Luge slides back to 2010 Olympics venue

Felix Loch has mastered the Whistler Sliding Centre.

The German won the Olympic gold medal at the track during the 2010 Games and he was atop the podium again Dec. 9 during the second International Luge Federation world cup stop of the 2011-2012 season.

Loch’s combined time of 1:36.48 was 0.278 better than fellow German Johannes Ludwig. David Moller, the 2010 Olympics silver medallist, completed the German podium sweep.

“I like the fast track here, the start is good for me, it's not too steep. It's good for all Germans. The sled was today very fast,” Loch said. “The track became more safe, those nations that are not on the level of Germany, they are learning and getting better on this track.”

Calgary's Sam Edney was fifth in 1:37.061. Edney's seventh-place in the Olympics at Whistler was a best for a Canadian in men’s singles.

“Five Germans and a Canadian (among the last six) -- it's clear to me where they have that edge, at the start,” Edney said. “This has got to be the best track in the world. The feeling you get when you're sliding down you can't express it, the speed and that feeling of that adrenaline rush. Hearing the crowd as you're sliding down is one of the coolest things you can ever feel as you're sliding.”

Italy's Armin Zoggeler, the 2002 and 2006 Olympic champion and bronze medallist in 2010, was a disappointing 13th.

The first FIL world cup in Whistler was in 2009 when Moller won gold, Zoggeler silver and Loch bronze. Ludwig was fourth and Edney 12th.

* * * * *

In the men's doubles, 2010 Olympic champions Andreas and Wolfgang Linger of Austria won gold, beating countrymen Peter Penz and Georg Fischler by 0.244. Italians Christian Obsertotz and Patrick Gruber were third.

Linger and Linger established a doubles track record of 41.255 seconds. Penz and Fischler, however, are FIL leaders after two rounds of the nine-stop World Cup tour, which continues next weekend in Calgary. The Lingers are second.

Canada's Tristan Walker and Justin Smith were 10th.

* * * * *

No sliders from Georgia have competed in the first two rounds of the FIL world cup. But Georgia’s flag was displayed in memory of Nodar Kumaritashvili.

The 21-year-old died after crashing near the end of his last training run on Feb. 12, 2010, the opening day of the 2010 Winter Olympics. A small flag marks the spot where the tragedy happened.

A bigger flag is outside the track offices, near the Olympic podium.

The start area for women’s races continues to be used, as it was the day after Kumaritashvili’s crash. A safety audit ordered by the British Columbia Coroners Service was conducted by the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology. The results are expected to be made public in the first quarter of 2012.

During the summer of 2010, concrete on curves 12 to 16 was modified with the blessing of FIL and the International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation. More changes are coming.

Whistler Sliding Centre begins its second season of public skeleton rides on Dec. 16. On Dec. 22, it launches a public bobsled program. The two-hour courses are $149. The bobsled experience includes professional pilots. Retired Canadian legend Pierre Lueders, the 1998 Olympic champion and two-time world champion, will be among the guest pilots this winter.

* * * *

The official attendance wasn’t announced. In diplomatic terms, other things must have occupied the collective interest of Whistler locals and visitors. There were more athletes and reporters at the end of the track than there were fans.
Whistler is host of the 2013 world championships.

Scenes from a super Sunday... with a lower-case s

B.C. Lions (and Toronto Argonauts) owner David Braley and president Dennis Skulsky.

KISS's Gene Simmons and his Canadian wife Shannon Tweed pose for photos in the B.C. Place Stadium press box with Canadian Forces members during halftime.

This door will need a new paint job. The B.C. Lions are six-time world champions of three-down football!

B.C. Lions fans win the CFL's best signs of 2011 championship

There goes the Grey Cup to the dressing room where Molson Canadian was spilled in a stadium where Budweiser has pouring rights. The beer wars continue...

Suite dreamers at Grey Cup

Nearly every seat was filled for the 99th Grey Cup at B.C. Place Stadium. Every suite on level 3 was. If you were lucky enough to be on level 3, you would've seen legendary B.C. Lions' quarterback (and Angelo Mosca combatant) Joe Kapp and KISS's Gene Simmons and his Canadian wife Shannon Tweed. Who were the occupiers? Here's the exclusive list.

BC Place Suite: Premier Christy Clark and visiting Premiers and dignitaries
1 Davis Management
2 Pacific Newspaper Group
3 Dueck GM
4 BMO
5 Rio Grande
6 Wayne Davies
7 Jardine Lloyd Thompson
8 Pepsi
9 Scotiabank
10 BCLC
11 BCLC
12 Rosedale on Robson
13 Macklem Mortgage Service
14 Walker Group
15 Petcurean Pet Nutrition
16 PCL
17 TSN
Goalpost Scotiabank
Balcony Telus
20 Sandman Hotel Group
21 Telus
22 Safeway
23 Scotiabank
24 Mackenzie Investments
25 BC Place
26 Chameleon Enterprises 26
27 Molson
28 Weststone Capital
29 Atlas Truss
30 Blakes
31 Nissan
32 Stresscrete
33 ZLC Financial
34 Trades Labour Corp
35 Orange Capital
36 Knight Inlet Grizzly Tours
37 CT Control Temp
38 Imining.com
39 Encana
40 Sussex Insurance
41 Super Save Disposal
42 Norcon
43 Scotiabank
44 Telus
45 Quorum Construction
46 Terus Construction
47 Mail-o-Matic Services
48 Canadian Tire Corp
49 Drake Towing
50 Shadow Lines Transport
51 B.C. Pavilion Corporation
52 Whitecaps

Grey Cup nuggets…

The University of B.C. Thunderbirds didn't make it to the first Vanier Cup in Vancouver, but their quarterback was named the top player in Canadian college football in 2011.

Billy Greene picked up the award at the Vancouver Convention Centre Thursday night at the same ceremony where B.C. Lions' quarterback Travis Lulay won the Canadian Football League's most outstanding player award.

Earlier in the day, the Lions had lunch at the Radisson Harbourside Hotel with the media, where centre Angus Reid got up close with the Grey Cup as part of his duties with TSN. For the record, he was very careful not to touch the prize for the winner of Sunday's game.



B.C. Place Stadium's roof is leaking again.

Yes, the centrepiece of the $563 million renovation. A tent was covering a painted logo on the Polytan Ligaturf field near section 18 on Thursday, as Vancouver was battered by heavy rain and heavy winds.

Grey Cup Committee general manager Scott Ackles told me Tuesday that the roof is most likely to be closed on game day, even if the weather is immaculate. TSN wants consistent lighting and the halftime show producer Patrick Roberge wants a controlled atmosphere. It is ultimately the CFL's call.

Luxury suites on level three are coming with 3-D glasses. Each suite contains a Samsung TV that will display 3-D content during the big game. This is a smart move, since the stadium's centre-hung, shoebox-style video board cannot be seen from much of level 3 during football games.

When will they tell us the new name? Not this weekend. The stadium's telecommunications and technology provider Telus won't slap its name on the marquee before the Grey Cup. Telus was the frontrunner for naming rights and the deal was supposed to have been announced in mid-September. The stadium will remain B.C. Place for the time being. Telus also scored a $1 billion, 10-year deal with the government, Crown corporations and health authorities in the summer.

