Teitur terminated, Tommy tasked

On Monday, May 30, Vancouver Canucks’ head coach Alain Vigneault was preparing for the Stanley Cup.

B.C. Lions head coach and general manager Wally Buono was packing his bags for Kamloops for the Canadian Football League club’s training camp and reminding the media that the black and orange still exist.

The Lions have been the forgotten child in Vancouver, what with the Canucks’ domination of the National Hockey League in 2010-2011 and the Whitecaps’ debut in Major League Soccer.

The Whitecaps are 1-5-6 with nine points of a possible 36 in league play after losing yet another lead and settling for a tie on May 28 against the Thierry Henry-less New York Red Bulls.

The Caps are worst in the West with just one win in a dozen games. That victory came opening day on March 19 at Empire Field, 4-2 over Toronto FC.

Since then, the club has been hampered by injuries and red card suspensions. It was less-than-fantastic for head coach Teitur Thordarson, one of the most popular coaches in Vancouver soccer history.

The other boot finally dropped May 30 when Thordarson was fired.

Vancouver reporters were invited to an 11 a.m. news conference at Empire Field for an important announcement with CEO Paul Barber and president Bob Lenarduzzi. Captain Jay DeMerit and assistant captain Jon Thorrington quietly walked into the room, both with stern faces, before Lenarduzzi, Barber and director of soccer operations Tommy Soehn entered via the side door.

Thordarson’s absence spoke volumes. It was obvious that the affable, accessible Icelander’s tenure was over.

Thordarson was introduced to Vancouver media at a Dec. 11, 2007 news conference on the Harbour Centre revolving observation deck as the United Soccer Leagues’ First Division Whitecaps’ coach. Back then, it was assumed the Whitecaps would someday end up playing soccer by the sea at the proposed Waterfront Stadium. Instead, the Whitecaps were granted an MLS franchise in March 2009 and are playing at Empire until B.C. Place Stadium is reopened this fall. Last summer, Thordarson was signed as the head coach and the Caps were applauded for the continuity measure.

Under Thordarson, the Caps became USL-1 champions in 2008 and lost in the final in 2009. But, as they say in sports, coaches are hired to be fired. There is no tougher position than being the bench boss of an expansion team.

“We felt that we needed to give the team a bit of fresh impetus, make a change of coaching staff at this time, to give ourselves the best possible chance of recovering the season, and giving the team a kickstart,” Barber said. “This was the right time to do it, we took the decision after the game on Saturday.”

Soehn, who coached nine years in MLS, including three as D.C. United’s head coach, said he would continue to look for additional talent, but indicated satisfaction with the roster.

“When you walk in the locker room you can usually tell if that team has got a chance to do special things, I've said this from the beginning as has Teitur this group is fantastic as far as the character of the group,” Soehn said. “I don't think it's going to take much to turn the tide.

“We're going to make sure we're organized, we're going to make sure we're compact and we're going to make sure we're tough to play against. We're going to look to be aggressive in the attack, especially at home. This place is like a fortress, teams should be petrified to come play here and that's something that we need to re-establish.”

The Whitecaps are out-of-town June 1 against Chivas USA, June 4 against Real Salt Lake and June 11 against the Seattle Sounders. The first two matches are expected to have record low TV ratings, because they clash with the Vancouver Canucks vs. Boston Bruins Stanley Cup series. The club returns home June 18 to host the Philadelphia Union.

The Whitecaps may have acted too early, but in the sometimes unkind world of sports entertainment, they achieved one thing May 30: relevance. While the Stanley Cup zeitgeist continues, the Whitecaps coaching shakeup assured the club of media and fan attention.

We want the Cup

It's the grandest trophy in North American sport. Though, some would argue the Arctic Winter Games Hodgson Trophy -- a six-foot narwal tusk -- is grander.

Regardless, the Stanley Cup will be awarded sometime between June 8 and 15 to the Vancouver Canucks or the winner of the Boston Bruins/Tampa Bay Lightning Eastern conference series.

