Much better article from the Vancouver Province. FIFA corrupt from top to bottom under Blatter and we can't be sure it is cleaned up.
http://theprovince.com/opinion/columnist...u-inside-the-governments-fight-with-fifa
" B.C. Place is owned by the provincial government and managed by the B.C. Pavilion Corp., a Crown agency known as Pavco.
A “risk analysis” document prepared by Pavco officials outlined an astonishing series of non-negotiable contract terms from FIFA that would have burned taxpayers to a crisp.
They included a requirement that B.C. Place install not just one temporary natural-grass playing surface on top of the stadium’s existing artificial turf (installed just three years ago at a cost of $1.3 million).
The contract demanded a second “contingency pitch” just in case something went wrong with the first grass field and a new one had to be installed on short notice.
FIFA not only demanded two grass fields for B.C. Place, they also demanded two electricity supplies to the stadium in case of a power failure.
A “second separate source of power supply for the stadium” would be “entirely and wholly the responsibility of the stadium and host city,” the risk assessment said.
Stoking the fears of the government was the 2014 World Cup experience of Brazil, which spent over $900 million on security, including a massive video-surveillance system and training on potential chemical and radiological terror attacks.
Keep in mind Vancouver was only in line to get two or three soccer games as part of a unified bid to host the World Cup by Canada, the United States and Mexico.
But, even though the number of games was small, FIFA still demanded “exclusive use” of B.C. Place for up to two months, requiring all other events to be cancelled or postponed.
During the “exclusive use period,” FIFA insisted on a “clean stadium clause” banning all non-authorized advertising and commercial activity — and not just within the confines of B.C. Place itself.
The ban included “prohibition of any promotional, public-relations, religious, political or commercial advertising of any kind in, on, above, around or about the stadium without prior written approval by FIFA,” the assessment said.
“When they were using words like ‘around’ and ‘about’ the stadium, we sought clarity on that and the bid committee could not provide it,” Beare said.
“It would have made us responsible for activities that happened outside the stadium,” she added, saying the government was concerned about policing the activities of businesses near B.C. Place.
If you’re wondering whether all these costs would have been offset by a share of World Cup ticket sales or TV rights — forget it.
“An exceptionally broad and almost universal ownership of commercial rights with respect to the competition” would remain exclusively with FIFA, the assessment said, including “media rights, marketing rights and ticketing.”
As B.C. taxpayers absorbed all the costs — and FIFA scooped all the World Cup profits — FIFA also demanded special treatment under B.C. taxation and labour laws.
Note : In the London Olympics the IOC demanded to be free of all laws, special traffic lanes in the city only for IOC use ......
Prev
Linear Mode