Will Vancouver get riot redemption or Eskimo jinx?

The Edmonton Eskimos are back in Vancouver for the third time in less than two months to seek their first win under the new roof at B.C. Place Stadium.

If they win Nov. 20, they will get a chance the next week to get their second win -- in the 99th Grey Cup.

The more times the teams play on the new synthetic turf field, the greater the odds that the Eskimos will finally win one. But will that win spoil the B.C. Lions’ ambition to finish the season as the home team in the Grey Cup?

Edmonton has rained on the parade before. Enough that you might suggest there is a green and gold jinx.

Every time the Lions have met the Esks in the West final of a B.C. Place Grey Cup hosting year, the Esks have eliminated B.C.

Nov. 23, 1986: Esks 41-Leos 5 in Edmonton (Mike Kerrigan and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats beat the Esks 39-15 in the Grey Cup).
Nov. 22, 1987: Esks 31-Leos 7 in Vancouver (Gizmo Williams and the Esks beat the Toronto Argonauts 38-36 in the Grey Cup.)
Nov. 20, 2005: Esks 28-Leos 23 in Vancouver (The Danny Maciocia-coached Esks beat the Montreal Alouettes 38-35 in overtime to win the Grey Cup).

What’s more, the Calgary Stampeders eliminated B.C. on Nov. 21, 1999, 26-24 at B.C. Place. The Stamps returned the following week to lose 32-21 to Darren Flutie and the Ti-Cats.

Could the Stanley Cup riot be a good omen?

The last year in which the Vancouver Canucks were losers and fans reacted by rioting in downtown, the Lions beat an Alberta team in the West final and won the Grey Cup at B.C. Place.

The Lions edged the Stampeders 37-36 in dramatic fashion in the snow at Calgary on Nov. 20, 1994. On Nov. 27, 1994, Lui Passaglia kicked the game-winning field goal on the final play to beat Baltimore 26-23. That remains the greatest sports moment in the history of 1983-opened B.C. Place and, arguably, the greatest 20th century moment in Vancouver sports history.

Vancouver was rocked by another Stanley Cup riot when the Canucks were losers on June 15, 2011.

Can the city end this year with a home-won Grey Cup as consolation?

Steel company names PavCo in lawsuit

More trouble for B.C. Place Stadium, where the Sept. 30 reopening was anything but smooth.

The French headquartered cable erection company hired by a Quebec steel subcontractor is suing for almost $6.5 million. B.C. Pavilion Corporation, the taxpayer-owned stadium’s operator, is named as a defendant.

Freyssinet filed a lawsuit in British Columbia Supreme Court on Oct. 31, charging Canam with breach of contract, breach of statutory trust and equitable fraud. Problems have been festering for many months. Here's my update from Aug. 4.

PCL Constructors and Canam Group were awarded a $122,864,581 contract on Nov. 18, 2009, according to the Freyssinet court filings. Canam hired Freyssinet as a subcontractor for $30,124,377, “but were unable to agree on all terms.”

"Nevertheless, Freyssinet commenced work on the improvement in July 2010 and on Aug. 23, 2010, Canam and Freyssinet signed a subcontract, backdated to Nov. 20, 2009," said the lawsuit. "However the subcontract was signed without Canam and Freyssinet agreeing on the cost of the erection work budget."

Freyssinet claims Canam failed to keep work on schedule, directed labour and equipment without Freyssinet’s knowledge or consent, interfered with Freyssinet foremen and “permitted rates from Montacier International, a company related to Canam, for labour for erection of the cable which were higher than agreed upon.”

Canam announced in November 2010 that it would “follow an alternate method of erection of the cable, without consulting with Freyssinet and without Freyssinet’s consent.”

"Through 2010, payments were made by Canam on account of the invoices, but Canam then wrongfully ceased making payment to Freyssinet."

Freyssinet says it is owed $6,466,892 by Canam, which claims Freyssinet owes it $24,137.756.44.

A Sept. 29, 2011 letter by Canam alleged: "Due to Freyssinet's negligence in preparation of the cost budget and the construction methodology, there was a significant cost overrun which Canam was required to bear in the fixed price contract with PCL."

"Canam intentionally and wrongfully made the demand to recover alleged damages for financial losses arising from the completed work. This was a wrongful, tortious act constituting equitable fraud."

As of Oct. 19, certificates of completion had not been issued for the head contract. The stadium reopened Sept. 30.

The Freyssinet claims have not been tested in court. I am waiting for responses from Canam and PavCo.

Recommended reading

Recommend means to "advise a particular course of action."

The Vancouver Police Department did so on Oct. 31 in the case of 60 people that it believes should be charged for their roles in the June 15 Stanley Cup riot.

Now it is up to Crown counsel -- the British Columbia prosecutors -- to review the recommendations, approve charges and file them with the courts. Public interest and likelihood of conviction is the simple, two-pronged test that the Crown uses in this process. That is how the system works in the province.

In order to clarify, for the benefit of readers, that nobody was charged on Oct. 31, I asked Neil MacKenzie of the Attorney General's ministry.

"The charge assessments are not completed on these individuals as yet.  Crown are reviewing the files, but I don't have a specific timeline as to when any of the reviews will be completed."

While it is possible that none of the 60 recommendations will be approved, I believe we are likely to see several people charged. When remains the question. But don't hold your breath for swift justice and punishment. I have covered enough cases in my career to know that hearings, trials, plea bargains, verdicts, convictions and sentencing do not come quick in B.C. The courts are so backlogged that many Stanley Cup rioting and looting cases will stretch into 2013.

Those unfamiliar with the courts will joke about the glacial speed. "Will there be verdicts before another set of Sedin twins is drafted by the Canucks?"

Premier Christy Clark laughably said that she wants charges laid within 10 days. She didn't say calendar days or business days, but she wants it done quick. Yet again she proves you can take the host out of the talkshow but you can't take the talkshow out of the host. The wheels of justice in B.C. are exceedingly slow and underfunded. One might even call them flat or square. Prosecutors don't do the work of politicians and should be spending their scarce time on the most deplorable cases -- rapes and murders -- before dealing with the riot files.

So the clock on my blog continues and will do so until the first of the 60 people is actually charged. Names of the accused, who are presumed innocent until proven guilty, will be published here unless they are minors protected by law.

Time running out for B.C. Place name?

A news conference is in the planning stages for Tuesday, Nov. 1 at B.C. Place Stadium for an announcement regarding the B.C. Lions and Vancouver Whitecaps, who are expected to be involved in the event because they're the primary tenants of the stadium.

The silence has been deafening. Neither Telus, Cisco nor B.C. Pavilion Corporation's public relations firm Pace Group have responded to my queries to confirm or deny the event or their involvement.

Telus is the telecommunications and technology provider at B.C. Place and Cisco's StadiumVision is the "video and digital content distribution solution" (read: the software that runs the multitude of video screens, large and small). Before the Sept. 30 reopening, the major Telus hardware and wiring installation at B.C. Place was cloaked in secrecy. So much so that it was even code-named "Project Frog."

