Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2347

Here are three more moguls we ran into today:

VANOC GOLFING TO HELP RAISE MONEY FOR CANADIAN OLYMPIC COMMITTEE FOUNDATION

Yet another sponsorship activation this summer by VANOC sponsors, including VANOC and the Canadian Olympic Committee. On Monday, those two organizations are featured at the eighth annual Canadian Olympic Golf Tournament, a fund-raising event underwritten by VANOC's Tier 1 telecommunications sponsor, Bell Canada. The tournament takes place in Bond Head, Ontario, near Toronto. The 18-hole competition features COC's chief executive officer Chris Rudge and several summer and winter Canadian Olympians, including Therese Brisson, (hockey), Lori Dupuis (hockey), George Karrys (curling), Jayna Hefford (hockey) and Tracy Wilson-Kinsella (figure skating). There are also scheduled to be Olympic-themed competitions and demonstrations, a silent auction and a spiffy dinner. Money raised goes to the COC to help support athletes, coaches, national sport federations, as well as the Own The Podium 2010 and its Road To Excellence summer Games equivalent. In addition, 25% of the proceeds are to be directed to the Canadian Sport Centre of Ontario. The COC lists every VANOC sponsor and supplier, including all of the international ones arranged by the International Olympic Committee, in their effusive thanks for the support of the tournament.

WHISTLER CREEKSIDE SKI TEST EVENTS SET FOR NEXT FEBRUARY

The International Skiing Federation has confirmed that the first test events at VANOC's alpine-skiing venue of Whistler Creekside will be held early next year, from Friday, February 21st to Sunday, February 23rd for both the ladies and men, and will be part of the organization's World Cup series that is sponsored by Audi. Alpine skiing for this includes men's super-G and women's downhill and combined events. Just before that, on February 9 and 10 the men's and ladies freestyle skiing events will be held at VANOC's Cypress Mountain venue near Vancouver.

IOCC DIRECTOR URGES ENVIRONMENTAL-MOVEMENT COALITIONS TO HELP VANOC

Quote without comment: "If you care about the environment as much as the next person, I’m assuming that this reality is of concern to you. Even if VANOC is doing everything it can, clearly the environmental commitment is still being significantly compromised. So are we just supposed to sit back and watch the greenest games ever go dusty brown?... What if Vancouver/Whistler had a vibrant environmental community that could organize well enough to hold VANOC’s promises up proudly to the Olympic torch in February 2010 and not see them burn within it? I challenge our environmental community, and other interested stakeholders, to come together around this issue. We are so busy either protesting or avoiding the Games, that we are forgetting the most important thing. If the Games weren’t coming to Vancouver, they were going to happen somewhere else, and if you care about the environment, you realize that systems are interconnected. So let’s get our act together and jump on the opportunity to minimize the impact here, and leave an environmental legacy that no other city could have ever deemed possible. Now, I told you there was something you could do to address sustainability and 2010, here it is: Get involved... How much is the environmental pillar of the Olympics actually being compromised? What can we do to mobilize around this concern? How much money can we raise to contribute to ensuring our environmental commitment to the Games? What kind of assistance does VANOC need and what kind of partnerships can we build with them to make it happen?" -- Jessica Plescia, a member of the Board of Directors of the Impacts of the Olympics on Communities Coalition, which describes she describes as "the official sole Olympic watchdog for 2010," writing today on the activist website Newscloud.com.

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

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Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2346


Here are three moguls we ran into today:

RBC TRIGGERS OLYMPIC-RELATED SCHOOL ACTIVATION

VANOC's Tier-1 financial sponsor, the Royal Bank group, today triggered the annual activation of one of its long-running Olympic-related marketing programs with the help of the Canadian Olympic Committee. Together, they chose eight grade schools across Canada to receive an Olympic-themed sports kit. The sports kit includes a variety of athletic equipment including basketballs, soccer and volleyballs, hockey sticks and pucks. The kit also provides them with 12 gold medals, 12 scrimmage vests and an Olympic Games banner. The program is in its 20th year. "The Canadian Olympic School Program was able to increase its membership to almost 11,000 educators this year," said Marc Gelinas, the Canadian Olympic Committee's director of Athlete and Community Relations. "We are thrilled that so many teachers from across Canada see the value of using Olympic stories and messages in their lesson plans, and we look forward to continuing to work with RBC to bring the spirit of the Olympic Movement to even more classrooms." The Canadian Olympic School Program links stories online about Canadian Olympians and Olympic hopefuls from various sports into "lesson plans and adaptable classroom-ready activities" in physical education, health, nutrition, reading, language and social studies for students in Grades 4 to 6. None of the winning schools was from Vancouver, Richmond or Whistler, communities where the 2010 Games will be held [for a list of the schools, see BACKGROUND, below].

HBC TO ACTIVATE SPONSORSHIP WITH FUND-RAISING RUN JULY 1

Another sponsorship activation by another VANOC sponsor is due to take place in cities across Canada on July 1, the country's national holiday. The third annual Run for Canada, underwritten by VANOC tier-1 retail merchandising sponsor, Hudson's Bay Company. The 10 kilometre run, 3k walk and 1k children's run in 13 communities across the country is the largest fund-raising event for Canadian Olympic athletes. The run was initially launched in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada's capital city, in 2004 and raised about C$100,000. Last year, the event was broadened to 10 communities and raised more than C$1.5 million. It's part of a pledge by HBC to raise C$20 million to support Canadian developing athletes by 2012, when its current sponsorship term with VANOC expires. Two hundred of Canada’s most promising athletes, as selected by the Canadian Olympic Committee, Commonwealth Games Canada and the Canadian Paralympic committee, each receive a C$5,000 bursary from the funds to help them pay bills while they train. Diane Gordon, Director of the HBC Foundation, says, “Our goal is to raise C$2 million dollars at this year’s run.” She expects 14,000 people in 13 cities will take part this year. Red Deer, Alberta, St. John’s, Newfoundland, and Windsor, Ontario have been added to the the list of cities involved last year: Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Algonquin Park, Toronto, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Calgary, Vancouver and Victoria.

OBSV TO BEGIN WORKING ON SYSTEM LAYOUTS SOON

Olympic Broadcast Services Vancouver, the IOC's subsidiary that provides the pool feeds for broadcasters at the 2010 Winter Olympics, expects to begin creating the first iterations of electronic layouts this summer of how international broadcasters will be integrated into VANOC's operations. The main broadcast centre for the Games is the expansion to the Vancouver Trade & Convention Centre, which is still under construction, but there will also be TV operations at each of VANOC's competition venues, in Whistler and the two Olympic Villages. In conjunction with this coverage, OBSV also provides various facilities and services to the international broadcasting companies, all of whom have purchased rights from the IOC to broadcast the Games to their home countries. In Canada, it's CTV and Rogers Cable, in the US, it's NBC. Other broadcast rights holders represent 51 European nations including the British Isles, the Arabic-speaking nations, South Korea and Brazil. Negotiations have yet to be finalized for 2010 for coverage in Italy, Australia, China and the rest of south Asia, and Spanish-speaking countries.

BACKGROUND
RBC/COC
2006-2007 Canadian Olympic School Program Winners

School Grade City
Wishart Elementary School 6 Victoria, B.C.
Acadia Elementary School 4 Calgary, Alberta.
Gateway Drive Public School 3/4 Guelph, Ontario.
Gateway Public School 4 Toronto, Ontario
St. Joseph/St. Mary Catholic School 5 Kingston, Ontario
R.L Beattie Public School 3/4 Sudbury, Ontario
Ecole St-Georges 5/6 Shawinigan, Quebec
Albert Street Middle School 6 Fredericton, New Brunswick

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

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Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2345


Here are three moguls we ran into today:

VANOC TO BRIEF DIPLOMATIC STAFF IN OTTAWA LATER THIS YEAR

VANOC's International Client Services says it will begin hosting the first of several briefings for the diplomatic and consular staff in Canada near the end of this year. The meeting is expected to take place in Canada's capital city, Ottawa. VANOC will be working along with the Canadian government's Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada to set up the sessions. The goal of these briefings, we're told by VANOC, "is to keep foreign missions in Canada up to date on the preparation of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, to educate them about the role of NOCs and NPCs, and to provide relevant information about ticketing, transportation, accommodation, accreditation" and the like.

VANOC FILLS PARALYMPIC SPORT MANAGEMENT POSITIONS

VANOC now has its full compliment of managers for each of the Paralympic sports that will be taking part in the 2010 Games. The latest to be hired were Neil Houston, the sport manager for wheelchair curling and Max Saenger, the manager for biathlon. Those hired and working on the detailed planning for specific sports include Peter Bosinger, the manager for alpine skiing; Rob Bernhardt, the manager of cross-country skiing and Denis Hainault, the manager of sledge hockey.

RBC OLYMPIC TOUR ARRIVES IN VICTORIA FRIDAY WITH WELCOME BY MAYOR

Victoria mayor Helen Hughes will be one of those attending the visit of RBC's Olympians Experience Tour -- the current sponsorship activation by VANOC's financial sponsor, the Royal Bank -- to BC's capital city on Friday. The tour, aimed at the public, focuses on bringing families to enjoy meeting Olympic athletes and taking part in things that help them experience Winter Games. It also promotes the 2010 Games.

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

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Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #2344
VANCOUVER PARKS BOARD SCROUNGES FUNDS, CUTS SCOPE TO -- ALMOST -- COVER THE COSTS OF BUILDING VANOC'S KILLARNEY VENUE

The Vancouver Parks Board staff have figured out away to fund most, but not all, of the C$2.4 million budget over-run in tearing down and rebuilding the Killarney arena that the 2010 Organizing Committee wants to use for a practice venue during the 2010 Winter Games.

The Parks Board is doing the work in replacing Killarney and Trout Lake arenas for a total of C$14.2 million because it wanted to end up with new facilities instead of refurbished ones, and the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) agreed to contribute a total of C$5 million towards the projects from its capital fund, money funded equally by the BC and Canadian governments.

The Parks Board says it will pay for C$700,000 of the excess cost of the Killarney Project by pulling in money from various other project funds and contributing it to Killarney's capital budget. These include money that was intended for projects dealing with Stanley Park water and utilities, work on the New Brighton foreshore and the Brockton Point section of the Stanley Park sea wall, field house renovations and upgrading concession areas.

About C$500,000 of the coverage comes from transferring allowances for "soft costs" of the Killarney project to the capital budget. By that, they mean reducing the contingency by C$200,000 to a total of C$583,000, and it was able to reduce its Development Cost Charges from its parent City of Vancouver by C$300,000.

About C$1.2 million of the over-run was removed by reducing the scope of the building, which is being built to LEED Gold quality. That includes reducing the floor area of the building over the protests of the building committee, replacing the so-called green roof system with a "reflective roofing membrane system," reducing the landscaping, cutting back on the number of windows and skylights that were originally in the design.

That brings the overage to C$700,000 and that's still unfunded.

