay requirements for the site. Ground preparation services are just getting underway at the site. The facility had its own ground issues. The original depth of the project that was planned ran into to the area's water table and designers had to raise it, but Freer says that had the effect of reducing the cost.

    VANOC CONSTRUCTION HEAD MAY GET CHILLY RECEPTION THIS MONTH

  • VANOC's head of venue construction, Dan Doyle, is expected to take a short holiday starting on Saturday. He's literally planning to go, with his family, to Antarctica.

    BACKGROUND

    Wilson International Products Ltd.

    Tony Wilson's 34-year old company, Wilson International Products of Richmond, BC, is now a diversified operation with customers in corporate, retail and event sectors of the apparel and promotional merchandise markets. It has sales in the C$20 million to C$50 million bracket. It has an 1,860 square-metre (20,000-square foot) facility that houses in-house graphic design, embroidery, screen printing and e-commerce.


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on February 1, 2007


    Morgan:News:2010 |General| #2123

    BC PREMIER, VANOC WIN FORMAL COMPLIMENTS FROM ABORIGINAL TRIBES INVOLVED IN 2010 GAMES

    British Columbia premier Gordon Campbell and VANOC officials today received a formal set of accolades from the leaders of the four aboriginal tribes that are helping the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) to host the 2010 Games.

    The comments were made to about 420 delegates attending a two-day Aboriginal Business conference in downtown Vancouver, which was sponsored by VANOC and the BC government. The occassion where all the chiefs, the BC government and VANOC were in the same room was a ceremony to publicize a logo of the Secretariat representing the four host tribes, an emblem that was actually first shown during the 2010 portion of the Closing Ceremonies for the Torino Winter Games nearly a year ago.

    Musqueam Chief Ernie Campbell, who is not related to the premier, was the first to offer his thanks for the premier's support, recalling that when the International Olympic Committee's commission that was evaluating Vancouver's bid come to the city, he told them, "We need the support of Canada and British Columbia for our endeavours, and we hope to see that happen before 2010."

    Chief Campbell spoke of the "honour and respect of how we were treated" by the IOC as guests of VANOC in Prague, where the Vancouver bid was announced in 2003, and at the 2006 Torino Winter Games, when VANOC sent a delegation of officials to learn about how the Games were run. "I want to commend our premier, [VANOC chairman] Jack Poole and VANOC, and everyone else associated with 2010 for the way we are treated... we're not here to be token Indians. We were treated with great respect, we were front and centre, and I commend him for that."

    A few moments later, Chief Leah George-Wilson of the Tsleil-Waututh tribe added, "Premier Gordon Campbell [who is] going through his own transformation... making all kinds of changes that many politicians have shied away from, and reaching out and speaking with the First Nations leadership in British Columbia. You can see that reaching out and receptiveness on the First Nations' side, and the combination of people talking together, and working together, has moved British Columbia farther ahead." Aboriginal tribes in Canada refer to themselves generically as First Nations.

    George-Wilson said there were no words to describe the new relationship and reconciliation, other than "we are all on this journey together."

    Premier Campbell, who beamed as he sat in the front row near VANOC's Jack Poole, watching the speakers at the podium in front of him, quipped afterwards, "I've got to come to more of these."

    BACKGROUND

    Musqueam is prounounced MUHS-quee-uhm

    Tsleil-Waututh is pronounced Slay-wah-TOOTH

    RESOURCES

    Four Host First Nations website:

    www.fourhostfirstnations.com


    Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on February 1, 2007


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