In 1982, when Vancouver faced the New York Islanders, the Stanley Cup was exhibited at the Hotel Vancouver. During the 1994 finals against the New York Rangers, it was joined by the rest of the marquee silverware collection for public display at the Waterfront Centre Hotel. Thousands of Vancouver fans made a pilgrimage to see the shiny prizes. Some had tickets to the games. Others could not afford to see the finals in person.

So where will the holy grail of hockey be in 2011 before Commissioner Gary Bettman hands it to the winning team?

"This year there is no public showing planned of the trophies as of right now," the Hockey Hall of Fame's curator Phil Pritchard told me.

Tell the NHL and HHoF you want your eyes on the prize, that you want a chance to see the Cup on display during the finals in Vancouver. Send an email message to:

bhay@hhof.com
bmansur@nhl.com

Was it the Tour de Fraud?

The May 21 edition of 60 Minutes rocked the world of sports with fresh allegations that seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, one of the greatest living athletes, cheated by using performance-enhancing drugs and blood-doping.

See the 60 Minutes report, based on an interview with former Armstrong teammate and Athens 2004 gold medalist Tyler Hamilton, here.

The 60 Minutes report revealed that both Hamilton and Armstrong's right-hand man George Hincapie had been ordered to testify at the Grand Jury hearings into allegations of doping on the United States Postal Service-sponsored cycling team.

Armstrong did not appear on 60 Minutes nor did he address the accusations via a written statement. If proven, the fall of Armstrong would be the biggest disgrace in sports history and would dwarf the Tiger Woods sex scandal.

Though Woods's misdeeds harmed his image, they did not harm the integrity of golf. Armstrong, on the other hand, is accused of cheating to win. Both Armstrong and Woods are among Nike's top-sponsored athletes. What might be Armstrong's only shield is his crusade against cancer via the Livestrong Foundation. The foundation has raised $400 million to fight the disease.

While I watched the 60 Minutes expose, I reminisced about Armstrong's appearance at the University of British Columbia on Sept. 23, 2007 for a regional cancer fundraiser. His visit coincided with former teammate Floyd Landis's doping scandal.

Just three days earlier, 2006 Tour de France champion Landis had been suspended for two years because he failed a doping test during the Tour. Armstrong ducked questions about Landis.

In May 2010, Landis went on 60 Minutes to tell the truth about his doping and point the finger at Armstrong.

Sept. 23, 2007: Vancouver 24 Hours: Armstrong leads B.C. ride against cancer
Bob Mackin

Lance Armstrong spent the weekend in British Columbia to seek a cure for cancer, not the doping crisis that threatens the race that made him famous.
That’s why the cancer survivor and seven-time Tour de France champion wouldn’t discuss disgraced 2006 winner Floyd Landis, who lost a bid last week to overturn a positive test for synthetic testosterone.
“I’d love to answer the question, but I’m out of that business,” Armstrong said yesterday. “I’m here to fight cancer.”
Armstrong headlined the inaugural B.C. Cancer Foundation Tour of Courage, which
raised $1.8 million for blood cancer research. He led an 80-kilometre ride around south Kelowna on Saturday for 46 people who raised or donated $20,000 each. About 400 cyclists joined him at Thunderbird Stadium for yesterday’s community ride. Adults raised or donated $1,000 each; the minimum for teenagers was $200.
Armstrong’s peloton included retired Tour de France veterans Steve Bauer and Axel Merckx and cycling commentator Phil Liggett. Premier Gordon Campbell and Kelowna-Mission MLA Sindi Hawkins, herself a cancer survivor, also participated.
It wasn’t the first time Texan Armstrong pedaled in Vancouver. He won the 1991 Gastown Grand Prix.
“Up to that point it was probably one of my biggest victories -- Gastown Grand Prix, everybody talked about it,” he said. “I came here not necessarily being a criterium specialist, but was able to win.”
Armstrong said B.C.’s strong cancer research and fundraising network made his involvement in the Tour of Courage an easy decision. He hinted at a return.
“We need passionate people, we need people that are motivated to fight this war and that’s what you guys have,” he said.

