By: David Bowermaster
The Seattle Times
February 26, 2006
Original Article
When Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan takes custody of the Olympic flag today during the closing ceremonies of the Turin Games, the countdown to the 2010 Winter Olympics will officially begin.
But a handful of Seattle software jockeys have already savored the thrill of Olympic victory in British Columbia.
SoftResources, an eight-person consulting firm on the northeast shore of Lake Union, last March won a contract to help the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) select financial-planning software to run the business side of the 2010 Games.
"We were a little bit nervous that because we were not a Canadian entity it would be a disadvantage," said Spencer Arnesen, one of the firm's co-founders, "but it didn't end up being a problem at all."
The 2010 Olympics will be chockfull of great athletes, gold medals and sports spectacles, but they also promise to be a major economic event for this soggy corner of the globe.
Canadian government and private entities are expected to spend more than $7 billion preparing for and hosting the Games. Spillover business — from heftier donut sales at the Tim Horton's in Squamish to higher dry-cleaning fees in Whistler — likely will be worth billions more.
Washington state political and business leaders hope some of that spillover will flow south of the border.
"The 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics are going to be a big deal not only for British Columbia and Canada but for the entire Pacific Northwest," said U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Lake Stevens, co-chairman of a 2010 Olympic Task Force established by former Gov. Gary Locke.
The overheated condition of British Columbia's economy — in particular, its construction sector's labor shortages and soaring costs for building materials — could further enhance opportunities for Washington companies.
Yet time is short. Only two Seattle-area companies have won Olympics contracts so far. Most of the largest construction projects are under way, and VANOC wants to have most facilities in place by 2008.
Work began early
Preparations for the 2010 Games began even before Vancouver was named the host in June 2003. To improve its appeal to the International Olympic Committee, British Columbia began retooling its infrastructure while the selection process was under way.
Foremost is a $522 million, seven-year effort to improve the Sea-to-Sky Highway, which connects Vancouver and Whistler, the glacier-capped resort that will host skiing and bobsledding events. Several sections of the scenic, winding road have already been widened, and construction will be done by 2009.
Building also has begun on several competition sites, such as a new cross-country skiing center south of Whistler and a speed-skating oval in the city of Richmond.
Nonetheless, much work remains.
Around 350 contract opportunities have been posted on the 2010 Commerce Centre Web site, established by the B.C. Ministry of Economic Development to serve as a central repository for business opportunities related to the 2010 Games.
By the time the Games are complete, 10,000 public and private contracts will have been awarded, said 2010 Commerce Centre Director Brian Krieger.
"That leaves us with 9,650," he said. "We've got a ways to go."
As SoftResources discovered, the contracts are open to all bidders, regardless of nationality.
"The process is fair, open and transparent. No advantage is given to companies in Vancouver, B.C., or Canada," Krieger said.
Cath Brunner agrees with Krieger's assessment.
Brunner is the public-art director for 4Culture, a cultural-services agency that was part of King County government until 2003, when it became an independent public corporation.
In December, 4Culture won a $70,000 contract from the city of Richmond to develop the public-art plan for the 2010 speed-skating oval.
Brunner said some Richmond residents were not happy that officials didn't choose a Canadian company.
"The mayor [of Richmond] responded in a very thoughtful way," Brunner recalled. "He said, 'We chose the people that we thought were the best for the job regardless of their nationality.' I don't think they went into it feeling like it was important that the firm be from Canada."
Brunner was in Richmond last week meeting with the architects of the oval, as well as the landscape architects designing the grounds surrounding it.
4Culture's recommendations on how to incorporate the work of regional artists into the structure of the building itself will be submitted next month. Then the city will decide whether 4Culture or another company will select artists and implement the plan.
Villages and transit
Vancouver is not Sarajevo or Nagano, two regions that previous Winter Olympics helped put on the world tourism map.
With a population of 2 million, Vancouver will be the largest metropolitan area to ever host the Winter Games. Consequently, many of its most high-profile venues already are standing.
Opening and closing ceremonies will be held at BC Place, a 60,000-seat domed stadium in the heart of downtown that is most commonly used for Canadian football.
Hockey will happen at General Motors Place, home of the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League. Cypress Mountain, a small ski area in West Vancouver, will host snowboarding and freestyle skiing, while alpine skiing will take place on the Creekside slopes of Whistler.