Telus also has a 10-year, $1 billion contract to supply telecommunications services to the British Columbia government, Crown corporations BC Hydro, BC Lottery Corporation and ICBC and regional health authorities.

When I asked Oct. 14 if his company bought the naming rights, Telus chief financial officer Robert McFarlane would neither confirm nor deny. He would only say there would be a "coming out party" for Telus at B.C. Place in the near future.

There may be a reason for the secrecy. PavCo awaits the results of the B.C. Government and Service Employees' Union local 1703 vote on a new contract. The two sides reached a tentative deal on Oct. 24. Voting is supposed to end Nov. 1. There is no pay raise, but the workers apparently got the job security and anti-bullying provisions they wanted. The catch? The contract, if ratified, would expire May 31, 2012.

Nov. 1, coincidentally, was also the original date set by PavCo for the reopening of B.C. Place. PavCo chairman David Podmore moved the date forward by a month in February, despite problems installing roof-support cables. The domino effect meant crews didn't begin installing roof fabric until June. The roof opened and closed as advertised Sept. 30, but the sealing job was not complete and leaks continued well into October.

Read more about the controversial $563 million renovation of the 1983-opened stadium here.

Caps, Leos get no respect from landlord

No respect.

The immortal words of legendary standup comedian Rodney Dangerfield.

It seems neither the Vancouver Whitecaps nor the B.C. Lions can get the full respect of their landlord, B.C. Place Stadium.

I shot these photographs Oct. 22 from the concourse of Rogers Arena. It is a solitary flag affixed to one of the cables on the east side of B.C. Place's roof. It's ostensibly there to offer a visual signal of the wind direction. Wind is key for B.C. Place, as it can sometimes be the deciding factor for opening or closing the retractable roof.

Look closely. The flag is neither a Whitecaps nor a Lions flag. (As you can see, there is plenty of room for two... or two dozen, for that matter.)

It is the flag of the Vancouver Canucks, emblazoned with Johnny Canuck.

The Canucks don't play at B.C. Place. They have their own venue, across Griffiths Way at Rogers Arena.

No respect.

When will they tell us about B.C. Place's new name?

Executive vice-president and chief financial officer Robert McFarlane is the second in command at Telus, the right-hand-man to CEO Darren Entwistle.

On Oct. 13, he was on Premier Christy Clark's right side at the podium for the Grey Cup festival news conference at the Vancouver Convention Centre, a building serviced by Telus competitor Bell.

I caught up with McFarlane afterward to find out why Telus has kept quiet its involvement in B.C. Place Stadium's $563 million renovation.

Telus is the prime advertiser at the stadium and provider of technology and telecommunications. Sources have told the Sport Market since last spring that the telecom giant is the naming rights sponsor in a deal heavy on value-in-kind -- goods and services. Expect that to be finally announced in the week or two after the Whitecaps pack-up their Bell Pitch signs when they end their first Major League Soccer campaign on Oct. 22.

McFarlane did a good job of keeping mum on the topic, but hinted strongly toward the big announcement to come when I asked him.

"There will be a time for the coming out party on the technology, etcetera…" McFarlane said. "There is still last minute things or next to last minute things, are still being done and when it's all complete and we're ready, I'm sure, we'll have a coming out."

Asked about the naming rights and whether it will be Telus Park or Optik Place, McFarlane said: "Those would be great names, but unfortunately I can't comment on them."

McFarlane did reveal that Telus technicians didn't get into the stadium until four days before the Sept. 30 reopening to do their final work on the mobile phone network.

Is B.C. Place inching closer to a strike?

Is B.C. Place Stadium one step closer to a strike?

Local 1703 of the B.C. Government and Service Employees' Union, which represents ushers, security guards and maintenance workers, was scheduled to restart talks with B.C. Pavilion Corporation on Oct. 14. But the two sides did not begin meetings until 1 p.m.!

"That seems odd," said a source who did not want to be identified. "I hear it's going nowhere fast."

The union voted 89 percent in favour of a strike last month. If talks break down, then the union can declare 72-hour strike notice. The next event in the stadium is the Vancouver Whitecaps' last home game of their first Major League Soccer regular season on Oct. 22.

Workers are not getting any pay raise, as per the government's wage freeze, but they want job security and anti-bullying language in their contract.

The last contract expired May 31.

Premier Christy Clark seemed oddly optimistic in a media scrum after the Oct. 13 Grey Cup festival news conference at the Vancouver Convention Centre. But she has been known for her naivete and lack of tight grasp on policy.

Stay tuned for developments.

Dress accordingly when going to B.C. Place

If you're going to see the Vancouver Whitecaps host D.C. United on Oct. 12, wear a rain jacket and bring an umbrella. In fact, this umbrella hat could be the most appropriate attire for any event at B.C. Place Stadium for the time being.

Oh, the new retractable roof of B.C. Place Stadium is bound to be closed for most of this fall for the obvious seasonal weather. But after several fans at the B.C. Lions' Oct. 8 win over the Calgary Stampeders got wet, B.C. Pavilion Corporation cannot guarantee a dry experience. Workers are still sealing the roof from the elements.

Should we be surprised? British Columbia has a long history of leaky buildings.

Expo 86 modular pavilions were leaky and needed patching. Same for the Expo Centre, now known as Science World, after it opened in 1985. There was a billion-dollar epidemic of leaky condominiums because of shoddy 1980s and 1990s workmanship. An estimated 65,000 dwellings had leaks that rotted walls. Former Premier Dave Barrett conducted an inquiry into the scandal.

As the 2010 Winter Olympics approached, B.C. Place Stadium’s 1982-installed, air-supported roof needed constant care from maintenance workers. Many gray garbage cans were redeployed from trash catching to drip catching. (That original roof was inflated in November 1982, more than six months before it opened, affording workers a shield from the elements while they finished the building.)

B.C. Pavilion Corporation is blaming the weather for the leaks after reopening from a $563 million renovation. But that is not the root cause.

Minutes of the B.C. Pavilion Corporation construction committee in August 2010 show the stadium was on-track for a Nov. 1, 2011 “substantial completion.” Owner’s representative Roy Patzer called the schedule “tight.” Then, suddenly, on Feb. 7, 2011, PavCo chairman David Podmore announced a Sept. 30 reopening -- a full month sooner.

When Podmore announced the accelerated opening, the governing B.C. Liberal Party was in the middle of a leadership campaign to replace the unpopular Premier Gordon Campbell. The successor, who turned out to be Christy Clark, was expected to call an election for October. There even is an internal government document called "Implications of a Fall Election" that contemplated a Sept. 14 election call and Oct. 12 voting day. That issue note was written Feb. 9 and dated Feb. 10. So it's not a great leap of logic for the stadium's reopening to have been a photo opportunity on the election trail.

Within a matter of weeks of Podmore's proclamation, construction was in turmoil. The installation of roof fabric was supposed to begin in February, but was delayed to April and then until June. Quebec-based steel supplier Canam Group reported to shareholders that its Structal division suffered a $25 million cost overrun and blamed it on French cable installer Freyssinet. Architects, engineers and builders had to shuffle work schedules. The B.C. Lions and Vancouver Whitecaps were chomping at the bit to return downtown. It would have been a major embarrassment for the two main tenants to have delayed their moves to B.C. Place after announcing their schedules.