Meanwhile, the Board also approved a fixed-price, C$406,457 demolition contract to Haebler Construction Projects, the company that it earlier hired to manage the construction project. The demolition contract was awarded first so that Haebler staff, during the 11 weeks it's expected to take to tear down the old Killarney Rink, could get trade bids for the rest of the project in the company's project-management role. This was done to save time, according to staff.


RESOURCES

Roland Haebler
President
Haebler Construction Ltd.
46 3rd Avenue East,
Vancouver, BC
V5T 1C3

Phone: 604.874.0777
Fax: 604-874-0841

E-mail: info@haebler.ca
www.HaeblerConstruction.com

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

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Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #2343
RICHMOND TO BEGIN SEARCHING FOR OLYMPIC OVAL SPONSORS FOR NAMING RIGHTS LATER THIS YEAR

The City of Richmond wants to begin marketing the sports complex that will house the 2010 Olympic Oval for naming and non-naming sponsorships by the last quarter of this year, and is looking for a consultant to help finalize its plans and implement them as its agency-of-record over the next five years.

The multi-purpose sporting and wellness facility is expected to be open in October, 2008. Richmond documents about the program say that the City plans to offer three distinct periods for sponsorship: before the 2010 Games to December, 2009, during the Games - from January 2010 to about June, 2010, and after the Games "June 2010 and beyond." As a result, say the documents, "each period of time will have unique aspects that will guide the type of partner, the level of activation, and duration of each of the partnership arrangements."

But the documents say that Richmond is quite prepared to improve the sponsorship-level bundles through other things the City might have to offer if its necessary. As the documents put it, the sponsorship program "will focus primarily on the facility, but will also include options that may bundle service contracts throughout the City." This seems to involve various special events, but the documents are not clear on precisely what this means.

The City hopes to receive at least C$10 million from the sale of naming rights for the complex. At least, that's how much was in its budget for constructing the C$178-million complex, but the financial pressure has been reduced now that two major financial components of the capital plan -- the sale of adjacent housing development property and senior-government legacy funding -- have come in much larger than expected. The City rejected an "unsolicited offer" for the rights two years ago, but the amount offered and who made the offer have not been disclosed.

The documents say the City staff and the marketing consultant will work over the summer to detail the sponsorship level packages, do consumer research, compare and analyze various products of the sponsorship levels, develop the marketing campaign message plans and set up the necessary return-on-investment tools. Staff expect to complete the development work on the marketing by the end of September.

As sponsors sign up for the programs, the documents say that Richmond and its marketing consultant will help them with their activation programs, pre-Games, during the Games and afterwards.

Marketing consultants interested in doing the work only have June 8 to fill out Richmond's application forms.

BACKGROUND

The waterfront site for the complex includes the 33,000-square-metre (355,000-square foot) facility and the City Centre Waterfront Park, to be located within the 11.7 hectare (29-acre) Olympic precinct site on River Road, between No. 2 Road and Hollybridge Road in Richmond, on the banks of the Fraser River. The building, expected to become an icon of the 2010 Games because of its location and size, is planned -- for the long term -- to focus on recreation and high-performance sport, as well as on health, fitness, wellness, art and medical sciences. It will have a long-track speedskating rink in it until after the 2010 Games; that space will then be reconfigured for other sports programs.

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

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Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2342


Here are three moguls we ran into today:

GLOBE PROVIDES BACKGROUND SERIES ON 2010 OLYMPICS, ABOUT RECRUITMENT...

The Report on Business section of the Toronto-based Globe & Mail newspaper has written an interesting background colour piece on aspects of recruitment at VANOC. An excerpt from the article, written by Patrick Brethour: "... The new employees, working in three teams, are supposed to fashion something out of the materials on hand that will be a symbol of the values of the Vancouver committee, which have been drilled into them all day long: team, trust, excellence, sustainability and creativity. One team builds a ski jump out of tongue depressors, while another constructs an elaborate podium set out of clay, building blocks and foam balls. The third team creates a stage with Olympic rings made out of pipe cleaners – and manages to find the correct colours for all five rings..." The link to the full article is below in RESOURCES.

... AND EMPLOYEE RETENTION

In an earlier, more general article about the Games for the Globe on the weekend, reporter Patrick Brethour reports the organization is hiring at the rate of 20 employees a week now, and it will be 40 per week this time next year. Then he adds, "Retaining key employees is a growing worry at VANOC, which has lost several key employees in recent weeks. The partings have been amicable, VANOC says, with the former director of ice sports, Dan Moro, even subbing in for Mr. Furlong at an Olympics event in Banff. Over all, staff turnover is low, around 4 per cent. But that churn comes when there are only a handful of mid- and low-level employees – meaning that every departure pinches. Still, the organizing committee is now seeking to head off any more headhunting with a detailed retention program, including bonuses and job placement after the games. And Mr. Furlong has a message for businesses seeking to poach off his hand-picked staff. 'It's no surprise to me that people would pick up the phone and try to take them away,” he says. “I'd like them to stop doing it, if they don't mind.' "

TECHNOLOGY TIDBITS ABOUND AT VANOC

Things we learned this weekend: According to a Province newspaper interview of Ward Chapin, VANOC's chief information officer: 75% of his department's budget of C$343 million comes from value-in-kind donations from corporate sponsors; there are expected to be 90,000 accreditation passes issued, with computer links from the accreditation network to police and immigration; his department's master plan contains more than 1,580 tasks; a 464-square-metre technology lab is being established on the main floor of the low-rise building next to VANOC's headquarters tower; there will be "100,000 hours of testing between now and 2010"; they're currently planning the location of a secondary operations data centre that can be used to control the Games in an emergency; there will be 7,000 two-way radios used by the Games; cell-phone service around some of the venues, such as BC Place Stadium, will be beefed up to handle the increased traffic load; there will be 6,000 TV monitors used; 8,000 voice/fax lines installed, 500 WiFi access points; and 1,000 printers set up for VANOC. Meanwhile, we've also learned that Canada's national long-track speed-skating team has arrived in the Vancouver suburb of Richmond for a week-long summer training camp. About 60 athletes will visit the Richmond speed skating oval site that's now being prepared to receive next month the huge roof supports, each being made in three sections in the BC interior town of Penticton. The speed-skating team will be training and conducting school visits to talk about sports.

RESOURCES
The Report on Business's article about VANOC recruitment "Building a team on the fly"
www.reportonbusiness.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070527.wolympic28/BNStory/robNews/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20070527.wolympic28

The Globe's first, more general article:
www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070526.wxcover26/BNStory/Front

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

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Morgan:News:2010 |Business| #2341
RICK HANSEN FOUNDATION TO HELP BELL CANADA PROMOTE 2010 OLYMPICS

Bell Canada and the Vancouver-based Rick Hansen Foundation have agreed that the organization's namesake president and CEO will work with the telecommunications firm to support Bell's commitments to the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and various community-relations projects.

Bell is the major corporate sponsor of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC), and the arrangement is seen as part of Bell's activation of its sponsorship. The Rick Hansen Foundation raises money for spinal cord research and helps people with disablities, particulary those caused by spinal-cord injuries. Hansen himself is a paraplegic, injured in a truck accident as a teenager.

Bell, in exchange, says it will support the Rick Hansen Foundation's strategy of "engaging more youth" in British Columbia and Alberta. "To ensure youth can play a leadership role in Canada's journey to 2010 and beyond," a Bell spokesman says the company will invite young people selected from the Foundation's programs to be part of Bell's "Accessibility and Inclusivity Committee" which Bell says is "working to make the 2010 Winter Games the most technologically accessible and inclusive Games in the history of the event." Hansen will, among other things, provide advice to the Committee.

Loring Phinney, Bell's vice-president of Corporate and Olympic Marketing says, "Rick is a Canadian leader with an inspiring message that reverberates across the country. Our partnership will further enable Bell to help connect every Canadian and youth across the nation to the Olympic and Paralympic experience."

Hansen says that with Bell's support "We will be able to engage more youth in our programs throughout western Canada."

As an ambassador of Bell's Olympic and Paralympic program, Rick will advise Bell on its 2010 organizational strategies, community relations programs and Paralympic plans.

He will also talk to Bell employees and other audiences about overcoming obstacles and achieving personal bests.

The Bell Olympic and Paralympic family includes local leaders from diverse Canadian communities. In addition to Hansen, in his role as an Ambassador, Bell is also supported by the Bell Champions, a team of nine Olympic and Paralympic athletes representing Bell across the nation.

RESOURCES

The Rick Hansen Foundation:
www.rickhansen.com

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

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Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #2340
VANOC OFFERS C$250,000 TO HELP CITY OF VANCOUVER WITH C$2.2 MILLION IN NEW CAPITAL EXPENSES AT PNE VENUES

Vancouver City mayor Sam Sullivan says that he will support a call by the Pacific National Exhibition for the City to spend C$2.22 million in capital upgrades to two PNE buildings on its grounds in East Vancouver's Hastings Park that will be key Olympic venues in 2010.

The City says the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Organizing Committee (VANOC) has agreed to contribute C$250,000 to the work on one venue -- the Forum -- that up to now hasn't been in VANOC's capital plan; the money is in addition its leasing fee. And, if the work is approved, the rest of the capital budget for the work is expected to eliminate the PNE Reserve Fund given to the City by the BC government a few years ago when it turned the PNE over to the City.

The Reserve was provided to mitigate the possibility the PNE would be shutdown, but that didn't happen. City staff are proposing to tap the Reserve to pay for the work because there there isn't anything in the City's Capital Plan, which is approved by voters, for doing such work on the PNE.

The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Organizing Committee (VANOC) over the years has set up arrangements to lease the Forum building for its main accreditation and volunteer centre during the 2010 Winter Games, and it has long intended to use the nearby Pacific Coliseum for skating events during the Games. It has been working with the City and the PNE for some years to upgrade the Coliseum as a part of VANOC's capital plan.

Vancouver City Manager Judy Rogers, who is also a director on VANOC's board, notes that "this work is essential in order to safeguard the value of key building assets at the PNE." It may be essential, but the City appears to have known about the issues for at least a year and hadn't yet done anything about them. Norwest Inspections Limited was contracted 17 months ago to have a look at the buildings and their roofing issues.

The work, as a package for City financing, involves four projects:

• Replacement of the Coliseum's 25-year-old roof - Budget: C$1,045,000 - it's a flat roof with two-ply SBS system for one part, and a sloped asphalt shingle roof for the rest. "Both the main and sloped roof areas are experiencing significant deterioration of the roofing membrane, ponding damage to the insulation, and leakage," according to the inspection report. The roof was also experienced C$139,000 worth of damage during last winter's severe windstorms, which collapsed the air-supported roof of another VANOC venue, BC Place Stadium. The Coliseum's wind damage hasn't yet been repaired and that work, paid by an insurance claim, would be rolled into the proposed roof replacement.