Broadcast giant quits NBC: what next for Olympics?

June 6 and 7 could be among the biggest days on the sports business calendar in 2011. They'll definitely be among the most important for the beancounters at the International Olympic Committee.

That's when American networks will be in Lausanne, Switzerland to make their bids for the rights to broadcast Sochi 2014 and Rio 2016. They may even look for a bulk discount by tendering bids on Winter 2018 and Summer 2020.

Munich, Germany, PyeongChang, South Korea and Annecy, France are bidding for 2018. The 2020 race has yet to begin.

NBC, which paid $2.2 billion for Vancouver 2010 and London 2012, is the incumbent. The former GE-owned broadcasting giant has held rights to all Summer Games since Calgary 1988 and Winter Games since Salt Lake 2002. But it will be without Dick Ebersol.

Ebersol dropped a broadcasting bombshell May 19 when his resignation from NBC was announced. NBC is now owned by Comcast and the official word is they couldn't agree on a new contract. The news broke exactly a month after Ebersol announced NBC and Versus's 10-year, $2 billion National Hockey League broadcast deal at a news conference with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman.

Ebersol's Olympic journey began in 1967 when he joined ABC as a researcher. Ebersol and Canadian Lorne Michaels collaborated to create Saturday Night Live for NBC in 1975. During Olympic Games, Ebersol would actually camp in custom-made quarters in NBC's facilities at the International Broadcast Centre instead of stay in a hotel room. Ebersol spoke at length about his storied career during the Denver 2009 SportAccord convention.

Ebersol enjoyed his Vancouver experience so much (and the fact that the British Columbia government became an important advertiser) that he appeared in a video honouring outgoing Premier Gordon Campbell at a Vancouver Board of Trade event on Feb. 4, 2011. NBC lost $223 million on Vancouver 2010 after being hit by the Great Recession's advertising slump.

Whether NBC's London 2012 coverage will suffer without Ebersol at the helm remains to be seen. He has many proteges who will now run the operation. NBC, sans Ebersol, said it still plans to go to Lausanne and bid for the Olympics broadcast rights, but it will be a hotly contested race with Disney-owned ABC-ESPN, Fox and CBS.

A source told me Ebersol has been bearish on a bid for Sochi 2014 for quite some time. The unfriendly time zone -- eight hours ahead of New York -- was the biggest worry. Live sports are best shown live, but not at 3 a.m. when viewers would rather be sleeping. During a meeting, Ebersol was asked what he thought Sochi would be worth. He paused for a moment and scribbled on a note pad. He turned around and showed those in the meeting. It was a big "0".

Sochi 2014 could well be a commercial bust for the IOC and whichever company wins the U.S. rights if National Hockey League players aren't playing the hockey tournament. The Russian resort is building everything from scratch and, from what I saw last June, is on-track to be ready for February 2014. But volunteers, venue operations, transportation and security remain big unknowns for Sochi, which passed the 1,000-day countdown on May 14.

Exclusive: Visa and Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton to GO separate ways

I broke the news on the May 14 edition of The Sport Market on Team 1040 and in the May 17 edition of Business in Vancouver that Visa Canada is spending one last season as a sponsor of Canada's bobsled and skeleton team. Then the two-decade relationship, that included the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, will be over. Visa is also among the International Olympic Committee's global sponsors.

A prepared statement from Visa said: “Visa Canada is proud to have had a long association with Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton. Going forward, Visa will not sponsor the Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton team, but will instead continue to make strategic investments in support of Team Visa, our program for athletes with Olympic and Paralympic aspirations.”

The two parties would have split at the end of the 2010-2011 season, but BCS convinced Visa to remain for another year at a reduced rate. Read more in my story below.

Golden Goals: Visa checking out... BIV May 17-23, 2011