Under the original schedule, crews would have enjoyed the long, mostly dry days of August to methodically put the finishing touches on B.C. Place’s roof. Instead, they had to battle the September and October rains. More than a week after the stadium's reopening, crews are still welding and sealing the fixed fabric panels.

What’s more, leaks were a problem for many months after Commerzbank Arena opened in 2005. The Frankfurt stadium’s retractable roof technology is at work in Vancouver.

After the reopening night gong show that subjected paying customers to long lineups at ticket booths and concession stands and a lack of food and beverage supplies, delaying the opening seems like one of those "hindsight is 20/20" thoughts.

As it is, Telus has delayed the announcement that it is the naming rights sponsor for seemingly pragmatic reasons. The multi-year, multimillion-dollar deal will include some cash, but it will largely be what's called "value in-kind" or goods and services in lieu of cash. Technicians are still installing telecommunications gear and teaching B.C. Place staff how to use the new equipment. Cisco is a key contractor working with Telus on the StadiumVision media management system that includes the shoebox-style, centre-hung scoreboard (what I call the Titanic Tube Under the Tarp.) Telus is using the screens at B.C. Place, both big and small, but is understandably reluctant to attach its name to the building amid what can be termed a rocky reopening. Why show off the expensive bells and whistles before you're confident they'll ding and toot properly? Why would Telus, a combatant in the telecom marketing war, want to risk embarrassment?

PavCo is hoping that all the glitches will be forgotten by Nov. 27 when the stadium hosts the 99th Grey Cup, for which the government paid $1.88 million to the Canadian Football League for hosting rights.

Expect a glitzy press conference near the end of October or start of November for the corporate renaming of B.C. Place. Will we have to dress accordingly?

Exclusive: B.C. Place's new look

Behold, the new logo for B.C. Place Stadium, which reopens Sept. 30 from a $563 million, taxpayer-funded renovation.

The two-tone blue design incorporates stylized versions of the new roof-support masts and cables that now figure prominently on the Vancouver skyline and will nicely complement Major League Soccer's Vancouver Whitecaps similar color scheme.

By virtue of playing at least 17 times a year in B.C. Place, the Whitecaps will be the 1983-built stadium's prime tenant. This logo replaces the 2006 design of the fabric domed roof that was deflated in May 2010 and removed.

Documents obtained under Freedom of Information show that Karacters Design was paid $23,030 on Feb. 25 for work on a logo.

The word "place" is a key word in the logo. Some or all of this insignia is a place-holder until the stadium's new corporate-sponsored name is revealed. Frontrunner Telus is the official telecommunications goods and services provider and plans to heavily market its Optik TV service on the giant, shoebox-style, centre-hung scoreboard. B.C. Pavilion Corporation chairman David Podmore did not deny Telus would be the naming rights purchaser when he was asked on July 31 and Sept. 7.

B.C. Place workers set strike vote

B.C. Place Stadium's unionized workers were told Sept. 23 in a members' only meeting at the YWCA Hotel that talks with B.C. Pavilion Corporation have reached an impasse.

Local 1703 of the B.C. Government and Service Employees Union has set Sept. 29 for a strike vote. If the membership agrees, then a strike would not happen for at least 72 hours.

The stadium's Sept. 30 reopening for the B.C. Lions vs. Edmonton Eskimos would not be affected. It is unclear at this point whether the Vancouver Whitecaps' first match on Bell Pitch in the Telus-sponsored stadium against the Portland Timbers could be behind picket lines on Oct. 2 if PavCo refuses to negotiate. Empire Field would be a logical emergency backup. BCGEU spokeswoman Karen Tankard said a strike is not desired. The union wants leverage to bring PavCo back to the bargaining table to achieve a new contract.

"There is no risk (of a strike on reopening night)," Tankard said. "We want B.C. to enjoy opening night, our members want to work and enjoy opening night.

"We don't want to go on strike, we want a fair collective bargaining agreement."

Sources tell me Local 1703 and PavCo have not held a scheduled bargaining session since breaking-off before dawn Sept. 8. Even then, mediator Mark Brown was shuttling back and forth between the bargaining teams in separate rooms. They weren't meeting face-to-face!

Brown has since met separately with the sides. No pay raise is being offered, as per the central government directive of pay freezes. Tankard said Local 1703 is willing to keep the same pay rates, but the dispute is about job security. She said Genesis Security now has 20 people doing jobs once done only by union members.

The union wants the new contract to contain anti-bullying language, but management is not budging. Premier Christy Clark, while a talkshow host at CKNW radio, led an annual province-wide anti-bullying campaign by selling pink T-shirts.

"(The Premier is) the Queen of Pink and her own Crown corporation is turning down anti-bullying language!" said one member who did not want to be identified.

The collective bargaining agreement expired May 31. The union includes 20 to 25 full-time staff, 30 part-timers and 300 event-specific staff.

In February 2005, BCGEU workers went on strike, delaying set-up for the annual boat show. Labour ministry intervention enabled settlement and prevented cancellation. Security guards, housekeepers, ushers and technicians approved a four-year deal in May 2007 with a 9.5 percent raise and signing bonus.

See the union members' update below.

More to come...

BC Pavilion Corporation Bargainig Bulletin 23 Sept 11

By sea and land, they would've paraded

Behold, the plans for the Vancouver Canucks 2011 Stanley Cup victory parade!

The Canucks were going to celebrate Vancouver's first Stanley Cup since 1915 with a parade on land in downtown Vancouver and through the waters of False Creek.

But, alas, plans went awry. The team lost three of the last four games, including Game 7 at home, and locals rioted.

Read the plans here:


2011 Stanley Cup Parade, Celebration Plans

Inside B.C. Place Stadium: the devil's in the details

B.C. Place Stadium is supposed to be reopened for the B.C. Lions to host the Edmonton Eskimos on Sept. 30 and the Vancouver Whitecaps to host the Portland Timbers on Oct. 2.

As I saw on a Sept. 7 tour, there is much to be done. There is still a chance the Lions and Whitecaps could be playing games at Empire Field in October, if negotiations with the B.C. Government and Service Employees Union local 1703 collapse. The scoreboard, to be hung from the centre of the retractable roof, is so massive that it is unlikely we will see another baseball game in B.C. Place.Read my story from the Vancouver Courier here.

Here is a photo gallery from the tour of the site of the $563 million, taxpayer-funded renovation. Notice the fella catching some rays atop the retractable fabric roof.

It's the most expensive renovation and re-roofing job in British Columbia history. A news conference could be held in the middle of this month to announce that Telus has bought naming rights and will use the stadium to market its Optik Internet TV product.

Hockey's worst year

This is hockey's worst year.

After the dizzying heights of the golden goal that gave Canada the gold medal championship on home ice at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, it has all unravelled in 2011. Gone downhill so quickly and so tragically. Has hockey hit rock-bottom yet?

