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Whistler Mayor Hugh O’Reilly was one of nine members named Wednesday to the inaugural board of the Vancouver Whistler 2010 Bid Corp.

Whistler Mayor Hugh O’Reilly was one of nine members named Wednesday to the inaugural board of the Vancouver Whistler 2010 Bid Corp. The new corporation, which was announced at a press conference at Canada Place in Vancouver, replaces the Vancouver Whistler 2010 Bid Society as the Olympic bidding process moves from the national to the international level. Joining O’Reilly on the board are Small Business, Tourism and Culture Minister Ian Waddell; Vancouver Mayor Philip Owen; Arthur Griffiths, who chaired the previous bid society; William Warren, president of the Canadian Olympic Association; Greg Greenough, treasurer of the COA; Marion Lay, another COA member and president of the board of the National Sport Centre of Greater Vancouver; former Olympic rower William McKerlich; and Dan Rosenbloom, a Vancouver lawyer, director of the Whistler Centre for Business and the Arts and a legal advisor to the David Suzuki Foundation. The board represents the communities of Vancouver and Whistler, the federal government, the Canadian Olympic Association and the Province of British Columbia, which at this point is the official signatory for the Olympic bid. One-third of the board was nominated by the COA, one-third by Vancouver-Whistler and one-third by the province. The inaugural board will establish the bid corporation’s governance framework and be responsible for naming another 21 board members. The rest of the board is expected to be named over the course of the summer. A press release states the board will be committed to ensuring that its make up reflects as broad a cross-section of the community as possible, and that it is environmentally sensitive in the planning and organization of its bid and the Olympic Games. The 2010 bid will be made to the International Olympic Committee in September 2002. The IOC’s decision will be announced in September 2003. However, the bidding process for the Games is in a state of evolution as a result of the scandal surrounding the Salt Lake City Games. The IOC is to select the host city for the 2006 Winter Games Saturday (June 19) in Seoul. Six European cities are bidding for the Games but a new process is being used to determine the winning bid. Rather than allowing all IOC members to vote, a 16-member selection committee will choose two finalists. Immediately after the two finalists are announced, the full IOC assembly will then vote by secret ballot. The two leading cities are thought to be Sion, Switzerland and Turin, Italy. The cost of the next phase of the Vancouver Whistler bid is estimated at $20 million over the next 30 months. A successful bid is expected to generate more than $1 billion in revenue from ticket sales, sponsorships and television rights.