Morgan:News:2010:Bronze Edition: February 2007

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

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Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2176

Here are two more moguls we ran into today:

PARTS OF 2010 GAMES TO BE RUN ON WINDOWS 2003

The Vancouver Games may be held in 2010, but Atos Origin, the information technology sponsor of the Vancouver/Whistler Winter Games, has decided to base a sizable proportion of its Games network on what will then be seven-year-old technology -- Microsoft Windows 2003 -- in addition to its use of the industrial operating system, Unix. Because software is updated so often, the rule of thumb in information technology is to multiply the calendar age of software or hardware by seven to get a sense of how old it is compared with something that's state-of-the-art. By that informal guideline, the technology on which a portions of the Games will be run will be the technology equivalent of about 20 years old. Games technology specialists have said in the past that the Olympics prefers not to have state-of-the-art technology, because it would rather use something that is known and as stable as possible, and then incorporate redundancy, so the effect is to considerably reduces the possibility of problems during the high-pressure timeframe when the Games are running. A known system is also much easier to troubleshoot, because technicians have had a chance to building up a lot of practical experience with it. Much of the software and hardware specifications will be "hardened" this year for the 2010 Games, so that error testing, security testing and integrating the systems with the myriad pieces of equipment necessary can begin. During this year, we've learned, the specifications and configurations for the Windows 2003 system will be decided, and how Windows will be integrated with the Unix sections of the systems, will also be settled. The whole process is under the oversight of a systems architect who is unifying five separate systems, such as games support, accreditation and the like, for the 2010 Games. Also during this year and next, the technology team will be creating documentation and tracking the operations of various standard processes, such such as server farm construction, setting up detailed procedures for disaster recovery scenarios and producing various other operational guides for the Games testing and run time. Atos Origin, a large international firm, is working in Vancouver with the Canadian section of another engineering firm, Ajilon Consulting.

HBC SPONSORS SPEED SKATING CANADA IN FIVE-YEAR DEAL

HBC, VANOC's major retailing sponsor, has done a five-year sponsorship deal with Speed Skating Canada, although the value of the arrangement was not released. Under the deal, HBC is to provide merchandise and money to support the organization and its athletes in training. The program includes a package of more than 20 pieces of clothing annually to athletes, coaches, staff and officials. Some of the items in the 2007 package include: podium shirts and pants, a jacket for winter and one for spring and fall, team sweaters, blazers, travel luggage and back packs. The money is to go directly to the athletes' program and training.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on February 28, 2007

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2175

Here are three moguls we ran into today:

VANOC CONTINUES TO EXPAND TRANSPORTATION PLANNING

VANOC continues to inflate its division responsible for transportation planning. It is expected to hire a manager in a month or so to begin the detailed planning work for taking care of the transportation services for its clients -- and that's a wide range of people and organizations involved with the 2010 Games. They include athletes, media, VIPs connected with national Olympic committees from around the world, sponsors and, even spectators. The position and its support team is a go-between, connecting VANOC to a myriad of transportation methods -- trucks, trains, busses, helijets and more -- and the agencies and companies that supply them, and making sure both they and VANOC know the requirements and how schedules and equipment dovetail with those requirements. Internally, the manager is also responsible for recruiting, coaching and performance.

ALPINE CANADA STRATEGY FOR 2010 -- MORE COMPETITION

Alpine Canada's strategy for the 2010 Winter Olympics is to increase the number of skiers the national federation supports to 50 athletes, with the goal of taking the best 22 of them to the 2010 Games. The increased number of skiers in the support pool, according to Alpine Canada CEO Ken Read, is expected to place intense pressure on improved performance among them all. The effect, he suggests, is aimed at improve their time by hundreds of a second -- often all that separates the top finishers -- and put more athletes on the podium at World Cups, World Championships and the Olympic Winter Games in 2010. "Competition drives improved performance," said Read. "With extra funding from the private sector and Own the Podium, we will create a winning edge for our athletes." Read continues to build sponsorship support -- Northwest Mutual Funds, in a multi-year deal, just became the official mutual fund of the Canadian Alpine Ski Team.

VANOC NORDIC CHIEF FORESEES SPORT BECOMING MORE BUSINESS-LIKE

Quote without comment: "Many of us have been through the dramatic changes in our sport in the last six to eight years. The expansion of cross-country into sprint and mass-start formats has created new challenges for both athletes and event organizers. The pressure of providing perfect competition conditions has increased due to the demands of group skiing (as in mass-start), and the importance of this for the sprinters that are separated by 1/100 of a second sometimes. The world has also changed in terms of what the media and spectators want. Society today seems to want more and more immediate entertainment and 'action,' and having realized this, [the International Ski Federation] FIS is implementing changes to the events. We need to accept this if the sport wants to survive and to be supported by sponsors, media and TV viewers in a global sense. This reality will also soon require FIS and organizers to become even more professional in terms of media or TV services and in terms of standardization of safe, fair and suitable competition stadiums and courses." -- John Aalberg, Director, Nordic Sports, VANOC, talking to Riikka Rakic, editor of FIS Newsflash, a publication of the International Ski Federation. He was interviewed this week in Sapporo, Japan, where he's a technical delegate for the Cross-Country ski events at the Nordic World Ski Championships.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on February 28, 2007

Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #2174

VANCOUVER OKAYS EMPTY OLYMPIC FUND, AS WELL AS C$300,000 IN OLYMPIC-RELATED CULTURAL FUNDING

Vancouver City Council today finally approved creating a 2010 Olympic Legacy Reserve Fund that could potentially have a budget up to C$20 million, but didn't put any money in it. And just that took nearly 45 minutes of debate to accomplish.

On the other hand, Council agreed to a proposal to expand the city's contingency reserve by C$300,000 for "cultural tourism" initiatives, that include working with 2010 Legacies Now, the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) and other organizations.

The approval of the empty Olympic Legacy Reserve Fund came during Council's discussion of budget items for approval during the City's upcoming fiscal year. The original proposal was to set aside C$5 million per budget year for the fund between now and 2010. But because the usage of the Fund has been nebulous so far, and public reaction has been that the Fund ought to be established but with "minimal" impact on city taxes, staff said if Council gave instructions to create the fund, it would see if the money for it could be generated in other ways and report back later on funding methods -- a process that opposition council members found just as nebulous as the possible uses for the money.

The councillor fronting the majority Non-Partisan Party's concept of the Fund, Peter Ladner, says, "We think it's important to have that money, but we would like to find it somewhere else [than from taxpayers], and also have a more detailed analysis of where it will be spent before it's finally approved."

Ladner notes that there will be thousands of media and potential business investors who come to the Games. "One of the reasons we are doing the Olympics is to take advantage of that and increase the business that's done in Vancouver... that would be a huge legacy of the Olympics, if we can deliver economic benefits."

Council, split 6-5 along party lines, also approved a motion, introduced by Ladner, that the "Vancouver Economic Development Commission continue working with the 2010 Winter Games Economic Opportunities Co-ordination Team, and partner with city staff, and the Beijing Advisory Committee on Vancouver's presence in Beijing [at the 2008 Olympic Summer Games], and on the City of Vancouver's Communications Plan in order to maximize benefits, co-ordination and to create synergies. Any extra funding required by the VEDC should be drawn by the Olympic Legacy Reserve... subject to a report back to Council on a business plan and the cost-benefit rationale prior to council's release of the funds."

One thing that became apparent was that the city staff charged with co-ordinating the City's responsibilities to the 2010 Olympics wasn't up to speed on the VEDC's involvement. Dave Rudberg, the General Manager of Olympic and Paralympic Operations, "I don't have a lot of details in terms of what the VEDC is proposing," he says. "My understanding is that they are linking this work into some activation in Beijing. If that, in fact, is the case, we'll work with them to ensure that there's a good product and a good value on this work, that we can report back to Council... It's important to work with the, our city Finance department and the business community that we've been meeting with downtown to ensure that it does work in that way."

On the expansion of the contingency reserve, which would increase taxes by 0.06%, Ladner said that arts and culture tourism strategies is one of the potential uses of the money, which staff suggest could be used along with budgets from VANOC, the federal and provincial governments, and others to help pay for city events related to the Olympics and beyond. The release of the contingency funds is subject to staff reporting back this year with a business plan, including funding requirements and opportunities for joint planning and funding "associated with the 2010 Games."

Ladner noted that, "There are clearly opportunities for working with the Olympic Legacy Fund, and with other funders and other levels of government, and other organizations such as Tourism Vancouver, to do some follow up and follow through on these initiatives, for which we should begin planning now.

Rudberg says money the Olympic Reserve Fund, once found, "could be used, for example in Beijing, to leverage some of our economic-development opportunities and linkages to China through what's called 'back-to-back Olympic cities.' I think there's an opportunity with other partners to improve accessibility in the city, upgrades to City infrastructure, to improve the public realm, using shared money to do with lighting, public art or even cleanliness. Hopefully, by having partnerships with some of the sponsors about clean-up activities, building capacity within the arts and cultural community."

Rudberg said another component of the funds would be to create community celebrations. "This is a way to not only engage our residents, but also the visitors and the athletes, to celebrate the Olympics and the Paralympics, to create some real energy and civic pride. We're talking about the downtown core Live Site, which is the beginning of our Cultural Precinct, the opportunity to create a place where citizens can gather and celebrate the Games. But we don't want to focus entirely on the downtown core. We want to bring the celebration out into the community." Rudberg says he has begun a series of meetings with community centre executives. "There is a great deal of enthusiasm there to bring the Games out into the community, and they've asked for some funding, which presumably would come from the Legacy Fund.

He says he's also met with school-board staff. "They see the Games as an opportunity to involve our children -- not just in the Games themselves -- but for the kind of learning opportunities that can result from the Games."

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on February 27, 2007

Morgan:News:2010 |Business| #2173

TRADEX IN ABBOTSFORD BC APPROACHED BY VANOC SPONSORS

Vali Marling, the director of Operations for the Abbotsford Tradex, a large exhibition hall adjacent to the Abbotsford airport, says some Olympic sponsors are contemplating using the Tradex during the 2010 Games.

One of the Tradex's selling points is that people can arrive at the airport and literally walk to the conference centre. That concept has attracted the attention of some of the Olympic sponsors, which she declines to identify, who are contemplating "bringing in large numbers of people" and using the Tradex to host Olympic-related events connected with the sponsor, and then busing participants to hotels in Vancouver in the evening for Olympic events.

