Rick Antonson & Arthur Griffiths want to bring another big world event to Vancouver

[mr.x]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Perhaps the two gentlemen in question could devote their time and energy to the Celebration of Light fireworks, an event which has a near-death experience every year. It draws lots of tourists and locals to Vancouver and could no doubt benefit from their enthusiasm.

I would love to see the Celebration of Light with more shows (instead of just 4, maybe 6 or 7?) AND better quality fireworks.

[Vancity]

Originally Posted by Zassk

The NBA will be next to come back, as they have at least 6 teams struggling financially (much like the NHL), and Aquilini has specifically stated intentions to buy a team and move it here.

Source?

I can't see any teams moving to Vancouver as long as Stern is in charge. Simple as that. Don't get me wrong, I would love to have the NBA back (another sporting event, other than hockey), and I think the city would embrace the team, IF, the GM could turn the team into a winner. The Canucks almost moved out of town a while back ago, as they were struggling with attendance, and revenue. Anyone remember that? Thank goodness they stayed. Who would've known what happened to the sporting scene here had they left.

Also, I don't think Acquilini is a basketball fan.

[Distill3d]

Originally Posted by jlousa

As unlikely as it is I'd love to see F1 come to Vancouver and race along our downtown core, the setting would be more impressive then the number of complaints the city would receive. Heck I'd be willing to share our race bi-annually with Montreal if they'd share.

I'd love to see it happen too. And, its not as unlikely as it seems to have Vancouver host the Canadian Grand Prix. IF we were to come up with a suitable track design that Hermann Tilke can sign off on (and take credit for), come up with the funding to host the race (roughly 50 million/year), and we can hold off on hosting it until 2015 (currently, Montreal has the race until 2014), then we may have a good chance of getting the race. Of course, convincing F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone that Vancouver is a greater suitor than say somewhere in Asia is really the biggest challenge we face in hosting F1.

[twoNeurons]

How big is F1 is Vancouver?

[EastVanMark]

There is absolutely 0 chance of Montreal willing to give up its F1 race. (even for a year). It is one of the largest events on the civic calender and is a site to behold. F1 has a very well off following and the city drools at the possibility of them pumping money into the local economy.

Vancouvers' market size would be an issue as Montreal draws quite heavily from US markets nearby who come up for the race. Vancouver doesn't have that luxury. (although its worth mentioning that we did quite well with the Indy as we routinely outdrew Toronto's version and briefly held the one day attendance record for a sporting event in Canada).

[jlousa]

Can't say how big F1 is in Vancouver, it's certainly huge in my circle of friends though. I am very aware that Mtl is unlikely to give up there race though, so I'm going there instead for the 2011 race. When I retire in a few years one of the first things I'm doing is following the F1 circuit for a season.

The Vancouver Indy was the largest attended race on the old Indy circuit and drew more people then quite a few of the F1 races do today. F1 is a completely different league though so it's hard to say how we'd fare. We also don't have a shot at a race with Mtl holding one, and they won't give it up. The best we could hope for is if they need to close their track for repairs and need to sit out a year, but even then there are enough cities ready to leap at that opportunity.

We'd have better luck holding a major Bike Race across the province ala Tour de France. Wouldn't be as big of a draw but would draw media attention to the whole province.

[EastVanMark]

Although Vancouver was one of the better attended events, it was not the best attended. That honor until the late 90's belonged to the Indianapolis 500 which drew crowds of 220,000-250,000 for race day routinely. (Vancouver's best was wasn't even half that). Montreal's race draws double of our best effort during the Indy days and F-1 would demand a permanent track which has been the case with all new entrants to the circuit. (including several who have built stunning new tracks in hopes of securing a date).

[wrenegade]

There is not a hope in hell F1 would come to Vancouver. And that's fine. Montreal is a fantastic city for it and the track always results in drama. Get yourself a plane ticket. Indy would be neat, but I wouldn't buy tickets. Honestly I'd rather see a Sports Car series come here but it wouldn't work on a street circuit, we'd need to build something.....so basically there is no point. Besides being a host city for the World Cup (would we need to plant grass in BC Place?) I think our best hope is another Winter Games in 20 years or so.

