The MultiSport Centre of Excellence at Burnaby Lake Sports Complex got a stronger name on September 12.
The name literally is stronger, albeit in Greek. It’s Fortius Athlete Development Centre, to be exact. Fortius is the last third of the International Olympic Committee’s motto Citius, Altius, Fortius (faster, higher, stronger).
Scott Cousens, the Hunter Dickinson capital markets director who put up the $23 million seed money, said the original name dated back to 2002. “When centres of excellence had kind of a cachet to them, it was the perfect working title.”
The $61 million, privately built sport medicine and training centre – which aims to be the Mayo Clinic of sport – expects to get its occupancy permit in January and open in spring 2013.
It’s been a long time coming.
“We had ‘project interruptus’ in 2008 with the implosion of the worldwide economy,” said Scott Cousens. He hosted a news conference next to the building site, days before the fourth anniversary of the 2008 Lehman Brothers bankruptcy that put the global economy on the cusp of crisis.
Burnaby mayor Derek Corrigan said the “gradual” project gave the city “grey hairs,” but it is now racing to completion.
The building is designed by sports and health care architect Cannon Design and will be furnished by Michigan-headquartered Herman Miller, the first corporate partner of the project.
Price cap
When is a “Don’t pay the HST” sale not a “Don’t pay the HST” sale? When it’s the Vancouver Whitecaps, who have also tried to perfect the “21,000 sellout that’s not really a sellout” in the 54,500-capacity BC Place.
From September 22 to October 3, the Major League Soccer sophomore franchise is running a 12-day “12% signing bonus” sales promotion for those who want to buy ticket packages for the 2013 season. By April 1, 2013, the harmonized sales tax will be gone and tickets will be 7% less when the provincial sales tax portion is removed. The 5% goods and services tax will stay.
The Whitecaps capped capacity at 21,000 on level 2 in BC Place. Demand isn’t there to open level 4, but the club has stubbornly resisted peeling back the tarped-off seats on level 2, even for July’s David Beckham and the Los Angeles Galaxy visit.
The most important acquisition since hiring MLS rookie and turnaround specialist Martin Rennie as coach could be Phil Adams. The club lured the former BC Lions corporate partnerships director to pump up the flagging loge and club seat and level 3 suite sales.
On the low end, the Whitecaps cleverly introduced a $199 student ticket package for 2013.
BC Pavilion Corporation refuses to say what, if anything, the Whitecaps are paying to play in the half-billion-dollar, taxpayer-renovated stadium.
Clark a no-show
The government recently reannounced the $17.5 million contribution to the Whitecaps’ $31.5 million training centre at UBC. Originally announced for Delta during the May 2009 provincial election, the complex with three grass fields, two artificial turf pitches and a field house bears the title of National Soccer Development Centre.
UBC is in Premier Christy Clark’s Vancouver-Point Grey riding, but she was not at the announcement. Press secretary Mike Morton said she was “in meetings” but would not elaborate.
Clark is a personal friend of Whitecaps principal owner Greg Kerfoot and a season ticketholder. Could this have been a strategic absence, a sign that “Premier Photo Op” will attend fewer photo ops as the May 2013 election approaches? She has been criticized for campaigning more than governing.
But make no mistake, the government/Whitecaps/UBC news conference was to curry favour with voters. Soccer is the biggest participatory team sport in B.C. The BC Soccer Association claims 100,000 youth players and 20,000 adult players. That’s a lot families whose votes mean a lot to the desperate-to-stay-in-power Liberals in May. •
