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GVPOD is the podcast of the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade. President and CEO Bridgitte Anderson talks to leaders in the business community about the challenges and opportunities they experience, as well as issues impacting our region.
Bridgitte Anderson (00:02):
Welcome back to another episode of GVPOD, Greater Vancouver's business podcast where we delve into the challenges and opportunities facing our region. I'm Bridgitte Anderson, president and CEO of the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade. In this episode of our hosting rights series, we're shifting our focus to the monumental task of event hosting and the integral role that infrastructure plays in not only pulling off these events, but ensuring they leave a lasting positive impact on our city and our province Today, Ken Cretney, president and CEO of BC Pavilion Corporation or Pav Co. And Chris May, general manager of BC Place join us together. They are at the helm of overseeing some of the most pivotal venues in our region, especially as we gear up for a series of high profile events, including the much anticipated FIFA World Cup games. We'll be tackling a wide range of topics today from the infrastructure challenges and plans in place for BC place and supporting facilities to the economic and community benefits these events are expected to bring to Vancouver and BC at large. Welcome gentlemen. Nice to have you here.
Ken Cretney (01:09):
Thank you Bridgitte. Nice
Bridgitte Anderson (01:11):
To be here. Richard, maybe I'm going to start with you, Ken, and I think a lot has been said about the number of events that are coming to our city and to name just a few of them Invictus games and before that Gray Cup. And then of course FIFA World Cup will be really important as well. Can you talk about what the economic benefits of a bunch of high profile events bring to the region and then hav CO's role in ensuring that they run successfully?
Ken Cretney (01:40):
Thanks Bridgitte. Yeah, we have really a remarkable calendar coming up over this next couple of years and I think we're very proud to be hosting these events. Certainly proud of the work our teams do to win these events and bring them to city. And I think we also really appreciate that we are in a wonderful destination city that is attractive to world events, attracted to world events and I mean we couldn't possibly forget the Taylor Swift event coming up post breakup as well. And then also we've got the International AA Conference coming in July of 25 at about 60,000 plus as well. And in terms of the economic impact, I don't think it can be understated. I mean this is a direct spin. This is new money coming into Vancouver, coming into the province, probably in the close to 3 billion over the next five to five and a half years, six years of actual direct spending into the economy. So it's important.
Bridgitte Anderson (02:42):
It's funny you mentioned Taylor Swift. How could I forget Taylor Swift? So apologies to all the swifties out there. I was Lana Popham, the minister of tourism who calls it the calendar of awesomeness, which I think is so great because it really does speak about just when you look ahead, it's just one thing after another after another. So Chris, for you as the manager of BC Place, how ready are you to host essentially the world?
Chris May (03:07):
I think we're ready. We have an incredible team here that works really hard to pull everything off. I think one of the big changes here is, and we see through some more of the events that we're getting is the development of our revenue generating teams at the stadium, increasing that headcount, restructuring how we go out and go after these events. So we're absolutely ready. We're working on a couple of big things that are still to come. So we're continuing to push and to fill the building with as much as we can at the right scale and that represents Vancouver and where we sit on the world stage.
Bridgitte Anderson (03:45):
Ken, maybe back to that sort of 30,000 foot level is there has been a fair amount of talk in the business community is how we kind of leverage these high profile events for economic development and really ensure that it's giving a boost to the economy. So how do you work on that community engagement side with the business community and to really ensure that we're getting all we can out of these opportunities? Well,
Ken Cretney (04:11):
We work with a number of stakeholder partners, obviously destination Vancouver, the hotel community. We work with different levels of government. Often it's the city that's actually hosting a major event like Vifa is considered the host city. So certainly really important. Vancouver Hotel Destination Association. There's a number of groups that really help backstop and there to contribute where necessary and when necessary. I think again, the fact that we have great hotels, we have really good infrastructure like airport, like a wonderful airport, great service into YVR, they're all important. The restaurants, I mean there's so many supporting players in this that both benefit from but also create that great guest experience or visitor experience.
Bridgitte Anderson (05:09):
Okay. You've mentioned hotels. So before I go to you Chris, because I want to get your perspective too, but Ken, you did mention hotels and a lot of concern that we don't have enough hotels to support all the people who be coming in. What needs to be done on that front to make sure that we do have the space?
