With 100 days to go, the three provincial Crown corporations that sponsored the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics have told Business in Vancouver they are sitting out the London 2012 Summer Games.
BC Hydro, BC Lottery Corporation and ICBC’s contracts with VANOC included sponsorship of the Canadian Olympic team for London 2012 and the option to buy tickets and hotel rooms.
BCLC CEO Michael Graydon did not respond, but an official who did not want to be named said: “BCLC will not be purchasing any event tickets or hospitality packages for the London 2012 Summer Games.
“BCLC has no plans to offer London 2012 Summer Games-specific advertising through CTV. If BCLC does advertise on CTV during the 2012 Olympic Games, it will be part of a regular advertising schedule.”
The same question was posed to BC Hydro director of marketing communications Cynthia Dyson, who told BIV: “The answer is no.”
Likewise for ICBC, whose chief customer and marketing officer Jeff Schulz said, “We have no plans to do anything with respect to the London 2012 Summer Olympics.”
BIV revealed in February that Premier Christy Clark nixed Finance Minister Kevin Falcon’s last-ditch proposal to conduct a tourism and trade market exhibit or activity in London. (See “B.C. no longer in Olympic Games biz” – issue 1163; February 7-13, 2012.)
BCLC and ICBC ($15 million each) and BC Hydro ($22 million) were tier 3 “official supporters” of VANOC. ICBC spent $2.1 million on tickets and hotel rooms for Vancouver 2010, BC Hydro $1.78 million and BCLC $628,000.