Most of these sites will need only modest facelifts in advance of 2010.
Nevertheless, there is plenty of brand-new building under way.
The city of Richmond is spending $155 million on the speed-skating oval.
A completely new Nordic center in Callaghan Valley, south of Whistler, which will host cross-country skiing and ski jumping, will cost around $89 million.
Close to $50 million will be spent on a "sliding centre" for luge, skeleton and bobsled events at the base of Whistler's Blackcomb Mountain.
And two athletes villages must be erected, one just south of Whistler and one in the False Creek neighborhood of Vancouver, at a combined cost of around $375 million. The dual villages, designed so athletes don't have a three-hour commute on the Sea-to-Sky Highway, will be converted after the Games into seasonal worker and low-income housing.
Yet the heftiest Games-related spending will go toward projects with more peripheral ties to the Olympics, such as the Sea-to-Sky Highway project.
The city of Vancouver is spending $435 million to overhaul its convention and exhibition center. The project will triple the facility's capacity and enable it to serve as the broadcast and media center for the Games.
Vancouver International Airport is undergoing a $1.2 billion expansion, and $1.5 billion is being spent on the Canada Line, a rapid-transit service that will connect the airport, Richmond and Vancouver.
A mixed blessing
All of this activity, along with the spending needed to supply and support it, will cause the B.C. economy to grow 0.9 percent to 1.2 percent per year more than it would have in the absence of the Olympics, according to Derek Holt, an economist with RBC Financial Group.
That was particularly good news when Vancouver won the Games in 2003, since the province was mired in a downturn.
Now, however, B.C. is booming.
In addition to all the construction, "we've had very strong consumer spending, and very strong employment growth across all sectors," said Carol Frketich, B.C. regional economist with Canada Housing and Mortgage Corp. Professional, scientific and technical services are prospering, she said, and demand for oil, natural gas and other B.C. resources is high.
"Adding the Games may heat up the economy to the point where it runs up against shortages in materials or labor," Holt wrote in a recent research report. "The effect may be a higher cost of living across the province, cost over-runs on Games projects and intensifying price and wage pressures in coming years."
John Furlong, chief executive of VANOC, earlier this month blamed the overheated condition of B.C.'s construction sector when he announced a 23 percent jump in VANOC's capital budget, to just over $500 million. VANOC's budget is financed by B.C.'s provincial government and the federal government of Canada.
B.C.'s embarrassment of riches presents opportunities for Washington state.
Labor shortages could force B.C. builders to look beyond their own borders for assistance to keep projects on schedule. Likewise, higher prices for materials and manufactured goods in B.C. could make U.S. goods more attractive — especially since the value of the dollar has fallen nearly 20 percent since Vancouver won the Games and 40 percent in the past five years, making U.S. goods less expensive in Canada.
Rep. Larsen and others also think tourism to Washington state could surge as a byproduct of the Vancouver Games.
British Columbia could receive an additional 4.3 million visitors between 2007 and 2015 as a result of the Olympics, according to a study conducted for VANOC by InterVistas Consulting of Vancouver.
Noting that Idaho experienced a significant increase in visitors as a result of the 2002 Olympics in neighboring Utah, Larsen expects visitors to B.C. will make side trips to explore Washington. Curiosity about the entire region should remain high after the Olympics, he said, once the world has spent two weeks watching the 2010 Games on TV.
"The tourism opportunities are right before the Games, and well after the Games," Larsen said. "It's more about people having a good experience and coming back again and again."
The anticipated tourism windfall could fail to materialize if travelers fear excessive delays traveling between Canada and the U.S., however.
People headed to British Columbia from Europe, Asia or the Middle East could skip the U.S. altogether if they have difficulty obtaining visas to enter the U.S.
Larsen is particularly concerned about President Bush's Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, which starting in 2008 would require American and Canadian citizens to produce passports or other secure identification before entering the U.S.
"It could be a big problem if we don't do it right," Larsen said. "I'm not sure it's adding as much security as people want it to add, and on the other hand, it could really be a detriment to tourism."
David Bowermaster: 206-464-2724 or dbowermaster@seattletimes.com
Source: Vancouver Organizing Committee, Seattle Times reporting