[Fairbanks]

Originally Posted by GeeCee

World's Fair is all but dead now. We have the internets!

FIFA, eh, I don't care personally but there seems to be a decent soccer following around town.

Definitely interested in Vancouver hosting a Summer Olympics.. Though we would need to build a TON of venues, and we would probably end up getting rained out the whole time anyway.

No offense GeeCee but it sounds as though you have never attended a World's Fair. I am not advocating for another such event for Vancouver but there is something to be said for tangible events that you can actually touch and interact with.

The internet will never replace "being there".

[RichardM2010]

The Winter Olympics was pretty good, but I didn't like the way it turned the city into a circus. And the IOC was a bit too heavy-handed for my liking. So I would be cool to the idea of another Olympic-sized event in Vancouver for quite a while. I don't think we should host any HUGE international events until we are a bigger city, and truly more world-class. (We don't even have a decent museum here in Vancouver. The Royal BC Museum is in Victoria, a ferry-trip away, which is a real disincentive to attending events there.)

On the other hand, something smaller, like the FIFA World Cup would be okay. Even if Canada isn't playing, it would still be good to host the event.

The Police and Fire Games were pretty good. Perhaps more events that size.

[Vancity]

Sorry guys. I didn't know where to put this, so I'm just going to put it in here. There was a thread here (couldn't find it though, maybe I just didn't see it) that was on the Olympics, and I remember reading how the Olympics 2010 would bring greater exposure for the city, and it could potentially expose Vancouver as a great sports town to other leagues (for example, to the NBA, or MLS, or MLB, etc). But so far, I haven't seen anything. It's kind of like all of that "exposure" just sunk.

The only thing that Vancouver has gotten, in terms of an expansion team, and an entrance into a new league, is...well...Major League Soccer. That's it. Nothing else. So, I was wondering, whatever happened to all that momentum generated from the Olympics, in terms of the professional sporting scene/culture here in this beautiful city?

[Nutterbug]

Just look to hold various conventions and a myriad of other smaller events, instead of any backbreakingly big events like those listed.

If we had to pick one of the above, make it FIFA WC, since it practically pays for itself through gate receipts, and doesn't require the construction of a lot of new facilities and infrastructure, since the load will be shared with the rest of the country.

[Nutterbug]

Originally Posted by Vancity

The only thing that Vancouver has gotten, in terms of an expansion team, and an entrance into a new league, is...well...Major League Soccer. That's it. Nothing else. So, I was wondering, whatever happened to all that momentum generated from the Olympics, in terms of the professional sporting scene/culture here in this beautiful city?

Salt Lake City still only has the Jazz. Maybe we should have studied past examples before getting our hopes up so high.

[LeftCoaster]

Originally Posted by Vancity

The only thing that Vancouver has gotten, in terms of an expansion team, and an entrance into a new league, is...well...Major League Soccer. That's it. Nothing else. So, I was wondering, whatever happened to all that momentum generated from the Olympics, in terms of the professional sporting scene/culture here in this beautiful city?

Jeez, its literally barely over a year since, what do you think these things just happen over a weekend? Expansions take years to put together and buying a team has so many variables it could take years for an active owner to find one with all the right elements.

What exactly were you expecting anyway?

[Vancity]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

Jeez, its literally barely over a year since, what do you think these things just happen over a weekend? Expansions take years to put together and buying a team has so many variables it could take years for an active owner to find one with all the right elements.

What exactly were you expecting anyway?

Well. I was expecting a bit more "buzz" around Vancouver being a potential place for expansion (if indeed there is potential there). There doesn't seem to be any momentum, other than MLS coming to town (which I am excited about). Years to generate? I understand that it can take some time, but momentum from such a large event such as the Olympics can also be taken away. I also understand that places that have held the Olympics don't necessarily have a "boom" whether it be in sports, or business or otherwise (post olympics), but yeah, was hoping for more than what's been there recently.