IOC wants Nightly Olympic Medal ceremonies in Whistler to go ahead

[mr.x]

If this does go ahead, this would make Vancouver the first Olympic host city in history to have TWO nightly medal ceremonies sites: the main one at BC Place and the second one at Whistler Village.

The BC Place Stadium medals ceremonies will have a 30,000 seating capacity, while the Whistler venue will have 8,000. BC Place alone would make it the largest medals ceremonies venue in history, nearly four times the capacity of the Salt Lake and Torino nightly medal ceremonies venues.

Olympic medal ceremony plans for Whistler not dead yet


By Jeff Lee, Vancouver Sun
March 30, 2009 4:16 PM

Plans to hold Olympic medal ceremonies at the celebration plaza in Whistler are back on the table.

Only months after Vancouver Organizing Committee CEO John Furlong said the presentation ceremonies would likely be cancelled in light of a drastically reduced budget, Vanoc and the International Olympic Committee are trying to reach a deal to allow the events to take place.

That deal could come as early as Wednesday at the conclusion of the IOC’s Vancouver Coordination Commission meeting.

At that meeting, the penultimate one before the 2010 Games, both sides have to decide whether or not to cancel outright the medal presentation ceremonies in the plaza.

The commission is the IOC’s watchdog committee for the 2010 Games and it can direct Vanoc to change its plans if it feels they don’t reflect its wishes.

At issue is about $7 million that Vanoc needs to operate the ceremonies. A large part of the cost involves power safeguards and redundancies for broadcasters who would carry the events live.

Furlong said Monday he was “cautiously hopeful” that Vanoc can find efficiencies in its budget that will allow the ceremonies to be held in the municipality’s central plaza.

The alternative is for athletes to receive their medals at their places of competition.

“We have to make a decision at this meeting whether the plaza will be used,” Furlong said. “We’re not there yet, but I am hopeful we will have some good news later this week.”

Whistler municipality wants the ceremonies held in its new $13.6-million plaza, which was specifically built for the Olympics. It and Vanoc believe the plaza will create a dramatic and festive atmosphere for athletes and spectators. In January, despite intense lobbying from Whistler municipality, Vanoc said it expected to cut the ceremonies back.

Since then, however, the IOC has told Vanoc it would like the plaza ceremonies to take place and has recommended changes to Vanoc’s budget to free up the $7 million needed.

The medals plaza issue tops a heavy agenda for the coordination commission, which will also deal with the new transportation plan, the latest sustainability program, security, workforce and the outcomes of this winter’s sport test events.

The commission meets for the last time in August.

[email protected]

http://www.vancouversun.com/Olympic+medal+...5427/story.html






Stadium seating for 8,000 people
[

[touraccuracy]

why would they get rid of the wooden structure after the games?

[SpongeG]

is the BC place thing free? or do people have to pay to get in?

[mr.x]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

is the BC place thing free? or do people have to pay to get in?

BC Place has 30,000 seats each night; 20,000 are at $22 each while the remaining 10,000 are free.

It's on par with the 8,000 or so nightly medal ceremonies tickets that are free at each Winter Games.

[SpongeG]

not bad

[touraccuracy]

I take it the cheap ones will be upper level or corners?

I still rather do that over shelling out 22 bucks.

[mr.x]

^ don't you mean, the free ones? Yea, the free ones will likely be awful seats.

And FYI, I shelved $22 bucks for several seats at two nightly medal ceremonies. :p

[SpongeG]

i've spent $22 in 2 minutes at the casino

[touraccuracy]

^aha, one time a friend and i swung by the casino after class and he put 20 on red and i put 20 on black. we left right away after.

red won.

[Delirium]

looks like this is a go!

VANOC to hand out medals at Whistler plaza after all
JOSH WINGROVE

April 8, 2009
Globe and Mail

Vancouver's Olympic committee announced yesterday it would award medals for Whistler-based events at a central plaza, reversing a decision to give them out at individual event venues.

Last year, VANOC said it would present medals at venues to cut costs. But after meetings between Olympic organizers and the Whistler municipality, officials worked out a plan to reduce staffing levels, production costs, and the size of the Whistler Olympic and Paralympic Celebration Plaza.

"We are very pleased to have the medals ceremonies return," said Whistler Mayor Ken Melamed.

The cost of the celebrations are pegged at $12.8-million

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20090408.BCBRIEFS08ART21442/TPStory/National

[mr.x]

How Whistler's celebration plaza got its Olympic medal ceremonies back

By Jeff Lee, Vancouver Sun
April 8, 2009

Pressure from athletes, national Olympic committees and broadcasters largely led to the decision to reinstate the medal presentation ceremonies at Whistler's celebration plaza, the Vancouver Organizing Committee said Wednesday.

But in order to do it, Vanoc and the International Olympic Committee scrapped some services and amalgamated others to find about between $5-7 million in savings, said Terry Wright, Vanoc's executive vice-president of games operations.

Among the biggest changes is the elimination of about $2 million in accommodation costs for upwards of 400 workers who will now be bused daily to the municipality.

On Tuesday night Whistler council ratified a deal worked out between Vanoc, the IOC and its broadcast contractor, Vancouver Olympic Broadcast Service to scale back or consolidate some operations at the plaza in order to afford the ceremonies.

Last year Vanoc proposed scrapping the presentations as part of a cost-savings measure. Instead, athletes would receive their medals on the fields of play.

But almost immediately Whistler opposed the plan. Wright said pressure also mounted from athletes, coming to a head at a recent assembly in Vancouver for the chefs de mission of all Olympic teams.

"We probably did 50 scenarios in the past three months trying to find a way to retain the medals," he said.

"The IOC were supportive of us looking for ways of simplifying the Games and reducing complexity.

"It was something (the athletes) felt was a special part of the Olympic Winter Games. Even before the IOC we heard from the athletes and the national Olympic committees and at the world broadcasters meeting that if at all possible they wanted an integrated show."

The rescue plan was largely completed several weeks ago but needed some fine-tuning by the municipality.

Wright said the concept involves scrapping broadcast booths at the plaza and instead feeding commentary out of the nearby Whistler Media Centre.

The IOC also agreed to reduce the need for tents and ancillary services by scrapping its "Olympic lounges", eliminate seating and venue media area. Instead, the $12.8 million plaza will have a stripped-down "mixed zone" where media can talk to athletes before filing stories back at the main media centre.

In making the changes, Vanoc also put a big dent in another vexing Whistler problem, the issue of finding enough rooms for staff.

The change saves Vanoc about $2 million in accommodation costs since it will now bus in daily 400 of the 500 people needed at the plaza. The other changes saved about $3 million.

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http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/2010w...medal+ceremonies+back/1478240/story.html