The decline of hockey began with the hits suffered in back-to-back games Jan. 1 and Jan. 5 by Pittsburgh Penguins' superstar Sidney Crosby. The first, on New Year's Day in Pittsburgh's Heinz Field, was during the National Hockey League's marquee Winter Classic outdoor game. It wasn't immediately apparent, but Crosby had suffered a concussion that ended his season and put his career at risk.

Hockey's downfall continued with Boston Bruins' captain Zdeno Chara's ugly hit on Max Pacioretty on March 8. The Montreal Canadien appeared to have been steered face-first into a stanchion by the big Bruin. The incident prompted several NHL sponsors, such as Air Canada, Scotiabank and Tim Hortons, to speak out. The NHL did create new rules and a protocol for dealing with suspected concussions, but calls remain for an outright ban on blows to the head.

New York Rangers' enforcer Derek Boogaard, who had been troubled by concussions, was found dead May 13 in Minneapolis. He had taken a deadly cocktail of alcohol and oxycontin. His brother was charged with providing him the unprescribed, highly addictive painkiller.

There was brief jubilation in Winnipeg on May 31 when it was announced the Atlanta Thrashers would move there. By June 4, the 13,000 season ticket sales quota was reached for the new Jets. The Thrashers had fans in Atlanta, just not enough, and the team would have folded without the move north. But the real, old Jets franchise remains the Phoenix Coyotes in Glendale, Az., on the league's life support while a new owner is sought and more taxpayers' dollars are thrown down the drain in an area hit hard by the recession.

Game 3 of the Stanley Cup final turned ugly June 6 with the late hit by Vancouver Canuck Aaron Rome on Boston Bruin Nathan Horton. The image of Horton lying on his back, motionless and expressionless, was not one the NHL wanted viewers to see. The Bruins were already missing Marc Savard, who suffered a season-ending concussion in February. The hit on Horton was the moment the underdog Bruins awoke and rebounded from a 2-0 deficit to win four of the next five games and the Cup.

Lord Stanley's mug was awarded to the away team at Rogers Arena on June 15. The President's Trophy-winning Canucks saved their worst effort for their last, most important game. After the 4-0 loss, the fans that remained in the arena offered two minutes of hate for Bettman. Objects were thrown his way. Meanwhile, outside the arena, the streets of Vancouver became a war zone as thousands of Canucks' fans rioted and looted. Vancouver city hall naively tried to recreate the street party atmosphere of the 2010 WInter Olympics, but instead duplicated 1994 when the Canucks also lost in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup and locals rioted.

Most of us who watch hockey thought the Stanley Cup riot was the nadir. We thought there would be charges for rioters and looters and some culpability admitted by the public officials who, like the Canucks, didn't give 100% that night. But Labour Day came and went in No Fault City.

Ex-Canuck enforcer Rick Rypien's depression led to his Aug. 15 suicide that nobody seems to want to address. On Aug. 31, ex-Maple Leaf Wade Belak also committed suicide. But we learned so quickly that it was by hanging and that happy-go-lucky, retired enforcer Belak, too, had a lengthy bout with depression.

The goons are going, going, gone. Will the NHL do the right thing and ban fighting? It's bad for the brain and bad for the mind and no longer necessary for the game, especially in the Stanley Cup or Olympics.

Then the unthinkable. On Sept. 7, a Russian jet carrying an entire team -- Lokomotiv Yaroslavi of Russia's Kontinental Hockey League -- crashed as their Yak-42 jet was taking off for the team's first road trip of the season to Belarus. Of the 28 players, only one survived. The victims include ex-Bruin and new coach Brad McCrimmon and ex-Canuck Pavol Demitra. Demitra was the top point-getter of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics tournament with 10.

The same day, Crosby faced the media with his concussion specialists. The most dynamic, talented player of this era talked about struggling with the brain injury and his desire to return. Will he be as good as he was? Time will tell, but when will be the time? It may not be Oct. 6 in Vancouver, where he scored the most-watched goal in hockey history. And why didn't Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins postpone their news conference for a day, out of respect for the victims of the Russian tragedy?

Has hockey hit rock-bottom? When will the glory days and good feeling of 2010 return?

Was Feb. 28, 2010 as good as it ever was or ever will be?

For Crosby?

For hockey?

No way can you see: 2020 U.S. Olympic bid nixed

A bombshell to start the work week on Aug. 22.

United States Olympic Committee chief communications officer Patrick Sandusky Tweeted that there would be no bid for the 2020 Summer Olympics from the United States. That means by 2020 it will have been 24 years since the U.S. hosted the Summer Olympics, at Atlanta 1996.

"I can confirm the U.S. will not be bidding for 2020 Olympic Games," Sandusky wrote.

"With such little time left, we don't believe we could pull together a winning bid that could serve the Olympic and Paralympic movement."

The International Olympic Committee deadline for applications is Sept. 1, which is two years and two days before the Sept. 7, 2013 host city election at the 125th IOC Session in Buenos Aires. Four cities have applied: Rome, Madrid, Tokyo and Istanbul.

Another reason for the U.S. non-bid is that talks on a new revenue sharing agreement between the USOC and IOC are stalled. The USOC has collected 20 percent of all Games sponsorship revenue and 12.75 percent of TV rights revenue, because of the size and number of American sponsors and broadcasters involved in the Olympic movement. But National Olympic Committees elsewhere want a bigger piece of the pie.

There were varying degrees of interest in a 2020 bid from boosters in Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, New York and Tulsa. IOC president Jacques Rogge emphatically encouraged an American bid after the June 7 announcement of a $4.38 billion deal with NBC to broadcast and webcast the Games through 2020. What else was Rogge to say?

The elephant in the room, however, is the debt crisis plaguing the federal government and various states.

Los Angeles 1984 pioneered the private funding of an organizing committee through sponsorship and broadcast revenue. But scarce public funds would be needed for venues, infrastructure and security. Any politician backing a bid for a multi-billion-dollar mega-event in this climate of economic fear and chaos would be committing political suicide.

One can only wonder about the financial fitness of several of the declared candidates.

Rome hosted 1960. Madrid is a three-time bid loser, most recently to Rio de Janeiro for 2016. Tokyo was the 1964 host and was another 2016 loser. Istanbul, Turkey is trying for a fifth time. It was an unsuccessful candidate in the race for 2000 and 2008. Doha, Qatar may make it a five-city race.

Italy and Spain are suffering their own debt crises and Japan is struggling to rebound from its triple whammy of March 2011 disasters.

South Africa, buoyed by the 2010 FIFA World Cup, was mulling a bid, but said it will be on the sidelines for now. Delhi, India was hoping to use the 2010 Commonwealth Games as a springboard to an Olympic bid for 2020, but that strategy backfired. Suresh Kalmadi, the chairman of the Indian Olympic Committee and Commonwealth Games' chief organizer, was jailed in a corruption investigation. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India slammed Kalmadi and company in a scathing, August-released report.

A group in Toronto lobbied Mayor Rob Ford, but the 2010-elected Ford rejected their overtures. A sensible decision to walk before running. The city, still coming to terms with the G20 riots of 2010, is scheduled to host the 2015 Pan American Games.

