The Grey Cup, Vince Lombardi Trophy and Stanley Cup were just visiting, and the city hosted Canada’s two biggest indoor sporting events of the year. But personnel departure was a constant theme of Vancouver’s sports business scene in 2014.
Brazilian bye-bye
Defence wins games, but offence sells tickets. So goes the old sports cliché.
Camilo Sanvezzo, the $210,000-a-year, Major League Soccer-leading scorer of 22 goals in 2013, wanted to be paid close to his $1.1 million Whitecaps teammate Kenny Miller. Instead of going the contract holdout route, the marketing magnet said goodbye to Vancouver and “hola” to Queretaro, Mexico. Sanvezzo’s $1.4 million replacement, Chilean Pedro Morales, was the league’s top newcomer of 2014 after registering 10 goals. Despite a hot September and October, the team didn’t fill Level 2 at BC Place stadium or host a home playoff game.
Contemporary, not classic
The biggest hockey game in B.C. history (by attendance, not importance) drew an announced 54,194 to BC Place for an estimated $11.6 million gross gate on March 2. The Vancouver Canucks’ loss to the Ottawa Senators under the closed roof was the last time goaltender Roberto Luongo was seen in a Vancouver jersey – albeit as the backup, in the maroon and cream vintage colours of the Millionaires. Two days later he was traded back to the Florida Panthers to finish the fourth season of a $64 million, 12-year contract. The Canucks missed the playoffs, and new hockey operations boss Trevor Linden replaced general managers and coaches. When the new season began, the team’s alleged 12-year sellout streak at Rogers Arena came to an end.
Minor problems
The American Hockey League’s Abbotsford Heat had a lukewarm response since arriving in the Fraser Valley in 2009. Canuck-crazed locals never embraced the Calgary Flames farm team. The Flames were paid $5.5 million to remove the Heat from the city-owned Abbotsford Entertainment and Sports Centre in April, after taxpayers were stuck with another $7.2 million in losses.
In September, New Westminster city council nixed the Whitecaps’ plan to bring a USL Pro farm team to Queen’s Park Stadium over the $11.4 million estimated bill for stadium repairs. The Caps reserve team will instead play at the University of British Columbia’s Thunderbird Stadium in 2015.
XLVIII vs. 102
The Seattle Seahawks won Super Bowl XLVIII in February, sparking even more cross-border football shopping for NFL tickets and merchandise.
The “12th Man” marketing machine came north with the Vince Lombardi Trophy for Fourth of July weekend promotional events at Jack Poole Plaza and Ambleside Park. It’s estimated that 10% of the 67,000 fans who attend CenturyLink Field games are from B.C. Some of them drive right by the BC Lions’ Whalley training centre en route to the border.
The 9-9 Lions never looked worthy of playing at home in the 102nd Grey Cup. They ended the year with a 50-17 playoff loss in Montreal, costing head coach Mike Benevides his job. While the 2011 championship sold out in July of that year, the 102nd edition, on November 30, didn’t. It drew an announced, less-than-capacity crowd of 52,056 to BC Place. That exceeded the 50,000 mark after giveaways to Grey Cup festival volunteers, minor football teams and the military.
Social media killed the catering star
A late July surveillance video of a man beating a dog in an elevator at the Residences at Hotel Georgia became the undoing of one of the most powerful, least-known sports executives.
Crown counsel continues to deliberate on whether to charge then-Centerplate CEO Des Hague for animal cruelty. But the court of social media threatened a boycott of the 300 Centerplate-serviced stadiums, arenas and convention centres, including BC Place. Hague eventually resigned in September.
Centerplate’s premium offerings like gourmet food and wine are not only important revenue streams for venue owners, but vital for drawing sports fans who could otherwise save money by watching games on high-definition TV at home or at a bar.
No other sports business story with a Vancouver placeline drew so much international attention in 2014.
