NOC Caught in Ticket Scalping Scheme, Says VANOC
Vancouver 2010 says it has caught an undisclosed national Olympic committee selling tickets to a scalper.
Executive vice-president of revenue, marketing and communication Dave Cobb said VANOC will not take action until discussing the infraction with the offending NOC after the end of May deadline for requesting tickets. Vancouver 2010 will use mystery shoppers to buy tickets from unauthorized outlets to figure outwho is providing tickets to scalpers. (ATR)
Approximately 30 percent of the 1.6 million tickets are being set aside for the Olympic Family, which includes athletes and their families, national Olympic committees, sport federations and the media.
"We'll look at the orders carefully," Cobb said.
"If there's a country that has, for example, no Olympic team coming to the Games, not a hockey country, and they request 100 tickets for the gold medal hockey game, chances are they're not going to get them."
After tickets are allotted, VANOC will send mystery shoppers to buy tickets from ticket brokers. The barcodes will allow VANOC to trace registrants.
"Those that ignore us and violate their contracts risk having their entire allocations invalidated," Cobb said.
Cobb also said VANOC would not lobby governments to outlaw ticket reselling in the Olympic city.
"We will not allow ticket scalpers on the venues, but we're going to live within the existing laws,” he said.
"If the cities or the province look to change the laws, great, but we're not going to try to initiate that. We just don't want our spectators, our fans to be hassled, as often happens now."
Vancouver city council, however, is likely to consider measures this summer to regulate the ticket resale industry as part of a package of Olympic-related bylaw proposals.
Tickets go on public sale Oct. 11, ranging from $25 for biathlon and cross-country skiing to $1,100 for the best seats at the Feb. 12, 2010 opening ceremony. VANOC hopes to sell $231.8 million through its official agent Tickets.com.
Ticket Printer Needed
VANOC is looking for a printer of 1.6 million tickets.
It issued a request for proposals on May 8. Deadline is June 4. The contract will be awarded Sept. 1. Despite VANOC’s sustainability goals, the RFP does not list an explicit requirement that the souvenir tickets be printed on recycled stock.
“When we get to Games time and we start doing things like the secondary markets and last minute sales, we will probably move into some of the more newer technologies like [offering tickets by] cell phones and PDAs,” said VANOC vice-president of marketing Caley Denton.
Doping Lab Questions
The head of Canada’s only World Anti-Doping Agency-recognized laboratory said VANOC needs to decide a site soon for the Vancouver 2010 lab.
“We’re a poor, lonesome lab without any hosting site yet,” said Dr. Christiane Ayotte of Institut Armand-Frappier at the Institute Nationale de la Recherche Scientifique in Laval, Quebec.
Ayotte said outfitting of a lab in the Vancouver area must begin in January 2009, unless the International Olympic Committee bows to VANOC pressure to send samples to Dr. Ayotte's The Institute Nationale de la Recherche Scientifique is part of the University of Quebec. (INRS)facility near Montreal on a daily basis during the Games.
VANOC budgeted $4.1 million for anti-doping and was supposed to have decided the lab site in the third quarter of 2007. Various local sites have been under consideration to host a lab staffed with Ayotte’s technicians. VANOC confirmed last fall that B.C. Children’s Hospital was a potential site.
B.C. Children’s president Larry Gold and Child, Family Research Institute executive director Dr. Stuart MacLeod and VANOC chief medical officer Dr. Jack Taunton have not returned repeated phone calls.
The IOC forced Salt Lake 2002 organizers to set-up a temporary lab in the Olympic city after it nixed a plan to send samples to Los Angeles. A temporary Vancouver lab would need certification from both the International Standards Organization and WADA.
Aggreko Announces Vancouver Deal
Glasgow, Scotland-headquartered Aggreko announced May 9 that it would supply the 2010 Winter Olympics with back-up power generators and temperature control equipment. The deal is worth $25 Aggreko has a $35 million temporary power supply agreement with Beijing 2008.million, according to British financial news services. Aggreko has a $35 million temporary power supply agreement with Beijing 2008.
A news release on the Aggreko website quoted VANOC executive vice-president Dave Cobb, but VANOC did not notify Canadian media of the deal.
Aggreko took over General Electric’s rentals division in 2006. GE had supplied Atlanta 1996 and Salt Lake 2002.
VANOC budgeted $46.9 million for energy services, including $28.35 million for infrastructure and consumption. In March, VANOC named taxpayer-owned BC Hydro its primary power supplier.
A David Suzuki Foundation report commissioned by VANOC estimated back-up power generators would emit 30,000 tons of carbon dioxide pollution.
RCMP Secures Accommodations
The Blue Horizon Hotel will be home to some of the boys (and girls) in blue during the 2010 Games.
The RCMP Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit has rented the 214-room Robson Street hotel for February 2010 for an undisclosed cost. The contract was awarded without a public competition through a loophole in federal government procurement rules.
V2010 ISU has extended its search for a cruise ship charter company to May 23. It needs enough “floating hotel” space for 5,000 members for five to six weeks from January to March 2010. An RCMP-commissioned study by Amex estimated the cost of accommodation for police and troops at $40 million.
Samsung Scores Screen Order
A source tells Around the Rings that a shipment of Samsung flat-panel screens is in storage and awaiting installation at B.C. Place Stadium, the site of 2010 opening and closing ceremonies.
Logos on the Samsung sets would need to be covered during Games time since Panasonic has the sponsorship for TV gear at the Games, similar to what happened in Turin two years ago when Samsung screens were hung.
With reporting from Bob Mackin in Vancouver.
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