• Replacement of the Forum's roof - C$867,000 - The 76-year-old building's roof is "in excess" of 25 years old. It has a central sloped section that is asphalt shingle, surrounded by vertical clad walls and areas of flat, built-up, roofing. "There is significant weathering and deterioration of the shingles and roof membrane, damaged and leaking gutters, and poorly sealed roof penetrations, all resulting in numerous leaks," according to the report.

• Upgrading the Forum's heating systems - C$285,000 - This involves replacement of three 35-year-old large heaters. They are each two-million-BTU, fired by natural gas and they force heat through the building. One of them is operating at only 50% because of a cracked heat exchanger. They'd be replaced with equivalent units, plus there would be a new fresh-air intake system to bring the building up to the current building-code requirements. And, according to a City report, "The condition of these units poses an ongoing risk of carbon-monoxide contamination within the facility."

• Upgrading of the Forum's washrooms and change rooms - C$560,000 - There'll be a lot of people using the Forum when the 2010 Games begin, dealing with volunteers and accreditation for VANOC. There are two male washrooms and a changeroom, two female washrooms and a changeroom, and one accessible washroom to be rehabilitated. The plan is to put in new ceramic floor tiling, new ceramic wall tiles, full replacement of ceiling tiles, full replacement of toilet partitions, replacement of toilets, urinals, sinks, faucets and related plumbing, new mirrors, replacement of lighting systems, installation of enhanced ventilation, replacement of heating units, replacement of doors and a new paint job. VANOC's C$250,000 contribution is going toward this work, so the city's share is C$310,000.

The request for the appropriation comes at the same time as the PNE directors submitted to the city a glowing financial report that, among other things, includes a C$1.3 million capital budget. That budget also has a "site care & maintenance" expense line of C$453,250; these Olympic-related items weren't included in that capital budget.


RESOURCES

A 360-degree look at the Forum...
www.pne.ca/venuerental/forum.htms

... and at the Coliseum:
www.pne.ca/venuerental/pacific_coliseum.htm

A satellite view of the PNE Grounds. The Coliseum is next to the "C" marker, the Forum is adjacent to the "A" marker:
tinyurl.com/2xlp99
or
maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=coliseum,+vancouver,+canada&ie=UTF8&ll=49.284072,-123.042026&spn=0.008678,0.01663&t=h&z=16&om=1

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

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Morgan:News:2010 |General| #2339
RICHMOND, WHISTLER AREAS TO RECEIVE ABOUT C$10 MILLION FROM FACILITIES SUBSIDY FUND BEFORE OLYMPICS BEGINS

We now have more details about how C$133.6 million in the Olympic Legacy Endowment Fund will be allocated and how the cash flow stemming from it works for Richmond and the Whistler area, what the money can be used for, what it can't be used for, who can spend it and when.

But the short form is that this Fund is generating a lot more money than planners expected for the Richmond and Whistler communities, and those communities are going to be seeing that money earlier than they expected.

That's good news for taxpayers, governments and VANOC, since it's one of the few times people can be pleased that something the Olympics is doing that's gone over-budget is a good thing. It's also a good example of just how well planned these Games have been so far, since the structure and concept of the fund was developed during the Bid stage and approved within the MultiParty Agreement signed by VANOC and its supporting governments in 2002.

The Legacy Endowment Fund is designed to support the operations of the type of venues of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) that usually struggle financially in former host cities. The key ones were those involved with cross-country skiing, biathlon, ski-jump, bobsleigh, luge, skeleton and speed skating.

In VANOC's case, there are three facilities that deal with those: The Whistler Nordic Centre and the Whistler Sliding Centre on the one hand, and the sports complex that holds the long-track speedskating in Richmond. All three are currently under construction, with the Whistler area venues expected to be substantially completed and in operation within the next six months, and the Richmond complex expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2008.

Planners also decided that a 2010 Games Operating Trust Board should be established to hold, direct and manage the Legacy Endowment Fund. It will also have the role of doing the same thing with any money that ends up in the Amateur Sport Legacy Fund which will be made up of 60% of the surplus of the Games. If the Games are as successfully managed as VANOC hopes, that second fund could be in the neighbourhood of C$60 million, but we'll leave aside consideration of that fund until it becomes apparent whether it will exist.

The Legacy Endowment Fund was seeded with C$55 million each from the BC and Canadian governments, and so far it's gained C$23.6 million through investments is being split into three sub-funds: The Speed Skating Oval Fund, assigned to the City of Richmond, will receive 40% of the Trust Fund's disbursements, while the Whistler Legacies Society, which will oversee operations of the Whistler Sliding Centre and Nordic Centre Funds, will also receive 40%. The remaining 20% will be placed in a contingency fund. In essence, then, while the two communities each get half of the available cash, the Richmond complex will receive the larger share of funding on a per-facility basis.

The governments and the directors of the Operating Trust Board have determined the priority and restrictions to the things the money can be spent on, and it's this, in order of importance: maintaining the fund's purchasing power, operating expenses and related capital expenses of the three facilities, athletes and coach development programs for the sports that use those three venues, and similar development programs elsewhere in Canada.

Business plans have already been developed for each of the three facilities after considerable discussion between representatives of Whistler, Richmond and VANOC in the last year. That business plan includes a program that provides concepts for how each facility will be used, and its programs planned. There was incentive to get it right: the size of the share depended on how accessible the facility would be to high-performance sport development.

In addition, all of the parties were involved in figuring out the operational details, which included operating and disbursement principles, sports-access guidelines, pre-Games operating budgets and trust agreement definitions with the idea of providing as much certainty as possible to planners overseeing the facilities and their operations.

In February, the Trust Board decided they wouldn't capitalize the income from the fund's 2006 and 2007 fiscal years, so that the money could start being distributed by the end of this December - an expenditure review process is still being developed, so the money won't be forwarded on the percentage splits until that's ready. All of the income is available for distribution a 50/50 split formula between Richmond and the Whistler Trust Society; none of it is going to contingency. That income wasn't originally in the pot, so it's additional and unexpected funds for the recipients. The 40/40/20 division date, originally set for 2012, has also been advanced five years to this December 31.

That means Richmond and the Whistler Society will each receive a guaranteed minimum of C$50 million over the next couple of years, with at least C$25 million being held as a contingency. A pre-Games payment of 5% of the minimum will be forwarded during fiscal years 2007, 2008 and 2009. Any unspent funds will be carried forward.

The Contingency Fund won't be available before the Games but after them it will be divided on "demonstrated need" by the facilities. Each venue will receive a share of the contingency fund.

That means that both Richmond and the Whistler Trust Society will each receive about C$67.9 million if they each receive half of the contingency fund, in addition to the main split. That's even higher than the C$55 million top end of the funding expected by Richmond planners when they developed the capital budget in 2004 for the Richmond complex (the low end was C$35 million.

The earnings on that amount would be about C$3.4 million a year to help the annual operating funds of the three facilities, and about C$10 million for both Richmond and the Society would arrive before the Games even begin.

It's even more good news for Richmond, because now the risk has been removed from two of the three major funding legs of the complex's capital cost. Earlier, the City was able to sell the nearby housing lands for considerably more money than it expected.

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

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Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2338


Here are three moguls we ran into today:

VANCOUVER'S PEF FINANCIALLY STRAINING UNDER WORKLOAD OF OLYMPIC VILLAGE

The City of Vancouver's unique Property Endowment Fund, which is acting as developer of the 2010 Olympic Village, is under a lot of financial strain as a result. At April 1, 2005, before the Village project really began, it was sitting on a war chest of C$88.8 million. By the beginning of the following fiscal year, the Fund had only C$35.5 million remaining. By March 31, 2007, after the second year of work on the project, it had spent all of that C$35.5 million and another C$8.9 million as well, ending the year deep in the red. Its capital expenditure spending, not counting the administration of those expenditures, was C$59.6 million during fiscal 2007. The deficit is being covered by the City's lines of credit and, by 2010, it should recoup the costs of installing the non-building land services when Millennium Developments pays for the Village's land. The City of Vancouver also reports that its Olympic Village Trust Reserve has so far earned interest of C$1.9 million, bringing the year-end balance to C$30.4 million. A grant of C$30 million was originally provided to the Fund by VANOC from its capital construction accounts, which in turn were generated 50/50 by the Canadian and BC governments. City council has decided the Reserve funds will help pay for development of some of the non-market rental housing units for the Village. The city has also given a C$200,000 grant to 2010 Legacies Now for cultural activities, and a C$50,000 grant the same organization for general use. The city also paid 2010 Legacies Now C$33,216 for supplying it with unspecified goods and services. And the head of the City's Olympic Office, Dave Rudberg, received remuneration totaling C$196,119, plus another $8,809 in repayment for the cost of courses he took. Jody Andrews, the City's Project Manager for Southeast False Creek and the Olympic Village was paid C$130,669 in remuneration, plus C$11,539 for courses. By comparison, Vancouver mayor Sam Sullivan received C$119,178, plus expenses. The amounts are listed in a City financial statement covering the city's fiscal year to March 31, 2007, released today.

2010 LEGACIES NOW TO EXPAND SCOPE OF VOLUNTEER WEBSITE

2010 Legacies Now, the society spun off by the BC government to help do social development in support of the 2010 Winter Olympics, intends to expand its volunteers website so that it can become national in scope. VolWeb.ca is an offspring of one of 2010 Legacies Now's key concepts: help increase the number of experienced volunteers, volunteer managers and volunteer associations available around British Columbia, so that when VANOC begins recruiting volunteers early next year, it will have a broader, more experienced group from which to choose. But 2010 Legacies Now's goals are wider, longer-term and broader than that, and part of the concept is to help develop volunteerism as a long-term legacy stemming from the existence of the 2010 Olympics. VolWeb.ca was originally launched in September 2005. In 2006, another module was developed for it so that individual volunteer centre could manage the volunteer listings for their member organizations. The volunteer listings for this module can be viewed by the public without registering, and both event-based and on-going volunteer opportunities are listed. This module is also expected to be redeveloped. Recently, another module was integrated to allow an event's organizers to recruit and manage volunteers, and assign them to the various positions required. The 2007 Memorial Cup hockey championship was the first use of it. Planners say the redevelopment of VolWeb.ca this year will require some limited integration with the volunteer-management module. Web-development companies are being asked to contact 2010 Legacies Now to provide a response within the next 19 days to an RFP about the national redevelopment work.

COQUITLAM'S 2010-RELATED SPIRIT FLAGGING

The City of Coquitlam, a Greater Vancouver suburb, turned its attention -- briefly -- on issues related to the 2010 Olympics. It's not hosting a venue, but city council has asked staff to actively recruit volunteers to service on its Spirit of BC committee, the group in most BC communities that deals with local 2010-related activities. Even chair Bill Melville recently stepped down for family reasons. Two more volunteers, in addition to a new chair, are being sought specifically to fill vacant seats in the areas dealing with arts, culture & literacy, and trade & investment. So far, the Committee has won a province-wide "show your spirit" contest; hosted an award-winning Slovak junior hockey team event; launched a branding campaign; and hosted two Spirit of BC Week celebrations. "While these initiatives have been successful," said Edie Doepker, leisure and parks service manager, in a report to council, "it has also become apparent that with the approach of the 2010 Olympic Games, the committee will need additional resources and a focused work plan" to ensure there are opportunities for Coquitlam residents to celebrate the Games in their own community. Meanwhile the Tri-Cities Chamber of Commerce -- which cover the Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody suburbs -- is asking for support from the city councils of those communities to lobby to bring the Olympic Torch Relay through the Tri-Cities in 2010. Coquitlam is expected to approve the request at a meeting June 11.