One of the main challenges at the moment for the 11,000 square-metre (120,000 square foot) trade-and-conference centre is a lack of area hotel rooms, but three new hotels are now under construction in the area, and are expected to be ready for 2010. And, she adds, "We're planning for an expansion of about 70,000 square feet, which we're told will take place by 2009, but we're not holding our breath."

Marling says she and others connected to the Abbotsford Tradex spoke at length to facilities in the Salt Lake area that were similar to the Tradex, in part about their experience with Olympic-related cultural events, which are part of the 2010 Games.

She says that, in Salt Lake's case, quite a few of the cultural events occurred in the area that was about half an hour to an hour outside of the central area where the Games were taking place. She says, "One, because the rents were less, and, two, they were available, and they weren't downtown... my understanding, from the folks we've talked to, that at least 50% of the cultural events took place in that area outside of Salt Lake City, so we're assuming it's going to be similar [for 2010]."

Marling made the comments during a panel discussion of the Vancouver chapter of the International Special Events Society.

Vali Marling

Director of Operations

Tradex

1190 Cornell Street

Abbotsford, BC V2T 6H5

Phone: 1.866.853.1533

Fax: 604-850-7699

Web: www.FVTradex.com

Here is a zoomable map of the Tradex's location:

tinyurl.com/2azlf6

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on February 27, 2007

Morgan:News:2010 |General| #2172

SCHEDULES, SHOWS AND BUDGETS PROVIDE PERPLEXING CHALLENGES A-PLENTY TO OPERATORS OF VANCOUVER VANOC VENUES

A distorted schedule for the Vancouver Canucks National Hockey League team, truncated major industry trade shows, PNE management worried about their budget -- these are just a few of the things challenging the operators of Vancouver-area venues of the 2010 Olympics these days.

There are just under three years left to go before the Opening Ceremonies are held for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, but managers of a number of facilities that are being used for 2010-related events are already trying to plan for the five or six months that the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) will be taking over their facilities' operations for the Games.

Tom Cornwall, the director of City Venue Operations for the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC), says his department is responsible for providing operation services to all of the main venues in the Greater Vancouver area. The services are what he calls, "the four S's: service, set-up, staff and space" for each venue during the test events leading up to the Games, and during the Olympics and Paralympics in 2010. "For us, that Games time doesn't just encompass the two weeks of the Olympics or the Paralympics," he notes. "For us, it's a 60-day event that starts at the end of January when the Olympic Villages open until March 24, when the Games are over."

VANOC, Cornwall says, intends to take a varied approach to how each of the venues would normally be used, which means that operations will be considerably different for suppliers and people attending the events, and that traffic or pedestrian flows are also expected to be different from normal at each of them. The facilities that he's talking about include BC Place Stadium, General Motors Place arena, Hastings Park where the Coliseum, Agrodome, Forum and Pacific National Exhibition (PNE) are hosted, the long-track speedskating oval in Richmond, and the Trade and Convention Centre, part of which is now under construction. These are all -- or, in the case of the oval, will be -- operational businesses in 2010.

"We use the spaces in ways that are different," he says. "We're not all the way through our planning processes yet, but, a lot of times, we'll be bringing people in through, say, back doors or through loading bays, because of the mass of people and the quick-change times. We might move people out through the front doors. We may take locker rooms and turn them into lounges. We have a lot of additional spaces [nearby], such as support space for logistics or transport malls and all of our service areas. So not only will we be using the facility, but we'll be using the surrounding area as well."

The facilities are expected to be used much more intensely than they normally are, as well. For example, he says, General Motors Place, which will be the location for the men's hockey and medal tournaments, only hosts one National Hockey League game in a night, where VANOC will be supervising three or four hockey games with equivalent crowds in a day. He also notes that besides ticket holders for an event, everybody who works either as paid, temporary or volunteer staff will all have to be accredited when they're in the area of the facilities, for security reasons. "So there will be a process that [suppliers, for instance] will go through to get to the buildings."

The managers of these facilities all have their own issues, opportunities and challenges that they're currently working through. Let's have a look, venue by venue, at the highlights:

BC Place Stadium. About 10 minutes drive from the Olympic Village. It's to be used throughout almost the entire Games period, starting with the Opening ceremonies for the Olympics, nightly medal ceremonies and associated big entertainment groups, the Closing Ceremonies for the Olympics, and the Opening Ceremonies for the Paralympics. But it will be under VANOC's control longer than that.

Graham Ramsay, the director of the Stadium's Business Development for Pavilion Corporation, the BC government's agency that owns the facility, says he's been involved in discussions with a number of the Stadium's usual clientele about what will happen during the time the 2010 Games are underway.

"Our plans for 2010 are broken into two areas," he says. "The first area is what VANOC is going to require of us, such as accessibility to the building, during the Olympics. The other area is what we're going to do for our existing business development." On that side, he says there will be improvements to the concession areas and main-level large-scale washrooms leading up to the Games, and new carpeting. There will also be improvements to the food court and to the Stadium's scoring system, making it similar to that of GM Place.

VANOC, he says, will start working on the overlay of the building as soon as the last game of the Stadium's prime tenant, the BC Lions Canadian Football League team, is played. That could be as early as September if their games in 2009 end with the regular season, or it could be as late as November if, as currently expected, they are involved in a playoff run for the national Gray Cup.

The first part of the calendar year, when the Games will tie up the Stadium, is always busy with large trade shows, Ramsay notes. He says that many of them are important economic generators to the industries they cover, and their outright cancellation could have significant financial effects on the large number of small and medium-sized companies that do business during them. "All of them -- the Boat Show, the Gift Show, the Auto Show -- there is some concern their business will be affected. Each and every case, the decision was to go forward with a show that's slightly shortened, and getting right back on their feet after the Olympics.

The Stadium returns to its regular schedule immediately following VANOC's withdrawal of the overlay facilities, work that will begin right after the Opening Ceremonies March 12 of the Paralympics, but could take until late April or early May to complete. "We're in the planning stages for that right now," Ramsay says.

Ramsay says he feels the major influence of the Olympics will be on the development of Vancouver's downtown entertainment district, and the Stadium is on the edge of that. As an anchor facility for the district, he feels the Stadium and its 2010-upgrades will help enhance that district for years to come.

Sue Griffin, executive director of the BC Sports Hall of Fame and Museum, which is located inside the Stadium, says what will happen to the organization's exhibits and hall space during five months from November, 2009 to March, 2010 that VANOC is in charge of the building is still unknown. That fact is beginning to worry her and the organization's corporate sponsors, both existing and those with which she is now in negotiations. "We're very concerned," she says. "We're going to need a decision [from VANOC] within six to 10 months."

The organization has recently renewed its lease, which now runs an additional two years to 2012, but there have been discussions with VANOC that indicates its corporate sponsors probably want to use the Sports Hall's space, a use to which Cornwall says the size of the space lends itself. But, he adds, no decisions have yet been made by VANOC about the space, and, hence, the Hall of Fame. "It's too early to say what we'll use it for, and we may figure out a way to keep it open to the public, or at least open to ticket holders when all those thousands of people are coming here. It's still in process."

Griffin says she also hopes to make a presentation to VANOC officials in March to have them designate the Museum, which has a small Olympics section, as the organization that receives 2010 Olympic and Paralympic memorabilia after the Games. But, she says, she expects that if the organization must move temporarily, there will likely be spaces for it to operate while the Games are underway that are elsewhere in the Vancouver area. Whether VANOC will finance that move is another question.

The Vancouver Trade and Exhibition Centre, including its adjacent expansion building, which will be only just open when VANOC takes it over. VANOC thinks of this for the moment as two non-competition venues within one.

The existing 14,000 square-metre (150,000 square-foot) building, under the sail-styled roof, will be used for the operations centre for the main press centre, for written media from around the world. The expansion building that's now under construction will be used for the broadcast and electronic media -- it's called the International Broadcast Centre -- with the satellite antenna farms on the cruise-ship docking area of the complex. It will also be the main transportation hub for the estimated 10,000 media personnel who will be accredited to the Games, and who will be transported to all of the venues.

"There will be a lot of traffic in and out of there," comments Cornwall, thinking about the downtown business core that's right next to the huge complex.

There are also expected to be an additional 5,000 media personnel who will be doing stories related to the Games, fill-in material and the like, who won't be accredited to the Games. All of the accredited media will begin moving into the complex in phased steps under VANOC co-ordination, starting in September, 2009, according to Cornwall, while other parts of the complex will be taken over by VANOC starting in December 1, 2009 through to March 31, 2010.

All of that has to dovetail with about 200 events in various stages -- 50 confirmed -- between now and 2020 that the Centre is booking or has already booked. It's a busy conference centre that often hosts events that draw 10,000 to 15,000 people each, and each conference can bring in millions of dollars worth of business to city businesses. "We've already turned aside bookings because they would land in the time that VANOC will be using the space," notes Donna Hunter, the complex's director of Client & Event Operations, a department which includes 17 staff.

Hunter says she is now involved in monthly management meetings with VANOC -- including Overlay and Press Operations officials -- to work on a myriad of issues involving the two buildings. She has also been to Salt Lake City, where the 2002 Winter Games were held, to meet with colleagues of that city's Salt Palace about how events unfolded there. "These meetings really help us understand VANOC's operational requirements as well as the scope and magnitude of the Olympics... and, in hindsight, some of the lessons they learned."

The VANOC meetings have also included discussions about the technology infrastructure that VANOC needs to have installed to service the broadcasting satellite farms. They are also useful, she says, to let VANOC know what requirements the Exhibition Centre has. "In that respect, before and after the Games, for us it should be business as usual."

Hunter also says VANOC is also expected to take into consideration the number of businesses that operate in the Trade & Convention Centre. "One of their next steps is to talk to the tenants in the facility." Those discussions are to find out how the tenants might either be involved during VANOC's operations, or if they might temporarily use the space for VANOC sponsor activities.

General Motors Place. VANOC calls this "Hockey Venue 1" to distinguish it from several other facilities that will be used for Olympic hockey games or training locations (UBC's facilities, for instance, are known as "Hockey Venue 2". GM PLace is only about 10 minutes' drive from the Village, but VANOC operations shuttles, behind secured areas across False Creek, may cut that time further. There will be 16 days of competition at GM Place, with two or three hockey games per day.

