A game-changing mid-March personnel move at ViaSport came less than a week after celebrating the 47th Athlete of the Year Awards and the announcement that the 2014 Grey Cup hosting rights were bought by the provincial government.
ViaSport was born in late 2011 as the BC Sport Agency, a spinoff from 2010 Legacies Now and the heir apparent to Sport BC as the province’s umbrella for amateur sport funding and governance. Fresh from managing the 2011 Grey Cup festival, Scott Ackles was named chief executive under chairman Moray Keith.
Ackles is gone from ViaSport. It was a mutual split, according to Cathy Priestner Allinger, the former VANOC executive instrumental in ViaSport’s formation.
When Keith left late last year, she became chairwoman. She is now acting CEO while a replacement is recruited.
“We’ve drawn very much on Scott’s skill set,” Priestner Allinger told BIV. “He did a great job of getting us going, from a brand perspective and the relationship side of things. As a board we’ve had an opportunity to try and look at what our strategic direction is after seeing who we’re becoming. That first year is always an interesting one when you start up a whole new business.”
BC Lions president Dennis Skulsky was surprised by the move and denied any connection to next year’s Grey Cup.
Ackles, he said, “will certainly now be a name in the hat as we look at the structure this time around.”
Priestner Allinger is not only searching for a CEO but also seeking nominees for a sport leadership committee and to expand the board, which also includes Peer 1 Hosting executive Sheila Bouman and Lauren Woolstencroft, the Paralympian alpine skier who won five gold medals at Vancouver 2010.
But the CEO hire will be key.
“A perfect world would be to have someone from inside the province assume this responsibility,” Priestner Allinger said. “I don’t think the individual has to come out of the sport world, but [he or she] needs to have a passion for sport and what it does for us as a society and has a vision for what we can achieve.”
Priestner Allinger said she is not in the running to be permanent CEO. She is busy consulting for the Russian Olympic Committee – which wants to know from the architect of Own the Podium how Russians can own the podium at Sochi 2014 – and chairs the 2014 Special Olympics Canada Summer Games in Vancouver.
ViaSport doesn’t publish its financial statements, but it relies on funding from Victoria. Assistant Deputy Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development David Gailbrath’s post-budget presentation is on the ViaSport website.
The ministry’s $21.5 million sports funding supports participation ($10.5 million), high performance ($7.8 million) and sport event hosting ($3.3 million). Only $18,000 will be cut from the sport branch, but grants and transfers would remain as is. The base budget will include an infusion of $10 million from the sport legacy fund. Gambling grants would remain at $28.5 million. There would also be $27 million from the children’s fitness and arts tax credits over the next three years.
The budget was not passed when the legislature adjourned on March 14 and could look radically different, depending on the result of the May 14 provincial election.
Bauer targets BC hockey
Bauer Hockey is replacing Reebok-CCM as the BC Hockey League’s (BCHL) equipper and outfitter.
The Adidas subsidiary’s five-year deal began in 2008-09. Bauer’s term as the official uniform, helmets, visor, stick, glove, pant, apparel and bag supplier is three years plus an option to give players and staff of the 16-team junior A circuit the head-to-toe treatment.
The dollar value of the Bauer deal was not disclosed. While gaining profile in BCHL communities is a motivator, the main reason is to get closer to the National Hockey League stars of tomorrow.
“It may not have the same stature as the [Canadian Hockey League], but it is a premium junior hockey league in Canada,” said Brad James, Bauer’s general manager of business development. “The BCHL, from a Canadian perspective, is the No. 1 feeder to the NCAA.
“We want to build a partnership and relationship with these players as they go on in their careers.”
BCHL began play in 1961. •