* * * * *

By 2020, it will be 18 years since the United States last hosted a winter Olympics. That was Salt Lake 2002.

Reno-Tahoe and Denver are considering bids for winter 2022, but will obviously need the USOC nod to make the IOC application. The 2022 process won't begin until 2013, after summer 2020 is awarded.

"Not considering winter at this point, either," Sandusky said Aug. 22.

By 2022, it will have been a dozen years since the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. "Canada's Games" were the last such mega-event in Canada or the U.S.

Vancouver also has the distinction of being the last city in North America to host a world exposition.

There have been 11 world expositions since Vancouver hosted Expo 86. None of them were held in North America.

Edmonton's bid for 2017 was kiboshed suddenly in November 2010 when Canada's Conservative federal government refused to underwrite $700 million in costs for fear of alienating other parts of Canada, namely Quebec.

Was Canadian Olympic Committee hacked?

On Aug. 3, I posed the question: was the Montreal-based World Anti-Doping Agency hacked during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver? Here is the post.

That was the same day McAfee published its Revealed: Operation Shady RAT white paper showing numerous governments, corporations and non-profit agencies had been hacked, including the World Anti-Doping Agency, the International Olympic Committee and an unnamed "Olympic Committee of Western Country".

McAfee hasn't assigned blame, but the source of the hacker attacks is widely believed to be in China. The report is called Operation Shady RAT -- the Beijing Olympics happened during the Chinese zodiac's year of the rat -- and it included this veiled reference to the Middle Kingdom.

"The interest in the information held at the Asian and Western national Olympic Committees, as well as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the World Anti-Doping Agency in the lead-up and immediate follow-up to the 2008 Olympics was particularly intriguing and potentially pointed a finger at a state actor behind the intrusions, because there is likely no commercial benefit to be earned from such hacks."

Two Canadian government agencies were hacked, one in October 2009 for six months, the other for one month in January 2010. On page 7 of the report, there is that reference to the unnamed "Olympic Committee of Western Country" being infiltrated in August 2007 for a seven-month period.

The victim appears to have been the Canadian Olympic Committee.

I asked spokesperson Riley Denver whether the COC was that mysterious "Olympic Committee of Western Country" and, if so, what was the nature of the attack and how did it impact operations?

The response from Denver? "The COC isn't going to comment on this issue."

On April 6, 2005, the Canadian Olympic Committee's executive director Chris Rudge was in Beijing and signed a "Sino-Canadian" memorandum of agreement with Chinese government and Olympic committee officials. You can still find that news release on the Chinese Olympic Committee website, but the parallel news release from the Canadian perspective no longer appears in the April 2005 section on the Canadian Olympic Committee website.

Draw your own conclusions.

I say, the Canadian Olympic Committee owes athletes, sponsors, media and sports fans in Canada an explanation.

Were its systems hacked and was any personal information stolen?

Offcial Website of the Chinese Olympic Committee

Canadian Olympic Committee - News April 2005

An act of sod

Only in Vancouver would a well-drained, well-padded and eminently playable synthetic turf field be naively covered by grass for a weekend to please the vanity of a touring European soccer team.

Only in Vancouver would the organization that paid for the exercise be surprised that it can sometimes rain very hard in Vancouver and cost it more when it has to cancel a league match.

Another day in the trying expansion life of the Vancouver Whitecaps, who are languishing in last place of Major League Soccer during a season marred by injuries, red cards and the futile replacement of coach Teitur Thordarson with Tommy Soehn.

The Whitecaps hired English Lawns of North Vancouver to spend 30 hours to install and 30 hours to remove 90,000 square feet of sod for the July 18 visit by FA Cup champion Manchester City. The field was supposed to be tested once in a real MLS match situation with a July 16 visit from Real Salt Lake, but that was scuttled almost two-and-a-half-hours before kickoff because the grass was waterlogged.

Granted, Vancouver is enduring an unusually rainy July (normally the driest month) and the July 18 game is a gift to season ticketholders, who are getting in for free. Whitecaps’ chief executive Paul Barber outrageously proclaimed on Team 1040 that scuttling the Real Salt Lake match had nothing to do with the upcoming Manchester City match, part of the Herbalife World Football Challenge exhibition series.

Instead of Real Salt Lake being awarded a win for its trouble, the game was not forfeited. It will apparently be rescheduled sometime later this season and tickets from July 16 will be honoured. (Whitecaps’ co-owner Greg Kerfoot is a member of the MLS competition committee. When commissioner Don Garber visited Vancouver in February, he noted Kerfoot’s influence.)

Certainly the traveling Real Salt Lake fans have a good case to ask the Whitecaps for compensation for their travel bills. The game did not happen July 16 because of an act of God. It didn't happen because of an act of sod. The match would have been played, as scheduled and on-time, on the regular Empire surface. When one travels to a soccer match, he or she has a reasonable expectation that it will take place. Soccer is not baseball, the great American game they don't play in the rain.

Here is a little bit of history.

Empire Stadium opened for the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games with a natural grass surface that remained until 1970 when 3M’s artificial Tartan Turf artificial product was installed.

The Vancouver Whitecaps played North American Soccer League games there from 1974 to 1983 on the surface, which could be best described as a green layer of felt over concrete. Bob Lenarduzzi cited the wear and tear from Tartan Turf when he finally got a hip replacement in early 2010. Players enjoyed rainy nights, because that meant no rug burn on the crowned pitch. A very noisy truck that everyone called the “squeegee” would go to work to suck excess water from the carpet before matches on rainy days.

Tartan Turf was good enough for Manchester City when it played at Empire in 1980 and 1981. Lenarduzzi fondly remembers scoring once in the Whitecaps’ 5-0 beating of “the Blues” in 1980. The next year, the clubs tied 1-1. (Among the many international clubs hosted at the original Empire was Italy's AS Roma, featured in this video.)

The stadium was demolished in 1992 and used as a parking lot until 2001 when Empire Fields got a new lease on life -- and a natural grass pitch -- to become home of community soccer and softball.

But the field follies were not over. That grass field was removed and replaced by an AstroTurf GT synthetic surface when the temporary Empire Field 27,683-capacity stadium was built in 2010. The FIFA-approved AstroTurf GT product is good enough for Major League Soccer and Canadian Soccer Association competitions. The Empire surface is awaiting FIFA’s two-star certification.

Though there is some concern that the “tire crumbs” used in synthetic turf fields may irritate players’ lungs and skin through prolonged exposure, such fields are not injury magnets.

“Risk of injury on third-generation artificial turf in Norwegian professional football” in the British Journal of Sport Medicine found that between 2004 and 2007 there were 526 match injuries on grass and 142 on artificial turf. The study concluded “no significant differences were detected in injury rate or pattern.”

Researchers found 17.1 injuries per 1,000 match hours on grass and 17.6 injuries per 1,000 match hours on artificial turf.

The Manchester Citys of the world go abroad to bolster their brand, promote their sponsors, sell merchandise, recruit players and increase the international TV and online audience for their league matches. But the demand to play on temporary grass over a permanent synthetic pitch is akin to the famous Van Halen demand for brown and only brown M&Ms. It is frivolous.