Ken Cretney (05:26):
Well, I think the short answer is we need to build more hotels and it is a real, I mean, not to downplay it, it is a significant concern. I mean it's a part of any destination infrastructure. And again, it's not just for supporting events, it's to support business travel in and out of the city. It's to support airlines having crew space for crew layovers. So there's a lot of reasons that we need additional hotel space and we're certainly supporting any initiative that might be undertaken to Seymour Hotel.
Bridgitte Anderson (06:01):
I just want to dig into that a little bit because there is some innovative solutions that are being discussed, whether it's maybe something floating hotel or hotels or maybe government taking another look at short-term rentals or things like that. But is that sort of the mindset because building a hotel will take years, it'll be passed even when World Cup is here
Ken Cretney (06:20):
And you're absolutely correct and I think that's why we have to look at what are the options and it's also why I think that we have to be looking at this at multiple levels and multiple jurisdictions and how to support this.
Bridgitte Anderson (06:33):
Okay. Chris, so BC place, I know there's been a lot of talk in some circles, mostly the media circles about the cost of hosting FIFA World Cup and there are some upgrades that need to happen to BC place. Can you talk a little bit about what those upgrades are and why they're important to being a host city?
Chris May (06:51):
I think primarily and fundamentally the biggest thing that's going to benefit the stadium long-term is the accessibility upgrades that we need to make. I think there's anyone that's been to BC place that isn't really read in on the realities of accessibility and the new regulations come to place, say things like, well, you have ramps, you're accessible. No, we don't. The ramps are actually twice as steep as accessible code and laws allow. We have three elevators in the building for 55,000 people when we're full. Look at BMO Stadium in Toronto has six for 26,000 people. So we are far behind. I mean industry standard and the benchmarking without question, but far behind what to me could even be considered an acceptable situation for someone with different needs or accessible needs. So that's really a big focus. And then the other focus for us is how do we develop new lines of business off some of the changes and updates and renovations that are being made and how are we using underutilized space within the stadium to benefit the corporation AVCO and our profit moving forward? So an example of that is finding a new place for the VC Sports Hall of Fame archive, not the Hall of Fame itself, it's not going anywhere, but they had some storage space that was on the third level in our premium area of the building. Well, we're moving that storage to somewhere that isn't public facing, that isn't on our premium level, and that'll allow us to change that space into suites or meeting space, which FIFA will use but will be able to generate revenue off of for the next decade. Those are really the focuses.
Bridgitte Anderson (08:30):
And knowing that BC Place was built decades ago when things were quite different on the environmental front, how much around sustainability and environmentally friendly practices are going into some of these upgrades?
Chris May (08:44):
Well, I mean you look at our sister building at the Vancouver Convention Center. I believe they were the first double lead platinum certified building in the world or convention center for sure. We are getting our lead certification now for BC Place that's a requirement. So that in and of itself is one big piece. We're continuing with our rainwater catchment program and how we use that water. But I was at the Stadium Managers Association conference a few weeks ago and I did a presentation on this and the reality of sustainability in a 40 or 50-year-old stadium. And the reality is it's about culture and we have some real champions of this in our leadership team that talk about this and keep it front of mind every single day. So things we've done over the last year, like moving to entirely aluminum cups in the building, which are, if they're not glass, then they're aluminum, which come in a hundred percent recycled and are a hundred percent recyclable afterwards.
(09:42):
This year we have moved entirely to packaged product than away from fountain drinks because that is far more recyclable with the materials. We've moved to entirely compostable packaging, cutlery, those types of things within the building. So I'd say the lead certification is the single biggest activity that's happening, but sustainability at the stadium continues to be something through all our global events that we're keeping at the forefront. And as we talk about bidding on global events, they are now starting to really focus on this as an area that you need to prove to them as we sort of do with people we're working with at the stadium and talk about what are you doing in truth and reconciliation? And with indigenous communities, we're often getting asked, what are you doing for sustainability? How are you putting that at the forefront? So we keep it there every day, but it's a lot of small little things.
Bridgitte Anderson (10:35):
So obviously that sustainability piece and indigenous economic reconciliation also another big piece, but what are some of the other factors? And Ken, maybe you can start this off and Chris, you can weigh in as well. Why would a major event be looking at Vancouver and maybe choosing Vancouver over, I dunno, an Austin or a Nashville or I dunno, Paris, France. I mean you name the city, I mean the competition's tough. Ken, if you want to maybe start off, what is it that helps us win?
