Nothing like another battle between billionaires and millionaires while the U.S. economy remains in a post-recession slump.
If the March 11 lockout of National Football League players by the 32 franchise owners turns into a National Hockey League-style season cancellation, Vancouver is poised to reap the rewards.
The B.C. government paid $1.8 million to the Canadian Football League to host the 2011 Grey Cup at the new-and-improved BC Place Stadium on November 27. It could become the biggest football game of the season, bar none.
The 2010 Grey Cup was aired on a patchwork of stations throughout the Excited States and on the ESPN3 website. TSN has the Canadian rights, so it would stand to reason that the Grey Cup could be a nice fit for potentially football-starved part-owner ESPN.
If it happens, it wouldn’t be the first time Vancouver hosted the biggest, next-best game for a pro sport amid a labour dispute.
The 1994 Pacific Coast League championship ended with the Albuquerque Dukes beating the Vancouver Canadians at Nat Bailey Stadium. TSN carried the triple-A game live. It was the closest baseball fans got to a fall classic in the strike-shortened Major League Baseball season.
The Vancouver Whitecaps are an off-field smash with 23 corporate sponsors, including Air Canada and Tim Hortons. The national flag carrier and the unofficial national cafeteria threatened to pull their NHL sponsorships over the latest spate of hockey violence.
They’re among a slate of companies that understand soccer’s growth potential.
Great Canadian Gaming’s River Rock Casino Resort is on the roster. An odd choice of brand to promote when the company’s Hastings Racecourse is a short walk from Empire Field.
A certain Paragon Gaming-owned Edgewater Casino could be even closer to BC Place Stadium in 2013, so Great Canadian appears to be reinforcing its Richmond flagship well in advance.
With a new $750 million, 22-storey office tower as part of the bigger Telus Gardens complex in downtown Vancouver, why would Telus need its name on another building just a few blocks away?
Telus almost succeeded GM as the Vancouver Canucks’ rink sponsor before “Government Motors” drove out of the Garage and Rogers drove in. Telus CEO Darren Entwistle didn’t deny at a March 10 news conference that the telecom giant is interested in the BC Place Stadium naming rights opportunity.
Last month, Bell vice-president Loring Phinney said his company wasn’t in the running and not worried that Telus could be.
The reason why was revealed when the Whitecaps debuted on Bell Pitch at Empire Field. Regardless of the BC Place sponsor, the Whitecaps will play on Bell territory.
The strategy is similar to the Seattle Sounders, who wear Microsoft’s Xbox logo on their jerseys and play on Xbox Pitch at Qwest Field.
The legacies of Vancouver 2010 continue. There was no operating profit, so VANOC could not afford to donate to amateur sport or the Canadian Olympic Committee.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport was called to settle a dispute between the British Olympic Association (BOA) and London 2012 to prevent a repeat.
BOA is supposed to receive 20% of sponsor and ticket revenue after the Olympics, but the London organizing committee says the Olympics and Paralympics must be accounted together.
Cash-strapped VANOC did its own version of robbing Peter to pay back Paul when it diverted Paralympics funds to the Olympics. Governments came to the rescue with tax dollars.
Canada is slow to adopt 3-D sports TV. Hockey Night in Canada has shown two games, but manufacturers and retailers have no integrated marketing plan for consumer sampling.
The Global Sports Forum in Barcelona earlier in March considered research on sports fans’ media use. Nearly two-thirds of those polled either own or want a 3-D TV and 51% say the reason is so they can experience sports broadcasts in their fullest.
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