BC Place
 

Global BC | TELUS invested in advertising ahead of BC Place naming rights deal falling through

So this was all over the news yesterday and I am outraged at the BC Liberal Gov't pissing money away on bullshit things, but I think this takes the cake.

Clark gets in front of a microphone and beaks off about how she was not happy about Telus re-naming BC Place....because she wants the name to stay "BC Place" for no other reason other than it has "B.C." in the name. wtf. Her gov't throws away 40 million dollars over 20 years because she did not think it was "the best deal for B.C. taxpayers".

I don't care what they name the place. Call it "The Money Pit", call it "The Over-priced Oval", call it "Leaky Legacy"...I don't give a shit. What I find most hilarious, is that she sneaky "double dip" move she tried to do with Bell. Let's be honest here Christy...its not about the re-naming....you tried to double dip with re-naming and sponsors. Bravo.

Not only is the re-naming gone out the door along with the 40 million, but as a part of the deal, Telus had re-wired the stadium, installed huge screen, and place other tech shit to make it one of the most technologically advanced stadiums in North America. Who is going to pay for that now? My fear is that these items were in the contract and because that contract has fallen apart, they are going to send the province the bill now.

Look, I dig having new things...yes, the building had aged, it needed repairs, and the roof was a problem...but, this is like the FastCat Ferries all over again. The *new* roof is leaking water, the fabric is damaged and stained because of an oil leak, and the place is way over budget.

All of this for a stadium with a retractable roof in one other the rainiest cities in North America....awesome.

with a video, if you don't want to read:
Global BC | B.C. cancels $40-million BC Place renaming deal with Telus

I wish my name was worth 40 million :(

Listen to Tom Mayenknecht today at 1pm on Team1040 and tomorrow morning on his own show. He is pretty lit up on this

As for the decision, its retarded, the Gov't believes that they can make more money by selling individual sponsorships in and out of the stadium because they thing that with the Telus deal, it will drive other sponsorships in and around the building away

Not saying that theres anything wrong with that, but this foul act is a pretty big slap in the face for the taxpayers that have to foot this $800mil project.

Just read an article that BCPavCo, the crown corp that runs BC Place will have to go and re-negotiate the wiring deal because they insisted on having that and the naming deal integrated on one negotiation and contract.

So...40 million lost, plus 2-3-5 million to now pay for something that was to be included. What does 500 kms of fiber optic cable go for, installed? And I'm sure Telus will really want to cut a deal on that seeing as they are stuck with a 2 million dollar sign that really can't be used, unless they actually build a park somewhere.

I don't know which I prefer hearing about. Christy Crunch's thoughts on BC PLace and its iconic name(?!?) or her thoughts on how the teachers should just lay down and let her lay the pipe to them.

Insider info: Telus still has the contract for all the tech inside and is still being paid for it. The issue is that Bell is also the major sponsor for various events there (White Caps, I believe) and there was rumors of them pulling out if the stadium was renamed after Telus.
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^ When the White Caps play, it is not called B.C. Place...its call Bell Pitch Field apparently.

I'd certainly be pissed about the whole thing. Like dino said to me last night, its the equivalent of going to safeway and getting your groceries in a save-on bag.

Typical government thinking. You can't have multiple names for things. What, I'm going to call it "Driven to Perform at the Lordco Garage" which happens to share the same address as "Telus Park/Bell Pitch"?

To really dig through, you'd have to see the contract with Bell to see what they paid for the naming rights of the soccer field and the penalties for now changing to being held in a named stadium.

Government should not be in business. Period. Shit like this happens all the time because their priorities are not the same as a standard, for profit corporation. That's why the fast ferries failed. Their priorities were employ british columbians and re-build ship building industry. Oh, and also get some new ferries.

BC Ferries, as much as I hate it, went to Germany and bought boats. Their priorities were: we need boats. They make boats. Deal!

And I don't know how I feel about a corporation putting their name on a building owned by taxpayers anyway. We spend 600 million, and you take credit for 40. Can I apply to have the Port Mann Bridge named after me? I want it to be: The Gridlock Span. Actually, I guess that would be more appropriate for the old one. ;)

what pisses me off is how all these telecom companies have millions and millions of dollars to spend on naming rights when we the customers are paying for way over-priced wireless services and what not

this province is run by idiots.