Ken Cretney (11:04):
I think we're really known as a world-class destination. Our visitation grows every year. I mean, COVID aside, and we've had a remarkable return to business post covid, which I think again speaks to the fact that we're a desirable destination and reasons. I think that we have to be conscious of the fact that there are some major concerns, hotel supply being one in terms of keeping it affordable and looking at the economics of it, but also we've always been seen as a safe city and there's a little bit of a there right now in terms of some of the challenges we're seeing downtown. So I think that those things need to be looked at. And again, I think this is something we all need to be working together to address and to ensure right measures are taken. But I think again, we have really world-class facilities. I mean the Vancouver Convention Center, I mean we are visited from architects around the world on at least probably once a year basis or a couple times a year just in terms of people come to have a look at a very successful waterfront building.
Bridgitte Anderson (12:13):
It certainly is a gem on the waterfront. Chris, from your perspective, what are some of the things that you're hearing when you're at these conferences? Why are they looking at Vancouver and are there collaborations or partnerships that are really essential to that on a magic recipe?
Chris May (12:28):
I think there's a couple of different things there. I mean, everything Ken said is absolutely correct. Not like I disagree with my CEO on a podcast, but it really is that collection of things that make Vancouver special. I mean, in our house when we have friends come to town and visit and they ask sort of the same question, but why do people come to Vancouver in droves? And to me, there's many places in the world or some places in the world that do things better than Vancouver. I've never found somewhere that does as many things as well. And it is just a, you look at, I can't say the airport, the easy transportation to downtown, the level of facilities, the ability to do tourist activities, the reputation that Vancouver has on the world stage, the closeness to the US border, the fact that you can arrive by sea or air or land or rail. It's all of these things line up together. And then when speaking specifically about the stadium, I mean location, location, location, the,
Bridgitte Anderson (13:27):
I want to stop you both here because Chris, we don't talk about this enough in Vancouver. We often, because we live here and we work in it every day and we're all kind of really focused on trying to make the city even better, we don't often stop to say, wow, we've got a really great product that we're offering to the world. So it's great to hear you say that. I mean, Ken, you would echo those comments. I bet.
Ken Cretney (13:53):
Absolutely. And as Chris said, I mean having a stadium, 54,000 seat stadium anchoring a downtown street like Robson Street and being on Pacific Boulevard is incredible. And again, to echo Chris's comments, Vancouver is a transportation hub and particularly this downtown community that we're in, it's pretty much everything. I mean 24 minute transfer to the international airport by train. It's incredible. And I can hear some of the work being done. I'm not sure if the mic's picking it up in the background, which is again, kudos to the city that the work that's begun on the remediation of the walkways up front and into Gastown. Again, this is a very significant tourism hub. I mean cruise ships, we didn't even talk. I mean, again, from a destination and travel perspective, the number of cruise ships that we see that come in on cruise ship season is phenomenal.
Bridgitte Anderson (14:47):
I think we're going to be at 329 this year. That's a phenomenal amount of tourists coming through just this little corner here of the downtown and then spreading out all over British Columbia.
Chris May (15:00):
Well, in our reality in the stadium industry at least is people aren't building stadiums downtown. They're going 45 minutes of downtown and they're developing a new stadium district and they're building residential and they're building retail and they're connecting it to public transportation and they're putting a big stadium in the middle of it. We have it, we're here, our stadium district is downtown Vancouver. What we need to do, the stadium, and I believe the convention center and Pav Co overall is making sure that we're using the energy of what we have here of the businesses, of the economic impact we drive of the visitors and focus that energy in on building the community of downtown Vancouver and making it even better.
Ken Cretney (15:42):
Two great examples of that, if I may.
Bridgitte Anderson (15:45):
Yeah,
Ken Cretney (15:45):
Go ahead. Is Great Cup is an example. Three days of that event are at the convention center basically, I mean this is kind of where the festival takes place and then the big matches, the game day is BC Place, the A international will be a very similar situation where the convention center will be considered a campus where a lot of the meetings and interactions will take place, but the main meetings will be at the stadium. And the fact that that's a 15 or 20 minute walk makes that very possible and very enjoyable.
Bridgitte Anderson (16:14):
So Ken, I'm going to ask you the tough question then around cost because critics would say the cost of hosting FIFA World Cup, we don't know the cost yet. It's going to be much more than we thought and the costs to upgrade facilities including VC Place. How do you view this though, when you're talking about the kind of ROI that we'll get from hosting all these events? Does it make sense to you that we have to invest to continue to attract these even bigger events than we've hosted before?