Harvey Jones, the vice-president & general manager of Arena Operations for GM Place's owner, Orca Bay Sports & Entertainment, says that as a result of VANOC's ability to persuade the International Olympic Committee it wasn't necessary to play the 2010's major hockey games on international-sized ice, and thus no need to convert the NHL-sized ice sheet at GM Place -- "It would have made a real mess of the building" -- there won't be any permanent changes to the facility.

He says however there will be a lot of major overlay work done by VANOC, starting in the summer of 2009. "There will be a lot of work in the nine months leading up to the Olympic period." The work involves creating 14 dressing rooms as well as broadcast and other media facilities and the like. "A lot of the work will happen during the summer before (the Games)," he notes.

The National Hockey League's Vancouver Canucks team, which uses GM Place as its home rink, normally plays a home-and-away schedule of about 80 games per season, starting in September and going through to March, with playoff games that may follow until June. VANOC will working on the venue during much of that time. As a result of negotiations so far, he says, it appears the Canucks will play a condensed form of the first half of their season until the end of January, 2010. "Then", says Jones, "the Canucks will go on an extended road trip. VANOC will then finalize its conversion of the building to stage the Olympics. The Olympics will occupy it for 15 days, then we'll have a week to get it back into NHL mode, and the Canucks will come back." All told, the NHL team's road trip will be for about five weeks, and finish their season.

The Coliseum on the grounds of the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE). It's to be used for the Olympic short-track speed skating and figure skating. That means it will be used for that purpose from January 4, 2010 to March 7, 2010. The surrounding area and the adjacent Agrodome are expected to be used for support of the competitions. VANOC's reconstruction program has already replaced the seating of the Coliseum, which was built in 1968, and last year the Coliseum's ice sheet was expanded. This year, says Mike MacSorley, vice president of the PNE's Operations department, a new ice plant and lighting will be installed, and a new scoreboard is expected to be added in May.

However, he says, "Our biggest concern is that we have buildings that we're not going to be able to use for two-and-a-half months, and how do we balance our [annual] budget. We're not a huge, money-making organization. We're not getting any rent or revenue from the buildings, so that becomes our biggest challenge." MacSorley points out that 2010 will be the PNE's 100th birthday, and there may be promotions around that which could be leveraged to increase the attendance at the annual PNE Fair that runs for the last two weeks of August. He adds that black-out dates for the Western Hockey League Giants hockey team, which plays out of the Coliseum, have already been negotiated.

MacSorley says that there will be other PNE areas that will be used by VANOC, such as the Forum, a large building a short distance from the Coliseum that is normally used by the PNE for a number of trade shows in the late winter and early spring -- operations that are normally there during the time that VANOC will be occupying the space. The Forum will be used for VANOC's main accreditation centre for the area, and for the Olympics volunteers who will be working in the area, and for distribution services. "Hastings Park will be home to [VANOC's] Volunteer Accreditation Centre, which starts in January, 2008. The Accreditation Centre runs right up to March 31, 2010."

Cornwall says the area poses a logistics challenge for VANOC because the schedule is set up so that the Coliseum ice will be used by speedskating and figure skating on alternating nights, but each day there will also be both figure skating and speedskating practices. The Coliseum will have about 15 days of competitions, and it will be a significant amount of spectator, volunteer and supplier turnover during that time, which in turn promises to make accreditation complicated at the PNE grounds.

MacSorley says that between now and 2010, the area will be used to host the short-track speed skating and figure-skating camps and hosting Skate Canada's championships next January. "The Olympics has given us a face lift, and the opportunity to host world-class events and athletes, which we did not have the opportunity before."

MacSorley also said that his organization is also currently exploring using another part of the PNE grounds, Playland, which is normally an area set aside for carnival rides such as roller coasters, as a place where the public can "engage" with the Olympics. "Vancouver doesn't have the great gathering places for festivities such as the plazas that, say, Torino used. One of the things that Vancouver will have to look at -- and not exclusively VANOC, but Vancouver, Richmond and cities surrounding venues -- is having active sites for people to gather and engage with the Olympics, such as those who can't afford the hockey tickets or figure skating tickets. We're looking at using Playland as one of those venues, not as Playland with its rides, but a gathering place where sponsors can come in and work with people who gather and, so people can engage with the Olympics."

The Richmond Speedskating Oval complex. It's a 35-minute drive from the Vancouver Olympic Village -- "in good traffic," smiles VANOC's Cornwall. There will be 12 days of competitions and three training days. The 33,000 square-metre (355,000 square-foot) building, VANOC's flagship legacy, will have a capacity of about 8,000 gross capacity in VANOC's planning. VANOC uses the phrase "gross capacity" to note the maximum number of people that can be seated at a facility, but that's not the same number of spectators to matches there. The number also includes people who are part of the Olympic family: sponsors, athletes, training staff, International Olympic Committee officials and the like.

Lee Malleau, the manager of Sponsorship, Partnership & Economic Development for the City of Richmond, says the huge project is due to be opened in September, 2008. The building will be effectively leased to VANOC for six months, starting in November, 2009, but will be the home of Speed Skate Canada, the national sports federation, for training purposes and test events leading up to the Games. When the Games are finished, the ice sheet for the speedskating oval will be drained away and overlain with other sports facilities for track-and-field, basketball and hockey, so that it won't normally compete with the speedskating track in Calgary.

Malleau says Richmond's general planning concept is to provide for places where the public can congregate during the Olympics, but to ensure that the regular day-to-day business of the city won't be disrupted by the Games. Richmond's focus, in part, when it sent a delegation to Torino to see how the 2006 Winter Games operated, was in community crowd control and how the activities surrounding the Games took place. "In Richmond, we'll be using that experience to make sure our planning for what we call the Olympic Experience so that... we will minimize this disruption as much as we can to regular daily activities, but also provide the crowds with attractions."

Malleau says that it's expected the oval complex will have its own governance system independent of Richmond following the Games, but that system has yet to be developed. Other reports have indicated that it is expected to be supervised by the legacy trust society, still to be established, that is expected to oversee other VANOC-related venues.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on February 27, 2007

Monday, February 26, 2007

Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #2171

RICHMOND SPENT C$1.43 MILLION IN SALARIES AND TRAVEL IN 2006 SUPERVISING WORK CONNECTED WITH 2010 OVAL COMPLEX

The City of Richmond reports that it spent about C$1.43 million in staff salaries and travel expenses during 2006 to supervise the construction of the sports complex, budgeted at C$178 million, that will house the 2010 speedskating oval.

Tom Anderson, the manager of Finance & Administration for the city's Olympic Business office, reports that most of that total -- almost C$1.3 million -- was for the equivalent of roughly 15 people, many of them senior staff, who were working on the project in various ways at any given time during the year. The balance of C$156,076 was spent on travel expenditures during the year by city staff for reasons connected with the project, or being involved with hosting the Games. None of the expenditures had implications for the City's taxpayers.

Anderson's report says that Olympic business-related travel outside of the Greater Vancouver area was "for various purposes including, technical inspections, best practices research, economic development, business negotiations, etc. Objectives for these trips have been to inform, educate and prepare City Council and staff to build an iconic post-Games, multi-purpose facility for sport and wellness, as well as to host and stage a successful Olympic speed skating venue in 2010."

Most of staff time was spent on two categories, Oval Project Design & Construction, and Olympic business and related opportunities [See BACKGROUND, below]. There are other categories, such as post-Olympics Oval and Oval site development. Work in these areas, suggests Anderson, "will be recouped through future revenue streams."

Anderson reports that "When comparing the allocated time and effort with some of the important initiatives, the equivalent value of staff time and travel expenses has been reasonable relative to the magnitude of the project and the return on the investment that the City and community will realize."

Meanwhile, it's reported that the Olympic Business Office will have a report within the next two months for Richmond city council on "possible" Olympic-related sponsorship opportunities.

BACKGROUND

Anderson reports that the work in the second and third categories, below, are to "leverage the Olympic opportunity, and ensure future financial returns that will far exceed any of these costs."

1. The Oval Project Design & Construction category includes work in the following areas:

Researching, designing the Oval and site

Constructing the Oval and site project management

2. The Olympic Business & Related Opportunities category includes:

Preparing the City to host the Speed Skating Venue for the 2010 Olympic games

Preparing legal agreements with companies and governments connected with the Games and the Oval

Developing the Richmond Olympics Strategic Plan

Informing the community and stakeholder groups on the progress of the Oval project

Leveraging "the Olympic opportunity"

Hosting meetings, liaising with or supporting various city committees

Developing the pre-Games programming of the Oval

3. Post-Olympics Oval, where it becomes a community facility - Anderson says "Staff time in this category has largely been related to maximizing the potential of post-Games operations of the Olympic oval and related

economic development for the City, and can thus be considered an investment in the future legacy of the project." That work includes:

Developing the post-Games programming of the Oval

Negotiating legacy funding

Exploring sponsorship opportunities

Exploring mutual benefit materials and products

Identifying technology trade-off sponsorship opportunities

Identifying and attracting tenants to the Oval, and

Preparing the Oval's post-Games business plan

4. The Oval Site Development Category, Anderson reports, is value-added expenses associated with the sale of the site's lands. He expects it to be "fully recouped through the land-sale transaction." Anderson says that work on this category has been completed, and is not likely to be reported this year. Staff work last year included:

Preparing the Oval gateway program

Preparing the precinct public art plan; and

Negotiating and analyzing Request for Proposal submissions.

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

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2170

Here are two moguls we ran into today:

VANOC REISSUES CALL FOR HIGH-VOLTAGE TRANSFORMERS FOR CYPRESS VENUE

VANOC has taken the unusual move of re-issuing an Invitation to Quote for companies to supply five pad-mounted high-voltage electrical transformers for its Cypress Mountain venue in West Vancouver. Last month's call for proposals closed January 26 but the new one closes February 23. Also, under the former call, the transformers were to be delivered by the beginning of June; now VANOC says they don't need to show up until September 1. 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 venue, and the other two are to power the Black Mountain chair lift and the Sunrise chair lift.