FIXED!

posted about this in the No Need to Start a New Thread thread

Im glad they didn't sell out, i cant stand seeing every fucking thing branded its fucking ridiculous

im half expecting the rcmp to have sponsorship logos attached to their uniforms and squad cars

Yea I heard about this, its kind of nuts. Getting out of hand.

Just one of many pieces of information that has not been made available to us, and is necessary to forming an intelligent informed opinion on this issue.

Everyone is basing their opinions on conjecture, the idea that the government is essentially throwing away $40 million dollars is not logical. The financial penalties from Bell, the inability to pursue future advertising deals, those may all add up to this being the financially beneficial decision for tax payers.

Let's get government out of business though, because government cannot effectively run business like the private sector. Crown corporations only generate billions of dollars in revenue annually, so inefficient.

pretty nice considering, that the govt. doesnt have money to give to teacher,roads/translink, and they are jacking up taxes to make up for diff.

what r they waiting for , a better deal?

so if telus paid you $40mil and to LEGALLY changed your name to Gay or pervert or something retarded or disgusting for 20 year and thats the only name you can go by, its ok? then you be rich with a dumb name..

The naming rights deal falling through is another reason for me to not vote for the Liberals in the next provincial election.

You do realize some people are actually named Gay right? If Telus wants to give me $40M to change my name legally, write the cheque, I don't give a fuck! I'll introduce myself as James Bond when I am in the French Riviera banging models on my yacht thanks.

Mark

lol, i think ferrarienzo would lose his mind where the Minnesota Wild play.

"Gaylord Entertainment Center"

holy sweet fucking christmas. $40million over 20 years is TWO MILLION DOLLARS PER YEAR

the BC governments revenue is in the neighbourhood of $40 BILLION per year.

you think 2 million dollars extra income per year which is about 1/20,000th of BCs revenue is going to make ANY difference at all!?

Im fucking glad its staying BC Place. Its a British Columbia icon and Id be pissed if it was sold out to naming rights.



And how many people who are mad the government is 'throwing away $40m' also voted to axe the HST?

I always "THANK" common sense!

OBVIOUSLY, 40 million over 20 years is not a HUGE chunk of money!

We have all done the math and realize that. But...something is better than nothing, am I wrong?

Why couldn't they have sold the name AND sold advertising on the inside. Correct me if I am wrong, but there is advertising on the inside of Roger's Arena, no?

My gripe is that the whole BC Place fiasco is a disaster.

Those crown corporations are making that money off of us, and fucking retards that we vote into office(pick the party man, they are all equally retarded) happily give it away, spend it away or even worse, actually sit there and come up with NEW things to spend money on.

That entire system is run off money.

Yeah, its great that some of the crown corporations make money that we can put to our expensive health and education systems. I for one think deregulating and privatizing power doesn't make sense unless you are going to have multiple lines to every home for me to choose from. Obviously not going to happen, so somewhere you are going to have a monopolistic entity in the fray.

BUT...do I think the government needs to operate a stadium? No. Car insurance? Fuck no. Even BC Rail was a good choice to ditch. Happened to be done in the most retarded way possible(see comment above) but finally someone is getting the point that we don't need a bunch of retarded bureaucrats getting paid god knows what to operate this shit.

Politicians don't make decisions like a business does. For some things, that works. Health care for instance. I'm going on a limb here, but BC Place has been mismanaged. No one cares about the 40 mill over 20 years, or whatever the fuck its called. It's the fact that it was bloody expensive to re-build, impractical for Vancouver, falling apart already, complicated to design and build, which means complicated to maintain, losing money already and just the icing on the cake is our province screwed the pooch with our largest private company in negotiations and fucked them.

I'm not cool with that.

Does the province need to operate a stadium, no, not if it cannot be done with a profitable business model. Vancouver is a large enough city that should the government have made it available for private purchase it would have sold, likely to the Aquilinis.

Car insurance, it could be privatized, but I prefer ICBC. Is insurance higher in British Columbia than it provinces where it is privatized, yup. Other provinces spend money on drivers licensing programs though, while ours generates $600 million dollars in profit annually. Lets face it, we have expectations of a certain standard of living and that will never change, so either crown corporation profits or taxes need to cover expense. Raising taxes won't work, see HST.

I guess I'm in the minority here. I like the name BC place and happy they are not whoring out a place by commercializing the building. But BC could definitely use the money.

In 20 years 2M probably won't be a whole lot of money. It was a shitty deal, plain and simple.