Interpretations of what went wrong vary but all parties agree Whistler’s announcement that it will not host a triple World Cup mountain bike event this summer will hurt the resort’s reputation.
How much the resort will suffer remains to be seen, but one company has been forced to close and frustration has spread throughout the cycling community.
Whistler-based TEAM Management announced last week that the World Cup events planned for July 7-8, 2001 had been cancelled by the W3, which is made up of Whistler-Blackcomb, Tourism Whistler and the Resort Municipality of Whistler. The official explanation, according to TEAM’s release, was the financial risk was too high.
A release from the W3 said the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the sport’s governing body, announced the cancellation due to the lack of a final contract agreement in time to plan the competition.
Negotiations between TEAM and the W3 over a contract to run the triple World Cup – cross-country, downhill and dual slalom events – began last spring but were never successfully concluded. There were also disputes over the budget required to put on a successful World Cup.
Even the matter of who the UCI awarded the World Cup to is not clear.
Marika Koenig and Claire Bonin of TEAM Management submitted a World Cup bid to the UCI in September, 1999, which included a bid fee and a sanctioning fee. The bid was submitted with the approval of Cycling B.C. and the Canadian Cycling Association. The W5 Foundation, which was formed to oversee the now-defunct World Cup downhill ski races and which still organizes the Whistler WinterStart festival, also endorsed the bid.
According to Koenig, last January the UCI awarded the triple World Cup to TEAM. Three months later the UCI instituted a new policy whereby first time triple World Cup organizers were required to have their contract with the UCI signed by the host venue. TEAM then went to the W5 Foundation, but because that organization’s original mandate – the World Cup ski races – no longer existed, the organization felt it wasn’t in a position to co-sign the contract.
That’s when the W3 was formed, although it is not a legal entity like the W5 Foundation. According to Koenig, TEAM proposed a partnership with the W3 but was turned down. The two parties then entered into negotiations regarding ownership of the event and to establish a working agreement. TEAM felt the contract they were finally offered by the W3 was one-sided and the budget the W3 proposed for the World Cup – approximately half of the $900,000 TEAM proposed – was insufficient.
Negotiations were still not resolved by December, a time when sponsorship agreements should have been finalized and new cycling trails completed, but little work had been done on either.
According to Koenig, after the W3 decided on Dec. 13 to cancel the triple World Cup the UCI changed its mind and said TEAM could go ahead and stage the events without the approval of W3. TEAM declined, saying there was no longer enough time to find sponsors.
Whistler Mayor Hugh O’Reilly has a slightly different story. O’Reilly was not involved in the negotiations but was involved in the early stages and again at the end.
"I don’t think there’s any malice here," O’Reilly said.
"We were very supportive from the start. TEAM was required to provide an experienced event organizer. The UCI was going to award the event to an experienced operator from out of town but we said no, use a local group. The UCI then said, ‘Okay, we’ll give it to the W3 and you guys contract to TEAM’."
O’Reilly said the World Cup was never awarded to TEAM, or to anyone in particular – it was awarded to "Whistler", which is part of the problem.
"TEAM perceived us stealing the event, but they never awarded it to them," O’Reilly said.
"We tried very hard to negotiate a contract with TEAM. They had a number (budget) and they felt they could get the sponsorship to support it. We did our due diligence and said no, that’s too much. They said it was difficult for them to deliver on (our) budget. That to me is the nuts and bolts of it."
Marc Lemay, president of the UCI’s Mountain Bike Commission, says the World Cup was awarded to the W3 in conjunction with TEAM.
"We never awarded it to TEAM, because they had never organized a triple event. That’s why we wanted an experienced organizer," Lemay said this week.
"We said to TEAM, we would like you to be part of the organizing committee but we need someone else to back you up."
Lemay said the UCI selects a World Cup venue on the recommendation of the national cycling association. The Canadian Cycling Association recommended Whistler host a single World Cup event, he said.
But regardless of who was awarded the event, Whistler’s reputation has declined in many people’s minds.
"We selected Whistler in January of 2000 to host a triple World Cup event in 2001," Lemay said. "For Whistler to decide in December (it can’t host the event) is not correct. Some people at the UCI are very frustrated, especially (UCI President) Hein Verbruggen, who is on the selection committee for the 2010 Olympics."
Lemay added: "I think someone in the office of W3 doesn’t realize the importance of this event."
Whistler was one of only 12 sites world-wide selected to host a World Cup event, and one of only four sites to host a triple event. An option to host an event in 2002 was also part of the offer and the UCI had indicated a mountain bike world championship bid might be looked on favourably.
Now, however, if the World Cup isn’t held somewhere in Western Canada this summer – Canmore, Alberta is a possibility – it will probably be lost for a long time.
"Personally, I’m really disappointed," Lemay said Tuesday. "I’m proud to be a Canadian and to have two triple World Cup events in Canada (a second will be held at Mont Ste. Anne in August) would be really good for the sport.
"If we don’t do a World Cup in Western Canada this year it won’t come back before 2010," Lemay added. "When the UCI is disappointed we forget this place."
O’Reilly said Whistler has "probably burned some bridges," and is going to have to become more educated about how these types of events work, but he doesn’t think the cancellation is going to have an impact on the 2010 Olympic bid.
"We’re hosting the freestyle world championships this week, we’re probably bidding for the 2005 snowboard world championships, we host a bunch of World Cup events already. This is a hiccup," he said.
"It’s better to have a little embarrassment now than a big one later."
Koenig said the UCI has probably realized something out of the mess too.
"If they had said we need a co-signer before we put the bid in it would have been easier," she said.
O’Reilly said a formal organization, likely involving the W3, that has the mandate to deal with these types of events is probably something Whistler needs to establish.
"There’s rarely a major event that doesn’t include the three of us," he said.
"Each of us has our own sponsors, and none of these events can be organized without sponsorship. We have to look at managing sponsorships to our best advantage."
Whistler has been going through a valuation process for the past year and a half to determine sponsorship and property values and to derive the best value to local businesses and the community.
For TEAM Management, the cancellation means the company will cease to exist and other events it was organizing will be cancelled. Those include Summer Session, a cycling festival which TEAM had developed the past two years and which included the Whistler International Classic races and the Gravity Tour. Summer Session was to be part of this summer’s World Cup.
As well, TEAM was organizing the Canada Cup Finals – cross-country and downhill events – which were scheduled for Aug. 11-12 in Whistler. The Canada Cup Finals will likely be moved to another location.
Koenig and Bonin established TEAM in 1998 and took over the organization of the Whistler International Classic. They have also managed the Canadian Cancer Society’s Tour for a Friend and the Xterra America tour stop in Whistler. They say they haven’t paid themselves for these projects over the last three years and are out thousands of dollars.
