_ Page 20, June 13, 1979

North Shore.News..

y side-

b y Jim Kearney -

The Western Olympics? — |

| Ta: -terms of economics, the. biggest thing a

’ Winter Olympics has going for it is that it doesn’t

require a huge stadium for any of-its events.
Eliminate that from any. international - jock

For a= cost-conscious
community, possibly

trembling a little at the

staging of any sort of games
following the great financial
disaster of 1976 in Montreal,

this should be reassuring.

The staging” of the
Montreal... Olympics
escalated into a $1.2 billion
nightmare. But nearly 800
million of that was poured

' down the: drain -— and into

4

the pockets of nobody knows

how ‘many ripoff artists --

building ‘the still un-

completed main stadium.

So, if Vancouver does
land the 1988 Winter
Olympics -- Jack Volrich
announced last Friday its
intention to do so — the
anticipated $70 million cost,
in 1979 dollars, seems quite
in line.

SAME BOTTOM LINE

Who knows, inflation may

have taken us to the dollar
cup of coffee and double
that 70 million by 1988. But
revenues will be up in the
same ratio, so the projected
bottom line of a break even
Games should remain the
same.

Break even is a relative
term. Its real meaning is no
ereat loss or no great profit.
‘he Commonwealth Games
t Edmonton last year, for
mstance. Good management
vrought them in right on

udget, but ticket sales left
xem a little short on the
venue end.

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gathering and: you eliminate the major cost.

The loss was less than a

- million, but for that-slight
deficit the city wound up

with a- 45, 000-seat stadium
and a swimming and diving
complex, free and clear. The
stadium, by the bye, ac-
counted for half the cost of

‘the Games.

If comparisons must be
made, and it seems they

always are, it would be more
the -

fitting to compare
Winter Olympics with the
Edmonton production than
with the Games at Montreal.

The reason, of course, is
that the Summer Olympics

involve about 15,000 athletes

and officiais and more than
20 sports, whereas for the
Winter.show and the figures
Commonwealth Games. are
about 2,000 and nine or ten.

THIRD TIME LUCKY?

This will be Vancouver's

third try at grabbing the —

winter spectacular. In 1970,
it tried for the 1976. Games.
But the International
Olympic Committee voted
first on the Summer Games

and awarded them to
Montreal.
Even though. the Van-

couver-Garibaldi bid was far
and away the most out-
standing, it was dead. Not
since 1936 has the IOC given
two sets of Olympics to the
same -country in the same
year.

The next try was in 1974,

for the 1980 Games. Again
this would have been the

SiO

nN.

“where applicable

outstanding bid at the IOC
level, but it didn’t get that
far. The NDP government of
the day would not give any
financial backing. Without
that, there was na point in
going on. -

So far, the re-elected
Socred government hasn't
officially given a com-
mitment. But it's known to
be sympathetic. If the city
can demonstrate that the

Games will. all but pay for -

themselves, - Victoria likely

will give its blessing.
TOURIST FACTOR _
The deciding factor

probably will be. what the
Staging of the new Winter
Olympics, and all the
worldwide television and
print media exposure the
Games can command, will
do for tourism.

Victoria. constantly

reminds us that after the ~

forest industry, it is the
second biggest business in
the province. Most of it

_comes in the summer. Given

calories

carbohyelates.

‘Trilight.
Drews it ligh

‘some half decent weather |

- during. the 10 days of: the

Games, they could do quite .
a bit for future harvesting of

. the winter tourist buck.

That, anyhow, is some of

the thinking behind the .

project. “And the applause

* you hear comes from the

area hotel. operators, where
30 per cent occupancy is the
norm during the long, grey
winter.

This thinking also enters

into the Choice of dates,
Feb. 19-29. A _ search
through the weather records
for the last 50 years shows
this time span is the nicest
part of winter. Precipitation
on only three of the 10 days
has been the average.

And while that may be
rain at sea level, where most
of the. outdoor events are
planned -— the Whistler
Mountain area and _ the
North Shore mountains - it
usually is snow. And no
Winter Olympics yet has
complained about too much
snow. Too little
maybe, but not too much.

The skating events --
hockey, figure skating and
speed skating. - are ten-
tatively booked for Van-
couver; alpine and cro

snow

One’ thing above all, in
Canada at. least, which has

turned the staging of events -
‘such as this from a_ loss

leader into a viable project is
the lottery business.

Nine years ago. that

‘original bid envisaged a $47
million

budget, but a
recovery of less than $26
million and a deficit of more
than $21 million.

‘While this newest cost is
pitched at $70 million, a 70
pericent increase, revenues
also are estimated at $70
million, a 200 per cent in-
crease. Lottery income is the
main reason. At Edmonton
last year it paid for a third of.
the show.

The other changed factor :

is the value of television
rights. Worth no more thana
couple of million dollars at
the time of the 1970 bid, they
now sell for about 10 times:
that amount. :

About the only thing not
included in the report of the
mayor’s advisory committee
on the 1988 Winter Olympics

country skiing for Whistler, \h

and ski jumping, luge and
bobsled for Seymour,
Grouse and Cypress Bowl.

MAYBE MULTIPLEX

If the PNE manages to

build Multiplex, which is not .
tied in in any way with the J

projected bid, that’s where
the opening and closing
ceremonies will be staged.

Nobo
rl

BOTTLE DeUvERY

is mention cof a. . demon--
stration sport, the ‘staging of
which is the ‘preroga tive of”
the host city. oO,

If the Games do: come -

here, ‘and. “the organizing— |

committee ‘has an. ounce: of

_one-upmanship | imagination,.
“that event will be midwinter.

sailboat ' racing in English
Bay. “Just for benefit of TV"
viewers in the rest of
Canada. eS

ol
(DRIVING.

Sate ‘driving ~
is a family affair:

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*also mixes and smokes *

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