(This story has been updated since it was first posted Oct. 13.)
Premier Christy Clark is confident that B.C. Place Stadiums unionized workers will settle with B.C. Pavilion Corporation and the 99th Grey Cup wont be affected.
I am really hopeful theyre going to find a deal, Clark said at Thursdays Grey Cup festival news conference. Ill leave it to them at the negotiating table to find a deal. I think there is a deal there, from what I am told.
Members of the B.C. Government and Service Employees Union local 1703 voted 89 percent last month in favour of a strike. Their contract expired May 31. Talks are scheduled to resume Friday.
The B.C. government paid the Canadian Football League $1.88 million for hosting rights. Asked what the government would do if a strike puts B.C. Place events, including the Nov. 27 CFL championship, in jeopardy, Clark said: Im not even talking about a plan B.
The Grey Cup festival kicks off Nov. 24, but no roof will be raised at the Larwill Park EasyPark lot, an epicentre of the June 15 Stanley Cup riot.
It was the site of a Molson-sponsored beer garden tent during 2005s Party on the Pacific-themed Grey Cup festival, The Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»Convention Centre will instead host the Molson Canadian House, along with official parties for CFL franchises and sponsors. Festival general manager Scott Ackles said the 2011 festival will be double the size of 2005, but a return to Larwill was not even contemplated before the riot.
Thats never been part of our plan to have a beer garden outside, Ackles said. Its been to take advantage of this fantastic facility.
The convention centres 2009-opened west complex will also include the free Scotiabank Football Experience indoors and the Nissan family zone outdoors at Jack Poole Plaza. The Grey Cup parade on Nov. 26 will end at the Olympic cauldron.
Like 2005, however, parts of Beatty and Robson streets near B.C. Place will be closed for a three-day street party with free concerts. There will even be an artificial turf field applied to the street for touch football.
Organizers claim the event will boost B.C.s economy by $100 million, based on the $81 million impact estimated in a study commissioned by Tourism Calgary and the 2009 Grey Cup Committee. Studies of major U.S. championships by Worcester, Mass. academics cast doubt on lofty economic estimates for national sports championships.
College of the Holy Crosss December 2009 Economics of the Super Bowl study disputed claims of $500 million in impacts on the National Football League championships host cities. The study said mega-events shift resources from one area to another rather than generating new economic activity.
Scholars not financially connected with the game have typically found that the observed effects of the game on real economic variables such as employment, government revenues, taxable sales, GDP, and personal income, while generally positive, are a fraction of those claimed by the league and sports boosters, said the study. It appears that most economic impact reports are padded at least as well as the players on the field.
A 2003 study from the same college said there was just over a 5 percent probability that the NCAA Final Four mens basketball championship would stimulate a host citys economy by more than the $100 million estimated by promoters.
The highest probability corresponds to the event having a zero or negative economic impact, the study said.