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

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Morgan:News:2010 |IOC| #2337
VANOC CEO AND OTHERS DRAFT RESOLUTIONS TO EXPAND OLYMPIC TRUCE CONCEPT

The UN General Assembly has expressed its support for the Olympics by unanimously adopting, one year before each edition of the Olympic Games, a resolution entitled “Building a peaceful and better world through sport and the Olympic ideal,” but it's better known as the Olympic Truce motion.

The resolution urges signatories to end conflict while they particpate in an Olympic Games, among other things. The UN has been doing this since 1993, with the draft wording provided by the organization planning the impending Games. The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) is scheduled to submit it in the first calendar quarter of 2009.

Just what VANOC's version will say and suggest the world's member states do, however, is expected to be influenced by a set of recommendations reached and adopted by VANOC CEO John Furlong, who is a member of the Board of the Olympic Truce -- IOC president Jacque Rogge is chair -- and representatives of other sports and international organizations at a two-day meeting in Olympia, Greece, this month.

The International Forum for Sport and the Olympic Truce drafted a dozen recommendations, but the key ones include the comment that VANOC and the organizers of the Beijing and London Summer Games be congratulated "for their vision and plans in which the concepts of Olympic Truce and harmony are some of the central themes in organizing the Games in their countries."

They also urged some specific organizations "to collect and assess experiences, and compile lessons learned from sport and peace initiatives" and then "better communicate and market sport and peace initiatives at all levels,
making effective use of the media, and to undertake symbolic actions to honour such activities."

As well, the Forum recommendations hope to "encourage the academic community and Olympic University chairs to conduct further research on the impact of sport on peace building and its relevance as a tool for unifying divided communities in conflict and post-conflict societies, and initiate relevant educational programs for youth and educators."

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

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Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2336


Here are three moguls we ran into today:

IOC PENALIZES AUSTRIAN OLYMPIC COMMITTEE US$1 MILLION IN ANTI-DOPING SCANDAL

The International Olympic Committee's executive board has done the equivalent of fining the Austrian Olympic Committee US$1 million for its role in the doping issues that affected six of the country's athletes at the 2006 Winter Olympics. Officially, the AOC is prevented from receiving or applying for any grants or subsidies, whether direct or indirect, from the IOC in the amount. The EB also ordered the AOC to provide, no later than June 30, 2008, the results of its investigation into the matter and the internal organisational changes that have been implemented. Last month, the board banned the six athletes from ever again taking part in the Olympics. The six were from the Austrian biathlon and cross-country skiing teams who competed at the Torino Games. The IOC says it will use the fine equivalent to invest in anti-doping activities.

INTRAWEST APPOINTS NEW CFO

The company that owns Whistler Blackcomb, one of VANOC's mountain venues, has replaced its chief financial officer. Michael Forsayeth starts at Intrawest ULC's Vancouver office on June 11, reporting to Alex Wasilov, president and chief operating officer at Intrawest. For the eight years prior to joining Intrawest, Forsayeth was CFO for Cara Operations, the largest operator of full-service restaurants in Canada, and a company that supplies airline catering, foodservice distribution and travel concessions. He was also at Laidlaw International as CFO and senior vice president of its Passenger Services Group, North America's largest provider of school bus and public transit services. He also served as their president of the Greyhound Canada busline and Laidlaw's Transit and Tour business.

SUMMER GAMES MULTI-BRANDS CREDIT CARD IN MARKETING MOVE

This is intriguing: as you probably know, Visa is the exclusive credit card of the 2008 Summer Olympics through its international sponsorship arrangements with the International Olympic Committee (and Visa is also sponsoring the 2010 Games in the same capacity). In a marketing move announced today, two national-level corporate sponsors of the Beijing Games, Air China and Bank of China, have begun to offer a new co-branded Olympic credit card. The deal also allows participants in Air China’s frequent flyer program, “Air China Companion,” to earn travel points faster if they use the card. The organizing committee of the Beijing Olympic Games will also get a cut of the money generated by the arrangement. Air China (HKEX: 0753; LSE: AIRC; SSE: 601111) flies to dozens of cities, including Vancouver. Now, have a care for the graphic designer who had to fit the logos of the three companies involved on the card along with the Olympic rings, the cardholder information and the hologram -- and then get approvals for the logo positions in the design.

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

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Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2335


Here are three moguls we ran into today:

VANOC OFFERS MAINTENANCE CONTRACTS FOR ITS MAIN DATA CENTRES

VANOC is asking for proposals from companies interested in providing scheduled and preventative maintenance, as well as emergency-response services for its two main data centres at its headquarters in east Vancouver, near Boundary Road and First Avenue. The contract has two parts that define the level of service. Standard service is expected to run from this coming June 1 to January 31, 2010. Games time, which starts February 1, 2010 and goes to March 31, 2010, requires a major service commitment. VANOC's headquarters is a group of two buildings, a high-rise and a low-rise. The primary data centre is in the low-rise, which also has an integrated data-testing laboratory, and processes the Olympics network and control data, both on the main floor. The high-rise computer room, on the main floor along with the electrical room, processes VANOC's administrative data. Both buildings have modern air-conditioning and gas fire-suppression systems, as well as uninterruptible power supply systems. You won't be surprised to learn that everybody that works for the winning company will be subjected to a thorough security check, and even then they won't be able to get into either building without a scheduled appointment, except for emergencies. VANOC has also hired Borden Ladner Gervais, the former law firm of its Chief Legal Officer, Ken Bagshaw, to do the legal work connected with the RFP. Although the contract is supposed to start June 1, the proposal's closing date is May 30, and the RFP was only issued today, indicating VANOC's operations are behind schedule by several weeks on this aspect.

GREATER VANCOUVER TRANSIT SYSTEM MULLS SERVICE LEVELS DURING 2010 GAMES

Doug Kelsey, the chief executive officer for Skytrain, the rapid-transit system in the Greater Vancouver area, expects a decision by the end of this year on service levels when the 2010 Winter Games are underway. Some of the options being considered are: whether buses and Skytrain should run 24-hours a day, and whether they should be free for passengers holding tickets for Olympic events during the Games. Part of the decision-making about the round-the-clock service involves whether late-night events, similar to the popular "White Night" events hosted at the Torino Winter Olympics last year, will be tried during the 2010 Games. Translink is in the process of purchasing 380 new busses to replace its aging fleet, but is retaining the retired vehicles so that it will have extra carrying capacity during the Games.

TWO VANOC STAFFERS TO HELP CANADIAN TEAM AT PAN AM GAMES IN JULY

The Canadian Olympic Committee has appointed two VANOC officials to help support the Canadian team going to the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil between July 13th and the 29th. Dr. Mike Wilkinson, VANOC's Director of Medical Services, was appointed to the position of Chief Medical Officer. In his role as VANOC's Director of Medical Services, Dr. Wilkinson is responsible for the planning and implementing medical services for the Games. He was hired by VANOC just last year. In his Olympic Committee role, Dr. Wilkinson is expected to be responsible for managing and supervising a health care team of various disciplines, as well as all the health-care support services that will be provided to the entire Canadian team. The COC also appointed Marc Rizzardo, the owner of the Metrotown Orthopedic and Sports Physiotherapy clinic in the Greater Vancouver suburb of Burnaby, as Chief Therapist. VANOC named Rizzardo to the host medical team for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver. During the Games, Rizzardo is expected to work as a therapist for the hockey events.

RESOURCES

VANOC data-centre maintenance and emergency-response RFP details:
There are two documents to the RFP. You can download both by surfing to:
tinyurl.com/2jouf8

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

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Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2334


Here are three more moguls we ran into today:

ROUGH-HOUSING GROUP GETS PRESS WORLDWIDE

The stories about the APC personnel being charged by police with allegedly making threats and damaging offices where VANOC director Ken Dobell works are being picked up by newspapers and e-news sites around the world. It doesn't seem to be much of a topic in the blogosphere, however, except on a few anarchist websites.

SECOND GROUP EYES BCE TAKEOVER

Cerberus Capital Management, LP and a group of Canadian investors, have begun formal discussions with BCE (TSX/NYSE: BCE), the parent company of VANOC sponsor Bell Canada and the 2010 host broadcaster, CTV, about taking the entire publicly traded firm private. The company's board of directors has set up a committee to discuss the offers, which first appeared with a group led by Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and Canada's Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments). The review is not expected to be completed for about six months.

US BAPTISTS COMMISSION MISSIONARIES FOR 2010 GAMES

According to a report on a US Baptist website, 2010 athletes will have their own official missionary. Chad Chomlack and his wife Anastasia, of Whistler's The Church on the Mountain, have been commissioned as Mission Service Corps missionaries in a ceremony in Fallon, Illinois. They will, they say, attend to the Baptist spiritual needs of visiting athletes and spectators at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Whistler and Vancouver. They be doing this through the Canadian Convention of Southern Baptists, where they have been placed in the category of "resort missionaries." Chomlack, 34, says, "We'll be local missionaries before and after the Olympics, and will facilitate volunteers, serve as resident chaplains for the athletes, and share the gospel with people from throughout the world. It will be a great global gathering of people. The world will be coming to us in Whistler."

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

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Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2333


Here are three moguls we ran into today:

BELL CANADA FORECASTS C$10 MILLION PER YEAR FROM CONVENTION-CENTRE TECHNOLOGY

Bell Canada, VANOC's biggest corporate sponsor, is setting up staff to manage the C$15 million worth of technology it's invested in the Vancouver Convention Centre, which is where the international news media will be headquartered during the 2010 Games. The management is expected to have "full operational accountability" of the 10 main types of technology in the huge building and its adjacent C$800 million extension, which is still under construction, as of October, 2008. Bell expects revenue from managing the technology will increase 10-fold to C$10 million per year over the first three years, which includes the time from October, 2009 to April 2010, when VANOC will have full use of the buildings. Once the complex is converted into VANOC's International Broadcast and Media Centre, the Bell management group will be working directly with the Olympic Broadcast System and the US television Olympic rights-holder NBC as they set up in the building and organize their broadcast satellite farms and announcer locations and offices. They'll also be involved in helping VANOC's overlay team convert the Centre into an Olympic venue, ensure that VANOC gets as much value as possible out of their aspect of the Centre's technology and oversee Bell's Games-time operations once the Games begin.