Ken Cretney (16:42):
I do. And I think that look at all the other major cities that are also investing in these big events that really want to attract these events. I mean, these are viewed worldwide, so it's hard to put, and I appreciate that there's always going to be sensitivity and that we need to be very attuned to the fact that there is a major investment into these opportunities, but we also believe there's a major return on investment, just the brand recognition alone. Again, it speaks to the fact that Vancouver has that capability and that ability to host successfully the world.
Bridgitte Anderson (17:21):
Well, one of the topics that seems to come up, every conversation that we have, regardless of what sector and what industry we're talking, is around what we're seeing in technology and AI and digital transformation. Chris, from a guest experience at BC Place, what are you looking to integrate into pending BC Place?
Chris May (17:41):
I think some of the things that have already happened over the last few years, moving to cashless payments within the stadium, entirely mobile ticketing, which were great and implemented with Covid realities, but have stayed around our positive guest experience pieces. It's the buzzword with everything with technology now. But we too are working to get our heads around AI and how it can benefit our business. And I would say using that, I would say we don't do enough data-driven decision making here at avco, and I think we do do, it is a focus, but we could be better. And understanding how AI can sort support, sorry, even just the calling out of trends, collating data, allowing our leaders to make more database decisions moving forward is a big piece for us. And then I think another area we're really looking at specifically with AI is on the marketing and the narrative end of things.
(18:43):
And we're not an organization, we aren't promoters. We don't go and buy a show and take risks. We are a venue that supports promoters and provides space for promoters and partners with them. So looking at how we could potentially look at the promoting end of things and how we marketing and ticket sales and really targeting our potential consumers, I think those are a couple of areas where we think it could be of huge benefit to our business moving forward. A really simple one is for the first time or the first time in a long time, we're reintegrating a text phone number for people in stadium. This will be launched at some point in the next couple of months so people can text in if they're having security issues or something like that. Fairly standard standard in our industry, but we didn't have it. A few different things.
Bridgitte Anderson (19:30):
Can you give us any sneak peeks of anything else that's planned from a guest experience for any of these big events? I know you probably have some things up your sleeve, anything you can share?
Chris May (19:40):
We do. I mean, we have fun with our food and beverage all the time, so I'm excited. I mean, we're doing some interesting menu options for Coast City Country. We'll have some great custom options for the Rolling Stones on July 5th, but an entire custom menu for Taylor Swift for a different demographic, cupcake towers and candy bars and all this. I gain weight just thinking about it. But those are some of the things that are coming up from a guest experience standpoint. I think the other thing is starting to look at how are we using the land around BC place, our plaza areas and that type of thing differently before an event. How are they animated after an event? How are they animated and looking to implement that to improve the experience over the year as well.
Bridgitte Anderson (20:29):
Either one of you can answer this, but thinking about BC place in the land that it's on, I mean this is Unseed untraditional territory of the coast, Salish peoples. And so how do you work with diverse nations in the area when you're thinking about upgrades or making changes or even any of the facilities that you have right now?
Chris May (20:50):
I think that, I mean, I'll speak from a stadium perspective. There's a few different things. I mean, we understand the need and I think personally and for our team here, we really put the effort into starting to build and solidify the relationships with our local nations. I mean, we take truth and reconciliation very seriously, the cause to action seriously and trying to indigenize the building. But we also understand that I understand that my role is kind of to create space. It's absolutely not to go to the nations and say, Hey, will you do this? Or will you do this? Or will you do that? No, it's to say, Hey, I see this maybe as an opportunity in some space, what do you think? What would you like to do here? And it's an ongoing conversation and an ongoing dialogue with all of the nations as well as with we we're talking with an indigenous creative collective right now about some work around the building.
(21:47):
We work with the Vancouver Mural Festival and Deb Sparrow has wrapped the city and the top of our building in gorgeous designs multiple times. So it's a variety of things. And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Coldplay last year and that incredible moment where for the first time in the history of the stadium, we had an official welcome from the nations welcoming a band to stage that was proceeded by a meeting with leadership and representatives of those nations with Coldplay themselves for a decent amount of time backstage. And that came together because Coldplay realized the importance of this in Canada and the nations were open to sitting down and hearing about the space and talking about how to make this work. So as we move forward, we're going to look at doing that more. But for us, I think it's less a direct process and more an awareness of creating space and then being open to listen.