SQUAMISH, LIL'WAT TO IMPROVE ABORIGINAL TOURISM BETWEEN VANCOUVER, WHISTLER

The chief of the Squamish aboriginal tribe, Ian Campbell, says his group, working with the Lil'wat tribe near Whistler, hopes to increase aboriginal tourism visibility along the 140-kilometre highway that links the 2010 host cities of Vancouver and Whistler by working with the BC Ministry of Highways. Campbell would like to incorporate aboriginal stops of interest and aboriginal symbolism into highway signage, he explained to the Squamish Chamber of Commerce. The concepts are to be part of a formal plan to bring local aboriginal culture forward, called The Sea-to-Sky Cultural Journey, starting in October, to coincide with the opening of the new Squamish Lil'wat Cultural Centre, a C$30-million building under construction in Whistler. The expectation is that it will continue to be built in the years leading up to 2010. Included would be interpretive stations at scenic, historic or cultural points of interest along the highway. Campbell says the group is hoping to work with foundations and companies, as well as individuals, to help fund the work. Squamish and Lil'wat chiefs are to launch a new logo and brand tomorrow to help market these activities.

RESOURCES

Here's the link for the PDF of the Invitation to Quote:

tinyurl.com/2zvp9j

Sea-to-Sky Cultural Journey information is available from:

Linda Calla

Project Manager

Phone: (1) 604-913-1810 (extension 222)

E-mail: <lcalla@spo7ez.ca>

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

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2169

Vancouver City Council will be asked tomorrow to approve a C$250,000 contribution from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation to help pay for the studies, monitoring and some incremental costs to ensure one of the Olympic Village buildings produce as much energy as it requires.

The so-called Net Zero building is a 70-unit condo on the southern side of the Village, destined to become a senior's complex and part of the income-tested projects in the area after the 2010 Games are complete.

The planning for the energy-efficient building has been underway for a couple of years now, and the current agreement is part of the housekeeping to implement it. CMHC and the city plan to use the building as a demonstration pilot project for their own purposes to show how it is possible to construct an apartment complex so that, while its passive design might use energy from the power grid on occasion, it will also produce energy to add to the grid periodically as well, with the overall net energy use being zero.

Merrick Architecture of Vancouver, one of the architecture teams that has been contracted by the developer, Millennium Southeast False Creek Properties, to help build the Village. The overall cost of the monitoring work, reporting and various other aspects of the Net Zero part is C$284,000. The City will contribute the C$34,000 shortfall from is Property Endowment Fund, which is already developing the infrastructure of the Village and the surrounding area, and a city housing fund.

Merrick has completed the first of the three phases of the work -- the concept design -- which involved technical requirements, an energy analysis and costing. The second phase of the work is just about to start. This includes development of the conceptual design and detailed costing of the building envelope, heating system, lighting, energy generation options and energy efficient appliances. Grey- and black-water treatment are also expected to be investigated and costed.

The third phase -- actual construction -- is still to come.

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

Friday, February 23, 2007

Morgan:News:2010 |General| #2168

VANCOUVER BLOG WRITER ADVOCATES DESTROYING 2010 COUNTDOWN CLOCK AS A PROTEST AGAINST THE GAMES

An anti-Olympics blog writer in Vancouver, who says he lives a block from Vancouver Police headquarters, has advocated destroying the Vancouver 2010 Olympics countdown clock as a protest against the Olympics.

The clock's launch event, carefully scripted by VANOC and various governments, was marred by two protesters who leaped on the stage and briefly took over the microphone from VANOC vice-president of Communications Renee Smith-Valade last week before being arrested with five others, three of whom were charged in connection with protests. It was the first time that a 2010 Olympics event turned violent, if only briefly.

Matthew Good, in his self-named blog, who describes himself as an anti-war and human rights advocate, writes in a posting to his blog today, "...I am about to promote a criminal act... The physical destruction of the clock that has been erected in front of the Vancouver Art Gallery that is counting down to the commencement of the Winter Olympics, due to begin some three years from now."

Good, who says he's protesting the Olympics because he thinks it promotes inequality between rich and poor, outlines on the blog how the destruction ought to occur -- and how it ought not to happen: "I would," he writes, "were the location different, suggest explosives. But given the damage that could be done the [nearby Vancouver] art gallery, not to mention anyone that might be passing by or staying in the two hotels adjacent to the property, it's not an option -- as hurting anyone in the process is obviously out of the question. Thus, it would take some homework, such as finding out how deep the stone is set in the ground, its thickness, how fast a few jack hammers at its base might weaken it enough to allow a heavy truck to pull it over with the aid of cabling, and what times of night are the slowest in the downtown core (I'm going with Monday or Tuesday around 3:30 - 4 am). It would also require a large group of participants that would be willing to go to jail, because there's simply no way that the police wouldn't respond in time to catch those involved -- nor should trying to escape be an objective."

The countdown ceremony protests were foretold by other blogs a few days before they occurred.

RESOURCES

The link to the Matthew Good blog:

www.matthewgood.org/2007/02/destroying-the-countdown-clock/

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

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2167

Here are three moguls we ran into today:

ARCHITECT TO ASK VANCOUVER TO APPROVE OVERHEIGHT CONDO AT OLYMPIC VILLAGE

Vancouver City Council has set a tentative date of April 17 to hear a request from Nick Milkovich Architects, which wants to construct twin-tower condominium with 64 suites at the 2010 Olympic Village that is 2.3 metres over the maximum height, making it 32.3 metres tall (106 feet). The nine-storey building is at 1598 Columbia Street. Assuming council approves the over-height request on the condo, the development permit board is scheduled to hold its meeting on the building on April 23. Meanwhile, Millennium Southeast False Creek Properties, which is responsible for developing the Olympic Village lands now has approval for six excavation and shoring permits. Excavation by Millennium crews and site servicing by the City is underway, with construction of the first building due to start in June.

VANOC IN THE MARKET FOR DIGITAL, OFFSET COMMERCIAL PRINTERS

VANOC says it will need various types of digital and offset printing done on an ad hoc basis, so rather than issue a Request for Proposals and deal with a stampede of proponents from across Canada for this large, busy and competitive industry, it's asking for expressions of interest and credentials first, so it can sort the response accordingly. The organization needs the printers for such things as short-run, colour laser printing and large format digital imaging, catalogues, magazines, folders, brochures, posters, newsletters, post cards -- you name it. It also wants printers that can deal with standard finishing services such as stitching, trimming, folding, drilling, laminating, coil binding and other associated services. It says it may pick more than one firm to provide the services, even after going through the shortlisting and proposal stages, so it can ensure uninterrupted delivery schedules. Among other things VANOC wants to know at this stage is whether the print shop is unionized and, if so, which union and when does the contract expire. The EOI deadline is March 15.

WHISTLER-AREA SCHOOLS CONTEMPLATED FOR HOUSING VANOC VOLUNTEERS

The Vancouver Sun newspaper reports that VANOC officials and the Howe Sound School District are discussing the possibility of whether the gymnasiums of four schools in the Squamish, Whistler and Pemberton areas might be used to house volunteers during while the 2010 Winter Games are underway. The discussions came as part of several public meetings VANOC is holding in the area about such matters. At this point, no decisions have been made, and both VANOC and the school district are getting the public's feelings on the matter. The District, comments reporter Jeff Lee, says the possibility largely depends on whether the BC government decided whether the schools might be closed during the period of the Games. Lee quotes Dick Vollet, Vanoc's vice-president of Workforce, as saying he's not sure how many of the 3,000 volunteers expected to be needed in Whistler might be housed dormitory-style at the schools, but elementary schools are not involved in the concept. "The main focus is we want to work with the community and parents to make sure that the Games are a positive experience," Lee quotes Vollet as saying. "Whether or not schools close is a decision made by individual school districts and not by us."

RESOURCES

Here's the link to the PDF file of VANOC's EOI for printing services:

tinyurl.com/39c538

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

Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #2166

VANOC'S NORTHERN MOU FOCUSED ON OPERATIONS, CULTURE AND TOURISM

A working group to implement the new memorandum of understanding signed by Canada's three territorial governments and the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) is to be set up.

The three territories and VANOC say they will assign officials to the working group to develop specific agreements for each of the eight projects they've agreed to do, and the group will detail the roles and responsibilities, costs, and a timeline for implementation for the projects. Three of the projects are of a general cultural nature, two are tourism-related and also general, and the rest are specific projects designed to help the Games operationally.

Here are the projects that will be dealt with by the working group of the deal signed by VANOC CEO John Furlong and the three northern ministers responsible for Sport and Recreation -- Glenn Hart of the Yukon government, Michael McLeod from the Northwest Territories and the Louis Tapardjuk of Nunavut. We start with the operational projects for the Games:

"The potential for team training for Olympic / Paralympic teams in preparation for 2010 with an emphasis on early season training and acclimatization." At this stage, it appears this portion of the protocol is aimed at developing some unspecified places in the Territories as locations where national Olympic teams, from Canada and elsewhere that want to train for the Games in Canada, can do so. A number of BC communities have already laid claim to the concept and have been actively promoting it to other nations on their own.

A volunteer promotion and recruitment program throughout the territories, "which will culminate in a selected numbers of volunteers traveling to Vancouver to volunteer at the 2010 Games... specifically in areas that the local host jurisdiction" -- this could be Vancouver, Richmond or Whistler -- "does not have the required expertise or sufficient numbers to meet the demand."

Recruiting and developing sport-related officials in the territories that have the technical requirements to be selected as officials for test events leading up to the Games, and for the Games themselves.

Cultural:

Developing opportunities for aboriginal athletes and cultural performers "to demonstrate traditional activities at the 2010 Games." This specifically includes cultural performers "for the northern traditional aboriginal games of the Inuit and Dene "aboriginal tribes that live in these territories. (Those aren't organized games in the Olympic sense. They involve traditional Inuit and Dene pastimes, such as high kicks, arm pulls and kneeling jumps. Those jumps, for instance, are based on what a hunter has to do to get off an ice floe that's breaking up.)

Provide northern arts and culture at the 2010 Games to provide publicity for northern artists ,and to provide "Games participants" the chance to experience and appreciate northern Canadian culture.

Provide licensing and other commercial opportunities for northern artists and cultural industries through connections with VANOC.

Tourism:

"Increase networking, collaborations and touring opportunities between the territories and southern Canada."