VANOC TO BEGIN DETAILED WORK ON ITS RATE CARD PROGRAM IN NEXT FEW WEEKS

Another business-development section of VANOC is expected to be expanded in the next few weeks. VANOC, as with other Olympics before it, will be running a Games-time rental program starting in the first calendar quarter of 2009 known as the 2010 Rate Card. The Rate Card program allows national Olympic and Paralympic teams, members of the media, representatives of international sport federations, as well as sponsors to rent a wide range of items ranging, such as tables, chairs, computers, telephones, office space, vehicles and so on. Products are sourced from VANOC sponsors and its commercial suppliers, but the department also does third-party procurement and the related contract negotiations. It will also set up an on-line order/fulfillment store as part of the program, then look after orders and confirmations, fulfillment, billings and deposit refunds. The Rate Card department, which reports to the Revenue section of VANOC's Finance department, is expected to supervise planning and implementing the 2010 Rate Card Program. They'll be doing catalogue development, pricing, dealing with all of the stakeholders, taking orders, billing, and running their side of Games Time operations. The planning is expected to be largely completed by the end of this calendar year, with all of the Rate Card's items, pricing, terms and conditions finalized during the first quarter of next year, just in time for VANOC's first annual meetings of international broadcasters, who'll get the initial run of copies of the Rate Card.

BC TOURISM'S SUPERHOST PROGRAMS TO ADD OLYMPIC-HOST TRAINING

Tourism BC, a crown corporation based in Victoria, BC's capital, that is set up to help coordinate and perform province-wide tourism marketing to boost BC's C$9.98 billion tourism industry, is including 2010 Olympic-related duties to the job description of the person that manages its trademarked Superhost programs. These are customer-service training programs designed to ensure employees who pass the courses improve the quality of experiences by visitors where they are working. Normally, the manager's job supervises a complex network of relationships between tourism-related companies, community organizations and post-secondary institutions. As of this year, it will be responsible for implementing of Tourism British Columbia’s Olympic-related training plans. As one Tourism BC document puts it, the concept is to make BC "a world-class tourism destination as we move to 2010." Tourism BC, funded through a portion of the 10% provincial hotel room tax and an annual grant by the Tourism ministry, established a 2010 and Corporate Relations division a couple of years ago.

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

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Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #2332
BUSINESS PLAN: 2010 ORGANIZERS EXPECT TO SPEND AS MUCH ON VENUE-USAGE DEALS AS ON SPORT

Executives of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) have said several times that "The Games are primarily about sport and athletes," but VANOC's Business Plan says the organization expects to spend about C$88.6 million on venue management and only C$57.4 million on sport.

In fact, VANOC expects to spend just about as much on payments for the use of the venues, without even factoring in management costs, as it expects to spend on all of the sports requirements by athletes and their representatives combined. VANOC is budgeting C$57.7 million of that C$88.6 million as the amount it expects to spend for venue-use agreements, compared with C$57.4 million on sport.

The Plan says that the Sport section's "primary responsibility is to deliver the field of play" -- that's just about anything an athlete touches, so that it's set up the way the athletes want it -- as well as providing "sport equipment for all Olympic and Paralympic sport competitions." It adds that its Sport budget is largely driven by the level of service required -- "often dictated", as the Business Plan pragmatically puts it -- by the international sport federations, national Olympic committees and the International Olympic Committee.

On the other hand, venue management, according to the Business Plan, operates the Games's competition and training venues, and ensures "that all client group needs and services are met, and that operational plans and procedures are developed, and then implemented for all venue activities."

The Plan adds that "the significant components of the [venue-management] function's budget include facility rental, operating costs and test-event costs" along with staffing for training and communications. And, it confirms, "Facility rental costs include payments to private venue owners, including Whistler/Blackcomb Mountains, Cypress Mountain and General Motors Place."

The Plan adds that test events, a separate category, are budgeted to cost C$16.1 million, while planning, staffing and administration are expected to cost C$14.9 million.

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

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Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2331


Here are two more moguls we ran into today:

CANADIAN CHANNELS TO CARRY SUPER BOWL, OLYMPICS WITHIN DAYS OF EACH OTHER

CTV, its corporate cable-channel cousin The Sports Network (TSN) and Rogers Sportsnet cable channel will be broadcasting to Canada the two biggest sports events in North America in 2010. The companies have just landed the contract to, among other things, broadcast the US National Football League's Super Bowl in 2010, which is expected to take place in the Miami Dolphin's Stadium about two weeks before the 2010 Olympics begin, which the Canadian companies will also be broadcasting. The likely date is January 31, but it could be as late as February 7, which would make it only five days before the 2010 Opening Ceremonies. The 2010 Super Bowl and the 2010 Winter Olympics will both be broadcast in high-definition. The deal includes only limited digital rights, such as Internet distribution. The Super Bowl drew 3.4 million viewers when it was held last February, and 4.3 million in 2006. CanWest Global Communications Corporation had held the contract for the NFL games for the past 25 years.

MORE TORCH RELAY MARKETING STAFF TO BE HIRED

VANOC is expected to hire its Torch Relay promotions manager in the next few weeks. The manager is responsible for all of the production side of the Olympic and Paralympic Torch Relays. That includes such things as image strategies, sponsorship services -- such as sponsorship marketing plans and promotional programs -- community and torch-bearer programs, various protocols, as well as the development of both torches and the uniforms worn by the runners. The new manager is expected to report to VANOC's Torch Relay Operations Manager, who in turn reports to Jim Richards, VANOC's director of the Torch Relay. The Relay department -- which also includes the manager of Torch Relay Advance Operations, the manager of Torch Relay Promotions -- works with VANOC communications section as the strategic planning of all Relay-related communication activities are developed. That includes official presentations, media operations and relations, promotions, news releases and even on-site Relay activities -- the Relays will have their own PR teams working in advance of the Torches as they move along the path VANOC will eventually choose. Each community on the route will have its own local celebration teams. Dealing with applications of the Torch Relay brands is also part of the manager's work. The promotions manager goes on the road for about three months to supervise the immediate lead-up and operation as the torches go from location to location, and even that isn't likely to be an office job; they'll be expected to be working outside, in the elements, for up to eight hours a day. The Torch Relays are sponsored independently of the Games; Coca Cola and probably Samsung at least are expected to be involved.


RESOURCES

Some of our earlier stories on the Torch Relays:
'VANOC to soon focus on its detailed strategy for Olympic and Paralympic Torch Relays'
[Morgan:News:2010:Number:2070; Published on Thursday, January 4, 2007]

--

'How the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Torch Relays are expected to work'
[Morgan:News:2010:Number:2135; Published on Wednesday, February 7, 2007]

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

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Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2330


Here are three more moguls we ran into today:

APC ALLEDGED TO HAVE TRASHED OFFICES OF VANOC DIRECTOR DOBELL

Three people trashed the secure seventh floor offices of the Vancouver Convention Centre today, according to Vancouver Police spokesman Howard Chow. The target appeared to be VANOC director Ken Dobell, who works there. The Convention Centre and its adjacent expansion project is to be the media headquarters of the 2010 Winter Games. The group that calls itself the Anti-Poverty Committee is reportedly claiming credit and making good on its statement last week that it would invade the offices of VANOC directors. They were able to get inside the offices after telling the receptionist they were delivering flowers. Dobell, who is also a consultant to Premier Gordon Campbell and the City of Vancouver, is also on the Board that directly oversees the operations of the Convention Centre.

MORE TALKS PLANNED TO SETTLE BC PLACE LABOUR CONTRACT

Negotiations are expected to resume between the management of BC Place Stadium and the BC Government Employees Union, which represents the 250 security guards, ushers, housekeepers and technicians that work at what will be VANOC's venue for the Opening, medal and Closing Ceremonies. The employees voted 51% against a four-year contract offer that provided a 9.5% pay raise by the time the contract was completed, after the 2010 Games. A proposal for a sizable bonus if the contract can be signed by the end of this month is part of the impetus for talks.

VANOC EXPECTS TO DONATE AMBULANCES, MEDICAL EQUIPMENT AFTER GAMES

Dr. Jack Taunton, chief medical health officer for VANOC, told delegates at a Pacific Northwest cross border workshop in Victoria that 55 new ambulances that are expected to be acquired for the 2010 Winter Games, along with 159 automated external defibrillators and about 50 cardiac monitors will be distributed to health centres after the Games are finished.

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

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Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2329


Here are three moguls we ran into today:

ENGLAND LOOKS AT CALGARY FOR 2010 TEAM WARM-UP

Officials from the British Olympic Association say they recently visited Calgary, Alberta, to explore pre-Games preparation camp opportunities for Great Britain's 2010 Winter Olympics team, "following similar excellent arrangements prior to the Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Winter Games." The officials made the stop in Calgary after completing their first fact-finding and scoping expedition to Vancouver to have a look at the status of the 2010 Games preparations. Following site visits and meetings with VANOC, the BOA's chief executive officer and chef de mission, Simon Clegg said: "There is no doubt that Vancouver will stage a stunning Olympic Games; the setting is spectacular and the venues are inspirational. The quality of the people we met, and the information available, lead me to believe that Vancouver has the potential to set new standards for the Olympic Winter Games." Clegg reinforced the significance of the Winter Olympic Games and what it means to corporate sponsors and the International Olympic Committee, as well as international sports federations, because of England's bid to host the 2012 Olympic Summer Games, saying, "It is important that with all the focus on London 2012, we do not neglect the need to look after our winter athletes and to ensure that they too are provided with the best possible support and environment to enable them to reach their own Olympic aspirations. Vancouver will after all, be the final staging post for the Olympic Family before they arrive in London."

OLYMPIC OVAL COMPLEX TO START ROOF CONSTRUCTION IN JUNE

The sports complex that is to house VANOC's long-track speedskating oval is now rising above its surroundings on River Road in Richmond, on the banks of the Fraser River. The first massive roof span is expected to be installed next month by a specialized crane, shipped from Japan. City communications chief, Ted Townsend, says the pouring of the foundation on the first level of the complex is almost complete, and work has begun on the second and third levels.

BC TOWNS COMPILE VIDEO FOR NEWS MEDIA COVERING 2010 GAMES

The Penticton and Wine Country Tourism association's general manager, Lorraine Renyard, says her organization has hired a staffer to compile background video for use by the media attending the 2010 Olympics. She says that other central-interior BC cities, including Kamloops, Vernon, Kelowna and Osoyoos have joined in "to create a library of high-definition video footage in preparation for the 2010 Olympics," she says. "This footage will be available to various media outlets before, during and after the games. In addition, each partner will be provided with a promotional segment for their marketing initiatives." About 5,000 media are expected to come to BC to do background stories for broadcast while the Games are underway.

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

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Morgan:News:2010 |IOC| #2328
NOTES OF IOC MEDIA EXECUTIVE'S SPEECH INDICATE THE DEADLINE IS DEAD FOR COVERING THE 2010 GAMES

Anthony Edgar, the head of media operations for the International Olympic Committee, has told the delegates of the 70th International Sports Press Association's Congress in Liechentenstein, that the IOC understands that the concept of a deadline in covering the 2010 Winter Olympics is likely to be abandoned.

