B.C. sport shakeup

A new era in British Columbia sport will begin March 1 when Scott Ackles is announced as the chief executive officer of the B.C. Sport Agency.

It is part of an overhaul in the province's sport system in the wake of the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics.

Ackles was the general manager of Vancouver's 2005 and 2011 Grey Cup festivals and replaces interim B.C. Sport Agency CEO Cathy Priestner Allinger, the Own the Podium blueprint author and VANOC executive vice-president of sport who was named last August to head of Vancouver's 2014 Special Olympics Canada Summer Games.

Ackles effectively becomes the most powerful executive in amateur sport in B.C. Former VANOC sport vice-president Tim Gayda has left his post as Sport BC CEO to be a consultant. Gayda's position will not be filled.

Sport BC and the B.C. Sport Agency will be working in concert for the betterment of sport in the province. The B.C. Sport Agency takes over management of programs that were under the wings of 2010 Legacies Now, such as the Aboriginal Youth Sport Legacy Fund and First Nations Snowboard Team. The former 2010 Legacies Now group rebranded as Lift Philanthropy Partners.

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?

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.