"Ensure Canada's North is reflected and represented as a region of Canada."

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

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #2165

MARKETING THE 2010 GAMES INVOLVES A LOT OF PUBLIC GROUNDBREAKING OVER THE NEXT FEW WEEKS

Two types of ground-preparation marketing for the 2010 Olympics are occurring this weekend. One is literally a sod-turning exercise. The other involves part of the committments of Canada's host broadcaster for the Games, which is now running five-second promotions for its role and the Games themselves.

This all comes as the marketing pulse of the Games quickens on the three-year-out anniversary before the start of the Games.

First, on the sod-turning side: The official ground-breaking ceremony of VANOC's Hillcrest curling venue and Vancouver's adjacent new aquatic centre, which is set for Friday morning at the site near Little Mountain, will include a host of dignitaries.

Jack Poole, VANOC's chairman, will represent the organization. Vancouver Park Board chairman Ian Robertson will host the event. Chief Leah George-Wilson of the Tsleil-Waututh tribe will be representing the Four Host First Nations that are working with VANOC; David Emerson, the minister in charge of the federal government's Olympic responsiblities and BC Premier Gordon Campbell will be there for the province, along with Vancouver mayor Sam Sullivan. The federal, BC and municipal governments are all investing money in the capital construction of the projects.

The Hillcrest Curling Venue, built to LEED standards, will have 6,000 seats and four ice sheets. After the 2010 Winter Games, it will be converted into the a new Riley Park Community Centre, a home for the Vancouver Curling Club, an ice arena and it will eventually have a library.

Another event is one that starts this weekend on Canadian television, in an admittedly low-audience time slot.

The Sports Network cable channel (TSN), part of the successful CTV host broadcaster contract with the International Olympic Committee, gives its audience a behind-the-scenes look at the world of Canadian amateur sports.

A a six-part series called "Spirit of the Game", shot in high definition, which will be the main standard for the 2010 Games, begins its run on Sundays at 11 a.m.

The 30-minute episodes are hosted by Brian Williams, a Canadian broadcaster who was the voice and face of the Olympics with CTV's competitor CBC, the network that has had the Olympics broadcast contract for decades, but which will come to an end with the Beijing Summer Games next year. Williams, who left the CBC to follow the Games contract, will be talking with athletes, coaches and executives in the Olympics industry about various topics, some controversial, such as drug testing, the relationship between parents, coaches and athletes, and a story on how injured Canadian soldiers are recruited to become Paralympians.

The show is sponsored by VANOC's telecommunications sponsor, Bell Canada, on one of its broadcasting channels, so there isn't any negativity about the Vancouver Olympics.

Here, according to TSN, is a look at the summary of each episode:

Episode 1 - Sunday, February 25th

Williams discusses why Quebec's amateur-sports funding is larger than that of any other Canadian province, in total and per capita.

Episode 2 - Sunday, March 4th

The feature, called ‘Soldier On’, is about the Canadian Paralympic Committee working with the Canadian Armed Forces to recruit wounded soldiers for sports. Williams talks with soldiers and General Rick Hillier, the outspoken chief of Canada's Defence Staff.

Episode 3 - Sunday, March 11th

This episode is about doping in sports. The audience is shown how doping control at the Olympics works, and tours a lab to see how a urine sample is processed, and how officials determine if an athlete is clean or has cheated. Williams also talks with Dick Pound, the chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency, and a member of the 20-person Board of Directors of VANOC.

Episode 4 - Sunday, March 18th

This one is about skating, specifically about how the Canadian Olympic Committee and Skate Canada, the sports federation that supervises high-performance skating in this country, is planning to be competitive on the ice. Williams talks to skaters Brian Orser, Tracy Wilson and the new CEO of Skate Canada, William Thompson.

Episode 5 - Sunday, March 25th.

This episode takes a close look at the 'Own the Podium-2010', the C$110 million initiative of the federal government, the Canadian Olympic Committee and VANOC to win top spot in the medal standings for the Olympics at Vancouver 2010, and finish in the top three medal countries in the 2010 Paralympics.

Episode 6 - Sunday, April 1st

The last episode looks at the relationships between high-performance coaches and the athletes with which they work.

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

Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #2164

MOUS SIGNED WITH CANADA'S THREE NORTHERN TERRITORIES AND 2010

The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) says it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Canada's three northern territorial governments. It's the first such protocol the organization has signed since approving a deal with Quebec two years ago.

It's also the first such agreement negotiated since VANOC's new executive vice-president of Corporate Strategy and Government Relations, David Guscott, was hired late last year to help relieve VANOC CEO John Furlong's workload. It was Furlong who supervised the Quebec protocol.

Today's deal was negotiated with the three ministers Responsible for Sport and Recreation: Glenn Hart of the Yukon government, Michael McLeod from the Northwest Territories and the Louis Tapardjuk of Nunavut. Although each have small populations, the territory they cover stretches from the Pacific to the Atlantic across northern Canada.

Furlong says they have "identified a number of potential areas of collaboration with 2010 that will help VANOC" successfully deliver on its "mission and vision" for the Games "while benefiting the territories in the areas of sport development and culture."

Furlong adds, "The Games represent an opportunity for distinct regions of Canada to be showcased on the world stage through the power of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The pan-northern approach the three territories have demonstrated in hosting the Canada Winter Games is an excellent example of how the country can come together, united by a passion for sport."

Yukon's Minister Hart noted the value of working collectively on projects of this scope. "Hosting the Canada Winter Games has afforded us the opportunity to develop expertise and familiarity with many of the organizational considerations related to an event of this magnitude. Many of the volunteers involved with the Canada Winter Games could fulfill similar roles during the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games providing some value-added experience as well."

The NWT's McLeod says, "The appeal of Canada's northern culture is well recognized around the globe. From Inuit and Dene games -- which delight all audiences -- to throat singing and traditional dances, we are examining the development of a northern cultural delegation for the 2010 Winter Games."

Nunavut' Tapardjuk talks about the opportunities created by working together on national and international sporting events. "To have an opportunity for a small jurisdiction like Nunavut to participate in events like the Canada Winter Games and the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games adds benefits for not only our athletes and cultural performers, but it also helps us to foster so many positive outcomes for Nunavut as well."

Guscott has said there would be additional protocols negotiated with provincial governments.

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

Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #2163

NICHE OLYMPICS SERVICE COMPANY ADDED TO VANOC LICENSEE LIST

A Canadian company that has built a niche business on the Olympics since the Calgary Winter Games in 1988 has won a specialized licensee contract with the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC).

Ian MacDonald, president of Moving Products Inc. of Calgary, which has a 370 square-metre (4,000 square-foot) showroom in east Vancouver not far from the city's major container terminal, which it opened last July "in preparation for Vancouver 2010," has built his business around the Olympics. The company of eight people has been providing customized clothing, accessories and logistics in order to outfit athletes, corporate sponsors and their guests. Since 1988, McDonald's company has outfitted more than 300,000 people during every set of Olympic Games with more than 2.5 million pieces of sponsor-branded merchandise -- such as sweaters, backpacks, watches -- even stadium cushions.

Before and during the Olympics, sponsors prepare dozens of different packages to welcome athletes, coaches, friends and customers to the Games. MPI, acting as a broker, works with the sponsors to prepare and distribute tailored hospitality packages. The company says it's done this sort of thing more than 150 times. The firm provides merchandise design, co-ordination, production supervision, quality control and deals with Olympic graphics approvals from VANOC, and also handles shipping logistics and distribution management. It has an alliance with Schenker to provide warehousing and logistics.

Dennis Kim, director, licensing and merchandising, VANOC, says MPI has become the Official Premium Fulfillment Licensee, adding that Olympic and Paralympic sponsors and partners will now have an additional option for finding and organizing corporate premiums, uniforms and gift items for their employees, officials and guests. "Over the next three years, VANOC's sponsor and partner requirements for custom-branded 2010 Winter Games merchandise licensed by VANOC will increase." MPI says it is working with Johnson & Johnson to produce a "fully stocked amenity kit for clients' use in Bejing and Vancouver." The provincial government is a major sponsor of VANOC; MPI has already set up a line of merchandise available to BC government employees, starting with hoodies, but expects to have jackets and other products available in the next few months.

Kim says the company will work with VANOC's major retail sponsors, HBC, through its fulfillment division, HBC Custom Solutions to connect "VANOC sponsors and partners to our wide variety of licensed merchandise." He added that the showroom, with an attached office, will allow VANOC sponsors and partners to shop for custom merchandise with Vancouver 2010 logos.

"Local organizing committees select the official licensees," MacDonald has said, adding that there are fees and/or royalties payable for the licence. As a service licensee, the company acts as a broker between corporate sponsors and product licensees."

The company is well-known to VANOC -- it was a featured success story for the Bid Corporation years ago.

BACKGROUND

VANOC's official licensees, in addition to MPI, include Aritzia LP, Artiss Aminco, Cajo Designs, Executive Promotions, Filmar Sportswear Canada Inc, HBC, Kootenay Knitting Company, Mustang Drinkware, New Era Cap Canada, Panabo Sales, Paris Glove of Canada, Please Mum, RC Products, Sundog Distributing Inc., Trimark Sportswear Group Inc., Vancouver Umbrella and Wilson International Products.

RESOURCES

Ian MacDonald,

President

Vancouver Showroom

Moving Products Inc.

495 Railway Street

Vancouver, BC, V6A 1A7

Phone: 778.785.2010

Fax: 778.785.2011

E-mail: ian@movingproducts.com

Web: www. MovingProducts.com

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

Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #2162

TRADE CONTRACTORS FOR 2010'S HILLCREST CURLING VENUE AND SWIMMING POOL ASKED FOR RESUMES

The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) is asking trade contractors to contact its project manager for the Hillcrest Curling venue and associated swimming pool if they're interested in working on the facility.

The refreshingly brief three-page expression of interest request was posted by Stuart Olson Constructors, a company based in the Vancouver suburb of Richmond, which has taken over supervision of the project for VANOC, after the City of Vancouver and the Vancouver Parks Board agreed to let VANOC take over the project to get it built in time for the 2010 Games.

Hillcrest will be the site of the 2010 curling competitions for both the Olympics and Paralympics. An adjacent aquatic centre, with a 50-metre lap pool and wave pool, destined to be one of the largest pools in the city upon completion, was to have been built by the City and Parks Board at the same time to save construction costs and share heating and cooling machinery.