According to a report from the meeting by Barry Newcombe, chair of the Sports Journalism Association in Austria, Edgar said a workshop the IOC held earlier this year with a sample of major online interests from agencies, newspapers and magazines confirmed that he is reasonably certain about the technology which will be required for media at the Vancouver Winter Games of 2010 and then London in 2012.

"The deadline concept is finished," he quotes Edgar as saying, "the keyword of the future is 'instant'."

Here are Newcombe's notes, offered in his blog on the Sports Journalists website, about the key points of Edgar's speech:

1. The future is fully digital, and access to the Internet means increased transmission facilities with greater capabilities.

2. "Big pipe" connectivity is the way ahead, with more and bigger photos and files in other formats, including video, audio and pre-formatted Internet packages. At the 2010 Olympics, fibre circuits will link all venues and the Main Press Centres.

3. VLAN technology, which was used successfully in the 2006 Fifa World Cup, should become a standard for the future of digital photography, with a potential to extend usage to hundreds of news organizations. [Editor's note: VLAN, short for Virtual Local Area Network, is a digital method of creating independent logical networks within a physical network. Several VLANs can co-exist within such a network. A VLAN consists of a network of computers that behave as if connected to the same wire -- even though they may actually be physically connected to different segments of a LAN. Network administrators configure VLANs through software rather than hardware, which makes them extremely flexible. One of the biggest advantages of VLANs emerges when physically moving a computer to another location: it can stay on the same VLAN without the need for any hardware reconfiguration.]

4. A recognition that newspapers are already multi-media, all have Internet sites, and communicate through other platforms. There has been an erosion and splintering of audience in all markets. The future of content is multiple formats -- text, photo, video, audio -- consumed over multiple platforms.

5. Press must be able to transmit live files in multiple formats from anywhere to anywhere instantaneously.

6. The backpack journalists of the future will use video cameras as reporter notebooks, and will compile multi-media stories that include video- and audio clips, as well as still photos taken from video, and text. Multiple formats are an expectation in all coverage.

7. Wifi is not a media technology of the future, and is a limited, unreliable platform that cannot fulfil major-event reporting requirements. Should be used sparingly, and for text only. A high-speed, efficient, secure "in air" connectivity is needed to enhance mobility -- perhaps something like WiMAX. [Editor's note: WiFi is the wireless interface of mobile computing devices, such as laptops in local area networks. WiMAX provides wireless data over long distances, in a variety of different ways, from point-to-point links to full mobile cellular-type access. In practical terms, this enables you, for example, to browse the Internet on a laptop computer without physically connecting the laptop to a network.]

8. The individual journalist or photographer can best be served by cabled LAN-based connectivity in as many places as possible -- every seat in Olympic venue media workrooms should have power and a data jack for broadband connectivity.

9. Remote editing to facilitate the work of publishing at a distance. This allows an expansion of the accreditation of media without an increased load on the host city.

10. Quality and integrity of the Games' information system to be maintained at the highest level, and be media specific.

11. Greater access to athletes with one-on-one interviews and remote access to interviews, flash quotes and press conferences are expected to be required in the future. Information systems should consider carrying audio/video of mixed-zone interviews and press conferences.

12. Image centre an essential for today's digital photographers. The concept should be considered as a Media Press Centre for photographers, based on... the mountain Press centre for Winter Games, and be a one-stop shop for professional photographers and essential providers.

13. Recognition of the critical importance of agencies' involvement with {VANOC] technology planning. Advanced planning to be brought forward, agencies and {VANOC] should meet earlier and more regularly. {VANOC] and agencies to be more integrated in defining core press-technology requirements at an early stage.

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

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Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2327


Here are three moguls we ran into today:

2010 GAMES LEGACY OPERATING TRUST VALUED AT C$133.6 MILLION

The BC and Canadian governments, which originally seeded the 2010 Olympics Games Operating Trust with C$55 million each for a total of C$110 million, says the trust was valued at C$133.6 million as of March 31, 2007, which is the end of their respective fiscal years. The Trust was established in 2002 as a method of support the operating and capital maintenance of three VANOC venues -- the Richmond Speed Skating Oval, the Whistler Sliding Centre and the Whistler Nordic Competition venue -- "before and after" the 2010 Winter Games. This funding will be divided into three sub-funds: The Speed Skating Oval Fund, assigned to the City of Richmond, will receive 40% of the Trust Fund's disbursements, while the Whistler Legacies Society, which will oversee the Whistler Sliding Centre and Nordic Centre Funds, will also receive 40%. The remaining 20% will be placed in a contingency fund.

VANOC TO PROVIDE GUIDELINES, MANUALS, EQUIPMENT AS PART OF LEGACIES

We passed on Saturday the 1,000-days mark before the 2010 Opening Ceremonies begin. Speaking of VANOC legacies, there are a few odds and ends to note, over and beyond the items, such as venues, which we've discussed over the years, that VANOC notes will occur after the Games are finished: Barrier-free accessibility guidelines developed for the 2010 Winter Games will be available to VANOC sponsors and stakeholders to be used by organizations and jurisdictions in their major-event planning and hosting. Some of the sport equipment VANOC acquires is expected to be donated to national and local organizations dealing with youth, sports, people with disabilities, the disadvantaged and aboriginal communities. As well, some of the medical equipment used during the Games will be turned over to communities. And VANOC and WorkSafeBC -- BC's version of the Workers Compensation Board -- are developing, or have developed, a series of training manuals and management programs for the Games; these are expected to be made available after the Games as a model for safety for future major projects and events.

MAN CHARGED REGARDING VANOC BOARD THREATS

VANOC Board chairman Jack Poole has reportedly filed an affidavit indicating that he felt threatened by statements made recently by protesters who claimed to have the work locations and home addresses of directors on the Board, and that they would be "evicted." Anti-poverty protester David Cunningham was arrested, charged and released on bond over the weekend in Vancouver in connection with the issue. One of the bond conditions is that he stay away from VANOC. A side tempest developed when it was revealed police posed as a journalist from a Vancouver newspaper to lure Cunningham to where he was arrested.

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

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Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #2326
VANCOUVER AND TRIBES REACH MOU AGREEMENT ON 2010 ABORIGINAL TRADE PAVILION CONCEPTS

The City of Vancouver and the organization representing the tribes involved with the 2010 Winter Games have agreed on a Memorandum of Understanding on setting up a transportable aboriginal trade pavilion as part of the Olympics' "Live Site" area in Vancouver's business district.

The MOU, which is to be discussed and likely approved by council next Thursday during a meeting of its City Services and Budgets committee meeting, is with the Four Host First Nations Society. It represents the Lil'wat, Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh bands whose land claims cover the areas of Greater Vancouver and Whistler where VANOC is constructing venues, and it has official status with the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) and the International Olympic Committee.

The MOU confirms the pavilion is to be built on the plaza of the Queen Elizabeth Theatre near the corner of Georgia and Cambie for the duration of the 2010 Winter Games, with construction expected to start late this year -- assuming the Society can completed arrangements for capital and operational funding from the BC and Canadian governments -- and be completed no later than 2009. The City won't charge the Society anything more than C$1 for the use of the space.

Once funding is confirmed, according to Dave Rudberg, the City's general manager of Olympic and Paralympic Operation and Lesley Matthews, the City's managing director of Cultural Services, the two sides would work on a legal agreement dealing with the design and construction of the pavilion, as well as its operation, maintenance and post-Games use of the Pavilion.

Funding can't be too far away; the Society has already issued calls for designers to work on the concepts of the 2,043-square-metre (22,000-square-foot) building's concepts. The pavilion would also incorporate the restaurant and upper floor of the city-owned building on the Cambie Street side of the plaza. During the Games, streets would be closed off to allow the entire area to be programd.

The MOU does its best to keep all of the costs of erecting, running and removing pavilion to be paid by the Society; only some landscaping expense, covered by another city budget that's already approved, would be allowed under the MOU. The Society is also going to be responsible for all operations, servicing, maintenance and repairs of the pavilion. Operating costs will include gas, electrical, water, sewer and waste removal, all of which must be separately metered and paid by the Society.

The MOU leaves open the possibility that a portion of the pavilion and possibly some native artwork could remain as a legacy of the Games after June 30, 2010, when the pavilion has to be formally removed, but those decisions will be made by March 31, 2010.

The City and VANOC have been working on the development of the so-called "Live Site" and its programming on the
and old, now empty property that was once occupied by a bus depot, and the adjacent Theatre plaza. The "Live Site" is expected to operate starting in October, 2009 and continue during the entire time the 2010 Winter Games are in operation. It is expected to also host a range of daily and nightly activities centered around a large television screen that will feature live broadcasts of the Games, ceremonies, live entertainment, as well as various recreational and cultural activities. Programming would also include the Theatre, as well as the adjacent
Vancouver Playhouse and the Media Club.

The Society has been charged with managing public access to the pavilion and security of it, but "Details regarding the security perimeter and required security provisions," will be built into the legal agreement between the City and the Society.


Several similar Live Sites are being constructed or arranged in communities throughout BC, but the Vancouver one so far appears to be the largest.

The pavilion would act as a trading house, restaurant and hosting location featuring the four tribes involved, but also including aboriginal items from across Canada.


BACKGROUND

The City is planning to do significant renovations to the Queen Elizabeth Theatre over the summers of 2007, 2008 and 2009, with it re-opening in October 2009. The City's plans to modify the Plaza, including the stairs along Georgia Street and the corner of Georgia & Cambie, opening up access and adding shelter along Hamilton Street and erecting an electronic sign on Georgia Street.


RESOURCES

This satellite view shows the location of the Live Site. The Queen Elizabeth Theatre is the grey-roofed building in the upper left, the plaza extends to the left of the building. The former bus depot land, now used as a ground-level parking lot is across Cambie Street in the centre of the image. The green arrow marks the intersection of Georgia and Cambie. That block of Cambie would be closed while the Games are on and the site is in use for the Olympics.
tinyurl.com/3d657q

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

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Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2325


Here are three moguls we ran into today:

2010 LEGACIES NOW GETS C$1.4 MILLION TO IMPROVE "DISABILITY TOURISM"

With 1,029 days before the 2010 Paralympics start, the BC government is giving a one-time grant of C$1.14 million to 2010 Legacies Now to help the tourism industry focus on improving things for people with "disabilities, mobility impairments or other challenges." Employment and Income Assistance minister Claude Richmond says, "Tourism is a major economic driver in British Columbia. We know that people with disabilities can greatly contribute to the strength of this industry if we make sure that our spectacular attractions, and tourism infrastructure, are fully accessible to the sizable market they represent." 2010 Legacies Now is expected to use the money for its Accessible Tourism Initiative. By early 2008, it expects to have an "access ratings tool" for restaurants, hotels and tourism-service providers; a training program for tourism-service providers "to raise their awareness of the needs of people with disabilities;" and a "virtual resource centre that provides the information and connections that businesses and communities need to improve accessibility." Carla Qualtrough, director of Sport Tourism and Inclusion Initiatives for 2010 Legacies Now, notes that, "Businesses are recognizing that access makes good business sense," said "Making services and attractions accessible to the 12% of the population that have disabilities is good business. This number increases substantially when you include other people with mobility impairments, and when you consider our aging population." The 1,000 day mark from the Opening ceremony of the 2010 Olympics will occur tomorrow.