I can hear the cries of soccer snobs already, deriding me for ignorance and blasphemy. Don't waste your time. I prefer to watch and play the world's greatest game on grass, but I have no complaints about the latest generation of high-quality synthetic fields. Manchester City's visit is for a relatively meaningless, one-off exhibition game. It is not for a multi-game tournament and no trophy is at stake.

Until teams like the Whitecaps either pay to have natural grass permanently installed in their stadiums or stand firm on the playability of their high-quality synthetic turf, foreign squads will exploit their sucker hosts and get what they want. Even if it means doing something which is totally contrary to the 21st century push by governments to be sustainable and friendly to the environment.

It takes a lot of energy to grow all that sod, transport it, unroll it, roll it up and take it away after a soccer match.

* * * * *

Manchester City shutout Mexico's Club America 2-0 on July 16 in San Francisco, where the game was played at the San Francisco Giants' AT&T Park baseball stadium. It's rather odd that the so-called "Blues" (who wore their red and black striped kit in the Bay Area) would schedule a 7 p.m. news conference with the Whitecaps at Burnaby's EA Sports complex on July 17.

Sunday night news conferences are exceedingly rare in an economically difficult environment where the media is already challenged by tight resources and deadlines. Only a few people in the world can pull off Sunday night specials with success; I refer to the famous Obama-offed-Osama announcement of Sunday, May 1, 2011.

Kimchee and soju beats pretzels and weissbier

Only one ballot was needed on July 6 for PyeongChang, South Korea to avoid being a three-time loser in Olympic bidding.

The Winter Olympics are going to the east coast of the Korean peninsula after a landslide win with 63 votes. Munich, Germany -- vying to be the first city to host winter and summer -- received 25 votes. Annecy, France only seven. The third-time lucky South Korean bidders are so elated that they haven't found time to change the logo on their website from "candidate city" to "host city".

PyeongChang famously lost to Sochi, Russia in 2007 for the 2014 Games and was defeated by just three votes four years earlier in the race for 2010 with Vancouver.

The three 2018 bid cities were the only ones who applied, a ripple effect of the Great Recession. It was the smallest race since 1981 when Calgary beat two competitors to host the 1988 Winter Games and Seoul beat Nagoya, Japan for the 1988 Summer Games. (By comparison, eight cities applied for the 2010 Games, four were shortlisted.)

PyeongChang was last to deliver the hour-long presentation to the International Olympic Committee members gathered in Durban, South Africa for the 123rd session. The presentation relied on Vancouver 2010 women's figure skating champion Kim Yu-na and Toby Dawson, the Korean-born, American downhill skier with Turin 2006 bronze.

The New Horizons slogan for PyeongChang reminded the IOC of recent trends in mega-event hosting. It's a new market for winter sports. The only two previous Asian Winter Olympics were both in Japan (Sapporo 1972 and Nagano 1998).

The fact that 19 of 21 Winter Olympics were held outside Asia was included in the presentation, much the way that IOC members were reminded that no Summer Olympics had been held in South America before they chose Rio de Janeiro's 2016 bid two years ago.

The man behind the scenes for both Rio and PyeongChang was Vero Campaigning Communications executive Mike Lee. Lee was also the key strategist behind London 2012 and the controversial 2022 World Cup in Qatar and he advised the International Rugby Board on its successful campaign to add rugby sevens to the 2016 Olympics.

During Vancouver 2010, Lee was busily connecting the PyeongChang bidders with IOC members at Korea House in a Hyatt Regency Hotel ballroom. Since the Salt Lake 2002 bribery scandal, IOC members have been banned from visiting host cities.

Ultimately, the influence of Korean conglomerate Samsung was key. The company renewed its global sponsorship in the mobile phone category before the 2007 vote through the 2016 Games and hosted the 2009 Olympic day celebration in Vancouver when cash-strapped VANOC could not afford to.

Vancouver was also where disgraced South Korean IOC member Lee Kun-hee was reinstated by the IOC just before the 2010 Games. Lee gave up his membership after a 2008 tax evasion conviction, but the Seoul government agreed to pardon him in December 2009. Less than a month after the Vancouver Games closed, Lee returned to the chairmanship of Samsung.

There may have also been some quiet diplomacy in back-channels by Ban Ki-moon, the former Korean foreign minister who is the United Nations secretary general. The UN granted the IOC observer status the same day in October 2009 that VANOC CEO John Furlong appeared for the approval of the Vancouver Olympic Truce resolution.

Canada has been involved in on-again, off-again talks with South Korea about a free trade agreement since 2004.

The Games will open Feb. 9, 2018 and close outdoors on Feb. 25, 2018 at the 15,000-capacity Alpensia Ski Jumping Stadium, one of several venues already built. The biggest construction project will be a 110-mile high-speed train line to connect PyeongChang with Incheon International Airport in Seoul in just over an hour. PyeongChang's Yangyang Airport is incapable of handling the Games international air traffic and will instead receive charter flights.

The biggest wildcard on the road to 2018? Look no further than North Korea. Will Kim Jong-il, the dictator of the "Hermit Kingdom," interfere in any way? Every year the "Dear Leader" seems to create headlines with an international incident on the volatile peninsula, where the war between North and South ceased in 1953 but never truly ended. China props up North Korea, while the United States maintains a heavy military presence in South Korea.

Of course, those in the Olympic movement would love nothing more than to witness the two Koreas be unified by sport and march into the opening ceremony under one flag and compete together.

Easier said than done. But it is a peninsula known for perseverance.

Rogge rolls out the results

During his July 7 presentation to the 123rd International Olympic Committee session in Durban, South Africa, President Jacques Rogge modestly described the IOC's financial standing as “sound.”

Rogge, making his first major update since Vancouver hosted the previous annual general meeting, said the last fiscal year ended with a $113.4 million surplus. The Olympic Foundation reserves were a healthy $592 million at the end of May.

Revenue from global Olympic sponsors for the 2009 to 2012 period is, so far, $957 million. Already $921 million is committed for the 2013-2016 round and $632 million for 2017-2020. The record $3.9 billion in gross TV rights for 2010-2012 could still be matched. Broadcasters have committed $3.2 billion for 2014-2016.

Olympic Solidarity, which subsidizes national Olympic committees, has a $311 million budget for 2009-2012. Winter sports federations received $209 million for Vancouver 2010.

The positive finances of the IOC suggest it withstood the Great Recession. Vancouver 2010, the last major IOC event, required heavy government subsidies to balance a $1.884 billion budget. PyeongChang, South Korea won the right to host the 2018 Winter Games on July 6, but only two other cities applied. It was the smallest race since 1981 when Seoul won the 1988 Summer Games and Calgary won the 1988 Winter Games.

In 1992, the IOC finished the practice of holding the winter and summer Games in the same year, though Vancouver held the Winter Games in 2010, the same year that Singapore hosted the first Youth Olympic Games.

English and French are the IOC’s official languages, but the when talking money, it speaks in U.S. dollars.