Although it remains two adjacent structures with a common concourse, it's being treated as a single multi-purpose complex during construction. The total combined floor area is about 15,765 square metres (169,700 square feet). The structure itself will be primarily a combination of reinforced concrete and structural steel -- the kind of construction that has been the subject of significant cost inflation in the Greater Vancouver area in the last three years. The construction is expected to be to LEED Gold standards, according to VANOC.

The total budget for the complex is C$79.1 million, including post-Games conversion to its long-term use. VANOC is providing C$38 million for the curling-rink portion from its capital construction account, which is primarily funded by the Canadan and BC governments. The City of Vancouver is contributing an additional C$41.1 million, primarily for the aquatic centre.

Only those contractors who respond will be eligible for receiving future prequalification notices, requests for proposals or requests for tenders. The EOI deadline is March 7.

The EOI document lists the trade packages, which at this stage are primarily dealing with the shell of the complex. Specialty aspects, such as the heating/cooling system and the curling ice sheets and related facilities are not part of the packages listed. They were the subject of an RFP issued by VANOC in connection with its east Vancouver venues earlier.

BACKGROUND

The trade packages suggested so far include:

Architectural Woodwork

Asphalt Paving

Bulkheads & Adjacent Pool Floor

Ceramic Stone & Tile

Concrete Masonry

Concrete Paving

Curtain Wall/ Glazing

Damproofing / Waterproofing

Doors, Frames & Hardware

Elevators

Fencing

Fire Stopping / Smoke Seal

Glulam

Landscaping Soft / Site Furnishings

Lockers

Louvre & Vents

Membrane Roof / Flashings

Metal Roof & Wall Panels

Overhead Doors

Paintings & Coatings

Recreational Equipment

Resilient Flooring

Specific Purpose Rms (Teams/Sauna)

Steel Stud & Drywall

Swimming Pool Accessories

Toilet Partitions

Washroom Accessories

Water Features (Outdoor Pool)

Wave Pool

RESOURCES

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

tinyurl.com/3by26h

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

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Morgan:News:2010 |Business| #2161

VANOC VENUE OWNER INTRAWEST REWORKS EXCUTIVE SUITE

The company that owns Whistler Blackcomb, one of the major skiing venues for the 2010 Games, continues to reorganize its executive suite.

Intrawest ULC has established two main components of its Intrawest Mountain Resorts Division into Canadian and American components, primarily. "The new executive structure will serve to better align the structure with the strategic direction and growth objectives," said a spokesman.

Dave Brownlie has been appointed as chief operating officer of Intrawest Mountain Resorts, Canada. Brownlie will be responsible for all of Intrawest's Canadian mountain resorts, including the company's flagship resort Whistler Blackcomb, and adds Blue Mountain and Tremblant to Brownlie's resort portfolio. He's also responsible for related companies, Whistler Heli-skiing,and Panorama. In addition, Brownlie will oversee the Central Sales and Marketing functions that support the operating divisions across the company.

David Barry, meanwhile, has been appointed as chief operating officer of Intrawest Mountain Resorts, United States and the company's helicopter operations. In this role, Barry will be responsible for all of Intrawest's mountain resorts in the United States. These include Copper Mountain, Winter Park, Stratton, Snowshoe and Mountain Creek.

Last December, Intrawest announced an agreement to acquire Steamboat Ski and Resort Corporation in Colorado. Upon the successful completion of the transaction, Intrawest's operations at Steamboat will be included in Barry's area of responsibility. In addition, Barry will continue to oversee Canadian Mountain Holidays and Alpine Helicopters.

They'll both report to Hugh Smythe, the president of Intrawest Mountain Resorts.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on February 21, 2007

Morgan:News:2010 |General| #2160

BELL CANADA SHRINKS GRANT POTENTIAL TO ICE HOCKEY THIS YEAR

Bell Canada, a major sponsor of the 2010 Winter Olympics, is renewing its annual C$1 million fund for Canadian communities participating in high-participation team sports, but it's moved its focus to summer Olympic sports, considerably shrinking the amount available for ice hockey.

For the past two years, Bell Canada has donated C$1 million annually through its Bell Community Sport Fund to community groups that provided ice hockey and soccer, meaning that hockey development grants could total about C$500,000.

This year, the company will spend another C$1 million, but it says that grants will be available for baseball, basketball, cricket, curling, field hockey, football, lacrosse, ringette, softball and volleyball, in addition to hockey and soccer. That effectively shrinks the amount available this year from the fund for hockey development to about C$83,000.

Bell Canada officials were not immediately available for comment.

The fund provides its grants to sport organizations, community centres and schools, primarily.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on February 21, 2007

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2159

Here are three moguls we ran into today:

VANOC SPONSORS TO CONTROL DISTRIBUTION OF NEW COINS AND COIN CARDS

The new Canadian 25-cent VANOC curling coin -- the first of its kind -- will start to circulate on Friday, according to the Royal Canadian Mint, a VANOC supplier, but you'll only be able to get it initially at Royal Bank branches and Petro Canada gas stations across Canada -- both companies are major sponsors of VANOC. About 22 million of the coins will go into circulation, says the Mint. Petro-Canada stations will also begin selling a curling sports card, with a painted version of the coin at the same time. The sports card will sell for C$7.95. The mint is also producing a sterling silver collector version of the coin, which includes a hologram. The sterling silver coin was designed by Canadian artist Steve Hepburn and retails for C$69.95 via the Mint and its usual distribution network of coin dealers. Coin experts say that such sets are generally not valuable as investments, because of the number that are produced. They also expect that quite a few of the initial 25-cent coins marking the 2010 Games will be taken out of circulation by people for personal collections, but that the supply will quickly overwhelm that demand. Ian Bennett, president and CEO of the Mint, said this morning during the launch event in Calgary at a curling competition that: "This is the first coin in the most extensive circulation program in relation to the Olympic Games ever conceived by any mint worldwide. With these coins, every Canadian will have a chance to connect with the Games and hold on to a lasting reminder of what is sure to be a very special time in our history." A total of 17 coins, with values of 25 cents, C$1 and C$2, plus 36 limited-mintage collector coins and sets will also be produced by the Mint by 2010. VANOC gets a royalty on the sales of the speciality coins and sports cards. The Mint will also produce the athlete medals.

VANOC IN THE MARKET FOR KILOMETRES OF HIGH-VOLTAGE CABLE

VANOC has issued a Request for Proposals for 9.2 kilometres of 15,000-volt aluminum power cables, plus another 2.4 kilometres of system ground wire for the work being done in upgrading the electrical power systems at its Cypress Bowl venue this summer. Most of it, according to planning documents, will be running through ducts, but it's also asking for an optional price on 2.3 kilometres being directly buried. The venue, in the mountains of West Vancouver, will be used for the 2010 Games's skiing and snowboard competitions, including freestyle, aerials, slalom, snowboard and snowboard cross. VANOC is building two temporary stadiums, modifying existing runs, putting in a new in-ground halfpipe, adding a new snowmaking system and water reservoir, improving lighting, setting up a new freestyle site for aerials and moguls, and re-grading the parallel giant slalom course. The work is about half done and is expected to be completed in about nine months. The RFP closes next Tuesday, February 27, and the delivery of the cables on the mountain is due May 1. [For the link to the 50-page RFP, see RESOURCES, below.]

MARKETER'S HELP NEEDED TO EVOLVE FUTURE OF SKI COMPETITIONS

Quote without comment: "With an ever-increasing supply of leisure options, no form of entertainment can afford to stand still. Indeed, a sport like skiing must continuously develop, and its marketing re-invent itself. Several panelists pointed out their concern with the aging image of alpine skiing that made it less attractive to today's youth. Alpine skiing also tends to be followed mainly by fans that also ski, and the question remains, how to get the non-skiers interested in skiing. Several participants highlighted ski cross as a good example of an event with a younger image and great future. Some of the future development suggestions included the increasing importance of side events to complement sports competitions... The role of sponsors in activating their sponsorship engagement and the role of the media in promoting skiing through innovative advertising was also highlighted. The growing importance of authentic on-site experiences -- the feel and touch part of attendance -- was also noted. Future organizers are likely to be challenged to provide more interactive, experiential means of attending an event, be it through new spectator areas next to the starting hut or in critical parts of the course... but most of all, alpine skiing needs stars, real personalities that can help popularize the sport at home and beyond, as well as in new, emerging markets." -- Riikka Rakic, the editor of the International Skiing Federation's newsletter "NewsFlash", after attending a panel discussion in Sweden on the future of skiing.

RESOURCES

Here's the link to VANOC's power cable RFP, in PDF format:

tinyurl.com/2eg5jg

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on February 21, 2007

Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #2158

BC GOVERNMENT BUDGET GIVES 2010 GAMES SHORT SHRIFT

Finance minister Carole Taylor today tabled the BC government's budget for its coming fiscal year, which starts April 1, and outlined in comparison how it has been spending its funds during the current fiscal year.

However, Taylor didn't mention the Olympics at all in the budget speech she gave in the Legislative building in Victoria today or in the background briefing for reporters and others who were in the briefing room lock-up just prior to the release of the budget, and there was little mention of the Games at all in the budget documents.

The highlights of the budget that affect the 2010 Winter Games, or observations about their environment:

Revenue this year is forecast to be C$38.3 billion and expenses to be about C$35 billion, while the government for the coming year expects to take in -- and spend -- less: revenues are forecast to be C37.3 billion and expenses about C$36.2 billion. That's slightly under what the government's five-year plan expected it to be.

According to the budget, "Following estimated [Gross Domestic Product] GDP growth of 3.9% in 2006, the BC economy is forecast to grow by 3.1% in 2007. Economic momentum is expected to continue through to 2011, with annual real GDP growth rates of 3.0% or higher, as the build-up to the 2010 Winter Olympics Games continues."

According to the minister in charge of BC's Olympic responsibilities, Colin Hansen, "With the upcoming 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, we have been actively promoting to B.C. business the ways they can take advantage of the opportunities generated by the 2010 Winter Games."