PAVCO EMPLOYEES REACH CONTRACT FOR LABOUR PEACE DURING 2010 GAMES

An agreement has been reached on a four-year contract with support staff at BC Pavilion Corporation, which owns two of VANOC's major venues -- BC Place Stadium, where a number of 2010 ceremonies are expected to take place, and the Vancouver Trade and Convention Centre, which will be used for about 10,000 international news and sports media during the Games. The agreement, which doesn't expire until well after the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games finish, covers 250 workers represented by the BC Government and Service Employees Union. These employees include security personnel, housekeeping staff and technicians. The BCGEU members this week are voting on whether to ratify the agreement.

VANOC EVENTS SCHEDULE ON 4TH DRAFT, WITH TV STILL TO WEIGH IN

VANOC's vice-president of Sports, Tim Gayda, told the Vancouver Province newspaper, in a report published today, that he is still dealing with the international sports federations on the timing and schedules of the 86 competitive events that will take place during the 2010 Winter Olympics, and has not yet included discussions with TV broadcasters, who are next on the process list. Although he notes that the Pacific coast time zone is "almost perfect" for a winter Games and that he's now on the fourth draft of the schedule just dealing with the sports federations, "Because TV obviously is a huge factor, you get conflicts there," he said. The Beijing Summer Olympics, scheduled for next year, had to resolve a serious confrontation between Australian and American broadcasters, including harsh words by the athletes and their federations, over the timing of swimming events, which are extremely popular in both countries. Beijing eventually decided to hold the competitions in a time favourable to the US TV rights holder, NBC.

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

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Morgan:News:2010 |General| #2324
FEDERAL COURT JUDGEMENT SEEN AS POTENTIALLY WEAKENING VANOC CONTROL OVER ITS LOGOS AND TRADEMARKS

The Federal Court of Canada has taken the Canadian Registrar of Trade-Marks to task for being, in essence, little more than a rubber stamp for approving so-called Section 9 marks, the same Trademark Act section the 2010 Olympics relies upon for control over most of its trademarks.

The court has now published its April 18th decision in which Justice Michael L. Phelan ordered the Canadian Olympic Committee to return possession of a charity's signature "See You in Vancouver" trademark, and several others, so the charity could continue to raise money for Olympic athletes. The COC had registered the trademarks of the charity, the Canadian Athletes Fund Corporation (SYI Fund), 10 months after the charity had done so, using Section 9, which grants authority over the use of the marks if they are claimed by a "public authority."

The decision, in essence, means that for such an authority to claim control over a mark in that way, it has to be using that mark publicly before anybody else. The COC is still considering whether to appeal the judgement.

And, in the course of the case, Justice Phelan accepted the conclusion the COC was a "public authority", even though it was confiscating the commercial trademarks of others and in that situation not "benefiting" the public, that 30% of the support of the 2010 Winter Olympics came from government indirectly because of the COC, and without those funds, "the Games would not be viable."

The charity, run by Jane Roos, has for years prodded the COC to provide more funding to Olympic-bound athletes, and tied its fund-raising trademarks to the cities of upcoming Olympics, such as "See you in Torino", "See you in Beijing" and "See you in Vancouver."

Justice Phelan notes in his decision, "... The Registrar gives only the most cursory consideration of the issue of a requestor’s adoption and use, and no consideration of the use by third parties" before it approves a public authority's acquisition of trademarks. Later, he adds, "The Registrar is not simply a rubber stamp in the process of securing an official mark by way of adoption and use."

He adds, "The Registrar’s anomalous procedures regarding official marks invites the very type of issues dealt with here. In regard to 'public authority', it is the Registrar’s practice to inquire into that matter and to require some evidence. As to 'adoption and use', the Registrar makes no inquiry and relies solely on an unsworn statement of counsel that the mark has been adopted and used. The [Trademark] legislation does not create a reason for such differential treatment, nor a justification for such differentiation. If the 'public authority' issue deserves some inquiry, similarly so does 'adoption and use'. The potential effect on third parties of the Registrar’s decision to publish certainly justifies some better level of diligence."

As Justice Phelan puts it, "The Registrar’s decision to publish notice was neither correct nor reasonable."

A part of the case was over who used the trademarks first. The judgement reveals that the charity registered the trademarks on October 24, 2003, and that the COC began "using" those marks "internally, starting in January 2004, by COC personnel for strategic and business planning discussions." And, the COC did so "verbally in correspondence, e-mails and memoranda." The only evidence of external use were that "marks were used on promotional items, such as pens and flashlight gifts." A COC order for them was dated August 31, 2004. If internal use was sufficient to establish use, notes Justice Phelan, "the very act of requesting... publication would, theoretically, constitute 'adoption and use'." All this took place just before the Athens Summer Olympics.

Phelan reports that the COC, during cross-examination, refused to talk about any other use. "On the instructions of counsel, the witness refused (a) to produce any other invoices for other promotional items; (b) to produce any correspondence, e-mails or memoranda evidencing use of the marks; (c) to indicate what the wares or services were on which the marks were used or to which they were associated; and (d) the number of promotional items actually used outside COC."

There's more: "The timing of the order for the pens/flashlights is sufficient to highlight the importance of the questions. The order was placed two days before the request for publication [of the COC's trademark action] was made to the Registrar.... the items were received around November 5, 2004, a few days after the publication of the notice, which is the date by which the marks had to be adopted and used."

Justice Phelan says the Registrar, while simply accepting a one-sentence statement that the COC had adopted and used the trademarks, it spent a lot of time confirming the COC was a public authority, and thus authorized to use Section 9. Justice Phelan said the Registrar "received hundreds of pages of material to establish this criterion. The Registrar entered into an inquiry of the facts and engaged the [COC] in a dialogue to justify the contention that it was a public authority."

Is the Canadian Olympic Committee a "public authority"? Justice Phelan decided the Registar was right in coming to that conclusion, but it's pretty convoluted, and the COC's relationship with various levels of government and the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) had to be examined.

In reaching its conclusion, the Registrar examined the Program of the COC, the Contribution Agreement between the federal government and the COC, the Memorandum of Understanding specifying areas of cooperation, the Multiparty Agreement the COC signed with VANOC to host the 2010 Games, and the Covenants of Canada, British Columbia, City of Vancouver and Whistler reached about the 2010 Games. "The financial result, quite apart from areas of input from government," says Justice Phelan, "is that 30% of the funding for the Olympic Games comes from government. Obviously, absent government, the Games would not be viable."

The Justice adds, "The fact that the government funding goes to the Organizing Committee rather than the COC does not alter the issue of control. Control is both a legal and factual matter exercisable both directly and indirectly. Given the covenants, the cooperation, the funding and the overall involvement of government, the element of control exists at the COC level, even if it is exercised more directly in other related organizations."

The legal bill for the SYI Fund was about C$80,000, and the court awarded the Fund costs in the case.

BACKGROUND

Jane Roos started her work with the SYI Fund in 1997 with the See You In Sydney Fund, which then became the See You In Salt Lake City Fund, and so on, with "See You in Vancouver" being the latest. It has raised about C$4 million to help about 500 athletes with grants of C$6,000 each. The organization helped 244 of 266 athletes at the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics. Roos, who donates her time to the foundation along with that of her husband, beach volleyball player Conrad Leinemann, says 85% of the donated funds go to athletes. "So much time and energy has been wasted. That's what bothers me most," she says.

According to the Toronto Star newspaper today, David Bedford, the COC's executive director of marketing and communications, told it the interests of the COC's credit card sponsor, Visa, were hurt three years ago when a competitor gave C$500,000 to See You In Athens and published a press release indicating the credit-card competitor was helping Olympic athletes. "All we're trying to do is protect those companies putting in hundreds of millions to be part of the Olympics," Bedford said. "That's all this has ever been about."

RESOURCES

The full federal court decision:
decisions.fct-cf.gc.ca/en/2007/2007fc406/2007fc406.html

The SYI Fund does business these days as "Can Fund", or "Canadian Athletes Now"
www.canadianathletesnow.ca

Our earlier story about the decision involving the COC:
'COC loses battle over trademark use of "See you in Vancouver"'
[Morgan:News:2010:Number:2267; Published on Thursday, April 19, 2007]

Our earlier story on another challenge to VANOC's registration of its logo:
'Canadian company formally opposes "arrogant" 2010 Olympics over inukshuk trademark'
[Morgan:News:2010:Number:2313; Published on Monday, May 14, 2007]

Canadian Olympic Committee:
www.olympic.ca

The Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO)
strategis.ic.gc.ca/sc_mrksv/cipo/welcome/welcom-e.html

CIPO's database entry for the "See You In Vancouver" mark:
tinyurl.com/2tugd2

VANOC's logo, approved under Section 9, as entered in the CIPO database:
tinyurl.com/3yc2bv

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

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Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2323


Here are three moguls we ran into today:

VANOC TO START LOOKING SOUTHWARD IN MORE DETAIL

VANOC expects to start expanding its relationships with some overseas national Olympic and Paralympic committees this year. It's starting to flush out its office responsible for dealing with the national Olympic committees of Asia, Africa, Oceania and the Americas -- that would be Central and South American countries -- that plan to participate in the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. The office, like those that have other national responsibilities, make arrangements and host the national Olympic committees (NOCs, as they're known by VANOC) when they visit VANOC and the various cities where venues are being constructed, and they conduct the venue tours necessary. The office also works closely with a number of other VANOC functions -- Accommodation, Transportation, Accreditation, Olympic Villages, Finance and the like -- to ensure that the needs of the NOC representatives addressed. They also get involved in making sure things like national flags and anthems approvals occur, that NOC attaches are briefed, that delegations are properly briefed and registered. And the office also gets involved with the volunteer programs that affect those countries, down to the detail of being involved in volunteer interviews, selection and training. Part of the job is to also meet with the NOC reps in their countries, or when their groups have joint meetings dealing with the Olympics or Paralympics.

WASHINGTON STATE TOURISM SPENDING HIKE LINKED TO 2010

Washington State governor Christine Gregoire says she has pushed to expand the state's tourism industry during the past year. The increased emphasis on tourism will come in time to help with the significant opportunities for Washington as visitors travel to nearby Vancouver for the 2010 Olympics, she told a gathering of business people and tourism officials in the town of Walla Walla yesterday. The state had a huge gap between its potential for tourism and its investment in tourism, according to government officials. As a result, it has almost tripled the US$3.6 million it has been spending annually on tourism. Even so, she said that amount was the smallest expenditure of any of the 13 Western US states. By comparison, the BC government is budgeting C$17.2 million (US$15.8 million) on tourism this fiscal year.