Exclusive: Durban 2011 the next step in Vancouver 2010 dissolution

From one port city popular with tourists to another. From the southwest corner of Canada to the southeast coast of Africa.

Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics chief executive John Furlong took a break from his recent appointment as co-chairman of the Stanley Cup Riot Review for a previously scheduled engagement in Durban, South Africa to attend the International Olympic Committee’s 123rd session. Furlong was there to present the official report of the Vancouver Winter Olympics on July 7, exactly 494 days since the Games closed at B.C. Place Stadium.

The last, major act of VANOC -- in public view, at least -- finished just after 1:30 a.m. PDT, while most Vancouverites slept. More than 12 hours earlier, PyeongChang, South Korea's third consecutive bid for the Winter Games won the 2018 hosting rights.

“It seems fitting that with the arrival of a new Olympic region, PyeongChang, that it's time for us to say goodbye,” said Furlong. “We could feel all the emotions they were feeling throughout the day, having lived that experience ourselves.”

Furlong called the wind-up of VANOC “substantially complete."

“We’re very close to being no longer and by this time next year, we will, in fact, be no longer.”

Furlong summarized the main achievements of the Games to the IOC members at their first annual general meeting since the Feb. 9-11, 2010 session hosted at the Westin Bayshore Hotel in Vancouver.

Furlong was joined by executive vice-president Terry Wright, chief financial officer John McLaughlin, marketing vice-president Andrea Shaw and legal vice-president Dorothy Byrne to deliver “With Glowing Hearts/Des plus brilliants exploits -- VANOC Official Games Report/Rapport Officiel des Jeux -- COVAN.” That report has not been published back home, but the IOC has released an abbreviated version called Staging the Olympic Winter Games.

"We had much heartbreak and happiness, lots of adversity and celebration, but somehow we managed to achieve the vision that we set out for ourselves,” Furlong said.

As an aside, Furlong told the IOC members that B.C. Place Stadium reopens “in October”. (Does he know something we don’t or is it still truly on track for the Sept. 30 B.C. Lions meeting with the Edmonton Eskimos?)

Oddly, VANOC's Staging the Games report was created Nov. 4, 2010 but withheld from the media last fall when only the post-Games financial report and sustainability report were published simultaneously on Dec. 17. Read the Staging the Games report below.


Statistics from Staging the Olympic Winter Games:

Accommodation
12,033 Olympic hotel rooms in Vancouver
2,959 Olympic hotel rooms in Whistler
151 Paralympic hotel rooms in Vancouver
544 Paralympic hotel rooms in Whistler
2,850 Whistler Olympic Village population
2,730 Vancouver Olympic Village population

Accreditation
96,428 pass-holders for the Olympics
26,931 pass-holders for the Paralympics
2,803 Olympic writers, photographers and non-rights holding broadcasters
483 Paralympic writers, photographers and non-rights holding broadcasters

B.C. Place Stadium
100,000 kilograms of gear suspended from the air-supported fabric roof
360 rigging points
1.8 kilometres of trussing

Media relations
645 news releases issued 2005-2009
330 issues notes/key messages documents created 2005-2009

Procurement
63 kilometres fence fabric
550 trailers
250 sea containers
39,000 minor signs
550 major signs
600 road signs
2,016 contracts
5,452 purchase orders
$1,585,006,424 value

Transportation
4,629 auto fleet
1,259 buses and vans
9,704,537 litres of fuel
25,851 vehicle access and/or parking passes
65 kilometres of Olympic lanes in Vancouver

Staging the Olympic Winter Games Knowledge Report

A three-month race to completion

While most workers at B.C. Place Stadium took a break for a safety appreciation barbecue on June 28, B.C. Pavilion Corporation chairman David Podmore and Jobs, Tourism and Innovation Minister Pat Bell hosted another media tour of the stadium, which is undergoing a $563 million, taxpayer-funded renovation. (Click photos to enlarge.)

The installation of the roof fabric, originally set for February, is now taking place. The schedule was turned upside down after French cable-installation subcontractor Freyssinet encountered severe problems that led to Quebec steel contractor Structal telling shareholders it was liable for a $25 million cost overrun.

Podmore says the project remains within the $563 million budget and is on target for its scheduled Sept. 30 opening for the Edmonton Eskimos matchup with the B.C. Lions.

A public open house on Sept. 25 remains a "very slight possibility," according to PavCo owner's representative Roy Patzer.
"When the public comes in here I'd like to see a finished product and wow factor," Patzer said. "We can't sacrifice schedule for having the public in here. If we're far enough advanced we'll probably do that."

Patzer explained that substantial completion was originally pegged at Nov. 1, based on the contract with PCL that allowed for partial occupancy under an unfinished roof. He said the date was brought forward to Sept. 30 when PavCo decided to forego holding events earlier.

A portion of the retractable roof fabric hangs from the centre node and more is coming July 7. The tower that supported the centre node is all gone. Workers dangle from harnesses among the maze of cables that partially obscures the sky. A glass ring, which will separate the fixed fabric from the retractable fabric, is nearing completion. Large parcels containing fabric are resting on the ribbing. German company Hightex has the retractable job, while USA Shade from Dallas is working on the fixed fabric. Patzer said the roof would be commissioned through the month of September to have it ready for opening and closing on Sept. 30.

The installation of 54,500 new red and grey seats has begun. Excavation crews are digging up the floor for a new drainage system to be installed before the synthetic turf surface is applied.

Meanwhile, talks continue with Paragon Gaming about the move of its Edgewater Casino to a parcel of land west of the stadium. Vancouver city council voted against the casino's expansion in April, but not its relocation.

Podmore neither confirmed nor denied that PavCo is negotiating to sell the naming rights for the stadium to Telus. Sources told The Sport Market in March that Telus was the successful bidder and the stadium could bear the name of the company's Optik TV brand. Concert Properties chairman Podmore has a direct pipeline to senior executives of the telecommunications giant and its union. Concert's board includes Telus's investment management director Garnet Andrews and treasurer Robert Gardner and Telecommunications Workers Union president George Doubt and business agent Lee Riggs. Podmore is also on the board of Fortis BC. The former Terasen Gas sponsored the Olympic cauldron built on Jack Poole Plaza at PavCo's Vancouver Convention Centre.

The Vancouver Whitecaps debut in B.C. Place on Oct. 2. The Vanier Cup national college football championship is Nov. 25 and the 99th Grey Cup on Nov. 27.

Exclusive: Old Thrashers WILL BE the new Jets

The former Atlanta Thrashers will unveil their new Winnipeg branding today, on National Hockey League Entry Draft Day.

Now there is solid evidence that points to the resurrection of the Jets name.

The NHL owns the trademark, originally filed with the Canadian government in 1976. According to the Winnipeg Jets name and logo files in the Canadian Trademarks Database, there was a flurry of activity this month, as recently as June 15.

Listen to The Sport Market on Team 1040 and TeamRadio.ca from 9 a.m. to noon Pacific on Saturday, June 25 for the month-end roundtable for more on this story.

Winnipeg Jets entry in the Canadian Trademarks Database

Winnipeg Jets logo entry in the Canadian Trademarks Database