CAPILANO COLLEGE Sportsptex manager Joe lacobellis says the facility is less than one year old and has aiready attracted several high-calibre sporting events. Is the party over for Molson Indy Vancouver? WILL THE third annual Molson Indy Vancouver be the last annual? It’s beginning to appear this is the case and not only because Concerd Pacific Developments Lid. — owners of the race site known as Pacific Place — are poised to proceed with other de- velopment programs in the area. Blair Hagkull, assistant to Con- cord Pacific senior vice-president Stanley Kwok, said a year ago: “I think the future of the race in Vancouver past 1992 will be the subject of further discussions be- tween ourselves and the race op- erators.”’ Hagkull should have used the word ‘‘operator’’ because in his capacity as President of Molson Indy Vancouver, John Fraseo has made it clear he and he alone is responsible for overall manage- ment of the event and undertakes all activities related to administra- tion, attendance, media coverage, publicity opportunities and spon- sorship agreements. That is the job description pen- ned on the official 1992 Molson Indy Vancouver Fact Sheet that originates from the executive of- fices located at Pacific Boulevard South. . Frasco is the self-appointed “Grand Pooh-bah,”’ maintaining full control. And if the facts be known, Frasco’s relationship and negotiating powers with Concord Pacific are shaky at best. It has been said that John Frasco’s most effective negotiating tool is his stare. He is 6 foot 7 in- ches and he has two expressions: hard and harder. The late Andy who served as the 1!25,000- member Machinist Union’s na- tional automotive coordinator, once described Frasco thusly: *‘He would have made a great used-car dealer. Only when you shake his hand, you had better count your fingers}"* Frasco, a corporate lawyer and managing partner of a legal firm in RBioomfield Hills, Michigan, had been chairman of the board of Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) for eight years. CART, of course, is the sanction- ing body of Indy car racing. To be sure. with Frasco at the helm, CART gained a reputation as a growth leader in the sports industry. As chronicled in The National Sports Daily in July, 1990: ‘Much of the credit has gone to Frasco, who helped establish better races with larger purses in the biggest markets. Kenopensks, NEWS photo Neil Lucente Greg Dougias a... GOAL LINES “Then late last year, after a series of meetings held by the same CART team owners who once hailed him as a savior, John W. Frasco, the man who turned a widely ignored sport into a $400-million enterprise, was relieved of his duties.”* The article goes on to describe how Frasco’s base salary of $72,000 had ballooned to annual average compensation of $633,054 in the last five years of his con- tract because of various entitle- We 2, 1992 - North Shore News - 413 Cap Sportsplex near completion of impressive inaugural year CAPILANO COLLEGE’S Sportsplex has yet to reach its first birthday and already it has established itself as one of the premier sports complexes of the finest in Canada. “The gymnasium itself is, 1 think, arguably one of the better college facilities in Canada,”’ said Sportsplex manager Joseph lacobeliis. The multi-purpose facility of- ficially opened its doors to the public on Sept. 20, 1991 and has since piayed host to numerous in- ternational, national and provin- cial sporting events as well as many community ceremonies and special events. “In a way, ‘Sportsplex’ is a misnomer in the sense that it’s not just used for sports,’’ lacobellis said. “It’s used for a variety of social and art-related events as well.” Events held at the sportsplex include gymnastics, basketball, volleyball, wrestling, futsal (in- door soccer), martial arts, gradua- tion and award ceremonies, re- unions, a piano exhibition and a choir concert. “It’s just been unbelievable the number of athletic events we've had in here,”’ said Iacobellis. The Sportsplex is home to the Capilano College Blues basketball team, but it has been the venue for a Canada versus Seattle Pro-Am game and the recent Pacific Rim Classic. The tournament pitted Olympic basketball teams from Russia, Canada, Mexico and China ments written into his agreement in 1982, He reportedly made $671,542 in 1986, $766,930 in 1987 and STLL,ESE in 1988, “By the middle of the 1987 rac- ing scason,”’ the story in The Na- tional said, ‘‘board members and other team owners cpenly ques- tioned Frasco’s stewardship, par- ticularly the liberties he took in executing his obligations of raising revenues. “That summer he had been in- structed by the board not to commit the series to any new venues without board clearance. Yet three weeks later, Frasco an- nounced to the board that con- tracts already had been signed to stage an event in Vancouver.’’ The board members, outraged that its chairman did not consult them, then discovered the pro- moter of the Vancouver race was Frasco himself."* One of the more powerful board members, Rick Galles of the Galles-Kraco racing team, said at the time: “It got to the point where John was serving two masters, Here he was negotiating contracts for CART and then negotiating against himself as a race promoter. That’s absolutely improper.’” As the story gocs, Frasco was on the North Shore and one By Kevin Gillies Contributing Writer against each other. UBC played against Sparta of Russia in a volleyball match. The facility is also used as a venue for the North Vancouver Recreation Commission for some of its programs such as karate, fitness and mcdern dance. “ft’s a valuable resource to the community in my opinion, and it will be used more and more by the community for a number of dif- ferent types of events,’’ lacobellis said. ‘*We encourage that.”” The Sportsplex contains a 14,500-square-foot gym, a 2,000-square-foot mutti-purpose gym and a weight room. Behind the facility is a full-length soccer field. lacobellis said he anticipates expansion to include racquetball courts in the not-too-distant future. He added that with its spectator seats pulled out, the facility becomes a_ regulation National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) basketball stadium. The gym seats 1,700 spectators and contains 600 studio seats — See Camps page 14 asked by the board to step down as chairman and agreed to pay him $3.6 million over three years as a settlement. The board made it clear that no one has ever formally accused him of doing anything illegal. It was the apparent ‘conflict of interest’’ issue that prompted the board’s move. When Frasco signed a_ three- year contract with Concord Pacific to stage the Molson Indy Vancouver race through 1992, he actively took a hands-on ap- proach and was readily available to sponsors, the media and his local staff, But in recent months, all that has changed. It seems fair to svy- gest he has resigned himself to tne fact thar there won't be a Moison Indy Vancouver in 1993 and has been acting accordingly, i.e., con- spicuous by his absence. John Winter, president of Molson Breweries (Western Divi- sion), told me when we last talked that he was trying to arrange an audience with Stanley Kwok to get an update on the latest com- munication between Frasco and Concord Pacific. Kwok has been leaving the distinct impression in some circles that ‘‘the party’s over.”