MOBILE MINI CITES 2010 AS ONE REASON TO EXPAND TO VANCOUVER

Mobile Mini, Inc. (NASDAQ GS: MINI) has opened a branch in Vancouver, citing the 2010 Winter Olympics as one of the reasons for the Tempe, Arizona-based firm's decision to broaden the industry of supplying portable storage. Steven Bunger, Mobile Mini’s Chairman, president & CEO, noted, “Vancouver is one of those cities where a well-priced asset purchase has eluded us. Therefore, we have established our own branch under the leadership of an experienced manager who has hired and trained his staff. The branch is open for business; our systems are in place; mailers and advertising are in the works; and we have brought in a broad selection of storage units and portable offices... Greater Vancouver's estimated population is 2.1 million which should swell as the city plays host to the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.” The company says it has a total fleet of about 159,000 portable storage units and portable offices. The Vancouver branch is its 64th. Others are in the US, the United Kingdom and The Netherlands.

RESOURCES

Mobile Mini, Inc.
Larry Trachtenberg,
Executive VP & Chief Financial Officer
Phone: 480.894.6311
www.mobilemini.com

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

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Morgan:News:2010 |Government| #2322
VANCOUVER COUNCIL ASKED TO APPROVE C$650,000 PROJECT TO HELP CITY MEET 2010 OLYMPIC SOCIAL COMMITTMENTS

Vancouver City staff are recommending council approve a three-year, C$670,000 lease-subsidy program that would help the City keep some of its 2010 Olympic commitments to the troubled downtown east side area of Vancouver.

The program is one of a number of initiatives supported by the three levels of government -- the City, BC and Canadian -- involved with the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) that are designed to help implement the Vancouver Agreement’s Economic Revitalization Plan as well as the Inner City Inclusive Olympic commitments. The objective of the Lease-Subsidy Program is to establish or expand local businesses within the downtown east side which are owned and managed by registered charities or welfare groups incorporated as societies, and helping them with about half the costs of their leases.

The administration of the program would happen through a city-spawned organization called Building Opportunities with Business, which implements a number of similar programs for the City. There would be a formal evaluation of the program in 2010, to see if it was accomplishing its goals although administration and actual disbursements of any Council-approved leases could continue to the end of 2013. The people who run BOB, as its nicknamed, will be helped with a Business Advisory Review Committee to determine whether a proposal should be recommended to Council for approval of a lease subsidy. BARC is comprised of representatives from the Board of BOB, Downtown Eastside residents, business organizations and business people.

One of the founding directors of BOB, when it was formed in 2005, was Linda Coady, Vice-President of Sustainability for VANOC, another was David Podmore, President and CEO, Concert Properties Ltd. Podmore is the chair of the BC government's new organization that has consolidated government ownership of BC Place Stadium, where VANOC's 2010 Opening Ceremony will take place, and the Vancouver Trade & Convention Centre, which will be the home of the international media during the 2010 Games. The chair of Concert Properties is VANOC's Board of Directors chairman, Jack Poole.

BOB, in turn, will monitor the operations of the company receiving the subsidy to ensure that it's not defaulting on the lease.

The business to be considered, according to the staff, will generally be in a storefront street-level commercial space and must not have any local competition unless there's good market demand for the goods or services, but consideration could be given to proposals that aren't on street level or are just outside of the area boundaries, "which demonstrate significant job creation potential" for people living within the downtown east side. Pre-subsidy lease rates would have to be normal for the area, or less, in order to qualify for the subsidy, and each one would have to be approved by the City's Real Estate services department to "prevent the subsidies from artificially inflating commercial rents in the area." The subsidies aren't just for leases; "consideration can be given to subsidizing the office needs" of a subsidized business.

BACKGROUND

The lease subsidy would pay for BOB-approved fees for legal or professional real-estate expertise, plus a percentage of the market lease cost, according to this schedule:

Year 1 of operation – 75% of the lease to a maximum subsidy of C$3,750 per month

Year 2 of operation – 50% of the lease to a maximum subsidy of C$2,500 per month

Year 3 of operation – 25% of the lease to a maximum subsidy of C$1,250 per month

The maximum monthly subsidy is based on typical storefront sizes and rents in the area. Typical storefronts are a maximum of 3,000 square feet and rent for about C$10 per square foot per year on East Hastings to about C$20 on Water Street. Thus the maximum permitted lease subsidy would be calculated as a percentage of a market rent of up to C$5,000 per month using this formula: {($20 per sq ft x 3000 sq ft)/12 months.

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

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Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2321


Here are three moguls we ran into today:

FORMER AG TO RUN VANCOUVER'S CIVIL CITY PROJECT

Former BC attorney-general Geoff Plant has been hired by the City of Vancouver as a commissioner to run its Project Civil City. We have a tremendous opportunity to use the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games as a catalyst to solve the public disorder problems that affect our city,” says Vancouver mayor Sam Sullivan, who has spearheaded the political aspect of the project. Council narrowly approved the project along party lines last December, and approved a C$300,000 budget for the first year of its office operations and work. The Civil City plan sets what Sullivan calls "ambitious targets" to reduce homelessness, curb the open-drug market, reduce aggressive panhandling and increase satisfaction with how public-nuisance complaints are handled.

VANOC OFFERS LIST OF CRITERIA FOR VOLUNTEERS FOR THE 2010 GAMES

Dick Vollet, the vice president of Workforce, one of VANOC's departments, has offered a list of the main criteria that candidates will need to fulfill to be considered for a volunteer position. Volunteers will need:
1. Previous volunteer experience
2. To be available for the period of the Games and to have a flexible schedule
3. To have or arrange their own accommodation within the Games region
4. A positive attitude and plenty of enthusiasm
5. Alignment with VANOC's values (team, trust, excellence, sustainability, creativity)
6. To successfully complete the required training sessions
7. To successfully complete RCMP security screening

As some volunteer positions during the Games will require specific skills, potential applicants are expected to be encouraged to build their volunteer portfolios by getting involved in sporting events that British Columbia will host in the next few years. Applications for volunteers for some 2010-related test events are expected to begin in three or four months.

PROTESTORS TO AIM AT VANOC DIRECTORS OFFICES NEXT

Quote without comment: "What we do plan on doing is targeting each and every individual on the VANOC board and holding them individually responsible for what they have done to the hundreds of people on the Downtown Eastside... We have found where their offices are, we have found where their homes are... We'll definatley be showing up at Jack Poole's offices [chair of VANOC's Board]. We're going to try to hit as many offices as we can. This campaign will be escalating. Hopefully there will be no need to have a campaign that's on-going and targeting their homes, like they've targeted poor people's homes... We're going to evict them from their offices like they've evicted hundreds of our brothers and sisters... This isn't a game. This is a struggle. This is a life-and-death struggle. We are going to struggle and win." -- David Cunningham, one of the organizers of a protest outside VANOC headquarters yesterday.

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

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Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #2320
2010 ORGANIZATION OFFERS MAJOR PLUSH-TOY CONTRACT FOR MASCOT LAUNCH LATE THIS YEAR

The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) has begun looking for companies around the world that are capable of making plush-toy versions of the two mascots -- one for the Olympics and one for the Paralympics -- it is expecting to launch late this year.

The deal is expected to be one of the major marketing contracts offered by VANOC, since it will also allow the firm or firms it chooses to make premiums for all of VANOC's corporate and government sponsors, in addition to selling the toys to the Canadian public across the country.

The companies it's looking for need to be able to "consistently design, manufacture and distribute a full range of attractive, high-quality, affordable licensed products," within and throughout Canada, according to VANOC. The organization's aim is "to reach consumers in every part of Canada through distribution channels approved by VANOC," using what is calls is a process of "controlled commercialization."

The toys will be licensed to carry any of the VANOC logos and brands it owns, controls or creates between now and December 31, 2010 (including sell-offs), which is the end of the offer, but they will not be carrying anything to do with the Torch Relays, since VANOC intends to license and market the relays separately. Nor will they be carrying, at least as part of this program, any brands owned by the Canadian Olympic Committee or the Canadian Olympic teams, all of which are also separately licensed. The licensing offered is silent about whether it will, or will not, allow the toys to carry brands owned or controlled by the International or national Paralympic committees.

There are some other restrictions on the companies who may be thinking of completing VANOC's application process by June 6. Companies are barred from taking part if they have department stores, or they are a specialty retailer "which has previously held licensing rights to produce apparel, team uniforms and merchandise" that carry Canadian Olympic Committee marks, or if they area a sporting goods retail stores "carrying a similarly wide number and variety of product lines." VANOC gave those rights to its tier-1 national sponsor, the Hudson's Bay Company, a few years ago.

VANOC expects to provide a formal Request for Proposals in June to between six and a dozen companies that it considers could be serious contenders for the job. It's uncertain by just about everybody whether there will be enough time for a winner to be chosen and ramp up with enough product to have an influence on the peak Christmas buying season this year, but VANOC wants to know from every applicant exactly how long it would take them, from the time they get VANOC's graphic-standards documents, the two designs VANOC has chosen from the roughly 170 that were provided to it during a separate process, and the contract award, to do each of the necessary steps from prototype to completed toy, with VANOC approvals incorporated throughout the process.

Depending on the strengths and weaknesses of the companies that apply, VANOC has left the door open to assemble a team of firms that may be used to cover all of its target-marketing channels, although it would prefer to only deal with one company.

Sustainability and other VANOC social goals also play a large part in who wins the contract. VANOC wants to ensure the toys are made in ways that reduce their environmental footprint. "VANOC is seeking products and product-packaging methods and materials which complement and advance VANOC's commitment to social and environmental sustainability," according to the organization. As VANOC puts it, "Our procurement strategy includes the use of sustainable purchasing practices to minimize negative environmental impacts and to maximize social and economic opportunities for aboriginal and inner-city residents. We will use evaluation criteria that rewards suppliers with sustainability- and aboriginal-participation policies, programs and ideas that are strongly aligned with VANOC's sustainability objectives."

And, of course, since children are the primary market (along with collectors) for the toys, VANOC wants written assurances of how the winning company conducts its quality-assurance program, particularly evidence to support safety compliance that's covered by Canada's Hazardous Products Act and the companion regulations for toys.

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

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Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #2319
MAY BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING COVERS MARKETING, VENUE AND FINANCE

The May meeting of the Board of Directors for the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) was unusually long, but productive, according of VANOC Board chair Jack Poole.

Here's an overview of what was discussed at the Board meeting, according to information released by VANOC, which does not include items that were discussed by its new in-camera policy:

VANOC CEO John Furlong gave a progress report that included "updates on the majority of the Organizing Committee functions and activities, including the recent release of the business plan, transparency recommendations, updates on villages, venues construction, federal legislation, GM Place venue agreement, accommodation programs, Olympic T