Should Vancouver’s BC Place open up during FIFA on days it isn’t hosting matches for giant watch parties, as it did for the Whitecaps?
While there’s already one official fan fest designated at the PNE Fairgrounds, Mayor Ken Sim is hoping to expand watch parties to BC Place as well.
Tom Mayenknecht, host of The Sport Market on Sportsnet 650, says it makes sense to him, given that tickets are so expensive that the average person is unlikely to get into the stadium for matches.
He says it’s a good way to make the experience bigger and more accessible for locals and tourists alike.
But, he says, it would take a fair bit of coordination.
“It’s certainly an operational issue in terms of it obviously takes more staff and more workflows when you’ve got any kind of a presentation or staging or broadcast inside the building as opposed to it being dark for that day,” Mayenknecht said.
“Probably the single biggest issue is security concerns.”
He says it’s not necessarily a last-minute move to think about something like this, because major events like this have come together at the last moment.
Meantime, Sim is also hoping to bring back fireworks with a bang in Vancouver after the cancellation of the Celebration of Lights. He’s pitching a one-night-only fireworks show this summer at a cost of $2 million.
source & photo: CityNews