Bridgitte Anderson (22:43):
Yeah, and that certainly came through when we hosted in collaboration with you, the Invictus Games event where really understanding how First Nations are really leading some of the work there. Ken, I want to ask you about collaboration on a different level as a Crown agency. How do you work with the BC government then?
Ken Cretney (23:01):
Well, I mean they're our primary shareholder. I mean, really we are responsible as taxpayers and British Columbia, which we take great pride in and take a great sense of responsibility in. So I mean, we obviously work and keep our government informed, but they have also given us the responsibility and authority to run the organization. But it is been a very good working relationship for many, many years.
Bridgitte Anderson (23:27):
It's super exciting to see the calendar of awesomeness to take Minister Poppin's phrase, said it now twice. I think it was so good that she said that and the immediate benefits, I think putting some dollar figures on that is really helpful for a lot of the critics who maybe weren't sure if these were good investments. What are some of those longer lasting impacts from both your perspectives and perhaps Chris? I'll start with you from the guest experience in a stadium, and then Ken, you can give the broader point of view on that.
Chris May (24:00):
I think from the stadium, it is focusing on the building of the community of BC place and what that can mean for the downtown core of Vancouver. The downtown core will look substantially different in a decade from now with development of the Plaza Nations land. Concord's land around in the Falls Creek flats in that area. So how are we a part of that and how are we focusing our energy on ensuring we're contributing to the building of that community and not just being a monolithic structure in the middle of downtown with big concrete walls. That really is about where the focus is for us.
Bridgitte Anderson (24:37):
Ken, what about from your perspective, thinking about all of the conventions that you also must be working to attract to Vancouver and that sort of long lasting economic impact?
Ken Cretney (24:48):
Well, again, it certainly has a lot to do with the economic impact that the direct spending that takes place. But I think there's just so many other measurements alluded to community. I mean the importance to community of events specific to community, like medical practices like Pacific Dental just being in recently. I mean that we're both gathering places and I think you think about Legacy Expo 86 Expo was one of the real catalysts of Vancouver's becoming an internationally known city. The Olympics 2010 Olympics, 2015 Women's World Cup. This will be our third Great Cup hosting, I think. And the number of people, I've heard this from Chris himself, my first Lions game, my first this lifetime memories for people, and I think we're really proud of that. This is where the world comes together, but also that we have community gathering here as well. All types of events. We do probably 500 events a year at all different levels, different sizes, different levels. The other intangibles, the amount of knowledge that's exchanged in this city at some of these conferences like l and g this summer, Ted, it is hard to quantify it because it's so rich.
Bridgitte Anderson (26:20):
Any big dream events that you would like to host? Blue Sky it? Anything big out there that you'd say, yeah, it'd be great if Vancouver got that
Chris May (26:28):
World Cup 2026. Oh, we did it.
Chris May (26:33):
You talk about, for me, it's interesting. FIFA World Cup 2026 will be the biggest sporting event in the history of the world. We're a host city. We've got the most matches in the country, we've got more matches than Toronto, we've got more matches than any in any city in Mexico has. We've got seven in total. We hosted the Olympic Games here. To me, it starts almost being about what can we do new and differently here and what isn't out there yet that Vancouver can potentially be a part of creating. You talked earlier about the partnerships, and Ken talked a lot about the stakeholders that work together to bring the events to Vancouver. But I think something we've seen is with the amount of events now it's those events starting to collaborate and them starting to come together as partners. An interesting one is volunteerism. We don't have a pool of volunteers in the city of Vancouver, but we have Invictus. We have World Cup coming up, we have Gray Cup. We have a multitude of events that they're going to rely on volunteers. So starting to look at, my dream would be in the world, how do those big events work together more and create efficiencies for each other that only make Vancouver a more attractive destination for events and make those events in and of themselves more successful?
Bridgitte Anderson (27:48):
Well, it sounds like it's time for me to find that blue coat that many of us had back in 2010, maybe upgraded a bit and have a team of volunteers ready to host the world over the next few years. Chris May from BC Place, and Ken Cretney from avco. Thanks so much for this conversation today. Really appreciate it because there's been a lot of focus on what those events are going to feel like, but not necessarily the economic impact and the legacy. And so as a voice of the business community, that's one topic that I'm really focused on and just really grateful to have time to talk about this with both of you. Thank you.