The budget says that the B.C. 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Secretariat is expected to spend about C$100.3 million in the upcoming year, compared with spending C$153.1 million by the time the current year wraps up. It expects add seven people to its staff, bringing to 29 full-time equivalent staff for the coming fiscal year. Last year, it spent C$2.2 million on capital expenditures, and this coming year it expects to spend only C$216,000. The Secretariat, a portion of the BC Economic Development budget, shows off British Columbia businesses and economic development internationally in Games-related opportunities; creates programs aimed at B.C. businesses that enable them to be prepared to take advantage of 2010-related business opportunities; does the oversight of the province's C$600-million-dollar investment -- most of it capital expenses -- in the Games. it also represents the province as a member partner in organizing of the Games. One of its strategies is to be the coordination hub for a range of provincial activities, projects and key relationships related to the 2010 Winter Games.

Instead of focusing on the Games, the government focused on two things that may peripherally help the perception of Vancouver by Games tourism: it is investing in low-income housing, and bolstering the housing component of the welfare rate. Vancouver mayor Sam Sullivan applauded the investments in social housing, saying they will play a key role in helping Vancouver meet his council's Project Civil City target of reducing homelessness by more than 50% by 2010.

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on February 20, 2007

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2157

Here are two moguls we ran into today:

OTP HIRES HIGH PERFORMANCE ADVISOR FOR TECHNICAL TEAM

Own the Podium - 2010 has hired a high-performance advisor, Teresa Schlachter, the former Canadian Olympic skeleton head coach. She'll be part of the technical team and work out of the organization's Calgary head office. She'll be responsible for providing technical help to a specific group of winter sports that will be confirmed by the end of February when OTP completes a formal review of its technical-team functions. Canadian winter-sport athletes and coaches will receive technical support and the additional financial resources through directed funding designed to turn Canada into the top medal finisher at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, and place in the top three nations at the subsequent 2010 Paralympic Winter Games. Half of the C$110 million in funding for OTP comes from the Canadian government through its Sport Canada department. The other half comes from several VANOC sponsors: Bell Canada, General Motors of Canada, retailer HBC, McDonald's restaurants, Petro-Canada, renovations-materials sponsor Rona and the RBC Financial Group, as well as the BC government. The Canadian Olympic Committee, Canadian Paralympic Committee, and Vancouver 2010 also provide professional services and resources to Own the Podium. An equivalent program for the Olympic Summer Games, called Road to Excellence, has been established, but is still talking to the federal government's Secretary of State, Helena Guergis, about the level of funding in the coming fiscal year's national budget.

HELLER OFFERS ADVICE TO FURLONG

Quote without comment: "There's always the bread-not-circuses crowd that will continue to hound VANOC, like last week's protesters, who believe the Games are somehow responsible for provincial homelessness, hunger, poverty and any ferry sailing being late. It's probably a good thing George Heller, CEO and president of the 1994 Victoria Games [and CEO of HBC when it became a major sponsor of VANOC], met earlier this month with [VANOC CEO] Furlong. Heller has been there, done that. In an interview later, Heller told me he looked for signs of stress, even aging, on Furlong's face, and noted the VANOC chief seems to be holding up well under the pressure. 'I told John you can't be a hero in your hometown because the microscope is always more intensely focused locally,' said Heller. 'Locally, people make mountains out of molehills on issues that, in a national context, mean nothing. In the media back east, the Vancouver organization has not been taken to task at all. I told John they haven't laid a glove on you [nationally].' " -- Cleve Dheensaw, Victoria Times Colonist newspaper editorial, today. [For the full editorial, see the link under RESOURCES, below]

RESOURCES

Full Times Colonist editorial:

tinyurl.com/29v2gc

Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on February 20, 2007

Monday, February 19, 2007

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2156

Here are three more moguls we ran into today:

SPORTS MARKETING PANEL URGES VANOC TO SATISFY APPEAL OF SMALLER CANADIAN BUSINESSES

A delayed overview report of a panel discussion on sports marketing in Canada has a word of advice for VANOC. "Vancouver 2010 holds strong appeal for small- and medium-sized businesses. The Vancouver 2010 Organizing Committee needs to find a way of meeting this need or risk facing ambush marketing activities by the hundreds." The information was apparently a comment from a panel held on January 24 in Montreal that included Jean Gosselin, of National PR, Liette Guertin of Cossette Fusion, Alain Hotzau of SportDecision and Xavier Mouly, the CEO of HavasSport.com, however the report, on SportDecision.com, did not attribute the comment. Two more notes from the panel, also unattributed: "Women are more readily attracted to Olympic events, especially the emotional and human character of the amateur athletes portrayed in the media." and "Sports marketing in Canada is enjoying the benefits of the Olympic effect, but it will need to move forward and innovate, or risk seeing its investments decline in favour of other sectors, such as social causes, which companies are noticing more and more." To date, the only public activities that VANOC has taken has been to build in clauses to all of its contracts with retailers and licensees that they will do their best to help VANOC fight off ambush marketing in their areas. It has also asked the federal Canadian government to approve anti-ambush marketing legislation "during the period leading up to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Summer Games through to the end of the 2010 Games."

VANOC SUSTAINABILITY REPORT TO FOLLOW GRI GUIDELINES

VANOC's first sustainability report, expected to be published next month, is also expected to contain descriptions and stories covering sustainable actions since 2003 to last July 31. The information will be reported according to the Global Reporting Initiative's guidelines. VANOC says its "measurable sustainability indicator data will track selected and available performance data over our last fiscal year from August 1, 2005 to July 31 2006." The reason: To keep the data aligned with VANOC's financial reporting cycles.

ICE CONSULTANT PLEASED WITH HILLCREST VENUE FACILITIES

Hans Wuthrich, 49, the ice maker who worked as a consultant on the design of the new Hillcrest curling centre VANOC is building in Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Games, says the city's reputation for constant rain in the winter shouldn't have a significant effect on the centre's ice. "In Vancouver, in that facility that they're building, there shouldn't be any challenges," Wuthrich (pronounced WOOD-frich) is quoted in a Canadian Press article by reporter Donna Spencer, who is covering the Canadian Women's Curling Championship in Lethbridge, Alberta. "Everything will be so oversized and backed up. We'll have so much horsepower and dehumidification we should be able to make your nose bleed in there. It shouldn't matter if it's pouring rain outside." The ground-breaking ceremony for the arena is scheduled for Friday. Rain, he notes, increases humidity inside a building, which translates as frost on the curling ice. That, in turn, slows down the curling rocks as they slide, and thus the game. Curling ice is pebbled and then lightly scraped -- a process called clipping -- to help the rocks curl. Wuthrich, during the Championship, reports Spencer, works from 5 a.m. to midnight every day. He has a crew of 22 people working in shifts, and the ice is monitored 24 hours a day.

RESOURCES

Global Reporting Initiative framework:

www.globalreporting.org/ReportingFramework/G3Online/

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

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2155

Here are three more moguls we ran into today:

HBC GIVES C$300,000 TO CANADIAN PARALYMPIC FUND

VANOC's retailing sponsor, Hudson's Bay Company has given the Canadian Paralympic Foundation a C$300,000 donation for the Foundation's Paralympic Legacy Fund. A spokesman says the grant, the largest single contribution made to the Paralympic Legacy Fund, is the first of seven annual donations and is part of HBC's C$2.9 million annual donation for high-performance Canadian athletes. The money is to help the organization reach a C$10 million fundraising target. The investment income from the fund is to provide an ongoing legacy help for Canadians with physical disabilities to participate in Paralympic sport. "HBC's contribution will be used to knock down the barriers to participation and enable more Canadians with disabilities to feel the rush of confidence, good health and empowerment that Paralympic sport provides," says Senator Joyce Fairbairn, Chair of the Canadian Paralympic Foundation. "From recreation to high performance excellence, Paralympic sport provides an exciting avenue of fulfillment for people with disabilities." Hbc has committed to raising C$20 million by the time its sponsorship ends on December 31, 2012 to support Canadian athletes. This includes Canada's sport organizations, such as the Canadian Paralympic Committee and Canadian Olympic Committee. The balance of the money will support 200 athletes and provide grants to Canada's national training centres. The contribution will be raised through a number of in-store promotions and national events such as the HBC Run for Canada, held each July 1st.

MINT TO LAUNCH FIRST 2010 QUARTER-DOLLAR AT CURLING CHAMPIONSHIP

The Royal Canadian Mint confirms it intends to launch the first of its dozen Vancouver 2010 Olympic quarter dollars, the one that displays curling, during the Canadian Women's Curling Championship, known as the Scottie's Tournament of Hearts, on February 21 in Lethbridge, Alberta. Among the dignitaries: Ian Bennett, president and CEO of the Mint; Donna Duffett, president of the Canadian Curling Association Board of Directors; Amy Nixon, Canada's 2006 Olympic Bronze medalist and who is also member of the Women's Curling Team, and who is also representing VANOC fuels sponsor, Petro-Canada.

AMERICAN DOCUMENTARY TO FOCUS ON 2010-RELATED SOCIAL ISSUES

An independent movie company based in Astoria, New York, called RagTag Productions, is in the process of finalizing a documentary, entitled "The Five Ring Circus, The Untold Story of the Vancouver 2010 Games", about the implications of making the 2010 Winter Olympics. The two-year-old company -- owned by Brian Amyot, Angel Acevedo and Steven Tsapelas, who are all in their mid-20s -- is now circulating a trailer for the film via left-wing blogs and websites. According to the promotional material, "This independent documentary promises to be controversial. The documentary features interviews with mayors Derek Corrigan, Richard Walton, and Pamela Goldsmith-Jones, University of Toronto Professor Helen Lenskyj, Christopher Shaw of 2010 Watch, Sara MacIntyre of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, Kim Kerr of DERA, David Eby of Pivot Legal, Betty Krawczyk and many others." With one exception, the mayors noted do not have VANOC venues in their jurisdiction; the exception is West Vancouver mayor Pamela Goldsmith-Jones. The Cypress Bowl snowboarding venue is adjacent to her municipality. The rest of the people noted are outspoken opponents of the Games. The only location booked for the movie is an East Vancouver theatre, from March 2nd - March 8th. The trailer, which has a Keystone Kops feel about it, indicates it will focus on the negative issues of the Games and what the producers feel ought to be done by VANOC, as opposed to what it has actually done. [To see the movie trailer, see RESOURCES, below.]

