B.C. takes torch

TURIN, Italy — The torch passed from Turin to Vancouver on Sunday night, and even with four years to plan, British Columbians already are feeling the warmth — and the heat.

"It's our time, as of Monday, to fly the Olympic flag in Vancouver," said John Furlong, chief executive officer of the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC).

That brings excitement, but also pressure, Furlong acknowledged.

"The pressure is lifting a little from Torino and shifting in our direction," he said. "We feel the awesomeness of what has to be done. Great things are expected of us."

The dual centers of Vancouver, which will host most ice-sport events, and Whistler, home to Alpine and Nordic skiing as well as bobsled/luge, will draw many elements from past Winter Games into their own.

Empty seats will not be among them, Vancouver officials vow.

Those seats, which all too often wind up as a backdrop for television coverage, can be a death knell to the sense of success of an Olympics, Vancouver officials know.

It was a problem in Athens, and a repeat problem in Turin, said Dave Cobb, vice president of revenue, marketing and communications for VANOC.

"Everything around the Games is not as positive if there are empty seats in the building," he said.

Cobb, one of 80 VANOC officials going to school on Olympic operations in Turin for the past month, said one main lesson is that a healthy sale of tickets to locals doesn't necessarily ward off the empty-seat syndrome. Turin sold about 90 percent of its 1 million event tickets, but huge blocks of them went unused, Cobb said.

Blame the International Olympic Committee. The IOC gives out up to 30 percent of event tickets at every Olympics as perks to "Olympic Family" members — IOC members and their friends, Games sponsors and other fat cats. And the local organizing committee has no way to ensure those tickets get used.

All too often, they don't, said Cobb, who added that VANOC will try to find a way to get unused Olympic Family tickets redistributed, either through sale or giveaways to school children or some other organization.

That may be easier said than done. But in any case, VANOC officials say they believe they'll have no problem filling 1.8 million event seats with paying customers in winter-sport-crazy British Columbia.

"Selling the tickets, we don't expect to be a problem," Furlong said.

Marketing in the United States, particularly in Northwest cities such as Seattle, is an important part of the ticket-sales plan.

"We've had discussions with all sorts of entities in the Northwest," Furlong said, adding that VANOC is very aware that a good share of its fan base will come from an "Olympic corridor that begins in Seattle and runs all the way to the border.

"We recognize that a huge portion of our audience comes from the U.S.," he said, "and because Canadians take such joy in beating the Americans at certain things, we think they'll want to come up and see it for themselves."

Tickets are not expected to go on sale until late 2008 or early 2009. Organizers hope to raise about $200 million — about 16 percent of the overall budget of $1.2 billion, from ticket sales. Turin's ticket revenue translated to only about 6 percent of its $1.5 billion operating budget — part of a total Games cost of about $3.5 billion.

The primary difference in numbers of tickets: Venues in Vancouver and Whistler will be larger.

Finishing those venues is the primary task at hand for VANOC over the coming two years.

VANOC is building a secondary city hockey arena to supplement GM Place, upgrading Pacific Coliseum for figure skating and short track, building a bobsled/luge track and athletes' village at Whistler and a new curling sheet and speedskating oval in Vancouver.

Construction costs already have risen 23 percent over initial estimates, to $580 million Canadian. VANOC officials have blamed B.C.'s hot building industry and a labor shortage.

Opening and closing ceremonies will take place in BC Place, Vancouver's domed stadium, where most medals also will be presented, giving as many as half a million fans a chance to witness some of the Games pageantry, organizers say.

Furlong laid out what other recent host cities might call an ambitious goal: Full venue completion two years before the Games. That has two benefits, Furlong said — giving venue managers ample time to practice operations, and Canadian athletes time to develop a distinct home-field advantage.

"We can't overstate the importance that the home team does well," he said. "The next best thing to your team winning a medal is the home team winning one, because of the passion, the excitement, the buzz there is in the facility. We want that wonderful atmosphere in the venues."

Canada has been a rising power in the Winter Games. In Turin, the Canadians took home 24 medals — their most ever, and only one shy of the 25-medal haul of the United States. The previous Canadian best was 17 in Salt Lake City.

The nation's governing sport bodies have launched a new campaign, "Own the Podium 2010," to ensure Canadian winter sports get the money and other resources they need to dominate Vancouver's Games.

That also should create the kind of Olympics buzz that characterize a great Winter Games, VANOC officials say.

Furlong acknowledged that Vancouver, by far the largest city ever to host a Winter Olympics, will have a unique challenge in that regard.

"It comes down to what kind of appetite the community has for the Games," Furlong said, noting that Vancouverites have consistently shown strong support for the Olympics.

The other major tasks at hand?

Finishing major construction on the Sea-to-Sky Highway, which is being financed by the Province of B.C. — and is "about halfway finished, ahead of schedule," Furlong said — to cut the commute to Whistler to about 90 minutes.

And selling Vancouver's Games to the world — and to greater Canada as a national, not just regional, event.

The Canadians have been hard at work at that in Turin, importing a massive, log-cabin structure, British Columbia-Canada Place, to the Piazza Valdo Fusi in the central city. A similar marketing effort will be made at the 2008 Beijing Games.

Back at home, Games officials will begin touring Canada this spring, hoping to get a buy-in from the entire nation for British Columbia's first whack at an Olympics.

That's not likely to be a problem in Vancouver and Whistler, both of which hosted major, it's-our-turn Olympic celebrations Sunday.

Ron Judd: 206-464-8280 or rjudd@seattletimes.com.