RESOURCES

Five Ring Circus trailer:

www.thefiveringcircus.com/trailer.html

RagTag Productions:

Angel Acevedo

22-59 27th St. Apt. 3B

Astoria, NY 11105 US

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

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2154

Here are three moguls we ran into today:

STEEL WORKS RISE FROM MUD ON 2010'S NEW UBC HOCKEY ARENA

The steel structure for one of the walls of the new 7,500-seat arena to be used for 2010 Olympic hockey and sledge hockey games has begun rising from the concrete foundations and the sea of mud that marks the arena's construction site at the University of British Columbia. The new rink, expected to be finished by the end of this year, is one of three that will be used during the 2010 Games; the Bauer rink has upgraded with new dressing rooms and mechanical systems. It and a new practice rink adjacent to it are due to be finished in about three months. They will use the new ice plant that's now housed in a separate building to serve the new facility. The new arena can also be used for concerts, tennis tournaments, trade shows and other events after the 2010 Games are complete.

STILL NO DEAL BETWEEN VANOC AND GM PLACE

Just checking in: An operations contract has not yet been signed between VANOC and the owners of General Motors Place, the stadium where the medal ice hockey games will be played during the 2010 Winter Games. Negotiations have been underway for about a year on the last of the usage agreements between VANOC and its third-party venue owners.

ALPINE CANADA HOPING TO BOOST REVENUES FROM C$6 MILLION TO C$8 MILLION BY 2010

Alpine Canada CEO Ken Read says he hopes to expand his organization from grossing C$6 million per year to C$8 million annually between now and 2010 through increased sponsorships and, he hopes, more funds from the Own the Podium program. Alpine Canada represents high-performance ski teams that will be appearing as part of Canada's Olympic team at the 2010 Games.

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

Friday, February 16, 2007

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2153

Here are two moguls we ran into today:

DOW CANADA SUPPLIER TO VANOC FRETS ABOUT OTHER CUSTOMERS DURING CN STRIKE

One of VANOC's official suppliers, Dow Canada, says the current Canadian National Railway strike is affecting its customers. Dow Chemical Canada president Jeff Johnston told Canadian Press today that, "This strike is already having a severe impact on our ability to ship products, which is affecting our customers across the value chain." About 2,800 of CN's United Transportation Union workers have been on strike since last Saturday. Dow is supplying insulation materials and heat transfer fluids to VANOC, among other things, for use in its venues that require industrial refrigeration. CN is one of two main railway lines that service Canada; the other is Canadian Pacific, which is also a sponsor of VANOC.

RUSSIAN OLYMPIC COMMITTEE "A WEEK" FROM DECIDING ON 2010 UNIFORM SUPPLIER

Last fall, we did a story about how a firm called Bondi, which belongs to fashion designer Pierre Cardin was in the process of forcing open a C$8 million uniform-supply contract for the Russian Olympic Committee that included rights to design the uniforms the Russian Olympic team will be wearing to the 2010 Winter Games. The contract had been held by the firm of Bosco di Ciliegi. The contract expired on December 31, but had an automatic renewal clause that Bosco hoped nobody would bother with -- until executives of Cardin's Bondi showed up and told the ROC it would like to bid. The ROC obligingly put the extension on hold to entertain bids. Cardin, however, was perhaps too successful. Two more firms joined the auction: a Chinese firm called Keene Company, and the Ukrainian vodka producer, Nemiroff. As we understand it, Keene's bid has been eliminated as it apparently wasn't competitive, but the other three are now awaiting a decision by the Russian Olympic Committee. That decision is said to be due in about a week, but the negotiations appear to be continuing among the bidders even so. Bondi is reportedly in talks with Nemiroff, according to Bondi's general director Galina Kuznetsova, who adds, "The Ukrainians may buy the license for sportswear production under Pierre Cardin brand." That may be true, or wishful thinking: the Nemiroff folks are saying anything publicly. However, it's noted that the Chief Executive Officers of Cardin and Nemiroff have always had a good working relationship. Nemiroff has said that if it wins the deal, it will get into the sportswear business.

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

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #2152

HEADQUARTERS FOOD SERVICES CONTRACT OFFERED AGAIN AS FLAGSHIP SOCIAL-BUSINESS DEAL FAILS

The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) is offering a contract to food-service operators to set up a staff cafeteria in the low-rise of its two buildings that comprise its headquarters in East Vancouver, which it calls Campus 2010. The offer closes March 1.

If you're thinking this sounds familiar, you're right. VANOC made almost the exact same request last summer, and awarded the contract to Cooks Studio, one of a number of subsidiaries of North Vancouver Food & Service Resource Group, a 16-year-old consulting company, run out of a downtown east-side Vancouver office. The downtown east side is one of the areas covered by VANOC's social policies reached in agreements with the City of Vancouver and other governments.

What VANOC hoped to achieve with the deal, what it thought of the organization and what ultimately happened to it within about six months may help you in working on your response to the contract offer.

First, here's how VANOC CEO John Furlong described the company in a speech he made last October to the Vancouver Board of Trade: "If you came out to our offices today and went down onto the first level, you'd find a little enterprise that's operated by an organization called Cook Studio, which is a little business from the Vancouver Downtown East Side. They've hired under-employed people, brought them in off the street, trained them how to be cooks and have developed this enterprise. We've entered into a contract with them to come out and provide food services to the hundreds and eventually thousands of people who will work out of our head offices and we're very proud of that."

VANOC comptroller John McLaughlin, who is on a break at the moment, told us last May that Cook Studio's win was determined by the kinds of services they would provide, and not by the size of the concession fee. "We weren't looking to make money at this, because if we did it [by, say, concession fee], it would effectively be added onto the prices the staff would have to pay. We just dealt with them on the basis of 'Will you sell good, healthy food to our staff at a reasonable price?' "

The company, he added, "will be hiring a lot of people from the Downtown East Side. They have a lot of training programs for people who have been underemployed. It's the sort of organization that really fits well with what we're trying to do. They also make great food. It's a win-win from our perspective: great food, great service, great people to work with, and their doing something great for the community."

There's no word on how many staff went through the operation, but there was about six or seven working with VANOC at any given time.

The company also knew its way around government programs. It was, for instance, paid $358,340 two years ago by the Canadian government's Human Resources and Skills Development Canada department, through its Skills Link program. The program, part of the government's Youth Employment Strategy, was designed to help young people "facing barriers to employment to acquire the skills, knowledge and work experience they need to participate in the job market." Another deal a year ago was for about $365,000.

In addition, it was also part of a pilot project to train culinary personnel run by the BC government's Ministry of Advanced Education.

That was then. Now, the Ministry doesn't want to talk about the pilot project, but says the company is "gone." The several phones of the NV Food & Service Resource Group, which included food workshops and consulting, commissary production and training programs, are no longer in service. Its website still works, but the contact information is no longer correct. One of its two main e-mail addresses no longer works; there has been no response from the other one. Messages left at its now closed Cooks Studio Cafe on Powell Street go unanswered. The BC Restaurant and Food Services Association has a record of the firm, with the contact person as James Kennedy, but with the out-of-service contact information. It was unaware its information was no longer correct, and it had no other contact data. Other customers and governments that did business with the firm say it has closed its doors. Bankruptcy documents filed with the courts offer a lengthy list of creditors, but VANOC isn't one of them.

VANOC, we understand, tried to help the Cook Studio staff find other work.

Now, let's see how VANOC has rearranged things in offering the new contract:

Last June, VANOC was only offering to contract out the cafeteria, on the second floor of the two-storey low-rise building. The 3,100 square feet cafeteria, with a kitchen, in an additional 462 square feet, built in to it, can seat a total of 138. VANOC is offering the use of the kitchen equipment, which it now owns. Now, VANOC has sweetened the offer, by adding into the deal what it calls its "food kiosk," an 811-square-foot coffee-shop type of operation which can seat 27, and which is tucked away in a room just behind the reception area in the adjacent high-rise tower, where most of the staff, which will number about 500 by the end of this year, are located. And, as well, it's now offering to allow the proponent to operate satellite coffee services in the building and elsewhere. The winning company will also be expected to provide a wide range of catering services, from office meetings to "large-scale catering events."

VANOC wants the new operator of the cafeteria and kiosk to provide design advice, as well as to implement, manage and operate the "non-branded" cafeteria in the low-rise building.

VANOC, again, wants a company with specific and significant experience providing cafeteria food services and catering operations, comparable to those in public institutions, privately run cafeterias and catering operations. Nobody at VANOC is is saying so specifically, but stability of the proponent is expected to get a closer look this time. "As no rent or utilities will be charged in the cafeteria or the kiosk operations," VANOC says, "the winning bidder will be required to furnish and maintain the working capital necessary to provide and carry a suitable and adequate inventory of food and other supplies, to pay the salaries and wages and benefits of its employees and other charges."

By the way, the RFP package, its documents and questionnaire for this little cafeteria and coffee shop runs a whopping 69 pages, large portions of it given over to VANOC's requirements dealing with aboriginal and sustainability social goals, and to answer detailed questionnaires about what it can and can't do on those fronts in fulfilling the deal, not to mention sample menus, prices and organizational details. The actual description of what it wants in the way of cafeteria services doesn't even start until page 24.

The contract for the winner will be good until March 31, 2010 -- by that time, there will be almost 1,600 employees working out of the Campus buildings -- but that's when the Games are over and VANOC all but shuts down.

RESOURCES

VANOC's new food services RFP documents (there are two of them) are here...

tinyurl.com/27ky55

... and here:

tinyurl.com/yw6rqc

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

Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2151

Here are three moguls we ran into today:

VANOC TO BE PART OF WHISTLER-AREA SCHOOL MEETINGS

VANOC, Whistler and school board officials are planning public meetings over the next few weeks to talk over various possibilities about the effects the 2010 Games might have on schools and openings in the Whistler area when the Games occur. A panel that includes VANOC's Maureen Douglas, Jim Godfrey of Whistler's Olympic Games office and Whistler school board trustees Andrée Janyk and Chris Vernon-Jarvis will be involved. The Howe Sound School Board is still gathering information and research about what happened at the towns that have hosted other Winter Games, and is also talking to transportation planners. Meetings are to be held in Whistler, Squamish and Pemberton. The district is also said to be working on a survey of parents.

COC ATHLETE PROGRAMS MANAGER STEPS DO